Gizmodo: Musical Instruments

BodyBeat Metronome Keeps Beat Silently, Forgets Musicians Need Their Fingers

Elaine Chow — Sat, 03 May 2008 19:20:00 EDT

The Peterson BB-1 BodyBeat attaches to your finger/random appendage, sending tiny rhythmic pulses that you can feel on your skin. The non-aural stimulation will give you a silent way to count measures while playing the piano... and since you have to use your fingers to do that, you will have to clamp this to somewhere else. The question is where?

Available for $99.97. [Sweetwater via UberGizmo]

Stylophone, Scourge of Seventies Britain, is Back, Back, BACK!

AddyDugdale — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:34:00 EDT

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.

And now it's back! From outer space! I'd love to say that it walked in here with that same look upon its face, but I would be a lying cow and you would all pay a midnight visit to Gawker HQ, flaming torches clutched in your paws, shouting, "Burn the witch." Ahem.

Anyways, Stylophone. The 2008 version has two sockets, one for headphones, and one to connect your MP3 player to, which will enable you to really murder your favourite songs, as well as, for the first time, volume control and three different sound modes. Costing a smidgeon under $30, the Stylophone runs on three AA batteries and there are a schwazillion clips of people doing hot Stylophone action on YouTube.
I couldn't decide between the Star Wars Death March, the William Tell Overture, something by Michael Jackson, or the Stylophone Orchestra of Great Britain, (relax girls, they're married) so I plumped for Bowie. [Firebox]

Tiny Electric Guitar Has Normal-Sized Frets

Charlie White — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:15:00 EST

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.

[Hammacher Schlemmer, via TFTS]

Gibson Intros "World's First Robotic Guitar": Tuning May Be a Thing of the Past

Sean Fallon — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:40:43 EST

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.

Unfortunately, the first run of the guitar will be limited to 4000 instruments (10 units in 400 stores); and I have no doubt that when the price is finally announced, it will be far out of the range of your average garage band. Still, if you would like to take a shot at picking one up, December 7th is the day to remember. [Gibson via Electronista]

Balloon Organ Sounds Like Awesome Interplanetary Bagpipes

Charlie White — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:35:00 EST

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]

Matryomin Theremin Kicks Out Some Weird Jams

Sean Fallon — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:20:34 EDT

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]

Guitar Captured with Enough Coke Stashed Aboard to Take Us All to Electric Ladyland

Charlie White — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:45:04 EDT

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.

Add that amount found in the guitar to all the cocaine the guy had mixed up in ten Thermos flasks in his luggage, and the grand total value (certainly inflated by breathless War on Drugs enforcers) was $5.12 million worth of the stuff. Just think of how many times this has been done without detection. [Music Thing]

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Charlie White — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:46:15 EDT

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.

See Eddie Van Halen launch into his famous solo on "Jump," trying in vain to somehow transpose to this otherworldly key that is nowhere to be found. This travesty of a performance happened earlier this month (in my hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina), and the funny thing is, the crowd was delighted with it. I shutter to think that no one realized something was terribly amiss, but those hometown folks always were overly polite. [RW370, via BoingBoing] (Thanks, Joel Johnson!)

Terpstra MIDI Keyboard, for Musicians from Another Planet

Charlie White — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:25:54 EDT

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]

Yamaha's Latest Electronic Pianos Fix What's Baroque (Gallery)

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:15:53 EDT

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:

• Disklavier 2.0 - $10,000 to $80,000 - Grand piano's brand new software streams digital player-piano songs over the internet, for a live piano via net radio. PDA remote operates over Wi-Fi.
• EZ-200 Keyboard - $150 - Learning keyboard for kids. Like many, it has light up keys to show you where to put your fingers. But this one will wait for you: it eases the tempo of the song down automatically to match your playing.
• Modus H01 - $12,500 - Sexy "velvet rouge" reimagining of the traditional piano. It's electronic, but with a natural feel. It contains a 40-watt sound system, and also comes in "amber glow" and "deep brunette."
• Clavinova CVP400 - $TBA - Do-it-yourself Barry Manilow workstation: sing into the mic while you play, and it automatically mixes voice and piano into a WAV that you can save on USB thumbdrive.

