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Musical Instruments
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silly
retromodo
Stylophone, Scourge of Seventies Britain, is Back, Back, BACK!
Rather like the kazoo, the Stylophone is what you might term a "musical" "instrument." The farty-bontempi sound was a feature of school playgrounds up and down the land—and even David Bowie used one on Space Oddity. And then, suddenly, rather like white dog poo, and "I choked Linda Lovelace" T-shirts, the Stylophone disappeared from view. Until now. More »
world's smallest
Tiny Electric Guitar Has Normal-Sized Frets
Behold the smallest electric guitar in the world. Well, it's called the "smallest precision electric guitar available," because even though its body is just 1/6 the size of a normal instrument, its fretboard is the same size as an ordinary guitar. This is not a toy; it has a couple of pickups that can give you your choice of humbucking or single coil sound, and tuning machine heads that look pretty solid. The makers even tried to mimic the cellular structure of wood with its plastic body, injected with air bubbles in an attempt to give it more resonance despite its diminutive stature. Plus, holding his guitar will make you look really, really big. If that's important to you, it'll cost you $799.95. Kinda reminds us of that little Martin Backpacker. Click through to the next page for a big pic of this tiny electric ax. More »
musical instruments
We posted a video of the Robot Guitar in action early last month, but now we have some sexy pics and some release date info for guitarists the world over to get excited about. In case you haven't heard, the Robot Guitar can tune itself with a simple push of a button. Servos in the headstock can tune the guitar to one of seven presets; with default being A440, and the remaining six being based on hit songs. The guitar can also be tuned manually via a knob located on the body that doubles as a volume controller.
More »
Gibson Intros "World's First Robotic Guitar": Tuning May Be a Thing of the Past
We posted a video of the Robot Guitar in action early last month, but now we have some sexy pics and some release date info for guitarists the world over to get excited about. In case you haven't heard, the Robot Guitar can tune itself with a simple push of a button. Servos in the headstock can tune the guitar to one of seven presets; with default being A440, and the remaining six being based on hit songs. The guitar can also be tuned manually via a knob located on the body that doubles as a volume controller. More »
musical instruments
Balloon Organ Sounds Like Awesome Interplanetary Bagpipes
Addi's Inflatable Minute brings us a wild musical instrument that's powered by a balloon and a foot pump and made out of PVC pipe and clothespins. Invented by Aaron Wendell, a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Balloon Organ makes a mournful bagpipe-like sound we found quite pleasant. Each note is bendable, so a variety of satisfying and sometimes dissonant sounds ensue. Notice Fran, the balloon organist who is capable of extracting some rather arty sounds from the thing. Remarkable. [Gear Wire, via Boing Boing]
9:35 AM on Thu Nov 8 2007
By Charlie White
12,571 views,
28 comments
Latest by n/a: excuse me. Fran here. I'm the guy playing the "Balloon Organ". I also invented it. aaron wendle has norhing to do with it. there you have it. more »
musical instruments
Japanese theremin maker Mandarin Electron has embedded a pitch only theremin inside a Russian matryoshka doll dubbed "Matryomin" as a means of creating art with art. For those of you who don't know, the theremin is an old-timey electronic instrument that can be played without actually being touched. Apparently, Matryomin can be "easily manipulated" to produce sounds that seem to emanate from the doll as a singing voice. If you don't believe me, groove on the bizarre orchestra in the video above. [Mandarin Electron via Trends in Japan]
Matryomin Theremin Kicks Out Some Weird Jams
Japanese theremin maker Mandarin Electron has embedded a pitch only theremin inside a Russian matryoshka doll dubbed "Matryomin" as a means of creating art with art. For those of you who don't know, the theremin is an old-timey electronic instrument that can be played without actually being touched. Apparently, Matryomin can be "easily manipulated" to produce sounds that seem to emanate from the doll as a singing voice. If you don't believe me, groove on the bizarre orchestra in the video above. [Mandarin Electron via Trends in Japan]
musical instruments
What on earth would make this Stratocaster clone worth well over a million dollars? As you can see in the pic above, the electric guitar was stuffed with lots of cocaine, that's what. We former musicians are well aware that the gigsters always have the best blow, but this guitar player went overboard when he decided to fly from Costa Rica to Rome with his drastically modified Squier ax in tow. Too bad The Man noticed a bit of telltale powdery residue poking out of a conspicuous spot on this git-box. We have another pic of the guitar before it was dismantled, looking perfectly innocent.
