Music
March 28, 2008 Thomas Alva Edison has been considered the father of recorded sound since he captured the spoken words "Mary had a little lamb" on a sheet of tinfoil. Now a recording has come to light made by Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville on his phonautograph which captured the waves and translated them into visible form on paper. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory developed the playback technology which unlocked the recorded sound (listen to it here as an MP3). According to the researchers, the recording was made on April 9, 1860, predating Edison’s recording by a full two decades. Read More
March 19, 2008 Ever wondered how performing artists can seem so perfect on record, but their live pitch and timing can be a bit hit and miss? Part of it's genuine talent and studio concentration, but increasingly in the last ten years, recording perfection has been made easier by a range of amazing digital recording software that can correct pitch, timing and modulation of individual notes in a recorded track at the click of a mouse button. And the latest release from Melodyne, whose pitch correction software has become a de facto industry standard, claims to let producers edit individual notes within a chord. For the first time, this astonishing new package will let you correct wrong notes in a guitar track, for example, or move individual notes around to create entirely new guitar parts as if you're editing a midi track. Read More
Hearing Components’ latest noise reducing earphones, the $79.95 Comply NR-10, share a common design with earphones used by the US Army and Special Forces. The Comply NR-10 uses the military technology to deliver 48 decibels of noise reduction, blocking out more noise than the alternatives, without requiring additional battery power. Read More
March 13, 2008 SanDisk has unveiled the Flash-based Sansa Fuze MP3 player, a well specced entry level unit which joins the pint-sized Sansa Clip and the video-centric Sansa View in Sandisk's media player line. Read More
March 6, 2008 Stephen Hobley saw Jean Michael Jarre play his highly theatrical Laser Harp live 22 years ago and vowed he’d build one just like it. He’s just ironed out the bugs and has detailed the entire construction process on the internet. He reckons anyone can build one for under US$600 after purchasing his US$19 Laser Harp Plans and Source Code. We came across the Frameless Laser Harp when it scored second place in Trossen Robotics Community’s latest contest in a very hot field that included a seeing-eye-robot for the visually impaired and a "self-balancing motorboard" which is very similar to the iSlide which drew so much reader interest in a recent Gizmag article. Read More
February 25, 2008 Dutch company MusicReader has released sheet music software that simplifies the task of reading music while performing for individuals, ensembles and orchestras. The new software offers features such as easy page turning, a convenient music library and flexible annotations. Read More
February 25, 2008 Co-developed by the audio scientists of gaming audio leader Razer and audio industry pioneer THX Ltd., the Razer Mako 2.1 bi-amplified multimedia speaker system is the first desktop speaker system to incorporate the THX Ground Plane and THX Slot Speaker technologies, as well as ClassHD Digital Amplifier Technology, which enable rich, omnidirectional audio effects. The downward-firing design of the THX Ground Plane and THX Slot Speaker technologies eliminates distortion caused by the 'desk-bounce' phenomenon encountered with normal speaker systems, to create a rich, omnidirectional soundstage while the high-end ClassHD digital amplifier technologies intelligently manage the amplifier power to achieve greater power efficiency, lower distortion levels, and better sound quality. Read More
February 19, 2008 Violins created by Antonio Stradivarius have, in the eyes of collectors and instrumental experts, never been bettered. Hailed for their superlative tonal quality and superior craftsmanship, owning a Stradivarius instrument has over the centuries been an obsessive ambition for many players. With only 650 Stradivari instruments in existence today, the news that a violin by the world’s most celebrated craftsman is for sale will be music to collectors and performers ears alike. A mystery however hangs over this remarkable instrument … Read More
Blaupunkt New Orleans MP58 offers uninterrupted MP3 playback
February 13, 2008 Blaupunkt's latest car radio release caters to digital music formats by including a fixed 1 meter USB cable for connecting external digital storage devices along with "no-interrupt browsing capability", meaning you can continue to listen to the current track while searching through playlists. Read More
February 11, 2008 In more news from Sony Ericsson, the latest addition to Walkman line has been unveiled. Available in Q3 of this year, the W980 Walkman phone boasts distortion free stereo sound and 8GB of internal memory (or up to 8000 songs) in a clamshell "Walkman on Top" design that replicates the Walkman controls on the outside of the phone for quick navigation through your music library. Read More
