27 replies to this topic

[byungkyulee]

Hi everyone!

 
I have a small colony of Camponotus us-ca02 (5 workers yet but expecting more within few weeks).
 
I am making an audio visual exhibition stuff for upcoming school expo (5/5).

The attached image file is a very rough draft of my idea of what's goin on (I know my drawings and writings are horrible).

 
- Violin and minihearth are placed inside of acrylic display case. The display case is big enough to hold both, and also has a steel mesh air vent on top.
- Minihearth is connected directly into a wet violin with a tube. Why wet violin? I don't know. I have heard they love wet wood. I'm not sure.. Does it make sense?
- Few contact piezo mics are attached on the body of violin.
- Those audio signals collected from the mics go through audio circuits and play sound on the speakers outside.
 
I was impressed by this guy's work but those are the ants that stridulate.
I'm not sure carpenter ants also stridulate. But I know for sure they make sounds when they bite on woods.
 
To be able to successfully realize my idea, I need them to avidly play and bite with the wood material inside of violin. How?
 
Any criticism, idea, advice, all welcome.
 
Thank you for reading!

Attached Images

• 

Edited by byungkyulee, February 14 2022 - 10:14 PM.

[ReignofRage]

I'm not too sure that they would really chew on the wood to begin with. They will either just stay in the mini hearth or they will move into the violin. The inside of the violin is so large that they will probably feel no need to chew the wood. In addition to that, C. us-ca02 rarely nest in wood - I have only seen it one or two times in person and only two Inaturalist observations. I don't think it would be worth it to waterlog a violin. Another thing is with the worker count they most likely will barely even walk around in the violin itself.

Edited by ReignofRage, February 14 2022 - 10:18 PM.

[byungkyulee]

I'm not too sure that they would really chew on the wood to begin with. They will either just stay in the mini hearth or they will move into the violin. The inside of the violin is so large that they will probably feel no need to chew the wood. In addition to that, C. us-ca02 rarely nest in wood - I have only seen it one or two times in person and only two Inaturalist observations. I don't think it would be worth it to waterlog a violin. Another thing is with the worker count they most likely will barely even walk around in the violin itself.

 

Yo that was so fast. Thank you for your comment.

Wow I didn't know that they don't usually nest in wood. But I thought they would just go forage inside of the violin somehow.. 

Yeah it makes sense that with the size of my colony, they could be very passive and protective, might not even come out of minihearth..

 

What about a small Wooden Ocarina instead? would it work?

[byungkyulee]

My idea is to make ants play the acoustic instrument that is originally meant to be played by human.

I thought the best way to convey the little sound they are making was attaching contact mic on the body of the instrument.

If anyone has any better idea, pls let me know.

Edited by byungkyulee, February 14 2022 - 10:38 PM.

[ANTdrew]

Paint the violin with sugar water and remove their other feeders for two days beforehand. Seriously, though, Camponotus are stupidly inactive as a rule. This would work better with more active ants like Tetramorium, Solenopsis, or Crematogaster. Crematogaster chew crap up just for the fun of it.

[futurebird]

I've had some fun recording ant sound by hooking a diaphragm microphone to some of my nests. Ants make noise but not at the level we can easily hear at all. 

 

You could try things like hooking up the floor of their outworld to record sound and putting their food under some sand so they would dig for it. That could make some neat sounds.

 

Or you could use guitar or violin strings to make a bridge that would save them time to get to their food, then they could walk over the strings and it might do something... but you will need an excellent mic. 

 

Carpenter ants *can* chew (damp or dry rotted) wood to expand their nest, but only bother if the colony is medium to large and growing. Then you might get the chewing sounds, but you need a more robust colony. 

 

As long as you treat the little girls with care I think this could be a neat idea. 

 

Heck, I might put a mic in one of my wooden nests to see what sound they make just from moving around again. 

 

https://www.tiktok.c...bapp=v1&lang=en

[byungkyulee]

Paint the violin with sugar water and remove their other feeders for two days beforehand. Seriously, though, Camponotus are stupidly inactive as a rule. This would work better with more active ants like Tetramorium, Solenopsis, or Crematogaster. Crematogaster chew crap up just for the fun of it.