With reporting by Jennifer Hooker

Mandala High-Def Drum and Synthesizer Version 2.0 On the Way

Charlie White — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:05:00 EDT

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]

Gibson Powertune Automagically Tunes Up Guitars, Tin-Eared Guitarists Rejoice

Charlie White — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:15:00 EDT

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.

It works by using piezoelectric pickups rather than the usual magnetic pickups used on most electric guitars, and these pickups are able to isolate the sound of each individual string. Underneath the pickups is a processor that senses the pitch being played, and sends a signal to the tuning pegs at the top of the guitar's neck to change the pitch until it's all tuned up.

Even though this machine may be perfectly accurate, turning a guitar can be a subtle art, where you can slightly change some of the notes to fit the key in which you're playing. However, for musicians who like to play various songs with the guitar tuned in completely different ways for each song, this technology could be extremely useful. In fact, the $899 it adds to the price of the guitar might seem like a bargain compared with buying two more guitars, each tuned in a completely different way. [Technology Review]

Craziest Guitars Ever Made

Charlie White — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:33:25 EDT

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."

This gallery contains just a fraction of the crazy git-boxes Ed Roman has found, sold, commissioned or custom built. Some of these things have such sharp edges they're just downright dangerous, and speaking of dangerous, check out the Ted Nugent guitar with a compartment in the back for your Derringer. Might be handy to have that guitar on hand when you play one of those nightclubs where the stage is surrounded by a floor-to-ceiling cage. [Ed Roman]

Gibson Pops a 180 with Awesome Reverse Flying V Limited Edition Guitar

Charlie White — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:00:00 EDT

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.

Besides that one key fact of its body being flipped 180 degrees, the rest of this ax is faithful to Gibson's original 1958 design, complete with 1957-style humbucker pickups, that strings-through-the-body tailpiece (going the opposite way, of course), and a sweet-looking Trans Amber finish. No word on pricing or availability just yet. [Electric Guitar Review]

HipDisk Musical Instrument, the Hula Hoop of Your Nightmares

Charlie White — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:19:14 EDT

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.

There hasn't been such an obnoxious cacophony since that fart-lighting frat party some of us Gizmodians went to a couple of months ago. [hipDisk, via Oh Gizmo]

Yamaha PSR-S900 Keyboard is Not Your Grandpappy's Player Piano

Charlie White — Fri, 25 May 2007 10:26:24 EDT

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?

For starters, it can make a tremendous variety of sounds and noises, and has a full range of synthesizer functions and recording capabilities. It can also hook up to your PC via USB, letting you send and receive MIDI and digital audio signals, record digitally onto your PC and interface with sophisticated digital audio workstation software.

This is not your basic tinkertoy piano/synthesizer, it's a highly sophisticated digital musical instrument aimed at musicians and gearhead amateur musician tinkerers. Too bad you can't just rent one to play around with it for a while, because this PSR-S900 costs $1815. Expect to see it shipping in the US sometime this summer. – Charlie White

Yamaha PSR-S900 keyboard [Software Headlines]

Spec List

USB Drum Kit: Drive Your Fellow Cubicle Whores Wild (and not with Desire)

www.gizmodo.com — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 04:27:42 EDT

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.

And who cares if you're not musical? Want to announce to everyone that you've just closed that stationery deal and got the bargain of the decade on paperclips? Give it some stick. Perhaps you'd like Cheryl to make you a coffee—communicate how you want it (white, nine sugars) with a flurry of hi-hat. Then your boss can trump you with his USB cowbell to tell everyone you're fired.

The price is $30 until August, when it goes up to $45. The secret of good drumming is after the jump, following a beat-off between two of the world's best-known sticksmen.

It's timing. – Ad Dugdale

Product Page [Dream Cheeky via Mobile Mag]

Blackbird Rider: Carbon Fiber Guitar Waited for this Moment to Arise

Charlie White — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:28:13 EST

The Blackbird Rider is a guitar made out of carbon fiber that was designed using 3D CAD software. It's 2/3 the size of an ordinary guitar but makes up for that by being hollow throughout—even in its neck and head—making the entire guitar a sound box. The goal of this design was to get the sound of a big acoustic guitar in a smaller form factor that's easily portable.

More pictures, info and pricing:

Notice the sound hole is next to the guitar's neck rather than underneath the strings. Then, there's another opening called the stereo sound hole (the company calls this SSH, making it sound all scientific-like) on the guitar's head, in an attempt to maximize the resonance of this instrument.

