Technabob » moog

MiniMoog Synth Sofa Doesn’t Oscillate When You Sit on It

Technabob — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:30:53 +0000

Attention, electronic musicians! Have I got a piece of furniture for you. What you’re looking at here is the MiniWoouf Sofa, designed to look just like the classic analog MiniMoog synth.

The MiniWoouf sofa was designed by Barcelona, Spain design shop Woouf!, and is a dead ringer for the original synthesizer, complete with all of its knobs for adjusting its sound waveforms. Of course, the sofa doesn’t actually play any notes when you sit on it – which I think is a good thing. I think that would get really annoying, really quickly.

I’m not sure how much the MiniWoouf sofa sells for, but if you head on over to the Woouf! website, you can get in touch with them and you’ll also find a variety of other cool music-themed furniture, including amp an boombox stools, and synthesizer benches and foam pillows.

[via Tony Long Music via Dangerous Minds]

Softmachines’ Synthesizer Pillows are Soft and Don’t Make a Sound

Technabob — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:00:14 +0000

Some of you guys might think that the sounds of electronic synthesizers are anything but relaxing. But here’s a way to have synthesizers all around you while you’re chilling, and you can be assured they won’t disturb your rest.

I absolutely love these handmade pillows from Gwendolin Tägert of SoftMachines. They look just like retro synths and drum machines. The series includes classics like the Roland TR-808, the TB-303 Bass Line, and the TR-909 Rhythm Composer.

The Roland machines fairly large (around 23″ wide), detailed with hand-cut felt, dimensional knobs, and cool stitching details. But they’re also quite pricey, selling for about $140 to $160 (USD).

But if you can’t afford that, it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to snuggle up with some synths anyhow. That’s because SoftMachines also makes these screen-printed mini-pillows based on Casio, Moog and Arp mini synths. These sell for appx. $34 (USD) each, which makes them much more affordable. There’s also a set of three available for about $83.

Last, but certainly not least is the Minimachine, based on the classic Mini Moog, and selling for about $49.

These are the perfect gift for that electronic music fan on your holiday shopping list, and you can find them all over on Softmachines’ Etsy shop now. And if pillows aren’t your thing, they also make some awesome retro synth laptop sleeves.

Teletron: Mind-Controlled Theremin Makes Music With Your Thoughts

Technabob — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:37:26 +0000

If you thought that the way you play the theremin wasn’t weird enough, along comes a mod which allows you to make music with nothing more than your brain – no hands required.

Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo modded one of those Mattel Mindflex EEG games into a controller interface for an analog synthesizer. Here’s a video of Robert doing his geeky best to make music with his mind…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The more Robert thinks, the higher the pitch. The less Robert thinks, the lower the pitch. To me, it seems like it would be pretty difficult to actually play anything resembling a song with the rig, but that’s just me.

Want to try it for yourself? Robert has been kind enough to provide this brief instructional video for you guys who want to give it a go…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Pitchfork via Make:]

The Wii-Mote Theramin

Technabob — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:26:50 +0000

Without a doubt, the theramin is one of the oddest musical instruments ever invented. Usually heard cranking out spaceship sounds in 1950′s B-movies, it’s otherworldy sounds are unmistakeable and truly quirky.

So it is with much glee that I bring you the Wii-mote powered theramin, playing the inimitable Theme from Star Trek.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

By connecting his Wii remote with a laptop and special synthesizer control software, hacker Gianni Proietti managed to control his Moog synthesizer to crank out some serious sci-fi sound effects. While it’s not truly a theramin in technical terms, it’s close enough for rock-and-roll.

[via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]