Well… hm, I based the sound cannon loosely on [cymatics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84359240&x-yt-ts=1421782837&v=sThS9OfnM1s). The idea is that sound manipulates magical energy (like the neutral one I had or several different elemental totems), forming patterns that pass through a series of shapes formed by fliters/lens in the cannon’s muzzle. I could adjust its theory to be more like this:

The totems present in the machine are the filters contained in its muzzle. They work much like shutters to form a series of patterns at will. When vibrated by certain frequencies, they produce magical energy in the form of elements. Thus far, only three patterns (or filters) have been discovered to form totemic energy when exposed to sound. Because sound has to be channeled through several different filters (or layers of a totem), the filters are both delicate and thin, forming a bridge of thirty shutters/filters inside of the muzzle.

Does that idea work for the theory and description of the totems? If you’re not happy with the idea of Adele having three different elements to use at will, I can also alter the description to require extremely complex filtering (or totems) for each element, which would require switching the filters out between battles.