Tag Archives: Love Hultén

Old walkman becomes cassette player and storage unit

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“Everything old is new again” is an adage that we will probably never escape. How we listen to music continually evolves but it seems that we still have a certain fondness for the old way like vinyls, CDs, and yes, even cassette tapes. Streaming music on our mobile devices is the most convenient but there’s a certain nostalgia attached to “vintage” that we enjoy. And of course, the music quality is way different to the compressed ones we have now.

Designer Name: Love Hulten

This designer is obviously of the generation that still enjoyed listening to music on cassette tapes since the main component of this device is his old Sony Walkman WM-EX655. And he still has a collection of cassette tapes so we know he’s a serious collector. What he developed is something straight out of a 60s science fiction movie. But instead of using it to conduct experiments, you use it as it was originally intended: to play sweet, sweet music.

What he came up with is a cassette player and storage unit for the colorful cassette tape cases. There’s also built-in dual circular speakers, keyboard switches and buttons with various functions like play, stop, forward, rewind, etc. There’s also an audio waveform meter to go along with the beat of the music and even a tape slot to put in the case of the album you’re currently playing. The cabinet looking device blends design and technology to give you a truly retro piece of equipment that still performs its original function.

It’s of course a device that he made for himself since he has been collecting and keeping cassette tapes. But unlike vinyls and CDs that you can still buy from a lot of places, I don’t know that many stores that still sell cassettes. So the possibility of having a commercial version of this is very slim.

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The “Willy Wonka” of musical instruments created this oddly appealing portable MIDI guitar

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Nobody has destroyed, rebuilt, and reimagined the notion of synthesizers as much as Love Hultén. The maverick synth-maker is credited with designing some of the most incredible-looking electronic music machines out there (we’ve covered a fair few), from synths and loopers to modular electro units and even some record players and arcade games on the side. The Sweden-based music aficionado and synth-builder kicked off 2024 with a new project in collaboration with ‘catbeats’. Although this particular device doesn’t have a name yet, Hultén mentioned that it’s a unique-looking MIDI guitar that has a NESpoly synth on the inside, and a detachable fretboard that makes the entire apparatus easy to travel with.

Designer: Love Hultén

The unconventional design of the MIDI instrument is just about as much of a hat top to a guitar as possible. It does have a fretboard that triggers notes, and a dedicated strumming section for chords and such, but you’ve also got a variety of knobs and buttons that loop, modulate, play/pause, and increase/decrease the gain of what you’re playing.

The entire design can be disassembled for travel, and features a few quirky details made specifically for the user. Given catbeats’ obsession with felines, the guitar has a cat avatar in the bottom corner underneath a removable clear dome. Reminiscent of those cat backpacks that have the pet behind a clear plastic structure, the dome can be removed to access the tiny avatar underneath, and the avatar is made to be replaceable too, allowing you to swap out cats based on mood. Hultén also details that the guitar’s strap is made from ‘extraterrestrial skin’, although that’s just fancy wording given that the strap’s crafted from a clear flexible plastic sheet (or maybe aliens have better skincare than I do)…

MIDI guitars are unusual to come by, although if I did expect them, it would probably be from Hultén. The Gothenburg-based artist has worked on some rather unique and inspiring electronic products, from a circular Game Boy to a synth made from plastic dentures. Sure, this guitar doesn’t feature too high on Hultén’s weirdness scale, but it’s a remarkable representation of how his brain works.

Close-up view of the avatar area and the removable plastic dome.

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Love Hultén brick-inspired sound sculpture uses a bonsai tree to create sounds

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With the prevalence of electronic devices like smartphones and smart speakers, you might think that sound and music can only come from these objects. Of course, they are more medium than source, and there are plenty of things that generate audible audio waves even without the help of man-made contraptions. Nature, for example, has plenty of mystifying sounds that almost border on being musical, but there are also hidden ways that natural objects can produce sounds with a little help from technology. Using biological data and a bit of scientific creativity, one can even hear the “music” that plants make, such as this rather unique “sound sculpture” that makes a small bonsai tree sing its heart out in alien-like tones.

Designer: Love Hultén

To be clear, plants don’t make music, no matter how enchanting that concept might be. What artists, musicians, and designers are doing is to gather the subtle electrical signals generated by chemical changes in plants and interpret them as a series of tones generated by a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) device that hardly resembles a pleasing harmony. That said, even that straightforward process is enough to capture one’s curiosity and inspire a sense of wonder, even if it won’t win any music awards.

Tegel is one such artistic exploration in the translation of biological signals into audible sounds utilizing the popular bonsai tree. The choice of plant is almost poetic, given how this family of diminutive plants is often associated with meditation, calmness, and Zen. Ironically, the tones and beeps that are produced by this sound sculpture are hardly relaxing and are more like EDM for parties.

The small tree is housed inside a tall glass dome and is connected to an audio synthesizer via wires clipped onto its leaves. The plant acts more like a series of resistors rather than an actual sound source, and the sound sculpture incorporates dials to fine-tune the sound that comes out of it. There’s even a MIDI keyboard so that the user can add their own input to the mix.

What makes Tegel really special isn’t the process but the form that it comes in. Love Hultén has created quite a few of these contraptions that transform biodata into sound, but those really look the part of machines. In contrast, this sound sculpture is as much art as it is technology, inspired by the brick creations of Danish sculptor Per Kirkeby. It makes the bonsai tree a part of a miniaturized brick garden, creating a visual contrast of organic life and man-made structures working together to produce something akin to a miracle, that of pulling music out of a silent tree.

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