OneTesla: Tesla Coil as a Musical Instrument

Unfortunately, it was not possible to embed a video with the presentation. If anything, here it is .

The OneTesla is a small Tesla coil connected via a MIDI port and playing music with electrical discharges. The device itself, which is about 25 centimeters high, can produce lightning up to half a meter long. This unit can make a good show and surprise your friends with a musical plasma. All device specifications are open and available along with the assembly instructions on the project website .

How does she play music?

The human ear perceives sound waves anywhere from 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz, while the device resonates at a frequency of 230 kHz, which greatly exceeds the maximum sound frequency heard by humans. But you can turn on and off the discharges exactly with the frequency with which we hear the sound we need.
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Brief specifications

Parameter	Value
Primary coil	6 turns, radius 88.9mm, 1.6mm wire (14 AWG )
Secondary coil	65mm x 254mm, 0.127mm wire (36 AWG ), 1800 turns
Capacitor	CDE 940C30S68K, 0.068μF@3000V
Toroid	200mm x 50mm covered in foil
Resonance frequency	~ 230 kHz
Inverter	Half-bridge based on IGBT transistors FGA60N65SMD, 340 volts
Pulse duration	50 μs at 1 kHz, 150 μs at 50 Hz)
Maximum discharge length	58 cm
MK circuit breaker	ATmega328P-PU

Appearance of the device

Little about the principle of operation

The driver card is connected to the household electrical network, powering the entire device. It also receives an optical (to protect the delicate audio electronics from high voltage) signal from the interrupter board.

Appearance of the driver board
A MIDI device is connected to the circuit board based on the ATmega328P-PU microcontroller, the signal from which is converted by the microcontroller into a set of pulses that turn on and off the generation of discharges. By the way, the interrupter is polyphonic (it can play two notes at a time) and with a knob that adjusts the power.