Hey! Thank you for replying!

Haha I was thinking about painting sugar water inside the violin too. And I cannot agree more that they are the chillest ants (but whenever I open up the lid or do sth, they go nuts in lightening speed lol)

Agh, man I Crematogaster might have been great for this project.. but I gotta do sth with what I have for now right I love my ants tho

[byungkyulee]

I've had some fun recording ant sound by hooking a diaphragm microphone to some of my nests. Ants make noise but not at the level we can easily hear at all. 

 

You could try things like hooking up the floor of their outworld to record sound and putting their food under some sand so they would dig for it. That could make some neat sounds.

 

Or you could use guitar or violin strings to make a bridge that would save them time to get to their food, then they could walk over the strings and it might do something... but you will need an excellent mic. 

 

Carpenter ants *can* chew (damp or dry rotted) wood to expand their nest, but only bother if the colony is medium to large and growing. Then you might get the chewing sounds, but you need a more robust colony. 

 

As long as you treat the little girls with care I think this could be a neat idea. 

 

Heck, I might put a mic in one of my wooden nests to see what sound they make just from moving around again. 

 

https://www.tiktok.c...bapp=v1&lang=en

 

Thank you for your interest!! I'm glad that we share same experience! that is awesome.

Would you describe a little more about making a bridge with strings? Cuz I'm not sure if I'm understanding what you have explained above correctly.

And yeah, I guess I'm really learning about carpenter ants little by little by now I guess haha.

 

I would love to see how it sounds like in wooden nest!

[Manitobant]

Why would you ruin a perfectly good violin? As a band kid this experiment scares me.

[NicholasP]

 

Hi everyone!

 
I have a small colony of Camponotus us-ca02 (5 workers yet but expecting more within few weeks).
 
I am making an audio visual exhibition stuff for upcoming school expo (5/5).

The attached image file is a very rough draft of my idea of what's goin on (I know my drawings and writings are horrible).

 
- Violin and minihearth are placed inside of acrylic display case. The display case is big enough to hold both, and also has a steel mesh air vent on top.
- Minihearth is connected directly into a wet violin with a tube. Why wet violin? I don't know. I have heard they love wet wood. I'm not sure.. Does it make sense?
- Few contact piezo mics are attached on the body of violin.
- Those audio signals collected from the mics go through audio circuits and play sound on the speakers outside.
 
I was impressed by this guy's work but those are the ants that stridulate.
I'm not sure carpenter ants also stridulate. But I know for sure they make sounds when they bite on woods.
 
To be able to successfully realize my idea, I need them to avidly play and bite with the wood material inside of violin. How?
 
Any criticism, idea, advice, all welcome.
 
Thank you for reading!

 

Ok umm... A lot of this makes sad. First thing, I guess. Why use a violin!? I'm a violinist and even if it's a cheap violin why would you do that!? The poor violin!  Second thing. I believe that some parts of the violin are toxic if consumed? I'm not 100% sure if everything on a violin is non-toxic, I only play the violin.  I also think that violin is WAY too big for you colony of CA02.

[NicholasP]

Instead of harming the violin, practice 40 hours a day! I can guarentee that it will be fun.

[Antkeeper01]

Instead of harming the violin, practice 40 hours a day! I can guarentee that it will be fun.

It gives you the power to extend the length of a day by 16 hours! lol

[byungkyulee]

Why would you ruin a perfectly good violin? As a band kid this experiment scares me. 

 

Hahaha I haven't said anything like using a perfectly good violin. I was about to use broken violin or cheap violin that I bought from Amazon years ago. I am a sound designer so I just have em but not to play for "music" sake lol

Edited by byungkyulee, February 15 2022 - 10:15 PM.

[byungkyulee]

 

 

Hi everyone!

 
I have a small colony of Camponotus us-ca02 (5 workers yet but expecting more within few weeks).
 
