Category: Audio

Dolby was kind enough to invite me into their brand new headquarters building in San Francisco. The 16-story, 300,000 square foot building brings together research, engineering, marketing, business and operations teams in a single location, and is packed top to bottom with scientific labs for creating the next generation of audio and video technologies.

Artists usually place a hidden track or two in their albums. The upcoming three EPs of electronic artist Captain Credible on the other hand will each have a randomly generated track. The Dead Cats EPs are based on an ATtiny85 microcontroller and Captain Credible’s Arduino sketches.

Synthesized music can now sound less synthesized with the latest voice bank for Yamaha’s Vocaloid software. Announced earlier this year, the Cyber Diva is the first library to have an American English female voice. Here’s a sample of a song created with the Cyber Diva and the new Vocaloid 4 Editor: While she still doesn’t sound like a real person, Cyber Diva is still a massive upgrade to earlier Vocaloids like Lola… or Miriam: Yamaha also said that the voice bank comes with a feature called Growl Expression that gives the samples a “harsher, gruff tone.”

For starters, the Wren V5US is one of the most beautiful wireless speakers you can buy. It’s built into a stunning wood enclosure with a flowing sort of organic form, and will look great sitting on any desk or bookshelf.

If you’ve ever wanted to sing in public, but know that your voice is a little pitchy, then this is the gadget you need. Singtrix is a karaoke machine on steroids, not just capable of removing vocal tracks so you can sing along, but actually improving your voice.

Last month, I had the opportunity to test out the Ruark Audio MR1 Bluetooth audio system, and thought it offered very good sound for its size, and an excellent, substantial build quality. Now I’ve got the Ruark Audio R1 MK3 Tabletop Radio sitting on my desk, and it’s equally as compelling.

Sony recently set me up with a couple of pieces of audio gear from their Hi-Res Audio line, so I could hear first hand the differences between typical digital music players and the higher quality sound one can expect from their product line.

A drum trigger is a device that converts hits on an acoustic drum into electronic signals that activate digital sounds. You can use them to achieve a cleaner sound in live performances or use sound effects without resorting to electronic drums or synthesizers. 

We’ve seen floppy drives and hard drives used to make music, but laurens.weyn’s Unconventional Instrument Orchestra can use “pretty much anything with steppers, or anything that makes noise on a signal pulse as percussion.” That includes hard drives, and floppy drives along with 3D printers, CNC machines and even doorbells.

R2-D2, it is you! It is you! I’m not sure why it took this long, but if you need a droid to use as a speakerphone, here is the Star Wars R2-D2 Bluetooth Speakerphone. Put it on your X-Wing themed desk and take calls.

Who knew that tortillas were so versatile? Not only can they wrap food, but it turns out that they can act as a record and play music if you use a laser cutter to etch grooves into its floury surface.

If you can believe it, The Sony Walkman has been around for 36 years now. In fact, the player was born on July 1, 1979. In celebration of the Walkman, Sony put together this handy infographic which shows the evolution of the music player.

If there’s one thing that’s frustrating about headphones on the market today, it’s that each pair seems to be designed for a very specific individual’s taste and comfort. This is especially true of large headphones that are worn over or on the ears.

This portable Stormtrooper Bluetooth speaker is a stormtrooper that can shoot straight for once, since it is shooting sound rather than lasers. This speaker comes from Blue Sky Studios and looks just like a classic stormtrooper helmet.

Since I work with a lot of audio and video content, I wear headphones all the time so as not to bother everyone around me while I’m getting my job done. I’m a bit of an audio geek, so I prefer to wear big, over-the-ear headphones for the best sound.

Toc is one beautifully crafted record player, even if it does sort of look like an almond merged with a record. It was designed by Roy Harpaz. It spins the vinyl vertically rather than horizontally, but more importantly it looks amazing doing it.