LCD monitor reads hits

Previously, it was not uncommon to place an AM radio near a computer or monitor and deliberately cause interference to have a crude form of sound generation. Did you miss that? Nope! Thanks to [luambfb] you can now do the same with a common LCD screen. You will need the horizontal refresh rate of the monitor in question.

Of course, doing this is a bit less interesting than learning how it works. The effect relies on the fact that LCD screens emit signals when they refresh a line. A black line emits relatively little energy while a white line emits more. Grayscale… well, you get the idea.

The software uses an input file that allows you to compose your own songs. There is a fixed number of beats per minute and a set of notes and rests encoded in a text file. The project borrowed ideas from an older project known as Tempest for Eliza which you can see in the video below (there's also a video of that project on her page).

Tempest, of course, comes from the term for reading data on a monitor using these signals, which is possible, but difficult. Although it may seem like a modern problem, its origins date back to World War II.