I am making an audio visual exhibition stuff for upcoming school expo (5/5).

The attached image file is a very rough draft of my idea of what's goin on (I know my drawings and writings are horrible).

 
- Violin and minihearth are placed inside of acrylic display case. The display case is big enough to hold both, and also has a steel mesh air vent on top.
- Minihearth is connected directly into a wet violin with a tube. Why wet violin? I don't know. I have heard they love wet wood. I'm not sure.. Does it make sense?
- Few contact piezo mics are attached on the body of violin.
- Those audio signals collected from the mics go through audio circuits and play sound on the speakers outside.
 
I was impressed by this guy's work but those are the ants that stridulate.
I'm not sure carpenter ants also stridulate. But I know for sure they make sounds when they bite on woods.
 
To be able to successfully realize my idea, I need them to avidly play and bite with the wood material inside of violin. How?
 
Any criticism, idea, advice, all welcome.
 
Thank you for reading!

 

Ok umm... A lot of this makes sad. First thing, I guess. Why use a violin!? I'm a violinist and even if it's a cheap violin why would you do that!? The poor violin!  Second thing. I believe that some parts of the violin are toxic if consumed? I'm not 100% sure if everything on a violin is non-toxic, I only play the violin.  I also think that violin is WAY too big for you colony of CA02.

 

 

Thank you for your comment! I wanted to use violin because of its acoustic structure that is built to resonate better than regular plywood.

 

It's awesome that you play violin and I am sorry if my idea made you feel bad!

 

Oh and I haven't thought of that part. Thank you for your mentioning. I definitely should take that in consideration too if I am doing it.

And yeah, as most of the guys said above, now I am well aware that violin is too big for my tiny colony. But thank you for your advice!

[byungkyulee]

Instead of harming the violin, practice 40 hours a day! I can guarentee that it will be fun.

I would love to start learning violin if I have more time than 24hrs!

 

I play trombone. Hope we can jam someday. 

[byungkyulee]

Thank you all for critics and helpful advices. I love you all.

 

To sum up the critics I got above,

 

1. colony is too small.

=> They are probably going to stay in their nest.

 

2. violin is already large.

=> No need for them to chew the wood.

 

3. us-ca02 rarely nest in wood.

=> might not even get interested in violin anyway.

 

 

So I thought "what can I do with tiny colony with few workers who don't stridulate?"

 

=> I came up with triggering mechanism that is going to be built within the foraging area of mini hearth.

(of course, the circuitry and other materials will be implemented outside of mini hearth)

 

I am going to attach piezo mic on each small wooden plate that are soaked and brushed with sugar/honey water.

 

I actually took out the feeder and painted sugar water on a leaf decor that is attached to piezo mic, it kinda worked!

They frequently touched it, climbed it, played with it over and over.

 

Whenever they touch or bite the wood or the mic itself, those signals are going to trigger sounds, and visuals.

 

Here is another coarse sketch of how it's gonna look like.

 

If there is any concerns, ideas, or any comments are welcome!

 

Again, thank you all for sharing your time and helping me out here. So appreciated.

Attached Images

• 

Edited by byungkyulee, February 15 2022 - 10:10 PM.

[NicholasP]

 

 

 

Hi everyone!

 
I have a small colony of Camponotus us-ca02 (5 workers yet but expecting more within few weeks).
 
I am making an audio visual exhibition stuff for upcoming school expo (5/5).

The attached image file is a very rough draft of my idea of what's goin on (I know my drawings and writings are horrible).

 
- Violin and minihearth are placed inside of acrylic display case. The display case is big enough to hold both, and also has a steel mesh air vent on top.
- Minihearth is connected directly into a wet violin with a tube. Why wet violin? I don't know. I have heard they love wet wood. I'm not sure.. Does it make sense?
- Few contact piezo mics are attached on the body of violin.
- Those audio signals collected from the mics go through audio circuits and play sound on the speakers outside.
 
I was impressed by this guy's work but those are the ants that stridulate.
I'm not sure carpenter ants also stridulate. But I know for sure they make sounds when they bite on woods.
 
