Music

The ultimate air duo of keyboards and guitar has now taken a step closer to becoming a full band with the creation of the Air Drums by Israeli electronics tinkerer Maayan Migdal. His system is comprised of a couple of modified hand rakes, a pair of sandals, the ever-useful Arduino Uno and some custom circuitry which feeds through to a laptop via a standard MIDI interface. Read More

If you’ve ever heard the eerie electronic music at the beginning of a 1950s science fiction movie (The Day the Earth Stood Still, for example), then you’ve heard a theremin. Invented in Russia in the 1920s, the instrument is unique, in that the person playing it doesn’t touch it at all. Instead, they move their hands around its two antennas, causing it to emit different sounds by altering radio frequencies that the machine emits. Although still used by some modern musicians, theremins can be a little pricey, and somewhat difficult to master. That’s where the $35 Beep-It optical theremin comes in. Read More

For a good while now, electric guitar and bass players have been able to interface their instruments with computers and mobile devices thanks to solutions like the JAM from Apogee and the iRig from IK Multimedia. Now, acoustic players are to get their chance to join the digital party with the launch of the AcousicLink solution from Alesis. Read More

We recently took a look at the iPerform3D online guitar lessons for those looking to unleash their inner Hendrix, but if you’re thinking tinkling the ivories might be more your style then Ion Audio’s Piano Apprentice could be worth a look - at least for a basic introduction to playing the piano. Following the Simon school of music instruction, the Piano Apprentice features a 25-note keyboard that docks with an iPad, iPod touch or iPhone to demonstrate how to play as the relevant keys on the device light up. Read More

When musical inspiration hits, it's vital to get it recorded before it disappears. Handheld recorders like Tascam's DR-07 MkII recorder and or Zoom's new H2n Handy Recorder are useful in this regard, but if you need a little more flexibility, something like a pocket-sized version of the BR800 portable recording studio could be the answer. Roland has announced that its BOSS MICRO BR multi-track digital recorder has now been updated. The MICRO BR BR-80 has twice the simultaneous playback tracks of its predecessor, a new effects processor and the ability to reduce the presence of vocal and lead guitar of pre-recorded audio to give players the chance to create their own. Read More

The iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad are now established favorites for the mobile muso with new synths and sequencers seemingly coming out every week. Until iOS 4 however there was no standardized method for getting MIDI control signals in and out of the units for interfacing with ‘proper’ equipment. Some enterprising developers created methods using the Apple Camera Kit USB connector whilst Line 6 created its own proprietary method and the MIDI Mobilizer dongle to go with it. In the iOS 4 software release Apple ported the CoreMIDI programming interface framework from MacOS and developers finally had a standard method with which they were familiar. Though iOS4 was released a year ago, compatible MIDI interfaces are now only beginning to get to market. Read More

For visual learners, video guitar lessons from musicians or teachers might seem the perfect tool to quickly nail a killer lick but in truth they can be somewhat limited in the tuition on offer. The mobile convenience of teaching apps have added another useful layer to the overall learning experience but nothing quite matches the expert guidance and hands-on approach of a professional tutor. If you're looking for a similarly interactive learning experience that's available whenever the mood grabs you and allows you to zoom into the action, slow down the pace without affecting pitch and view exactly what's going on from any angle - the iPerform3D online tuition service warrants a closer look. Read More

If you've tried to digitally capture a guitar performance or turn your six-string into a powerful MIDI synth using an interface or special pickup, you'll no doubt be familiar with signal lag and pitch accuracy issues. As you pluck a string, there is a very short delay before it reaches its final frequency - it might only be a few milliseconds but it can be enough to cause latency angst. Germany's M3i Technologies has developed an optical system for accurately detecting the pitch of a string - even before a player has plucked it. The Laser Pitch Detection (LPD) Pickup system runs a beam under each string, from the bridge to the end of the fingerboard, and monitors its return to photosensitive receptors in the unit. When a player's finger touches a string, the beam is shortened and the system quickly measures and calculates the exact pitch. Read More

We've seen a number of weird and wonderful musical creations here at Gizmag but we have to agree with the creator of the hipDisk when she describes it as possibly the most undignified musical instrument ever. This strange interactive sonic system is made up of a pancake tutu-like disk at the hip and another above the waist which cause a sound to be generated when the two disks meet at specific points around the edge. In order to get to those points and create simple monophonic tunes or melodies, the wearer has to twist, turn, bend or stretch so that the two conductive contact points meet. Read More