GEAR + TECH
Watch This Guy Turn a Vintage Phone Into a MIDI Controller and Play Daft Punk’s “Around The World”
Creative Daft Punk fans have used calculators and even Tesla coils to preserve the robots’ legacy in the wake of their split. But this one just may take the cake. James “poprhythm” Kolpack has repurposed an old phone and, through the use of an Arduino Diecimila device, turned it into a MIDI controller and vocoder to play Daft Punk’s classic, “Around The World.” “This project takes a vintage touch phone and converts it into a musical instrument, or more specifically, a MIDI controller using the push-buttons to generate the signals for musical notes,” Kolpack writes. Inside of a Southwestern Bell Freedom Phone Model No: FT325 James “poprhythm” Kolpack Once the phone was taken apart, Kolpack began mapping the...
Designers Craft Braille-Based Instrument for Visually Impaired Musicians
A trio of Korean designers have crafted an innovative new instrument that’s likely to appeal to a new generation of visually impaired musicians. The Vitar, short for “visual guitar,” was developed by Eojin Roh, Seonjin Baek, and Yujeong Shin. While few instruments exist today that are specifically catered to the visually impaired, the Vitar is servicing a populace of musicians who respond especially well to auditory stimulation. The Vitar, a new musical instrument for visually impaired artists. Eojin Roh, Seonjin Baek, Yujeong Shin As neurological studies have concluded, the auditory cortex of musicians with impaired sightedness often becomes enhanced, leading individuals to be able to better discern more precise differences in sonic frequencies compared ...
Swedish House Mafia and IKEA Launch New Collection to “Democratize Music Production at Home”
Swedish House Mafia and IKEA are aiming to empower a new generation of producers with at-home fixtures to inspire creativity. The iconic trio recently revealed their remix of one of the furniture giant’s signature products, the IKEA FRAKTA bag. Now, the two are slated to debut an expanded offering of 20 new items this coming October. Dubbed the OBEGRÄNSAD collection, the line features a myriad of at-home products essential to modern music production, from consumer electronics to shelves, lamps, carrying cases, an armchair and even a record player. OBEGRÄNSAD translates to “unlimited” in Swedish, which is certainly fitting for a collection that aims to remove creative hurdles and inhibitions for the bedroom creator. “We wanted to simplify the process...
You Can Now Paint With Music Thanks to This Artist’s Brilliant Invention
What if, instead of just putting paint on a canvas, you could hear its colors? Thanks to musician Camry Ivory, you can now generate music by painting with her invention, the Coloratura, which she calls a “system of musical paintbrushes.” Ivory started designing the Coloratura in 2015 as a one-time performance piece for downtown Kansas City’s Art in the Loop Series, reports KCUR-FM. Since then, she’s been improving the instrument as a way to literally create sound with paint. Featuring an easel with a metal canvas, 12 brushes for each note and pots of paint, the Coloratura connects each brush using wires to a circuit board, which sends a signal to her computer and music production software to create different notes. Scroll to Continue Recommended Articles Having been inspired by...
Panasonic Revamps Vintage Stereo With Ability to Play Back Freehand Drawings
Panasonic’s latest experiment boasts the capability of turning simple freehand drawings into complex multimedia art forms. Paradoxically, the story behind this cutting-edge stereo player is partially a tale of reform. It began with the discovery of an old Super Phonic HE-3000, a 1960s-era stereo with a rock-solid constitution, but otherwise missing its critical record-playing functionality. The unit had been relegated to the back of a warehouse, collecting dust before it was finally rediscovered. Super Phonic HE-3000. Panasonic Design Panasonic sought to preserve the stereo’s good condition while restoring its missing infrastructure in a modern, more experimental way. Scroll to Continue Recommended Articles Instead of restoring the traditional framework, the company instea...
Sensorium Galaxy Launches 24/7 Streaming Channel for Metaverse Raves, Attracting 4 Million Viewers
Carefully positioned within the intersection of entertainment and metaverse tech, Sensorium Galaxy is paving the way for the future of virtual concert experiences. Having already inked deals with electronic music icons such as Armin van Buuren, Black Coffee, Carl Cox, David Guetta, Eric Prydz and Charlotte de Witte, Sensorium Galaxy is creating mind-bending social experiences that bridge the gap between VR and raving. Now, Sensorium has launched the world’s first 24/7 in-engine metaverse streaming channel. Take a glimpse into the photorealistic stream below via its truncated version, which was also uploaded to YouTube less than two weeks ago and has since garnered over 4 million views. It features performances from Sensorium’s AI-driven artists: Kàra Màr, Natisa Sitar and Ninalis. No...
