The Klipsch M40s are the first active noise-canceling headphones from the brand, designed to drown out distracting background sounds like jet engines and subway rattle. They feature dynamic dual 40mm woofers and 15mm tweeter drivers in order to provide solid sound. They are powered by a single AAA battery, and each is supposed to last for about 45 hours. One cool thing is that they don’t need batteries to provide sound. Some noise-canceling headphones, like the Dr. Dre Beats Studio, have no sound when the battery runs out. These continue running, and only the noise-canceling is deactivated.

The ear pads use a low repulsion foam (like in Tempur-Pedic pillows), making them good to keep on for long periods of time. One of the cables comes with a remote control and a built-in microphone. For those of you buying on specs, frequency response is rated from 20Hz to 20kHz, sensitivity is 97.5dB@1mW, at an impedance of 32Ω.

The new Klipsch M40 active noise-canceling headphones sell for $349.99(USD) at various online retailer and on the Klipsch website.

[via Fareastgizmos]

Talk about a rude awakening.

That’s probably what Ed Rogers felt in his apartment every day each time the train would ramble past his window. This led him to mod his place so that the windows would detect and automatically close once a train would go past his window so he could cram a few more minutes of sleep every morning.

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So how’d Ed do it? Well, he hooked up some custom-designed controllers, Arduino boards, components printed using a Makerbot, and a webcam that detect the presence of movement, causing the windows to close as soon as a train starts to pass. The windows close a bit slowly though, but hey, slowly-closing windows are definitely better than having to get out of bed to close them yourself.

[Nerdstink via BuildLounge via Dvice]

Yamaha’s VSP-1 [JP] is designed to mask conversations by projecting “camouflage” noise that covers up what you’re saying. Created to cover up voices specifically, the device is said to mask as much as 89% of the spoken word. And on a bad day, as little as 48%. So even when it’s not blocking everything, it would be pretty difficult to make out an entire conversation with this thing turned on. The compact gadget offers 8 sounds including forest sounds, a babbling river, waves, urban crowds, music and other variants designed to cover voices without being too annoying.

Unfortunately, the VSP-1 isn’t cheap. It’ll sell for ¥105,000 (appx. $1268 USD) when it goes on sale in Japan this April. Still, it might come in handy for locations such as nurses’ stations at hospitals where you might need to provide privacy without walls.

[via Akihabara News via Oh Gizmo!]

The $119 (USD) gadget from Australia’s Rarebeasts can push out some really thick electronic noise loops, perfect for live electronic performances. The handheld box has three simple controls: frequency, speed and a “write” button, which lets you layer in the sounds you create into a digital loop in real time. The sounds you can make with this thing range from the kind of stuff  you’d hear on an old 8-bit video game console to an otherworldly Speak-and-Spell on crack.

Check out the clips below to hear some of the sounds this little beast can crank out.

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Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Ready to make some noise? Head on over to Rarebeasts shop over at the Makers Market.

Created by Alex Abreu & Ithai Benjamin, the Synthinetic is simply described as “The little kinetic noisy synthesizer of your dreams.” Assuming your dreams include strange squeaky, bleepy noises, I suppose.

Sit back, turn up (or down) the volume and enjoy (or not)…

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The Synthinetic was designed to operate solely on the energy generated by the user and the environment around them. Turning the knobs on the sides of the box stores up energy in a capacitor, which then powers the analog audio circuits. And sticking your finger in that furry hole at the top drains the synth of its energy. I think I’ll stick with my Casio.

[via Synthtopia]

How cheap? Vernons over at devicepedia says that they sell for $99. Compared to its $349 Bose counterpart then that’s already a Good Deal right? Well I have a Better Deal. Actually it’s Costco that has the Better Deal: $49.99, shipping & handling included. Noise not included. The offer’s good until December 7 only so get on the ‘net and order it right now!

Amidio’s Noise.io is a full-featured sound synthesizer, capable of producing all kinds of interesting noises and sound effects. It usese something called Enhanced Subspace Frequency Modulation (ESFM) to generate its beeps, blips and beats. A unique multi-touch interface lets you manipulate every aspect of the sounds you create.

Once sounds are created, they can be sequenced for playback and enhanced with audio effects like chorus, delay, phaser and flanger. And if you’re not creative enough to make your own sounds from scratch, Noise.io ships with 81 sound presets and a preset editor which lets you save your own for future playback. The guys at Amidio make the bold claim that the app can produce sounds comparable to dedicated hardware synths. You be the judge:

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While I’ve seen other music makers in the App Store, this is the first full-fledged synthesizer application that I’ve come across. Noise.io should be released to the iTunes App Store on 8/25/2008, and will cost just $6.99.