There will be just 100 of these axes available, and pros taking this carbon fiber jewel on stage will certainly elicit the awe of any geeksters in the audience. But this Blackbird is going to have to do a lot of singing in the dead of night to make up for its $1599 price tag.

That price is not too bad, though, considering that the gold-standard Martin D-28 guitar costs at least $500 more than that. – Charlie White

Product Page [Blackbird Guitars]

Roll-up USB Powered Piano Keyboard

Travis Hudson — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:35:58 EST

If you have ever really wanted to prove to your cubicle neighbors that you truly are the reincarnate of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, this $30 roll-up, rubber piano keyboard may be the best option. The keyboard also has more than 128 different instruments available (in case you also want to prove that you are also the reincarnate of Kenny G) and it allows for recording via the PC. – Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Gearlog]

Hottie Amplifier: Burnin' Sound, In the Slot

Charlie White — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 12:30:57 EST

That's right, that's a real guitar amplifier inside that toaster. It's a Hottie Amplifier, available in a variety of toaster styles for $149.

There's a solid-state amplifier shoehorned inside there, powered by a 9-volt battery, and the sound comes wafting out the vintage American toaster's slots courtesy of a 6-inch Jensen speaker.

Who could resist the idea of first getting toasted, then having a hot jam session, laying down some smokin' licks until your ears turn to toast. It's distorted, but sometimes that's a good thing. – Charlie White

Product Page [Hottie Amplifiers Inc., via Red Ferret]

Hello Kitty Stratocaster Guitars

Travis Hudson — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 16:15:30 EST

So, today I realized it has been almost two months since our last Hello Kitty related post, which happens to be two months too long. So here is a Fender Hello Kitty Stratocaster guitar. It is available in pink or black and features the famous Hello Kitty head. If bass guitar is more of your bag, there is always the Bronco featuring that son of a bitch penguin, Badtz-Maru. Either guitar will set you back $200 from Musicians Friend with optional Hello Kitty accessories also available. – Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Popgadget]

Roland's Karaoke Music Keyboard / Digital Hub

Travis Hudson — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 15:08:52 EDT

Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Nintendo, and others want to turn your living room into a Web-enabled entertainment center. Roland wants to make it into a full-featured karaoke parlor. Their new "VIMA" keyboard is a bizarre mash-up of digital piano, digital media hub, and karaoke machine. Plug in your iPod, hit center cancel to remove vocals, plug in one or two mics, and the keyboard transforms into a karaoke workstation. The keyboard can even store digital audio, photos, and videos for making custom music videos or karaoke accompaniment, with full support for lyrics display. It's either the perfect way to start your own karaoke bar, or, if you believe the Roland press release, to create "customized family entertainment." Coming hot on the heels of the do-all entertainment center / DJ-VJ station / Windows PC synth MiKo, the VIMA is a further sign that music keyboard makers want in on the battle for the living room. But will it catch on outside Japan? (Hint: large quantities of your favorite alcoholic beverage might help the customized family entertainment.) – Peter Kirn

Roland's VIMA Concept Keyboard: Digital Media Hub and ... Karaoke Workstation? [Create Digital Music]

Hohner Six-Sided Harmonica Plays the Blues Six Ways to Sunday

Charlie White — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 08:27:28 EDT

Blues harmonica players, or harpists as we like to be called, play the blues for a number of reasons, but one of them is that our diatonic instruments are so limited. When the band changes keys, we have to go rummaging around for another harmonica. Not any more with the Hohner Six-Sided Harmonica made by the company that's been supplying blues harmonicas to the stars for way over a century.

Good thing these harps can be detached from their central hub, because it would be hard to hold that harpists-favorite Shure Green Bullet mic up against this multi-headed contraption. The sextet of harmonicas (heh heh, he said sex) are tuned to the keys of C, D, F, G, A and B flat, and might make you sing the blues when you see their price tag, $299.95. – Charlie White

Product page [Hammacher Schlemmer]

Crystal Roc Instruments Lined With Swarovski Gems

Gizloco — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 15:00:54 EDT

Swarovski crystals (you know, the same kind that every Tom, Dick and Harry company uses to line their products) line a series of musical instruments from Morten Schjolin, the man who helped bring us such useful members of society as Jennifer Lopez. Given the name Crystal Roc, these instruments— microphones, drums and guitars—are also just as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside, with audio circuitry provided by the likes of Technics and Shure.

