Science and Art

I like seeing science but this pendulum device has a sonic accompaniment which so closely represents the visual I had to share it. Below is the You Tube video description by the person who skillfully added the audio part, Cleveland, Ohio musician and composer Dan Trante:

When I came across this video http://youtu.be/yVkdfJ9PkRQ -- designed by Richard Berg and modeled/built by James Flaten and Kevin Parendo -- I noticed a resulting polyrhythm (51 against 52 against 53 against 54 ... against 65).
I built a Max/MSP patch to recreate that polyrhythm and tried my best to visually align it with the video (it's just a tiny bit off). If you mentally superimpose a wall on the right side of the pendulum, the balls should strike that 'wall' on every swing. The shorter string (faster swinging) balls correspond to higher notes and vice versa. (Dan Trante)