Russolo divided the single types into categories, which names strongly reminded of archaic instruments of the darkness: the Howler, the Buzzer, the Breaker, the Whistler and the Gurgler.

Played live, the noise must have been particularly irritating. "Stop it!", shouted the London audience and a critic compared the noises with the humping of a steamboat. A 90 year old ear-witness still remembers the concert very well and describes the music as "funny belching sounds" and "like a farting battleship".
But it hasn't been very loud, as far as he can remember. <