Spiders are the only web developers that enjoy finding bugs in their systems.

I’d genuinely *love* to know why the ‘obvious’ answer to “how big should the web be?” is “eight feet. duh.” I love this guy.

I had a spider build a web in my window inside my bedroom. Sometimes moths would get in through the poor seal between the ac unit and the window frame, so I figured I'd let the little guy help me out. I remember watching it rebuild the web one night as I was waiting to fall asleep, and it would move around to each of the radial strands and give two quick tugs as if checking the tension. It was pretty cool to watch, but now I am thinking I was seeing it tuning its instrument. Cool video!

Finally a spot for this Alexander Pope quote I've had stashed in my brain for forty years: "The spider's touch how exquisitely fine! Feels at each thread and lives along the line."

I love when nerdy people are excited to show what they’re learning and researching. You can tell how happy this guy is to share

That 8 feet joke went over my head for a full minute and 20 seconds

It seems that having a web that is not perfectly symmetrical would make it easier for a spider to determine exactly where every vibration comes from (as every individual length of string would be unique) and for a musician to identify the different keys/notes.

My husband and I were lucky enough to be in the crowd at Emerson that afternoon, and though I am 110% terrified of spiders (and thus did not appreciate the extreme, horrifying close-ups in this segment), it was a super-cool experience. The science and engineering behind this project are fascinating. Thank you, Tom & Jane Johns, for hosting this wonderful event!

It’s a cross between a harp and a steel drum. You might look at how steel drums are played too, having played both.

Simplify your model using the circle of fifths dropping octaves as you journey out along the pie wedges. It will make it much easier to play and you'll always be able to stay in key.

my little heart just overflowed with love..what humanity is is right there, our potential, our art, maybe even ways to communicate with those on our planet and those we've still to meet...we can be amazing.

Hmmm, I'm intrigued. I think there's something worth exploring in this as a musical instrument concept, but it would probably have to leave the "spider" itself behind. The biggest source for the slow response here is that this isn't ACTUALLY a musical instrument. It's a MIDI instrument being played by a computer simulation of a spider brain, based on input from a physically simulated web. One could do many many rounds of continuous improvement of the "spider brain" model to make it faster and more accurate, as they clearly already have begun, and turn it into a decent MIDI interface. Or, they could remove the spider entirely and make a web-like layout where each string section independently registers to a midi action, turning it into a unique "keyboard" of sorts, a string variant of the growing multitude of midi instruments available. OR... one could explore possible "acoustic" variants of the web itself. I really want to see what this would look and SOUND like if you attempted to base the web on the harmonic series. Like, could you build the "rays" from piano wire, or rigid spring steel or wood, and the "spiral" from guitar strings or harp strings? How could you tune it? Could you move the connection points as well as tighten/loosen the tension? Would you need straight or curved rays? Could you have more than one spiral-string? Would it need to be diatonic, or could you have a chromatic or even microtonal version (that didn't sound like crap)? Would the spiral string even work, or would you need multiple individual strings (making it strictly a harp with an alternative layout)? Could you play it from the side like a concert or lap harp, or would it always be too large to reach? There's also a large potential hole in this entire concept, both musically and biologically: Actual spider webs aren't this tight. The archetypal orb-weaver web that this resembles is closer to a cargo net than a harp: it's got slack in it. Relatively speaking, of course. If you just built a cargo net that you could sit in the middle of, you could easily tell if a smaller person or even animal hopped onto it, and where they were on it. You could feel the shift in balance and tension, and especially the continuous movement and figure out where it was all coming from, without the benefit of millions of years of hyperspecialized evolution. So, the TYPE of vibration, the mode of vibration might not be the mechanism at work at all, making this NOT useful inspiration for a musical instrument either.

Fascinating. Spiders survive on 'vibrations' which create sound.. anyone do a deep think on this.. 'Spider Music' and how Nature, again and again seems to have some sort of music to it. BioInspiration is an awesome endeavor. I love the research going on about spider silk.

Being able to write a melody as an octagonal shape is a really neat idea. Actually I guess it would need to be septagonal. I wonder how they handled the eigth side on the web.

I suspect most people watching this video would think, "What a callosal waste of time and money." As a musician, I think of how many discussions my son-in-law and I have had about the very aspects of physics you mentioned in this video. He's a physic professor at the local collect and we both play guitar. Thanks to extensive research, there has been great progress in my lifetime in the manufacture of guitar strings. Thank you so much for sharing this info and letting us know how we can also learn much from the insects.

