Entrepreneur makes fire dance to the beat

A new $15,000 device from Live Spark makes fire dance to the beat of music.

(Credit: Live Spark)

Updated at 12:03 p.m.: To correct that Arc Attack did not synchronize music to its tesla coils.

Just in time for Maker Faire, I read in the San Francisco Chronicle this morning that a local fire artist has created a revolutionary machine: a fire pit, from a company called Live Spark, designed to make flames dance to the beat of music.

According to the Chronicle, Brett Levine--not surprisingly, a Burning Man and Maker Faire artist, as well as a former software entrepreneur--has begun selling his so-called "Fire 2.0," a $15,000 device that has gotten Las Vegas hotels and clubs hot and bothered over the prospect of entertaining their guests with synchronized dancing fire.

"Think of the illuminated bars on your stereo's graphic equalizer. Now imagine them on fire (links to video)," the Chronicle reports. "Algorithms analyze music in the room, even specific instruments, and send signals to the gas lines that rapidly open and close a series of valves to 100 different positions up to 30 times per second."

Now, I've seen some pretty amazing fire art in my day, but I'm guessing for your average Vegas visitor, this would be something they've never encountered before. And that's why, the Chronicle reports, Vegas hot spots are lining up to talk to Levine and his business partner about getting Live Spark hooked up.

This, of course, reminds me of some other artists that time visual art to the beat of music: Arc Attack, an Austin, Texas, group that uses the electricity from a pair of tesla coils to produce music.

Still, fire definitely has a primal attraction for a lot of people, and I can certainly see why Las Vegas would want to bring some of the magic that good fire art generates to its visitors. Now, as the economy continues to falter, Vegas' elders just need to figure out how to get those visitors to actually, you know, visit.

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[ccr07]

I don't know when this guy developed this, but they have had one of these machines at the Physics Department at Florida State University for a number of years now. A professor created and developed it. I'm pretty sure this guy is not the first to create these although good for him for making some money off the idea.

[monkeyfun14]

Its really such a simple concept probably pretty cheap to produce I don't even think its worth $15,000 from a technical standpoint.

[AeroJonesy]

This was on an episode of Mythbusters, too.

[Bytrat]

I beleive the Mythbusters episode dealt with a different way of using fire - a speaker inside a propane supplied tube with numerous holes drilled into the tube. Where as this uses individually controlled valves supplying the gas fueled flames.

[ikramerica--2008]

Yeah, watching the video, this is really, really not very difficult. It's all about the precision controlled valve. But otherwise, each valve is just hooked up to a controller chip that would translate either a digital or analog scale to a level of valve opening operating at 60Hz (read once, rest once, thirty times a second) rather than a number LEDs or LCD bars on a meter. Beyond that, it's simply like any other graphic equalizer display, splitting sound waves into frequency bands, fed with a microphone.

My guess is there is already a patent for this out there...

[trimeta]

Using separate valves for each jet of flame, rather than a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruben%27s_Tube">Ruben's tube</a> to exploit physics to do your job for you? Weak.

[gapeJawed]

Nothing new here. Search youtube for Ruben's Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnMDrv8Mx3E

[mrobmsu]

"Fire art"? Isn't this just dancing flames? Art. . .hmmm. . . .

[MoonlitKnight]

Daniel Terdiman is mistaken in asserting that Austin, Texas based Arc Attack synchronizes its music with the output of giant Tesla Coils. The Coils are used to create sound and are used as musical instruments.

[cidman2001]

Daniel...are you New England-phobic? You should visit....we have lots of cool stuff!

[walshie69]

WHO CARES REALLY???

[play7]

agreed! what you expect from the writer of this? He not the smartest around let alone the knowing of what good and what is not.

[Michichael]

/golfclap

I propose instead that you give me funding to make a micro black-hole version of this. Wouldn't be too hard, just a magnetic containment particle accelerator...