technabob » audiocubes

percussa audiocubes make beautiful music together

technabob — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:27:08 +0000

You might play electronic music on synthesizers, drum machines, key-tars and guit-boards, but how many of you can claim you’ve jammed out with a set of cubes?

AudioCubes are designed to be played in live performances, and let you control sounds by manipulating the position, angles and relationships between the palm-sized cubes.

Not to be confused with gadget shop with the same name, Percussa’s AudioCubes are actually cubes. Designed as a reinvention of other devices like trigger pads, knobs, and other sound manipulation controllers, these colorful little boxes can actually pass a ton of control information to your computer or other MIDI device.

Each 3-inch cube uses infrared sensors to both influence its own sounds and to transmit data wirelessly between each other. While you can make music with just one cube, to 100 cubes can work in harmony if you really want to go crazy.

The cubes ship with a collection of software from Percussa that makes it easy to use them as MIDI controllers, and to control VST plug-ins, letting you use them with popular digital audio workstations like Abelton Live and Steinberg Cubase.

And if you’re interested in going off the beaten path, each AudioCube actually has it’s own sound generator built-in, which lets you connect them directly to a mixer, and push out some truly odd machine-generated sounds.

This introductory video gives you a really good idea of how these little guys work:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Or if you just want to cut past the mind-numbing instructional video and see and hear the cubes in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Prices for AudioCubes start at €219 (appx. $299 USD), but there are substantial discounts for purchasing multiples. You can find info more over at the Percussa shop.

[via Core77 via The Awesomer]

gais lisire 2.1 aluminum speakers are totally tubular

technabob — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:32:12 +0000

Looking for some compact speakers that don’t look like all the others? Then check out this funky aluminum audio system from Gais.

The Gais Lisire Series 020 is a complete 2.1 channel sound system featuring distinct cylindrical styling. The Lisire’s aluminum covered ported subwoofer tube measures about 12-inches wide and is flanked by a pair of matching round satellite speakers.

The sub is powered by a built-in 6-watt amp, while the satellites output 2.5-watts per channel. While that certainly won’t rattle any windows, it’s probably just fine for a small bookshelf stereo or to provide sound for your PC.

Initially available only in Japan, the system is now being brought to the states by gadget importer AudioCubes for $199.99.

toyo i-lit led speakers mesmerize with hypnotic colors

technabob — Sat, 12 May 2007 03:33:40 +0000

These desktop speakers feature a really trippy psychedelic colored light show to accompany your tunes.

AudioCubes has imported the Toyo i-Lit TwinSpin Speakers from Japan, and they’re unlike any other speakers I’ve seen. While they won’t exactly blow your eardrums with just 1-watt per channel, the TwinSpins will blow your mind your with a wild pattern of LED colors that pulsates to the beat of the music. They’re $69 a pair and available now.