DailyDirt: More Modern Musical Instruments

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Tue, Jul 26th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Learning to play music takes a lot of time, practice... and oftentimes an expensive musical instrument. Sure, there are some cool toys that aren't too pricey, but maybe technology could help make playing instruments easier and cheaper. Here are a few musical gadgets that might fit the bill.

How can you make playing the guitar even cooler? Add LASERS. Okay, maybe not cooler -- but definitely geekier. [url]
The Imaginary Marching Band project is going to create some open source musical devices that will simulate a trumpet, trombone, tuba, snare drum, bass drum and cymbals. Sorry, no air guitar. [url]
The theremin was patented in 1928 and didn't really catch on. But maybe someone will figure out how to re-make a more modern touch-less musical instrument with gesture recognition software and a camera.... [url]
To discover more interesting tech-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: lasers, musical instruments, theremin
Companies: kickstarter

7 Comments

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pringerX (profile), 26 Jul 2011 @ 5:20pm

Vocaloid!
Here's another bit of modern music that hasn't been mentioned, and has gained more than a cult following. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocaloid =)
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 26 Jul 2011 @ 6:13pm

What Do You Mean, The Theremin �Didn�t Really Catch On�?
Seems like every few decades somebody rediscovers the Theremin, thinks it�s neat, and wonders why nobody used it much before. And after trying it for a while, they discover how boring it really is, and quietly drop it.

It was all throughout the music for Forbidden Planet. It was done to death in the Beach Boys� Good Vibrations. Isn�t that enough?
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sile, 26 Jul 2011 @ 9:03pm

one of those decades
If you'd looked a bit further on Kickstarter...
(And yes, I helped fund this. Apparently the Beach Boys wasn't enough for me.)
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Anonymous WwwooooOOOOoEEeEeOOoOO, 27 Jul 2011 @ 1:04am

Desktop theremin
If you have a touchpad, this is a fun little theremin put out by Synaptics for their touchpads:

Synaptic Touchpad Theremin. Been playing with mine for years. There's also a drum pad there.
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Michael Ho (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 1:05am

Re: one of those decades
Hmm. That's a digital theremin... but I was thinking more of a theremin that used a video camera instead of capacitors -- like a Xbox Kinect version of a theremin.
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Michael Ho (profile), 27 Jul 2011 @ 1:06am

Re: Desktop theremin
nice find, anon wwwooo*
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Nicedoggy, 27 Jul 2011 @ 2:36am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLOrk

Using your laptop as an instrument to create music.

http://androidandme.com/2009/04/reviews/musical-brings-multitouch-instruments-to-android/

Using your cellphone as an instrument.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Experimental_musical_instruments

List of bizarre instruments.

http://hackaday.com/2011/07/18/robot-band-covers-marilyn-manson/
http://hackaday.co m/2011/07/08/mini-ir-theremin/
http://hackaday.com/2011/06/06/million-volt-guitar-rocks-the-house-f or-science/

More crazy instruments can be found here.
http://hackaday.com/category/musical-hacks/page/1/

That is the cutting edge of modern music production folks LoL
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