While magical mobile devices are able to simulate instruments in wild and mind-blowing ways, thankfully most people stick to the actual instruments themselves when learning to play. Arguably, a better (or at least more popular) use for mobile devices is to act not as the instrument itself, but as an educational aid — a tool that helps us to learn how to play our favorite instruments. → Read More
Japanese toy maker Takara Tomy has developed a gadget [JP] that turns the body of a human being into a musical instrument (of sorts). Dubbed Ningen Gakki (“Human Instrument” in Japanese), the little toy can be used by four people at the same time. → Read More
Ladies and gentleman, please welcome The Dube into your lives. “What’s The Dube?” Glad you asked. It’ the brainchild of former English international Dion Dublin, best known for his goal-scoring ways at Coventry City and Aston Villa. It’s a percussion instrument—fully customizable, yeah?—that’s set to revolutionize~! the way you envision percussion instruments. → Read More
Improvised and modified instruments are part of any self-respecting weird music creator’s repertoire. As for using plants (and banaynays) as conductive channel for a theremin-like instrument, it’s been done before (by Simian) but not on video, I think. → Read More
This video is one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve had in quite a while. Not only is the gadgetry excellent, but the music is very much to my liking as well. Paolo Angeli, an Italian musician (and clearly roboticist as well), has modified his guitar to have extra strings, a little strummer-bot, and a set of pedal-controlled string hammers. This is the kind of one-man-band I actually like. → Read More
Could it be the flugelhorn? Official XBOX Magazine found that the orange input on the Rock Band 2 drum set is not an input for a second kick pedal as was previously thought. Harmonix have yet to release information about the functionality of the input but state that the functionality, and details for double-kick will be revealed. This could be the final unveiling of the rumored and much… → Read More
http://blip.tv/play/hVbIpGMA TechEBlog has a cool little pair of guitars that also happen to be PCs (or are they PCs that also happen to be guitars? Go ask Chuang Tzu). The one in the video above is actually a touchscreen laptop embedded into a guitar body and appears to have working frets and all. I’m thinking he needs to take it easy on the delay a little bit (bwee-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow), but it… → Read More
Who knew Seth knew how to play the harp? This $600 gadget is a laser harp of sorts. Popular Mechanics has a video of it in action. As the video shows—why can’t I embed it?—every time you break a laser beam, the software plays back an audio sample from one of several different genres, like classical, metal and jazz. Or, if you have any musical talent to speak of, you can program… → Read More
http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x3sdgg Guitar Rising will do for your real guitar playing skills what Guitar Hero and Rock Band did for your fake guitar playing skills. It’s a game/lesson teacher (“lesson teacher” sounds vaguely sadomasochistic) that uses electric guitars—everything from MyFirstElectricGuitar to the double necked Gibson Jimmy Page used—instead of toy… → Read More
OK, sports fans, the individual instruments for Rock Band will begin shipping on February 12. The drum kit is first and will retail for $80. The Strat comes next on April 1st for $60 (PS2/3 and Xbox 360), but no word on microphone. And there’s something about the Playstation guitar being compatible with the PS2/3. That’s it. Move along. Rock Band Instruments Priced, Dated [IGN] → Read More
For millions of years, people have been listening to music. But now, thanks to new technology, they can actually make music as well. At CES, I came across a few items that made my inner musician geek out, including a self-tuning guitar and a pretty sweet drum synth pad, plus a couple of new recording gadgets for capturing your awful performances of “She Bangs” on the go. Pics and stuff… → Read More
This Centerfold guitar, they want us to know, is the world’s first guitar that folds in half for easy transport. It takes just 20 seconds to go from musical instrument to compact, everyday blunt object. It’s built, by hand, by “Sweden’s finest luthiers” and despite its crazy construction actually sounds pretty good (though Vince is the true guitar expert here). It even… → Read More
With the success of Guitar Hero 2, it was only a matter of time before some publishers and developers went “Hey…what if we did the same concept with a whole band?!” Rock Band is that next step, which is set to drop in November of this year. The game will include a whole band setup using unique controllers for guitar, bass, and drums, as well as microphones for belting out those… → Read More
The electronic wind instrument USB is a testament to the human inventive spirit. It looks to be a cross between a flute and a clarinet and plugs into your PC’s USB port. There, software instruments let you “rock out” (with a flute?), creating musical pieces that I’m sure Mozart would be envious of. All of the keys on the flute are touch-sensitive, so you won’t have to… → Read More
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