Drawdio, Drawing Music

Who could imagine you could draw musical instruments on normal paper with any pencil and then play them with your finger?

It is an electronic pencil that lets you make music while you draw. Their analog synthesizer circuits that strap to any soft-leaded pencil, and let you crank out electronic sounds while you sketch. The kit takes advantage of the conductive properties of the graphite in the pencil lead, and produces a veritable cacophony of sounds as you put pencil to paper.

The Drawdio circuit is made from fifteen parts including a circuit board, capacitors, ceramic capacitors, resistors, transistors, a timer chip, a speaker, copper foil tape, a thumbtack, wire, and of course, a pencil. You start by drawing a line, then put your finger on one end and, as you continue sketching, all manner of strange 50s-sci-fi bleeps and warbles are produced. The reason being is that people are conductors of electricity and if you touch the end of the pencil’s graphite or both sides of the pencil where the copper tape is placed, you are completing the circuit which allows the electricity to flow through you body and make the pencil work.

Rest of the project