Like other faux-luxury items, these Crystal Roc items aren't cheap (well, they are cheap, just not inexpensive), with the Retro Mike, the microphone I gather, costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,770 when it comes before the end of the year. – Nicholas Deleon

Crystal Roc Home Page [Crystal Roc via Gadget Candy]

Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1: DJ and Musician-Friendly Audio Interface

Travis Hudson — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 14:48:13 EDT

It doesn't take long for DJs and musicians to figure out that internal audio cards are crap for any real work, when it comes to sound quality, features, and performance. So, with a mind-numbing array options, how do you choose a replacement? Native Instruments' new Audio Kontrol 1 could be a good choice, with a $300 list price. It's got a slick-looking, honking-huge knob on the top you can use to control sound level easily, and controls that are neither ugly nor confusing as with some of its competitors. Low-latency (4ms) USB 2.0 audio drivers let you can run your instrument through it or play software instruments without a noticeable delay, specially important on Windows. And a dedicated headphone jack lets you cue through headphones, which is handy not only for DJs, but when you want a separate headphone mix for recording or performing. There's stiff competition in this field from other terrific, cheap interfaces, but the Audio Kontrol 1 ought to be on the short list. – Peter Kirn

Native Instruments Launches Audio Interface: Big Knob, Low Latency, Headphone Out [Create Digital Music]

The Breath Car

Travis Hudson — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 13:05:56 EDT

I may not have a musical bone in my body, but I can understand how difficult it is for beginner musicians to train the mouth to handle horn instruments. Matthew Brown is trying to help the beginner musicians train their controlled breathing with the Breath Car.

The car is controlled by a mouthpiece. When the person blows hard it will steer to the right, and softer blowing will result in the car turning to the left. Much of the skill behind playing wind instruments requires good controlled breathing. The skills required for this gadget can significantly improved the controlled breathing, therefore improving musical abilities and filling the world with more ~~waiters~~ aspiring musicians.

How does it work?
The controller contains a MIDI breath controller which converts breath pressure to MIDI data. This is sent to MAX/MSP which converts MIDI to serial data. Serial data is sent via Bluetooth and PIC chip to a servo on the car which controls the steering. The forward and backward controls are hacked from a cheap toy car.

Check out the video here to see the breath car in action. Pretty damn cool, if I do say so myself. – Travis Hudson

The Breath Car [WWMNA]

USB One Man Band Keyboard/Guitar/Vocal Box

Travis Hudson — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 13:32:53 EDT

You sing, you play guitar and bass, you record and play live, you play keys, and now you want a single USB device to handle everything in a single box. First, you're more talented than us. Second, you might want to check out Line 6's upcoming TonePort KB37. Announced at the summer music equipment trade show this weekend in Austin, this small keyboard includes controls for your fingers, inputs for footpedals for your feet, and uses software to model amplifiers, mic preamps, effects, and stompboxes, with processing options for vocalists and guitarists alike. Line6's equipment has plenty of competition, but it tends to be affordable and reliable. You may need to grow two extra feet and two extra arms to take full advantage of the thing, so Zaphod Beeblebrox, your audio gear has arrived. – Peter Kirn

Line6's KB37 Guitar/Vocal/Bass-Processing Keyboard [Create Digital Music]

Bizarre Fish-Themed Technology

Travis Hudson — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:07:07 EDT

Do you feel attached to your carp? Perhaps you'd like to dip it in ink, rub it on paper, and create a special "memento" of your fish. If so, the Japanese performance-art-manufacturing group maywa denki has the complete kit for you. They've also applied their fish obsession to musical instruments, with a carp-shaped glass armonica (the 18th-century instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin), a beat box in the shape of a carp (look out, Roland), and a "winged" musical device with electronic finger snappers, in case your thumb is tired. These appear to run on batteries, but you can plug in your traditional, non fish-themed hardware using a fish bone extension cord. And if you actually can't stand fish, there's even a fish swatter. – Peter Kirn

Bizarre Fish-Themed Gadgets, Musical Instruments [Create Digital Music]

Guitar Picks From Space: Meteoric Sound, Astronomic Price

Charlie White — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:00:00 EDT

Guitar players will search far and wide for the perfect guitar pick, looking for one that will give them just the right bite to their sound. But few guitar players have scoured the entire solar system for that ideal strumming implement, until now. These astronomically-expensive Meteorite Guitar Picks are each unique, and are priced as if their purveyor had to personally go out into space to retrieve every one.