To be able to successfully realize my idea, I need them to avidly play and bite with the wood material inside of violin. How?
 
Any criticism, idea, advice, all welcome.
 
Thank you for reading!

 

Ok umm... A lot of this makes sad. First thing, I guess. Why use a violin!? I'm a violinist and even if it's a cheap violin why would you do that!? The poor violin!  Second thing. I believe that some parts of the violin are toxic if consumed? I'm not 100% sure if everything on a violin is non-toxic, I only play the violin.  I also think that violin is WAY too big for you colony of CA02.

 

 

Thank you for your comment! I wanted to use violin because of its acoustic structure that is built to resonate better than regular plywood.

 

It's awesome that you play violin and I am sorry if my idea made you feel bad!

 

Oh and I haven't thought of that part. Thank you for your mentioning. I definitely should take that in consideration too if I am doing it.

And yeah, as most of the guys said above, now I am well aware that violin is too big for my tiny colony. But thank you for your advice!

 

It's ok if it's cheap. There have been cases though of people finding that a violin was made from plywood though. So, I'd be a little cautious if I were you. Here's a link to a video opening up a $100 amazon violin and how the top plate was plywood. I open up the 100 dollar violin - YouTube

[byungkyulee]

 

 

 

 

Hi everyone!

 
I have a small colony of Camponotus us-ca02 (5 workers yet but expecting more within few weeks).
 
I am making an audio visual exhibition stuff for upcoming school expo (5/5).

The attached image file is a very rough draft of my idea of what's goin on (I know my drawings and writings are horrible).

 
- Violin and minihearth are placed inside of acrylic display case. The display case is big enough to hold both, and also has a steel mesh air vent on top.
- Minihearth is connected directly into a wet violin with a tube. Why wet violin? I don't know. I have heard they love wet wood. I'm not sure.. Does it make sense?
- Few contact piezo mics are attached on the body of violin.
- Those audio signals collected from the mics go through audio circuits and play sound on the speakers outside.
 
I was impressed by this guy's work but those are the ants that stridulate.
I'm not sure carpenter ants also stridulate. But I know for sure they make sounds when they bite on woods.
 
To be able to successfully realize my idea, I need them to avidly play and bite with the wood material inside of violin. How?
 
Any criticism, idea, advice, all welcome.
 
Thank you for reading!

 

Ok umm... A lot of this makes sad. First thing, I guess. Why use a violin!? I'm a violinist and even if it's a cheap violin why would you do that!? The poor violin!  Second thing. I believe that some parts of the violin are toxic if consumed? I'm not 100% sure if everything on a violin is non-toxic, I only play the violin.  I also think that violin is WAY too big for you colony of CA02.

 

 

Thank you for your comment! I wanted to use violin because of its acoustic structure that is built to resonate better than regular plywood.

 

It's awesome that you play violin and I am sorry if my idea made you feel bad!

 

Oh and I haven't thought of that part. Thank you for your mentioning. I definitely should take that in consideration too if I am doing it.

And yeah, as most of the guys said above, now I am well aware that violin is too big for my tiny colony. But thank you for your advice!

 

It's ok if it's cheap. There have been cases though of people finding that a violin was made from plywood though. So, I'd be a little cautious if I were you. Here's a link to a video opening up a $100 amazon violin and how the top plate was plywood. I open up the 100 dollar violin - YouTube

 

Oh, sorry I didn't chose to go with violin bc of its material specifically, but its body structure. It's clearly different between the sound of tapping the body of violin and the sound of tapping a plate of plywood. Because Violin's body (or any acoustical instruments' bodies) are designed to resonate and project richer and better sound to human ears. Material would definitely affect the quality of sound, but that was not my focus. But anyways, all of these don't matter anymore haha. I came up with a new idea!

Check that out and leave a comment if you have time to spare! Thank you!

[ANTdrew]

Much better idea.

[Manitobant]

Instead of harming the violin, practice 40 hours a day! I can guarentee that it will be fun.

Yeah this experiment is super sacrilegious