Feb 14
Roland just combined two of its most iconic analog drum machines, the TR-808 and TR-909, into a new digital beat maker.
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Feb 14
This week Roland has brought on a new “ARIA” collection of devices for the electronic music masters amongst us. First up is the new Roland TR-8, a device that the … Continue reading
Dec 18
Remember when you needed a phone line and a dial-up modem to get online? Heck, I was using modems to connect to services like Compuserve and Prodigy before anyone even knew what the Internet was. One of the most annoying things about dial-up modems was that stupid squealing sound they made when you were trying to connect. Especially when you accidentally picked up the phone and had to listen to that incessant noise. Now, thanks to ThinkGeek, you can recreate those sounds whenever you feel like it.
That’s right, the box shown here isn’t a modem, but it’s a machine that makes modem sounds. You can simply press any button and relive the sounds of days gone by, including the dialing and ringer sounds, or you can use multiple buttons to play screechy, unappealing music with it.
Bonus points if you recognize that piece of music at the end there. Yes, that’s the closing theme to Buckaroo Banzai. Wow, I’m really dating myself now. Trust me, if you never saw that movie, you must Netflix it tonight.
While I suppose there’s some nostalgic value to the Music Modem, I think I’d quickly tire of its sounds – just like I did back in the 1980s and early 1990s. But if you really must make these noises, you can grab the Music Modem from ThinkGeek for $29.99(USD). Personally, I’m waiting for a device that sounds like the cassette tapes that software used to come on. Oh, that’s called a cassette player with a speaker.
Aug 20
Keyboards and synthesizers are some of the most complex electronic musical instruments. Even the basic ones are loaded with a variety of tweaks that help you achieve a variety of sounds. But unlike a guitar where you can bend, pluck or hammer the strings to modify the sound on the fly, keyboards and synths require you to make your adjustments using separate sliders or knobs. This is where TouchKeys come in.
Andrew McPherson and his colleagues at the Queen Mary University of London’s Augmented Instruments Laboratory came up with TouchKeys. These multitouch sensors stick to standard-size keys via an adhesive backing. They’ll work on keyboards and synthesizers that can output in MIDI or OSC. The sensors can detect up to three simultaneous touch points per key and can even distinguish whether it’s being touch by the fingertip or the pad of the finger (presumably by the area covered by the touch). This not only gives you a more convenient way to tweak your sound, it lets you adjust your instrument to your needs instead of the other way around.
Pledge at least £195 (~$305 USD) on Kickstarter to get a set of TouchKeys as a reward. You can also pledge to get a full TouchKey instrument if you have the cash.
Jul 29
Insert Coin: TouchKeys overlay brings whole new meaning to ‘tickling the ivories’
Posted in: Today's ChiliIn Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you’d like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with “Insert Coin” as the subject line.
Keyboards haven’t changed much in the last, oh, few hundred years or so. You play a note by hitting and releasing it, use a pedal to sustain and change volume through the high-tech means of “bashing harder.” TouchKeys wants to give you much more control with its touch sensitive, DIY stick-on overlays that can even sense multi-touch. While similar to what we’ve seen recently with the Roli Seaboard (which has rubberized keys that let you bend notes), TouchKeys can be added to most keyboards and would let you do even more, in theory. Similar to a smartphone screen, it senses up and down or side-to-side finger movements with up to three touches, all of which can be mapped mapped to different sounds or effects. For instance, you can create a vibrato by shaking your hand side-to-side, move up and down to bend notes, use multi-touch pinch and slide to change midi mappings, or play different sounds by multi-tapping.
Most of the kits sold will be DIY, meaning they’ll come as self-installed peel-and-stick keys and sensors that fit standard-sized keyboards, starting at £330 for 25 keys. You’ll also have to open up the keyboard to tuck in the narrow controller, but the company said it hasn’t seen any models that don’t work yet. If you’re not inclined to futz around, you’ll be able to buy a limited number of pre-installed kits starting at £660 with a Novation Impulse 25 keyboard. TouchKeys is looking for a relatively modest £30,000 as its funding goal, so if you’re looking for the latest musical edge, hit the source.
Filed under: Peripherals
Via: Gizmag
Source: Kickstarter
May 27
Bleep Drum Kit: I Don’t Wanna Work, I Just Want to Bleep on the Drum All Day
Posted in: Today's ChiliBack in the 1980s, I always wanted a set of those Simmons electronic drums – not because I had any idea how to play percussion, but because they just looked cool and geeky. Of course, now I look back and think they were pretty silly looking. Still, I always enjoyed the sound of electronic drums. While I suppose I could go buy a fancy drum machine, but I rather like the way this kit looks instead.
Designed by Dr. Bleep, the Bleep Drum Kit is an Arduino-based electronic circuit that generates percussive sounds. It offers four different sounds, along with pitch control for two of them. You can also record and play back sequences with the Bleep, by simply tapping them out. Its sampled sounds are decidedly lo-fi, but that’s what I love about it. Here, check it out in action:
Since the code for the Bleep Drum is provided, you can hack in your own .WAV samples, or with a little bit of work, you could probably control it via MIDI too.
