Slow Motion Crash: A Vibrating Cymbal at 1000fps

This video of a cymbal vibrating in slo-mo has been making the rounds for the past few days. It reminded me of an article I read once which discussed synthesizing the sound that cymbals make. After some searching, I found that article. It’s by Gordon Reid, whose “Synth Secrets” column in Sound on Sound is required reading for anyone who would seek to make their own special kind of noise.

Gordon’s article goes into the basics of how a cymbal vibrates, but doesn’t actually tackle any equations. As he says, that would go beyond the scope of his article. So I found some equations for you too (PDF). Even if you don’t know anything about differential equations, you might want to check that PDF out, because it has some neat photos of the vibration modes of various things you hit with a stick.

Or, you can just watch the rest of the slo-mo vibrating videos. 🙂


Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 38,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — New Products 11/15/2024 Featuring Adafruit bq25185 USB / DC / Solar Charger with 3.3V Buck Board! (Video)

Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: A New Arduino MicroPython Package Manager, How-Tos and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

Adafruit IoT Monthly — The 2024 Recap Issue!

Maker Business – Adafruit Daily — Apple to build another chip at TSMC Arizona

Electronics – Adafruit Daily — SMT Tip – Stop moving around!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !


1 Comment

  1. Wow, that was a good video, and as a drummer very interesting to see what actually happens when you smack those things. Look forward to reading more and sharing, thanks. 🙂

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.