Musical Siren

[acoustics101]

When I published Horn & Whistle magazine between 1988-1994, Fred Berry wrote about a siren mounted on the roof of a large department store in Yokasuka, Japan, in which the choppers were arranged on a common shaft in the same manner as the tone wheels were arranged in early Hammond organs. The intakes to each of the choppers were normally closed and were controlled by a keyboard inside the department store.

Would anyone know if this siren still exists or happen to have a video of it?

[coyoteunknown]

I'll ask a few friends of mine, since a couple of them frequently travel to Japan to visit their families. They usually visit Osaka and Tokyo and neighboring villages, so I have no idea if they've been to Yokasuka.

Edit: My apologies, buy my friend doesn't know anything about it.

[Jonas Clark]

Similarly... The French performance art group Mecanique Vivante (sp?) created some musical, mechanical sirens. They had a damper for cutting out notes and a variable speed chopper. They put these inside white mesh decorative housings with translucent orange plastic flared-end horns in a single row around the center, pointing out like an STL-10 type, which (for night performances) have lights inside that vary in brightness with the tone, to indicate that the horns are real. I believe they have four sirens, each with a different number of horns.

'Les Chant Du Sirens' (Song of the Sirens) is a performance they were doing in France on siren test days. Imagine the city sirens all wind up to speed as usual... then suddenly begin playing a melody backed by three-part harmony. YouTube has some videos of them performing. One video which uses these is on YouTube under the title "Imaginarius 2007 - O Canto das Sirenes Encontra o Fado" - the two men playing what looks like Theremin Cellos - that is, a standing upright 'instrument' with a lever for cutting notes and a sliding knob for sliding pitch up or down - are controlling two of the sirens. The set of four can also be pre-programmed. Once you've found this video, scroll to the bottom of the list at right for an evening one with a faster song with more chopped notes - then, the top of that video's list has a third!

Their web site used to have (but no longer) a video of a performance entitled "La Marne S'Enflamme" (BIG points to anyone who can find me a copy) which showed a very unusual arrangement - viewers stood atop a large stone bridge, on the face of which were mounted the three harmony sirens, which started first. The melody siren, on a tall mast attached to a raft, came floating up the river from a distance, its horn lights fading on as the first note wound up to speed - a sound that gives chills, powerful and scary and beautiful. Apparently this bridge was on the River Tyne. They also seem to perform regularly with a large chorus of trombones, adding to the effect. The song at the start of the first video noted above (first section) is a modified version of that used with "La Marne S'Enflamme".

So yes... There are musical sirens of a sort. The one in Japan sounds extremely cool, and I hope to hear more about it eventually.

Edit: Check mecanique-vivante.com, hunt around the site and you'll find many videos. What a sound...

[acoustics101]

A member of the Horn & Whistle group designed a musical siren using a servo motor to turn the chopper. It's amazing just how fast it can accelerate/decelerate from one note to the next! There was even a sound file of it playing Bach!! I have not located the sound file, but here is some of the discussion about it.

http://www.hornwhistleboard.com/viewtop ... n&start=10

[acoustics101]

Thanks for mentioning this.

I was able to locate several videos of the group at Youtube. Here is one of them. The sirens are definitely musical and have somewhat of a "stringlike" quality to them. It appears they are playing the sirens like stringed instruments via a MIDI controller.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDtID8tJZYg

Similarly... The French performance art group Mecanique Vivante (sp?) created some musical, mechanical sirens. They had a damper for cutting out notes and a variable speed chopper. They put these inside white mesh decorative housings with translucent orange plastic flared-end horns in a single row around the center, pointing out like an STL-10 type, which (for night performances) have lights inside that vary in brightness with the tone, to indicate that the horns are real. I believe they have four sirens, each with a different number of horns.

[coyoteunknown]

That is so amazing and imaginative. It's a shame no one here has one of these musical sirens. I'd love to see more photographs of these devices.

[acoustics101]

A member of the Horn & Whistle Board posted the following link. This is what I was able to find.
http://www.mecanique-vivante.com/contenu/Ebase.html
After this opens, click on "The Sirole Musical Siren" then "Mode Operating of the Sireole".

They really are mechanical sirens. To change pitch so rapidly they have to use servomotors. It was also interesting to know they do not use external air and that the loudness varies with pitch, similar to a STL-10, which these resemble.

[coyoteunknown]

*shivers while listening to the video on their site*

That is just so amazing. Until now, I would never have thought something like that could be done on an electromechanical siren. That is just so amazing. If only I were rich, I'd buy some of those and place around town. I mean, how awesome would it be to hear that everyday at say 10 o'clock when all the business normally open?

I'm just in awe, man. That is just so amazing. :X

Thanks so much for bringing this topic back up with all these new videos and information.

[Jonas Clark]

I believe the controller has a sensitive fretboard, rather than a string. The player presses down to start a note and can slide up and down to create glissandos. I'm not sure if the two players are doing melody and bass, with two other sirens doing the staccato harmony, or if it's three part harmony controlled by one player and melody by the other. Either way, yes, it's extremely beautiful in a haunting way. I'd love to see these performed in person...

The piece I referred to as a favorite is apparently titled "Tango de Bal". The melody's opening, in which the first note 'winds up' from the bottom of the scale, and the baritone glissandos with, yes, a stringlike quality but a sound that's unmistakably a mechanical siren, is almost scary. In some of the promo videos on their site, listeners are seen holding their ears - these are apparently extremely loud. Music you can hear AND feel, music that moves you in a sort of primal way.