Korg have outed their latest product range, including the MicroSampler mini-synth shown here, a new digital percussion instrument, the WAVEDRUM, and a stage keyboard, the SV-1 Stage Vintage Piano. Of the three, we’re perhaps most intrigued by the MicroSampler, a compact keyboard with a sampler, loop sequencer and onboard effects, all of which are intended to be used in real-time performance.
The “sensation” of Pro DJ’ing is surely staying up to 4am, packed into a mixing booth before a sea of heaving, ketamine-fuelled bodies swinging their arms rapturously, while your ear-drums are slowly pounded out of existence by far more bass than is medically advisable. Unfortunately, Hercules seem to have decided that their version of that sensation is actually all about tweaking your MP3s into digital mixes, and with that in mind they’ve launched their latest DJ control surface, the MP3e2.
The “earth friendly” juggernaut continues, with even high-end home automation specialists feeling the need to slap some green on their spec sheets. You’d find it pretty hard to fault the range of amps and control panels from Knoll Systems generally, but if the one factor stopping you was concern for the livelihood of the Crested Grebe then their new GSZ44 and GSZ67 controller-amplifiers should salve your conscience.
Back in November 2008 SlashGear heard talk of mobile music service Didiom bringing their hybrid download/streaming service to RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones. Turns out our tipster was correct: Didiom have announced the release of their app, free in the BlackBerry App World download store. With it, users can not only buy music and audiobooks on the move from a catalog of over 2m songs, but stream audio content from their home computer.
Lifestyle audio firm Bose have announced a wireless music system, the SoundLink, which promises to free your audio from its PC or Mac prison. The setup consists of a battery-powered speaker, complete with remote control, and a USB transmitter dongle that plugs into your computer.
An acoustic instrument bristling with buttons and knobs is always off to a good start, but Patrick Sébastien Coulombe’s “la Guitare à crayon” goes a few steps further into strangeness. Taking the body of an acoustic guitar and then strapping a Wacom digitizer to the front, the unusual instrument translates sketched images into sound.
Video demo after the cut
Line 6 have announced a new wireless guitar system that, they claim, “redefines the wireless experience.” The Line 6 Relay G30 Digital Wireless System consists of a compact transmitter with standard 1/4-inch input and six user-selectable channels, together with a receiver good for up to 30m range.
Steampunk continues to divide opinion, with some still entranced by etched brass, cogs and masterful repurposing of what would otherwise be thrown away as trash, while other think it a tired meme that doesn’t know when to give up. We’re thinking that both groups would find some appeal in Moritz Wolpert’s Steampunk analog synth, however.
Remember the Sony CMT-Z100iR iPod dock from all the way back in March? Well, it’s arrived and it brought a friend: the wirelessly-enabled NAS-Z200iR, shown here. The Z100iR is a basic iPod speaker dock, with FM radio and CD player, whereas the Z200iR throws in WiFi, DLNA streaming and a remote control with a 3.5-inch LCD display.
We can’t all be Jean Michel Jarre, but thanks to the Arduino microprocessor we can flail our arms around and make music. Omer Yosher’s “Airpiano” is a long strip of motion sensors treated as, via the Arduino, midi keys and faders; moving your hands over and through the sensors control notes or samples, as well as volume.
Video demo after the cut
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