Wren DeSalvo's Teletele Is a Clever CRT Synth Played Like a Chunky Ukulele
A sensor-laden neck turns touch into video signals, played through a portable CRT TV and picked up by a guitar amplifier.
Maker and musician Wren DeSalvo has built a ukulele with a difference: the Teletele is an electromagnetic synth, turning the waves emitted from a compact cathode-ray tube TV into audible tones.
"It all started with a Japanese YouTube video," DeSalvo explains of the project's origins. "Electronicos Fantasticos was an experimentalist music group, and they specialized in making electronics into instruments. One such instrument was a guitar-like device made with a CRT television, and the moment I heard it I knew I had to have my own. I scoured every bit of content they had on the device, searched their site, and delved down the research rabbit hole."
At the end of that rabbit hole, which took DeSalvo on a two-year journey of experimentation, was the Teletele — a synthesizer built into a ukulele-style form factor. "[Electronicos Fantasticos'] first prototype used buttons for strings, dozens of buttons," DeSalvo wriets. "A newer version operates off variable sensors, and i chose to pursue that."
While the group had shared performances, details on exactly how the devices worked and what was hiding inside were unavailable — leaving DeSalvo implementing the signal processing on an Arduino Mega microcontroller board, chosen for easy expansion should the prototypes grow in the future. The iconic heart of the system, though, remains the portable TV at its base — an unusual choice of hardware to find in an instrument.
"The whole code revolves around ToneAC," DeSalvo explains. "The artist presses a sensor, or string, and the information is given to the Arduino. The Arduino maps the sensor to a range of programmable notes, and the the note being pressed is converted into a video signal. Different notes result in different thickness and spacing of black bars on the screen.
"When the note is played on the screen, electromagnetic waves are sent out from the CRT, and picked up by hovering a guitar amp's input next to the screen. Wavering the input affects the volume and intensity. It operates a bit more like a synthesizer than a ukulele, but I love the blend that it is!"
More information on the project is available in DeSalvo's Reddit post.