The Astrotone ($110) is the most popular model, shaped like a traditional guitar pick. The more triangular Enterprise ($120) is also touted as suitable for playing either guitar or bass. Then there's the odd-looking freeform "Custom Monulista Pick from Sweden" (aren't they all from space?), for a cool $135, holding the distinction as the most expensive guitar pick in the universe.

Wonder if they make the guitar sound any better. Sheesh, for half that price you can get a snazzy LED-flashing Light Pick that lights up your hand like a disco ball. Forget it—I'm a finger-picker myself. – Charlie White

Product Page [Meteorite Guitar Picks, via Music Thing]

Datasound: Music for the 23rd Century?

Charlie White — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 10:41:25 EDT

We're still scratching their heads over this one, the Datasound, a device that takes digital bits and turns them into music. On the left side of the "deck," there's a turntable-like device that plays old-fashioned 5.25" floppy disks, letting you scratch its sounds similar to a vinyl record. On the right is an odd kind of sampler with various objects inside that generate data and electronic noise. Under the glass, there's a hard disk, neon light, the innards of a flatbed scanner and some other unnamed electronic objects. All of this is fashioned into an enclosure that resembles a museum case.

Try as we might, we couldn't find an example of the sounds made by the Datasound even though the site teased us with the promise of downloading and hearing its ~~noise~~ music. Anyway, we're under the impression that you're able to perform musical songs by adding your own personal rhythm to the sounds coming out of it. The concept was created by Troika Design, a London-based group of artists who apparently have lots of free time on their hands. – Charlie White

Design Page [Troika Design, via OhGizmo]

Blue Man Group Musical Noisemakers

Charlie White — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:41:00 EDT

If you've ever experienced the Blue Man Group, you've probably wished you could get your hands on one of their other-worldly musical instruments. Now noisemakers patterned after the group's PVC monstrosities have been licensed to toy company ToyQuest, where you can get a Keyboard ($80), Percussion Tubes ($70), a Drum Suit and an Air Pole.

These music makers, available next month, use proximity sensor technology, responding when you wave your hand over the tubes. Plus, you can plug in your iPod and play along, generating a variety of musical (and nonsensical) sounds. Looks like fun. – Charlie White

Blue Man Group's amazing range of musical toys [Music Thing]

Tritare: Guitar 2.0

Charlie White — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 14:40:36 EDT

Even though we think the guitar is near-perfect the way it is, inventor Sophie Léger is trying to improve upon it with the Tritare, a guitar with triple-ended strings. The Y-shaped instrument has one normally-fretted neck, and two others that don't have any frets and resonate the sound. You can see the two fretless necks in this picture — they're the ones upon which the guitar is standing.

The result is a highly unusual sound that's downright ethereal. It's more resonant than a conventional guitar, and the notes can be bent upwards or downwards for a slide-guitar effect. Best of all, the instrument is no more difficult to play than a regular guitar, and it can plucked and strummed, or even be bowed, or hit with sticks like a drum.

The instrument was first built in 2003, and there's a marketing effort going on at the website of the Tritare here.

Take a listen to this short composition played on the Tritare. It's like music from another world. – Charlie White

A New Family of Stringed Musical Instruments [ASA Meeting Paper, via Music Thing]

BCD2000 Mix & Scratch DJ/VJ Controller Reviewed (Verdict: Good, Mostly)

Travis Hudson — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 18:34:54 EDT

What with these kids today carrying around their laptops for DJing, live visuals and VJing, and live laptop music, there's a surprising dearth of physical controls for playing laptops live.

The Behringer BCD2000 B-Control Deejay would seem to cover all the bases on the cheap (US$200 street). For DJs and laptop music, there are 4 channels of audio connected to your computer via USB, with 2 phono preamps, headphone out, and mic in. (So, yes, you can do that whole "two turntables and a microphone" thing.) But this isn't just a DJ mixer: every knob, button, and fader sends MIDI, so you can use it to control whatever music or visual software you like. There are even jog wheels for simple scratching.

