bearing by daylight noise

bearing

it points at what it wants

20 HP

A brass needle behind glass does the mixing. Coils pull it by your levels, the Earth pulls it too, and wherever it actually points is the mix: it swings at a snare, overshoots, hunts and settles with its own weight. Leave it alone and it drifts round to wherever the Earth's field crosses your case.

The needle

Four inputs, four directions. Each one is heard when the needle points its way, and pulls the needle its way: the louder it is, the harder its coil pulls. So a snare on EAST yanks the mix east and it swings back through the others. Nobody programmed the swing: it's a real weight on a real shaft. Two steady channels make it sit between them, trembling.

NORTH, EAST, SOUTH, WEST: audio or CV. A steady voltage pulls and isn't heard, so a gate or an envelope can steer it silently.

WANT, a big knob and its jack: how hard the inputs pull. Fully left they only play; at noon it leans; fully right it snaps from hit to hit, four swings a second.

A magnet near the glass takes it from everything: the whole mix follows your hand, and swings back when you let go.

What holds it

TRUE, a big knob and its jack: how much the real north counts. Fully left the coils cancel the Earth and it stays where it last was. A little past noon it's the Earth alone. Fully right the coils add six Earths, and your drums only make it flinch.

Your case sets where it rests: the needle turns in the panel's plane, so it finds where the Earth's field crosses the panel, and that changes with which way the case faces and how far it leans.

DAMP: at noon, the copper's own drag. Past noon a sensor brakes the needle through the coils, and at full it crawls as if through treacle. Under noon the same sensor eggs it on: it rings, then hunts, then whirls at nearly eight turns a second and never settles.

The mix

SPREAD: how wide each direction's share is. Fully left all four are always there, leaning a little; at noon a quarter of the circle each; fully right a hard switch at each direction, so only what the needle points at gets through.

The rose shows it all: each long point fills towards its jack with that channel's level, the short points show where the coils are pulling, the marks show the needle's share, and one mark stays lit at the real north.

What comes out

LEFT, RIGHT: the mix, the heading its pan, so a swing east is a swing right.

HEADING: where it points: 0 V at north, +2.5 V east, −2.5 V west, a jump at south.

SWING: how fast it's swinging, an envelope with weight in it.

CROSSED: a trigger each time it passes a direction: a hit, then a run of ticks as it hunts.

SETTLED: a gate while it's at rest. Clock a sequence from it and the rack waits for the needle.

Specs

Format

Width: 20 HP
Controls: 2 big knobs, 2 knobs, a needle

Inputs

Four directions: NORTH, EAST, SOUTH, WEST: audio or CV, ±5 V
WANT, TRUE: CV, added to their knobs, 5 V the whole way

Outputs

LEFT, RIGHT: audio, ±5 V
HEADING: CV, ±5 V
SWING: CV, 0 to 8 V
CROSSED: trigger, 5 V, 10 ms
SETTLED: gate, 5 V