Playing Hurt, Clair de Lune, and Creep...dude has range! Well done!

Reminds me of how the first Moog synthesizer was actually a scientific experimental machine on sound wave manipulation.

One big problem though: the prey doesn't "pluck" the spiral silk, it sticks to it. Moreover, the way the stretchy silk works, its vibrations are extremely dampened even if you manage to pluck them without sticking; they only do about 3 full oscillations before stopping. This is because the "stretchy" silk doesn't actually stretch; instead it spools inside the tiny droplets placed along its length, which pull the silk inside with surface tension (a sort of reverse capillary action), and the apparent "stretching" is mostly just unspooling of these silk balls inside droplets. This mechanism dissipates a lot of energy, and the oscillation dies out very quickly as a result.

Now they should try and figure out the sound of a male spider when its beating rhythmically on the females web in hopes for a receptive mate. Is it random? would equate to something we would consider musical?

You can bet someone out there is improving the Web Harp! Very cool!

Very cool looking, but I'm pretty sure it's a MIDI controller at this point right? Would be amazing to see a functional acoustic version, although I'm sure engineering tension and tuning on something like that is a nightmare.

This was a thought I had after a bad experience with personal energy and health I woke up one morning after a few months of bad living and bad attitude, to the sight of a BLACK WIDOW nesting right by my face between my pillow and the wall! I flipped out.. after I came back to reality through a couple arachnaphyleptic fits, I wondered (after I destroyed the house and killed a mad spider), how would a black widow web sound compared to a fine tuned orb weaver web? NOW I KNOW. The strangest part is where I thought about it again an hour before I clicked on this video! Pluck a string on a web if you're brave enough... pluck another.... see what happens.... go ahead, play a swan song, that's what all spider prey do when they get caught....

This is beautiful. Science, engineering and music. Things that can really unite people. Not divisive topics like religion, sports or politics. Lovely video! Thanks ❤!!

A few months ago I witnessed a very small spider building a web in my bathroom. It actually seemed kinda big, it went from my door to halfway to my sink, along the bottom of the wall to the floor. We did have a fly problem so I let it be, but more importantly geckos sometimes moved into the house to keep the spiders in check. Anyway, I observed the spider would sometimes make the anchor strings, then go back to weave the web itself, then back to anchor. As it made the anchor it would walk some distance along the ground with a leg in the air, reach a point then tap a leg on the opposite side, onto the floor, then walk back, rinse and repeat. I can't tell if it simply grew up or got taken over, but a week later I saw a larger spider in its place.

As someone who has often been intrigued by the multitude of "visual" patterns that emerge from the guitar fret board, as well as the patterns that may emerge from a riff in the scale I find this octagonal fret board quite intriguing. As an IT professional and programmer I also find this quite thought provoking in the sense of the emergence of entropy or patterns from the underlying mathematical algorithms expressed through graphic visualizations. > The spider "sees" or visualizes via the sound pitch and direction. This has similarities to studies that I have looked over where engineers developed a system of 2D sound that the brain of a visually impaired person can re-interpret as form of spatial awareness or pseudo sight. In time the visual center of brain will begin to overlay a pictographic expression of that spacial awareness with colour, shades and depth. Some of this original study and the engineering drew from medical information about the cross over between the visual and audio centers of persons under the influence of LSD. I also believe their is a critter that hunts in the water at night using "audio echo" feedback similar to bats, but the physical string idea is quite different; more direct. > To extrapolate this idea to the extreme, we can imagine the universe as a web or mesh of fine strings, except instead of just sensing information from a point on the web the information could also be sent to converge at a single point in the web or mesh from which a particle may emerge from that point in the wave function. Most novel and impressive idea I have seen in a very long time. Thank you posting a video explanation on this :)

That rendition of Hurt was something unique. Also totally agree about that "giving melodies a shape" thing. Very cool, shame I never thought of it this way before.

" SPIDER HARP " Rocks! Let me know if you guys need a drummer.

Very cool! Spiders and music are two of my biggest passions so fantastic to see the two join forces! Also was that 'Hurt' by NIN?! Nice job!!

