LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER Takes the Compton Organ for a Punk Science Spin

Cracking Open the Compton: Tone Wheels Unleashed

LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER kicks things off by dragging the Compton organ’s electrostatic tone wheels into the harsh light of day, showing us just how bonkers this old tech really is. Forget polite organ recitals—this beast is all spinning discs, relays, and a mess of contacts, looking more like something you’d find in a scrapyard than a cathedral. The setup’s been hacked to work with MIDI, so you can plug in whatever modern nonsense you fancy and make it squeal.

He’s nearly finished cobbling together a new circuit board to midify the console, but as always, it’s more complicated than it looks—classic LMNC style. There’s a sense of relentless tinkering here, with the promise of more chaos to come once the next batch of solder fumes clears. If you’re expecting a clean, clinical teardown, you’re in the wrong pub.

Instead, we get a proper look at the guts of the tone wheel—one of those moments where you realise just how much blood, sweat, and questionable wiring went into these machines. It’s a love letter to British engineering at its most eccentric, and LMNC’s hands-on approach is as raw as ever.

From Pipe Dreams to Electrostatic Nightmares: The Compton Organ’s Twisted History

The video takes a sharp left into the murky past of the Compton organ, and it’s a tale as tangled as a box of old patch cables. Founded in 1902, the John Compton Organ Company started out making pipe organs before getting the itch for electronic wizardry in the 1930s. That’s when things got truly weird—Compton’s crew began experimenting with the melaton, a monstrous disc-based contraption that tried to squeeze all the notes onto a single spinning slab. It was meant to sit alongside the pipe organ, but soon enough, the electrostatic tone wheels we’re gawping at today took centre stage.

LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER doesn’t just rattle off dates—he digs into a document by Hugh Banton, a bloke who not only played in Van der Graaf Generator but also engineered for the company. This isn’t your usual dry history lesson; it’s full of oddball details, like the shift from massive, unwieldy machines to smaller, more manageable tone wheels. The evolution is painted as a series of mad experiments, with each new iteration just a little less likely to electrocute you (but only just).

We also get a glimpse into the minds behind the madness—engineers obsessed with logic circuits and discrete components, always chasing the next big breakthrough. It’s a story of relentless British innovation, fuelled by tea, stubbornness, and a willingness to try anything once. The Compton organ’s journey from pipe-powered behemoth to electrostatic oddity is as punk as it gets, and LMNC’s storytelling keeps it all buzzing with energy.

"To receive a tiny audio output, just a few millivolts, and this level falls off alarmingly at lower frequencies."

© Screenshot/Quote: Lookmumnocomputer (YouTube)

Radio Waves and Dodgy Experiments: Swapping DC for AC

Here’s where things get properly unhinged. Instead of sticking with the usual 400-500 volts of DC that would make any health and safety officer weep, LMNC decides to pump a high-frequency AC signal—about 150 kilohertz—into the electrostatic generator. Why? Because someone once wondered if it’d work better, and that’s all the excuse you need in this workshop.

He walks us through the logic: the original setup is a low-capacitance nightmare, with loads of voltage going in and barely a squeak of audio coming out. But swap in a radio-frequency sine wave, and suddenly you’re getting output levels that don’t make you want to cry. It’s like discovering your battered old amp sounds better when you run it through a toaster.

The experiment itself is gloriously slapdash—crocodile clips everywhere, wires twisted together, and a function generator doing its best impression of a pirate radio station. The result? A waveform that actually responds to the spinning tone wheel, and a setup that’s a lot less likely to fry your fingers. It’s DIY science at its most chaotic, and I’m here for every second of it.

Efficiency Overdrive: Squeezing More Juice from the Tone Wheels

"You get near a hundred percent efficiency all the way down to very low frequencies."

© Screenshot/Quote: Lookmumnocomputer (YouTube)

Now comes the bit where LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER shows us how this AC trickery isn’t just a mad idea—it actually works. By running the high-frequency carrier through the tone wheel and then demodulating it with a DIY radio receiver circuit, he manages to pull a much stronger signal out of the ancient hardware. The whole thing is like a dodgy kebab: messy, a bit suspect, but surprisingly satisfying when you bite in.

He explains the radio principles at play—amplitude modulation, carrier frequencies, and the joys of germanium diodes (less voltage drop, more punk points). The setup is noisy as hell, but you can hear the tone wheel’s output loud and clear once everything’s patched together. There’s a lot of fiddling with tuning capacitors, coils, and test oscillators, all in search of that elusive clean signal.

The results are undeniable: the output is beefier, the efficiency is through the roof, and the whole process feels like a proper hack. LMNC even manages to mix octaves and add volume controls, proving that this isn’t just a one-off stunt. Sure, there’s still background noise and plenty of room for improvement, but the core idea is solid. It’s a proper punk upgrade to a bit of British organ history, and it leaves you wondering why no one tried this sooner.

Circuit Mayhem: Building, Breaking, and Bodging

If you thought things were getting tidy, think again. The video dives into the nitty-gritty of building and troubleshooting new circuits, and it’s a glorious mess. LMNC’s bench is a battlefield—wires everywhere, hot glue guns blazing, and the ever-present threat of frying an Arduino just for laughs. There’s a real sense of trial and error here, with each new tweak bringing fresh chaos and the occasional small victory.

He adds volume knobs, ground buses, and even ropes in an Arduino to drive a random motor, all in pursuit of a more controllable, less lethal setup. The process is anything but smooth—motors spin wonky, tables get cluttered, and the odd expletive hangs in the air. But that’s the beauty of it: this is DIY at its most honest, with all the setbacks and bodges left in for us to enjoy.

Despite the carnage, progress is made. The circuits get neater, the noise gets tamed (a bit), and the dream of a fully functional, voltage-controlled Compton organ inches closer. It’s a reminder that real innovation is messy, noisy, and occasionally held together with nothing but hope and hot glue.

Stay Tuned: The Saga Continues

As the video winds down, LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER makes it clear that this is just the beginning. There’s a laundry list of improvements to tackle—better oscillators, beefier carrier signals, improved demodulators, and a motor drive circuit that won’t make you want to scream. He’s not converting the whole organ (that’d be sacrilege), but the experiments will keep rolling, with plenty of updates promised for Patreon supporters.

If you’re hungry for more circuit carnage and vintage synth weirdness, keep your eyes peeled for future instalments. LMNC’s blend of chaos, curiosity, and sheer bloody-mindedness is the perfect antidote to boring gear demos. The Compton organ’s not obsolete yet—not with this geezer at the controls.