MAP 2.0

A salvaged PC tower turned into a mechanical sound instrument: an Arduino Mega switches relays and drives fans and DC motors, and the clicks, hum and rattle of the machinery are the sound.

live A/V with Xingdi Wang — Oyoya Radio, 09.07.2025

controllerArduino Mega

sound sourcesPC fans, DC motors, relays

enclosuresalvaged Compaq tower, hand-painted side panel

sceneDIY / circuit bending / found objects

The instrument grows out of a found object. The tower was stripped down to its steel chassis, fitted with plywood shelves for the motors and the control electronics, and closed again with its original plastic front and a side panel painted by hand.

The microcontroller sequences the components; their mechanical by-products — a relay closing, a fan spinning up, a motor straining against its mount — become the musical material.

Process

Beige Compaq PC tower before modification — the found object: a Compaq tower

Empty steel chassis with an Arduino Mega mounted inside — stripped chassis, first layout

DC motors on a plywood shelf inside the open tower — DC motors on the middle shelf

Arduino Mega and a red relay board mounted on plywood — Arduino Mega and relay board

Dense bundle of coloured wires inside the open tower — wiring

Side panel painted with black brush strokes, control panel with jacks and knobs — hand-painted side panel

Finished tower with the side open, showing shelves and wiring — finished, side open

Video

relays switching