Tag: Music

There are dozens of ways we can modify our voice, but designer Nic Wallenberg made a silly device that bypasses the vocal chords altogether to make unusual sounds come out of one’s mouth. Hence the name Human Speaker.

Earlier this year we saw AirHarp, a virtual harp that uses the Leap gesture controller, letting the user make music by playing an imaginary harp. The developer behind the AirHarp recently introduced a similar program but for a more popular instrument.

A while back, I wrote about the QuNeo, a reasonably priced, multitouch music controller, packed with triggers and modifiers. The folks at Keith McMillen Instruments were kind enough to set me up with a QuNeo so I could put it to the test.

Customized scarves are nothing new, but artists Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet still came up with something truly novel and different in this category. They worked with Sebastian Mealla from the Music Technology Group in Barcelona to create something called Neuro Knitting.

Musicians and things that can be smoked go together like people and vices. Overly realistic and thus useless analogy FTW! But if those things do have a space in your life, check out the Decktray. Made by artist Terry Griffiths, these functional artworks are ashtrays that look like turntables.

Music boxes are one of the oldest forms of storing and playing back music. Just don’t expect anything fancy. Now the simple music box concept has been taken to the next level. We’re talking huge. If this Steamroller music box ever gets loose, it will flatten you to the tune of The Star Spangled Banner.

I’m probably dating myself, but I still have a massive collection of old vinyl records gathering dust in bins in my closet. I actually no longer have a turntable, so other than the few records I purchased as CDs or in digital formats, I haven’t listened to them in a dog’s age.

Do you love drumming your fingers on your car’s steering wheel while you drive? If Gregor “G-Man” Hanuschak has his way, soon you can actually make drum sounds when you tap on your steering wheel. G-Man invented Smack Attack, a steering wheel cover with 8 touch sensitive sensors.

I used to think that Bluetooth speakers were pretty superfluous, until someone gave me one. From then on, I’ve used one almost every day. The Urchin is a rugged new Bluetooth speaker and features interchangeable silicone skins, giving it a distinctive look.

You expect to see robots in Japan, but nowadays even their street performers are animatronic. Now, someone in Osaka has developed his own life-size singing Ray Charles robot. He may have Georgia on his mind, but this Ray lives in Japan.

If you like to make your own music and prefer to use synthesizers over analog musical instruments, you will probably be familiar with the name Korg. The company has announced that it has added a pair of the synthesizers to its Kaoss family.

The violin just got an upgrade, but in all the wrong places. Alex Sobolev’s Triolin is basically three violins in one, and while it might seem like a novel albeit unusual idea to modify the classical string instrument, I don’t think violinists will agree.

Sometimes, songs can speak to you in ways that no mere words ever could. Whether you’re happy, sad, melancholic, in love, or broken-hearted, chances are you’ll find a someone who’s already singing a song about it.

…if you know how to play the piano or any other chordophone you might be thinking, “All keyboards are pressure sensitive!” Which is true: the harder you strike a key on a piano, the louder the sound it makes.

The traditional drum set is one of the least portable musical instruments, which is why beginners are usually left with practice pads while their bandmates are out wooing tone deaf chicks just by showing up with a guitar and unwashed clothes.

There are many products which have been sold as a “party in a box,” but I’ve never heard the term applied to a music player. This audio player is named thusly because it’s completely self-contained, and aims to be the life of your next party – hopefully waking up your neighbors very late at night.