Drumming News :
What would a triangle sound like as a drum? What about a star, a square, or a shape you draw yourself?
Eigendrum is an interactive website that lets you find out. Visit eigendrum.com, draw a shape, and hear how it would vibrate as a real drumhead.
The idea is simple: the shape of a drum affects how it vibrates, and those vibrations create its sound. Eigendrum uses mathematical calculations to determine the natural vibration patterns—or modes—of your shape and turns them into sound.
You can strike the virtual drum in different places to change its tone, watch the vibration patterns, and even listen to individual modes. You can also create shapes using mathematical formulas, making it possible to experiment with shapes that are difficult to draw by hand.
The project explores a fascinating mathematical question made famous by mathematician Mark Kac: Can you hear the shape of a drum? Surprisingly, different shapes can have exactly the same set of natural frequencies. Eigendrum includes an example of such a pair.
What makes Eigendrum especially interesting is that the sounds aren’t simply pre-recorded effects. The site calculates the vibrations of each shape using numerical physics and generates the sound from those results.
You don’t need to understand the mathematics to enjoy it. Just draw something and listen.
Try Eigendrum: eigendrum.com
Explore the open-source project: GitHub repository