You can order the Bleep either in Kit form for $60(USD), or if soldering is above your pay grade, you can go for the pre-assembled version for $85. Both are available over on Bleep Labs website.
May 04
Just about every gamer we know has wanted to alter a game world on the spot, whether it’s to cheat, fix game mechanics or experiment. Special Stage Systems’ Ming Mecca system is built entirely around that concept — and will definitely appeal to anyone with a fondness for analog electronics. Knobs and switches on its World Core synthesizer module adjust the game machine’s maps, graphics, characters and even physics through voltage tweaks. Players only have to load assets on an SD card if they’d like a different look, and they even have access to the firmware and schematics if they want to go completely off the beaten path. Input is just as unconventional: a Control Core turns NES-compatible gamepads into signal generators that can be used just as easily for music making as for playing. Ming Mecca isn’t expected to ship until summer 2014, and it won’t be cheap at an estimated $999 for a World Core and $350 for the Control Core. Even so, we’re sorely tempted to splurge — it’s not often that a gadget scratches so many of our nostalgic itches at once.
Source: Special Stage Systems
Mar 29
Moog Music’s Amos Gaynes on learning to code in BASIC and going off the grid
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Every week, a new and interesting human being tackles our decidedly geeky take on the Proustian Q&A. This is the Engadget Questionnaire.
In the return edition of our regular session of inquiry, Moog Music product manager Amos Gaynes discusses sound synthesis, tolerance for poor battery life and shares his love for BB10. For the entire collection of answers, take a quick leap to the other side of the break.
Filed under: Misc
Mar 27
Korg Kaoss KP3+ and Kaossilator Pro+ Synth Specs, Price and Release Date Announced
Posted in: Today's ChiliIf 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. They look more like some sort of control panel from the Enterprise than musical instruments.
The new products include the KP3+ Dynamic Effect/Sampler and the Kaossilator Pro+ Dynamic Phase Synthesizer/Loop Recorder. Both devices promise a user-friendly X-Y touchpad interface that responds to the touch of a finger or a swipe.
The KP3+ supports touchpad-based control of over 150 sound effects including all of the original KP3 sound effects along with 22 new effect programs. The device also has a looper, a ducking compressor that puts emphasis on the backbeats, and a “Final Break” effect that simulates slowing down a turntable. Here’s just a small sample of what the KP3+ can do:
The device is also a MIDI controller with three controller signals transmitted from the touchpad and data from the slider.
The Kaossilator Pro+ has 250 sounds inspired by electronic music including 62 sounds inspired by cutting-edge genres. The effects include synth leads, enhanced drum sounds, and highly controllable drum patterns among other features. Korg shows off a bit of the Pro+ in action below:
Both products will be available this April with the KP3+ selling for $349.99(USD) and the Pro+ selling for $399.99.
Mar 26
It’s no secret that Korg creates some fantastic products when it comes to synthesized sound – and music is about to blow through your ear sockets this week with a couple of additions to the Kaoss Synthesizer lineup. What we’ve got here is a couple of new beasts, the first being the KP3+ Dynamic Effect/Sampler, the other bumping up the beats as the Kaossilator Pro+ Dynamic Phase Synthesizer/Loop Recorder. The power is about to be yours once again.
With the KP3+ Dynamic Effect/Sampler you’ll be using touchpad controls to activate a barrage of effects programs – over 150 of them right here in one little monster. These programs include the original KP3 effects, 22 all-new effects programs, and a collection of sounds and features in-between that’ll knock you out. You’ll find user-favorited selections in filters, decimators, echoes and more from Korg products that are on the market right now, as well: the Kaoss Pad Quad and Mini Kaoss Pad 2 have been particularly inspirational.
Using the KP3+ you’ll be blasting with high resolution sampling from sources galore – mic and line inputs are yours to craft with. You can save multiple bands of samples to SD card (with the integrated SD card slot) or transferred to your PC with this machine’s USB port – you’ll also have a MIDI controller able to transmit three controller signals from one touchpad, data from the slider, and more – this beast will run you $349.99 and will be available starting in April, 2013.
With the Kaossilator Pro+ you’ll be rocking with 250 sounds with such excellent bits and pieces as synth leads, enhanced drum sounds, and effects galore – all highly controllable and pattern-ready. You’ll be working with updated drum PCM from Korg’s own Wavedrum percussion synth, and you’ll be encouraged to either work in one of the following genres or create your own (of course!): hip-hop, chiptune, house, dubstep, new disco, electro, reggaeton, and drum ‘n’ bass.
The Kaossilator Pro+ has the ability to record performances that are four tracks deep, each of them placed on a Loop Recorder Bank and overdubbed one at a time. Loop phrases coming correct, you’ll go wild with line inputs and a mic input as well for recording external audio sources on the fly – and you’ll be doing all of this for $399.99 USD starting in April of 2013 – same time as the KP3+ – as well.
Korg Kaoss Synthesizer line expands with KP3+ and Kaossilator Pro+ is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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