There are already existing midi devices that can connect with your acoustic guitar to play a synthesizer module. This however is a much more sophisticated setup but it uses the same principle. Much harder still, is having to deal with the latency between vibration made from acoustic components into digital. This was a most educational and inspiring presentation!❤❤❤❤❤

Fascinating! I know a lot of hard work and collaboration went into this project!

I never thought I would hear Debussy played on a spider web. Wow!

this is a very interesting development. how very human to have a desire to understand one of our co-habitants on the planet and then go on to build a device that someone else found could be a musical instrument. ( 05:56 kudos to the camera person who saw and then captured the notes resonating in the glass of wine)

Got caught in web today It seems that I'm the meal I'm someone else's gain The folly of this deal The spider weaves a whirl A coiled silken thing Try to flee and fly away But I have tender, tiny wings What will I become? My feet go limp Emptied but a shell Drained of my haemolymph And you will have your fill My entire gut I get swallowed down I am not enough

Typical Oregon development. Weird but in a fun and endearing way 😉

That Chopin piece at the music instrument competition seemed like a really good piece for the instrument :)

The added natural benefit of the spider web is that the closer the target is to the center the higher pitched the sound. So it also works as a threat alert system for proximity

Damn, Hurt on a Spider’s web? Intriguingly powerful. Just when you think you couldn’t elevate something like Cash did, something unique like this comes along. Would love to see Reznor’s reaction to this. ❤

I feel like there's a bit of a missed opportunity regarding this instrument and and how it's displayed / experienced by the audience. I thought the whole point of the experiment was to try and experience the world the way that the spider does. Wouldn't it make sense to put speakers all around the audience or the person playing the instrument and have sounds corresponding to where it's coming from playing from the speakers in that actual Direction? Everyone listening can feel closer or farther away from wherever the sound is happening as if they're sitting in the web

This is why I love the internet, learning and seeing new things!

"The clear answer was eight feet, but..." I paused the video ten seconds later and groaned.

Fascinating. Could be useful for improving Acoustic Speaker and Microphone Diaphragm designs. Thanks

That statement about shape and octave sound like proximity detection

I'm going to turn my dining table into a piano. this way I'll get notified with a tune every time food is ready.

I have always remembered when my grandmother told me never to kill a spider because they control other pests. I have found that if their web is in my way that I can ask the spider to move the web and they will. Truly.

I had this idea for years now but it would use a dream catcher weave instead. I was thinking of using guitar strings and pickups.

I believe it, sometimes when I walk into a web that I've seen a big spider in, I feel like screaming 😱. Silk is one of the strongest.

That man was born to play the spider-web, so wholesome

🤯 this is incredible research! 🔬 An acoustic-analog version of this instrument using stretched guitar strings that are soldered / would be mind blowing! Honestly! Add a differential make it off-center! Woah it’s beautiful! ❤ if you make it off-center you’ll have more variation in sound! Absolutely cool!

This is incredible! Spiders are so beautiful. I live in Oregon, so if you play in my area, I will drop bt to hear the spider harp.

What an interesting idea! Definitely need to string it with actual nylon harp string filaments & wrapped wire strings for the bass notes. That would be awesome! Some suggested piano wire but the sustain would be too long & the sound would be muddy (I know this b/c have a wire-strung harp). Thanks for sharing.

Hey, my sister is in the field that this guy is! She also studies the movement of animals to try and better robotics/human prosthetics. It's awesome to see this engineering used to cross over into more of my side of things (the arts)!

I’m blown away by this concept. Great engineering minds.

Can't wait for the Eddie Van Halen of the Spider Harp!

Interesting. I knew about spiders "hearing" movement in their web with their legs already, from somewhere I don't remember... But a spider's web as a musical instrument, that reawakens very old childhood memories. In the children's tv-series "Kleiner König Kalle Wirsch" from the 1970's ( see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleiner_König_Kalle_Wirsch ), every time the little king meets a spider's web, he sings his song, accompanying himself by strumming the net - which sounds a bit like a guitar, but who cares ( see kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rcmAmsZnkqqykas.html )

This is the kinda stuff that makes life worth living, thanks

Love how excited both of these guys are!

I love this. I play drums with a free improvisational quintet, and one of our musicians is a Foley Artist. We make a lot of homemade instruments and this would fit right in. Are the pitches accurate to the physics of the instrument, or are you being creative with the tuning?