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Guitar Captured with Enough Coke Stashed Aboard to Take Us All to Electric Ladyland
What on earth would make this Stratocaster clone worth well over a million dollars? As you can see in the pic above, the electric guitar was stuffed with lots of cocaine, that's what. We former musicians are well aware that the gigsters always have the best blow, but this guitar player went overboard when he decided to fly from Costa Rica to Rome with his drastically modified Squier ax in tow. Too bad The Man noticed a bit of telltale powdery residue poking out of a conspicuous spot on this git-box. We have another pic of the guitar before it was dismantled, looking perfectly innocent.
More »
train wreck
And now for a Friday musical interlude, we bring you Van Halen caught on its comeback tour, except there was one big problem and it involved gadgets. What happens when you play back a prerecorded synthesizer track at 48K instead of the intended 44.1K? The whole track plays back a little bit faster and at a slightly higher pitch, that's what. A dissonant musical mess ensues, trapping the guitarist and bassist in an on-stage musical hell with nowhere to go. More »
Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen
And now for a Friday musical interlude, we bring you Van Halen caught on its comeback tour, except there was one big problem and it involved gadgets. What happens when you play back a prerecorded synthesizer track at 48K instead of the intended 44.1K? The whole track plays back a little bit faster and at a slightly higher pitch, that's what. A dissonant musical mess ensues, trapping the guitarist and bassist in an on-stage musical hell with nowhere to go. More »
2:46 PM on Fri Oct 19 2007
By Charlie White
79,795 views,
80 comments
Latest by Set to evil: Have the Rolling Stones killed! Do as I say!!! more »
musical instruments
This Terpstra keyboard must be the strangest one yet, but don't be getting worried that you'll need to type on it because it's a MIDI keyboard for musicians. The gigsters will like it because it's velocity sensitive, letting keyboard players put more expression into their music just like when they're playing a piano. Only problem we have with it is there must be a tremendous learning curve with this strange honeycomb-shaped arrangement of the keys. Notice the sharps and flats are in groups of two and three, just like on a piano keyboard, but sheesh, after that, all bets are off. This can't be easy. [Cortex Design, via Crave]
Terpstra MIDI Keyboard, for Musicians from Another Planet
This Terpstra keyboard must be the strangest one yet, but don't be getting worried that you'll need to type on it because it's a MIDI keyboard for musicians. The gigsters will like it because it's velocity sensitive, letting keyboard players put more expression into their music just like when they're playing a piano. Only problem we have with it is there must be a tremendous learning curve with this strange honeycomb-shaped arrangement of the keys. Notice the sharps and flats are in groups of two and three, just like on a piano keyboard, but sheesh, after that, all bets are off. This can't be easy. [Cortex Design, via Crave]
field notes
Today at Yamaha's line show in NYC, pianos took center stage. Yamaha, one of the world's biggest piano makers, has been innovating on the design for years. The current crop of radical, digital shifts forward:
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Yamaha's Latest Electronic Pianos Fix What's Baroque (Gallery)
Today at Yamaha's line show in NYC, pianos took center stage. Yamaha, one of the world's biggest piano makers, has been innovating on the design for years. The current crop of radical, digital shifts forward:
More »
musical instruments
Mandala High-Def Drum and Synthesizer Version 2.0 On the Way
Now the Synethesia Mandala high-def drum and synthesizer is about to bust out in version 2.0, sprouting itself a USB 2.0 port that lets you hook it up to any PC or Mac. Synethesia is calling it "the only electronic drum that truly emulates an acoustic drum." It's called high-def because it has 128 concentric rings from the center of the head to the edge that can detect the exact location and force with which you hit it. This version 2.0 also includes 3000 proprietary samples of the famed Black Beauty snare drum, along with 4GB of sounds from 100 different instruments. In addition to its USB connectivity, it also has a MIDI port with a trigger that's said to be one of the world's fastest. To be available November 1, it'll retail for $349. [Synethesia Corporation, via TMCNet]
guitars
Thanks to Gibson's Powertune system, now even tin-eared guitarists can push a button, strum the guitar a few times, and then it's as if a ghost has taken over the machine, turning the tuning pegs until the guitar is accurately tuned. It tunes each string to within .02 cent, which is pretty damn close to perfection. It can tune to the default A440, or it can tune the strings to pitches that are relative to a note of your choice. You can also store a variety of tunings and quickly call them up. Hey, this could really be useful. More »
Gibson Powertune Automagically Tunes Up Guitars, Tin-Eared Guitarists Rejoice
Thanks to Gibson's Powertune system, now even tin-eared guitarists can push a button, strum the guitar a few times, and then it's as if a ghost has taken over the machine, turning the tuning pegs until the guitar is accurately tuned. It tunes each string to within .02 cent, which is pretty damn close to perfection. It can tune to the default A440, or it can tune the strings to pitches that are relative to a note of your choice. You can also store a variety of tunings and quickly call them up. Hey, this could really be useful. More »
11:15 AM on Tue Oct 2 2007
By Charlie White
20,163 views,
30 comments
Latest by n/a: yes, it can do any tuning you want, not just the traditional ones, and being able to switch from one to another in the middle of a song is the feature that appeals to me. more »
wtf
If you think you've encountered some weird guitars, you ain't seen nothing yet. Ed Roman, owner of a huge guitar shop and self-proclaimed "Guitar King of Las Vegas," has put together a new online collection of some of the strangest axes ever to grace this planet. One example is the sexy "BC Rich Bitch" guitar you see above, whose long neck is a clever play on words. Gives new meaning to the term "tailpiece."