[Noise.io]

The Screaming Meanie 220 portable alarm clock offers three settings: normal (75dB), loud (95dB), and earsplitting (120dB). To put those decibel levels in perspective, the lowest setting is as loud as a vacuum cleaner. If you happen to crank it up to the highest level, you’re somewhere between sitting in the front row of a rock concert and sitting in front of a jet engine. And just to make sure you don’t oversleep, there’s 5 and 10 minute “pre-alarms” which remind you that the REAL alarm is coming. While you can turn off the pre-alarm with a single button press, you need to press three buttons at once to shut off the main alarm.

While they’re certainly not pretty to look at, I can pretty much assure you that you won’t sleep past the buzzer with one of these things. So if you’re ready to be jarred awake, you can find one at the Perfect Present for about $36 (including shipping).

Alexander Gurko’s “Bettelbot” (that’s “BeggingBot” in English) has just one mission in mind – to get your money. The old PC plays music on using some old floppy and hard drive mechanisms, then opens its CD tray to beg for your spare change. If you don’t pay, he won’t play – it’s as simple as that. Check out the video below to see Bettelbot in action:

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With the veritable cacophony of noises that Bettelbot produces with his motors, gears and disc platters, I might just as soon pay him to shut his trap.

[via Aram Bartholl via MAKE and Flickr]

Just place the battery-operated receiver unit under your unsuspecting coworker’s chair, head back to your cubicle and press the wireless trigger and let the mayhem ensue. There’s nothing like a good fart joke to bring down the house. Just ask the guys who made Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.

The RF wireless remote works from up to 50 feet away, so you can run far away when your victim tries to hit you in the head with it. There’s literally minutes of fun to be had with this $10 gag, available from X-treme Geek.

I especially love how the package says “At Last! The Radio Controlled Whoopee Cushion…” like we’ve been waiting all our lives for this one to come along.

The ridiculous Steering Rapper lets you tap out obnoxious beats and sound effects while you drive your vehicle. If the distraction of that isn’t enough, the whole thing is attached to your steering wheel with velcro straps to get in your way while driving.

If you’re really into being a road hazard, you can pick up the Steering Rapper from 7dream for ¥3,129 (appx. $26 USD.)

The Flame Talking Synth can also be driven by a MIDI controller so you can really compose some serious electronica using one of these and composition software. The device incorporates a couple of Speakjet chips to produce a variety of sound and speech effects. The Flame is capable of cranking out 72 different speech elements, 43 sound effects and 12 telephone touch tones. Be sure to check out the audio samples here.

Available from analoguehaven for $549, the Flame is definitely geared to the professional electronic musician rather than the casual sound hacker.

[via MAKE]

According to this post over at Xbox Scene, some consoles manufactured after November 2006 appear to be getting a new BenQ DVD Drive (the VAD6038), which is supposedly much quieter than earlier drives. There’s also some conjecture that the new drive reads a bit more quickly than the previous drives.

Now if only Microsoft would offer an upgrade for all of us suckers who picked up a 360 in the first year it came out.

[via Engadget]

These two Kuka industrial robots have been programmed to maneuver through a series of LPs, grab them one at a time, then place them on a turntable for playback. Then, the automatons gently move the records back and forth under the needle to create what some might call music.

Personally, I think it all sounds a bit like a cat stuck in a blender, but you’ll have to be the judge of that. Maybe they can get together with Toyota’s trumpet playing robot and make beautiful music together.

[via Hacked Gadgets]

To startle your unsuspecting victim, simple pull the pin and lob your grenade in their general direction. The Sonic Grenade lets out an ear-shattering sound that should scare (and annoy) the bejesus out of just about anyone who’s not legally deaf. As an added bonus, your unknowing victim cannot shut off the grenade without the pin. It’s just $13.95 from Firebox.com.

These portable sythesizers generate electronica using a unique control interface: as you move a colorful LED over a photosensor, the sound’s waveform changes. Combined with a handful of more traditional dial and switch controls, the device generates some totally out of this world electronic sounds, and the best part is that it looks cool doing it. Each Thingamagoop is handmade and custom painted to colors of your choice.

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Priced at just $100, if you’re an electronic musician, you need one of these.