Listen to the Unsettling Sounds Generated By a Black Hole, Captured By NASA
Despite appearances, there’s seemingly more to an intergalactic black hole than meets the eye. In fact, while most space objects and travelers are seen but never heard, black holes are proving to be an anomaly. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the sound a black hole produces is unsettling to say the least. NASA took to Twitter to share that there’s some common misconceptions around the idea of sound’s lack of existence in space. The agency noted that generally speaking, there’s no means by which sound waves can travel as most of space exists as a vacuum. However, despite looking like an empty void, black holes are actually quite the opposite. In actuality, a black hole is composed of densely compacted space matter, so much so that there’s enough gas present for t...
Tycho Launches Web3 Community On Polygon Blockchain
Tycho is using Web3 technology to forge an artist-to-fan community built for the future. Tycho’s unique come-up allowed him to experience various trades within the music industry before rising to prominence as an artist himself. In an introduction to his new Tycho Open Source Community, the Grammy-nominated Weather artist explains that creating his own music publication in the early days of his career allowed him to build a community and engage with other writers in a marketplace of ideas. While the subsequent social media era has certainly had its upsides, Tycho continued, he’s been eager to return to build a stronger, more collaborative sense of community. To that end, the Tycho Open Source Community aims to unite Tycho’s fans from around the world. powered by...
This Company Aims to Revolutionize Vinyl As We Know It
On-demand vinyl platform elasticStage has raised £3.5 million ($4.2 million USD) to help fund “the vinyl revolution.” Led by renowned record producers Paul Epworth (Adele, Paul McCartney) and Dan Grech-Marguerat (Lana Del Rey, George Ezra, Tom Grennan), the investment will aid elasticStage in expanding its operations, team and technology as well as building key partnerships with labels and digital service providers. The company is set to drop the needle and open their first production and fulfillment center in London by the end of this year, MusicWeek reports. elasticStage has reportedly spent the past six years in development and is now ready to revolutionize the way vinyl is created and distributed with a more sustainable and ethical approach. By utilizing diff...
This On-Demand Vinyl Printing Company Aims to Revolutionize Vinyl As We Know It
On-demand vinyl printing platform elasticStage has raised £3.5 million ($4.2 million USD) to help fund “the vinyl revolution.” Led by renowned record producers Paul Epworth (Adele, Paul McCartney) and Dan Grech-Marguerat (Lana Del Rey, George Ezra, Tom Grennan), the investment will aid elasticStage in expanding its operations, team and technology as well as building key partnerships with labels and digital service providers. The company is set to drop the needle and open their first production and fulfillment center in London by the end of this year, MusicWeek reports. elasticStage has reportedly spent the past six years in development and is now ready to revolutionize the way vinyl is created and distributed with a more sustainable and ethical approach. By utili...
Coca-Cola Launches EDM-Inspired Flavor, AR Experiences In Partnership With Tomorrowland
Inspired by EDM, a new flavor of Coca-Cola wants to transport you to a dreamworld. The fourth and final Coca-Cola Creations drop of 2022, “Dreamworld” incorporates surrealist themes with technicolor imagery that recalls the sights and sounds of raves. According to a press release, the company aims to” evoke the boundless creativity of the human imagination to the unmistakable taste of Coca-Cola” by marketing to Gen Z. “Coca-Cola Dreamworld taps into Gen Z’s passion for the infinite potential of the mind by exploring what a dream tastes like,” said Alessandra Cascino, Creative & Shopper Program Director, Coca-Cola North America Operating Unit. “Like the Coca-Cola Creations that came before it, Dreamworld plays with the unexpected and will no dou...
Amnesia Ibiza Tests App That Converts Dance Moves to Donations
Desperados is helping ravers dance towards a brighter future. Desperados, a subsidiary of the Heineken company, is the manufacturer of the world’s first tequila flavored beer and certainly no stranger to making the world feel in their element on the dancefloor. However, the company recently found a new way to engage concert-goers with their Rave To Save app. The app incentivizes dancing by tracking the user’s steps and converting their steps into charitable donations. The initiative arrives in the wake of surveys conducted by Desperados, which revealed that 60% of respondents believe the party scene should be more active in supporting charitable causes. To that end, clubbers have since had no trouble putting their money where their feet are. Scroll to Continue Recommended...