More »
Craziest Guitars Ever Made
If you think you've encountered some weird guitars, you ain't seen nothing yet. Ed Roman, owner of a huge guitar shop and self-proclaimed "Guitar King of Las Vegas," has put together a new online collection of some of the strangest axes ever to grace this planet. One example is the sexy "BC Rich Bitch" guitar you see above, whose long neck is a clever play on words. Gives new meaning to the term "tailpiece."
More »
ax contrarian
Attention guitar players: Gibson just turned the guitar world upside down with its Reverse Flying V electric guitar, installment number 29 in the company's Guitar of the Week series. It'll be built in a limited edition of just 400 instruments. Even though purists who still worship the classic 1958 design might be soon calling this the Perverse Flying V, we kind of like the way the thing has been flipped around in a way that makes it look like a cursor on a computer screen.
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Gibson Pops a 180 with Awesome Reverse Flying V Limited Edition Guitar
Attention guitar players: Gibson just turned the guitar world upside down with its Reverse Flying V electric guitar, installment number 29 in the company's Guitar of the Week series. It'll be built in a limited edition of just 400 instruments. Even though purists who still worship the classic 1958 design might be soon calling this the Perverse Flying V, we kind of like the way the thing has been flipped around in a way that makes it look like a cursor on a computer screen.
More »
oh no, turn it down
As if the world needed yet another weird musical instrument, Danielle Wilde has created the hipDisk, a pair of doughnut-shaped platters activated with a series of movements that might be quite attractive with the right person doing them. The idea incorporates not just one of these noisemakers, but duets, trios, quartets or even choirs of such dancers/musician angels, filling the air with discord, rude noises and dissonance. It's not entirely clear why a bathing suit must be worn during the performance. Jump to the next page for the video, but we're warning you, get ready to turn the sound down.
More »
HipDisk Musical Instrument, the Hula Hoop of Your Nightmares
As if the world needed yet another weird musical instrument, Danielle Wilde has created the hipDisk, a pair of doughnut-shaped platters activated with a series of movements that might be quite attractive with the right person doing them. The idea incorporates not just one of these noisemakers, but duets, trios, quartets or even choirs of such dancers/musician angels, filling the air with discord, rude noises and dissonance. It's not entirely clear why a bathing suit must be worn during the performance. Jump to the next page for the video, but we're warning you, get ready to turn the sound down.
More »
internet piano
Yamaha PSR-S900 Keyboard is Not Your Grandpappy's Player Piano
This Yamaha PSR-S900 keyboard bridges the gap between musical instruments and the Interwebs, and it can play music and connect to the Net at the same time. It has an Ethernet port that gives you a direct connection to the Internet without even using a computer, and that lets you download thousands of compositions and 7,000 karaoke arrangements. It's pretty much a computer unto itself, with a 5.7-inch 320x240 color display. Have pianos come a long way, or what? What else can it do?More »
peripherals
USB Drum Kit: Drive Your Fellow Cubicle Whores Wild (and not with Desire)
If there were a reason why God invented the USB accessory, this surely is it. A roll-up drum kit that you plug into your USB port and drive your coworkers wild with. WILD, I say. There are six pads for you to play around with, and software that will teach you how to drum along to your favorite songs at whatever tempo you want. More »
gadgets