Australian VJ Jaymis Loveday reviews the gear, and concludes that it fits the bill, as a cheap entry in digital DJing or a do-all controller for music and visuals. The bad news: MIDI assignments are fixed, meaning some software will need some tricky workarounds. – Peter Kirn

BCD200 Review [Create Digital Music]

Schizoporotica Turns Crappy Bands into Sweet Melodies, Kind of

Travis Hudson — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 17:01:00 EDT

Remember the olden days, before Myspace became the latest trend for bands to get their name out? That was the time you would get bombarded with fliers all over town to go check out a show by another crappy band who was destined for poverty. The shows sucked, period. Schizoporotica has the ability to turn the tore up fliers into melodies. It will create the tune based upon the highs and lows of the torn patter of the flier. This ingenious device was the work of Troika and Evangelos Kaimakis and it will be on display at the Cybersonica festival in London on May 8-26.

Schizoporotica [Via WMMNA]

Monome MIDI Controller

johnb — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 09:59:14 EDT

This may not look like a musical instrument, but it is—and a whole lot more. It's a grid of 8x8 buttons that light up when pressed. A USB interface connects this thing to almost any sequencer or MIDI system and allows you to simply press the buttons to get a sound, change a setting, or tweak audio. Because this isn't a formal interface, it can be anything you want it to be—a drum tracker, a keyboard, or even a very frustrating Tic Tac Toe game.

It's currently in beta and the company is making about 500 trial units right now. It's all open source and a 16x16 unit will also be available.

Product Page [Monome via MusicThing]

MIDI Sword Keytar

Travis Hudson — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:27:03 EDT

A keytar AND a wooden sword combined in one? Are my eyes deceiving me? This eBay oddity is an instrument that combines a small MIDI keyboard with a carved wooden Kung Fu sword. Bidding begins at $249 and this beauty is well worth it.

eBay [Via Music Thing]

RKS Wave Guitar has Interchangeable Skins

Charlie White — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:48:36 EST

If you and your glam rock bandmates go through a few costume changes during every performance, now your guitar can join you with its own wardrobe malfunction. Here's the Wave Guitar from RKS Guitars, the first ax with an interchangeable pick guard and body shell. Just unscrew the old skin and replace it with the next color, and you're good to go in just a few minutes. The handmade-in-the-USA guitar is $899. Wonder what it looks like naked?

Product page [via GadgetCandy]

Samchillian Keyboard Concept

Charlie White — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 11:01:04 EST

Here's an experimental musical keyboard which is a MIDI controller based on relativity. Israeli industrial designer Eitan Shefer has created the Samchillian keyboard, taking a novel approach to a musical instrument where you don't play specific notes but select how they relate to the ones before them. For example, if you're playing a C and then want to play a D, you just push the +1 key. There are two directional keys, 16 relative keys and eight finger positions, and when you want to bend the pitch or manipulate the filters, you tilt the unit from side to side. It's also customizable for large or small hands. Check out the beautifully-produced video, and you'll quickly understand how it works. Wonder how difficult it is to learn?

Curvy experimental keyboard from Israel [Music Thing]

Digital Trumpet

Travis Hudson — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 07:22:29 EST

Trumpets may be something that primarily goes out of fad with high school graduation, but this may be the perfect gift for your little tyke to see if they can handle the likes of a big brass beauty. This trumpet is able to generate a wide variety of sounds including eight brass instruments, five woodwind and even a synthesized human voice. Best of all, it comes preloaded with 10 teaching songs that are learned via illuminated LEDs. Don t fret, parents. There is even a headphone jack. Now if only brass instruments could include one of those. This high-tech trumpet retails for $400.

A digital trumpet for beginners [Gearlog]

Specs and pricing on musical instruments [Amazon]

Toilet Seat Guitar for Only the Most Discerning Guitarists

Charlie White — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 11:36:39 EST

There's a shitload of toilet news today for some reason, and here's a guitar joining the chorus, made out of a toilet seat complete with toilet paper neckstrap and, uh, a poopy pickup. And look—there are toilet paper holders for both ends of the neckstrap and the bridge, too.

You ve got to admire the whimsical workmanship of this instrument, but we would question what wielding such an ax would do for a guitarist s self-esteem. Perhaps it beats wearing a toilet seat around your head. There's no price or availability information for this rare instrument, but we have an inkling that this is probably one-of-a-kind.

The Toilet Guitar [BunnyBass]