I want to play that web!

"So... you're a web designer?" I recognized him playing Clair de Lune and Hurt.

Nice work! Inspiring and fascinating.

Love me some Oregon weirdness 😊

I feel like this is something Rob Scallon could play.

Not playing the Spider Dance from Undertale on this thing should be recognised as treason.

Mmmm. I looove my spider friends ❤❤❤ I have orb weavers all over my yard and I check on them every day. I have gotten to see them so some amazing things with their webs. So magical.

Webs are not this musical. Definitely not in the western 12 tone chromatic scale.😂🍻

What?!?! Different sized strings make different pitches? We have to tell people about this! I don't think anyone else knows!!!!

This design is actually really scientifically brilliant yet beautiful.

I want to see an animated short that tracks the spider and its prey on the web using this method for the background music detailing the interaction. No dialouge, just music and tension.

this is like a comic book character origin story

Them: What instrument do you play? Him: The Spiderweb. Ngl, I love spiderharp.

This is like a harp version of the Piano Spiral I came up with (there's a playlist in my channel) as a way to visualize music by wrapping piano keys around. The "shape" of the melody he describes makes some very interesting patterns.

Spiders are musicians!!! That's so dope

I love the web instrument. I really hope it gets a following and grows.

This is really cool!

6:42 NIN / Cash song "Hurt" ! Great project, and video.

It be really cool if different wedges had different sound profiles

You should name it "The Arachne Harp"

I love spiders AND engineering. I hope the algorithm gives me more stuff like this :)

I made something very close to this a while back(2009ish?), but used springs (outer web lines) and wire (central lines). It was never very in tune, or very… accurate… but… hey, it was a thing haha. So fun to see someone else go down the same route and find a fully new answer, and one that sounds far better haha

Very cool!

the new technology is in how this 'harp' only uses 8 sensors (the spider legs) to detect all 80 different notes, instead of putting one sensor in every string note

Somebody's gonna copy this thing now & start playing metal on it... I can't wait to hear what they come up with...

Freaking Awesome!!! 💗💗💗

IS NOBODY GONNA COMMENT THAT THIS DUDE DID THE MOST GOTH THING EVER PLAYING HURT BY NINE INCH NAILS ON A FREGGIN SPIDER HARP?

What an absolutely whimsical little octoagon i'll take 4

Millions of spiders have subsequently been inspired to create their own music.

I need to try this

Beautiful work! 🕷🕸🙂

I just noticed the spider harp is held together with zip ties. 😆... And yet, it sounds beautiful.

The algorithm has been mercilessly recommending me this video for like 6 months. Geeze, I'll watch you, just leave me alone 😂

If I understand correctly, the sound is synthetically produced, so you could tune this harp to be fully chromatic, especially if it can distinguish the sections between radials. I'm not clear on how exactly it's tuned as is tbh. Also, now I'll be singing "Spider-Harp" to the Spider-Man song all day, so thanks.

You are awesome

He played Hurt by nine inch nails. 6:37 . Very cool.

This is so cool!

❤❤❤❤❤GORGICAL 🥰Thanks 4 your brilliance, beautifully crafted +Sound that STUN & NOT just ONE.

Great project .!

Great video! Very interesting!

Now i wonder if the design in the middle of an orb weavers web is more like the tuning of the web. I always assumed it was for added support. My mind is blown right now.

Very interesting

I didn't expect for this video to blow my mind like this. I must share something every pertinent to the topic. I am a person who has or "sees" a color-shape for each note. In my years of trying research and understand my perceptions, went down a great rabbit hole, applying color-theory, neuro-psychology, and even the Vedic Chakra systems to my work. This led to my "Theory of Pitch Psychology." One of my inventions was a keyboard shaped in the form of a periodic table of elements. Except the elements are replaced note-color-shapes. And it's all harmonic. Stacks in perfect 5ths, and generated major and minor keys naturally wherever once connected a triangle. What struck me about his instrument is its octagonal shape. My keyboard uses the hexagon (6 sides), but its still reflecting of a radial geometry being applied to music. I have some ideas to add to this instrument. And also curious about specific frequencies generated by the different spiders, and if they prefer A432Hz tuning over standardized A440Hz tuning reference! Inviting Oregon Public Broadcasting to see some of my work here on this subject. Thank you for sharing this amazing videos with the public.