Tag Archives: synthesizer

Key-bowed hybrid violin and keyboard synthesizer produces pure musical joy

Posted on by

Of the many creative endeavors, music is probably one of the hardest to learn and practice. And of the well-known musical instruments, the violin is one of the hardest to play. But what if you can play the violin or some semblance of the instrument as easily as you could press down keys on a piano? And what if that produced the unique tonal quality of a violin while still hitting all the right notes perfectly? That’s the kind of musical experience that this DIY synthesizer offers, combining two classical instruments in a single form that might leave you confused with one hand playing the keyboard and the other playing the violin.

Designer: Washiyama Giken

Electronic keyboards can try to mimic the sounds of different musical instruments, but they don’t always work. They can’t, for example, reproduce the unique vibrating quality of the violin family, which at the very least would require some physical medium to produce that kind of sound. Conversely, violins are hard to master because you need to also move the bow at a very precise location to hit the right pitch, and that location isn’t marked like on a guitar.

Key-bowed, which is a very creative name, tries to combine the strengths of both the keyboard and the violin with very few of the flaws. It’s actually an idea decades in the making, but it’s finally possible to pull it off thanks to modern technologies and hardware. The synthesizer combines a Roland K-25m keyboard, an Arduino Uno R4 minima controller, and a self-made bowing sensor with a vertical acrylic plate. Of course, the assembly also requires some programming know-how, especially when dealing with sound waves.

Despite the complexity of the build, using the Key-bowed looks pretty simple, at least for the musically inclined. You simply hit the keys with one hand to produce music like on a regular keyboard or piano, and then you use the other hand to move the bow across the acrylic plate as you would with a violin. The vibrations on the plate are detected by the sensor and then transformed into waves that modify the note that’s produced, resulting in a very realistic recreation of a violin sound, with perfect pitch, and without the screeches. You can even pluck the plate and make it sound like you’re really plucking a string.

240702181648552

Key-bowed is definitely a work of genius that makes playing music both fun and enchanting. It still requires you to have some basic music knowledge, of course, but it makes the execution less daunting, especially if you’ve always dreamed of playing the violin. Of course, there are limits to the music you can play, since you’re technically producing notes with only one hand, and the design is made for those who hold the violin bow with their right hand. Nonetheless, it still creates a captivating experience, and hopefully, it can become a commercial product that will let everyone enjoy that experience as well.

The post Key-bowed hybrid violin and keyboard synthesizer produces pure musical joy first appeared on Yanko Design.

Teenage Engineering debuts new $300 Sampler… but it’s only Medieval Sounds and Gregorian Chants

Posted on by

Medieval-themed Teenage Engineering Audio Gear was definitely not on my Bingo card this year.

Building on the success of its EP-133 K.O.II sampler from not too long ago, the quirky audio-tech company just debuted the EP-1230, a variant of the K.O.II with a medieval twist. Featuring old-timey instruments like the hurdy-gurdy and the bowed harp, sound effects like swords clashing or even a dragon roar, along with 9 original songs, and a bunch of effects (there’s even a Torture Chamber Reverb setting), this biblically accurate sampler is perfect for people looking to experiment with their sonic portfolio, making audio for medieval-themed games like your Dungeons & Dragons sessions, or perhaps trying to emulate the musical genres of a certain Woodkid.

Designer: Teenage Engineering

The EP-1230 is almost exactly like its predecessor in format, except for the ye-olde overhaul. It sports a rather beige color scheme, with medieval fonts on the keys as well as a medieval typeface on the seven-segment screen. Switch it on and you’ve got hundreds of sounds to choose from, featuring everything from old instruments to audio loops, original songs, and even SFX or foley sounds. You may find navigating the settings a bit of a learning curve because even the language on the keys is in Latin, but that’s all a part of the charm I guess.

Beyond its extensive sound library, the EP-1320 is a fully functional instrument. Its intuitive interface features pressure-sensitive pads for triggering samples, a built-in sequencer for arranging musical ideas, and a suite of effects processors to add depth and character to sounds. The device also invites you to build on its capabilities by recording your own sounds through its built-in microphone and line input. Whether it’s capturing the rhythmic hammering of a blacksmith’s forge or the haunting melody of a traditional instrument, the EP-1320 empowers musicians to infuse their creations with a personal touch. The sampler’s compact size and battery-powered operation make it a versatile tool for both studio and on-the-go music making.

The overall design of the EP-1230 is interesting, as it literally applies a medieval skin onto what’s ostensibly a very quirky contemporary-looking sampler. That fusion isn’t something most companies can pull off (it’s giving Medieval Winamp skin), but I guess if I had to trust a company with doing a good job, it would probably be Teenage Engineering. That being said, the market for a medieval-themed sampler could possibly be a lot slimmer than one for the company’s other products. The EP-1230 is up on Teenage Engineering’s website for $300 (the same as the EP-133 K.O.II), and enthusiasts can even grab themselves a medieval quilt bag, leather keychain, or tee shirt to complete the ‘look’.

The post Teenage Engineering debuts new $300 Sampler… but it’s only Medieval Sounds and Gregorian Chants first appeared on Yanko Design.

Affordable Music Production: The $99 EASYPLAY 1s MIDI Controller with Built-In Speakers

Posted on by

Small enough to fit in a pocket, lighter than an iPhone, but equipped with a 25+ sound bank, MIDI capabilities, 25 keys, and its own built-in speaker system, the EASYPLAY 1s might just be the easiest way to play music anywhere you go. Music instruments, whether digital or physical, have had a problem of being too expensive, too bulky, or both. The $99 EASYPLAY 1s makes music production and even jamming as simple as pulling the MIDI synth out of your pocket and starting to play. It comes with multiple instruments built-in, a drum machine for you to drop beats, and knobs that let you change octaves and instruments in mere seconds. When you’re done playing with the built-in instrument packs, the EASYPLAY can hook to your laptop or tablet, working as an external synth to let you access millions of other instruments… or even build your own.

Designer: SummerTones

Click Here to Buy Now: $99 $198 (49% off) Hurry! Only 60 hours left!

The beauty of the EASYPLAY 1s is that it rejects the status quo with a design that feels fresh, fun, and inviting. It doesn’t look like an electronic keyboard or piano, and opts for a more retro-funk design that’s reminiscent of something Teenage Engineering would create. The EASYPLAY 1s comes with colored keys, the ability to change keycaps, and a design that encourages endless experimentation. When you start playing with the EASYPLAY 1s, you start afresh – the entire experience feels new, which means you learn new things, stumble across new patterns, and create something that feels absolutely original. With time, muscle memory kicks in, and your fingers figure out how to dance across the EASYPLAY 1s’ 25-key interface.

Think of the Casio synthesizers back in the 80s and 90s, and imagine it condensed down into the size smaller than a Nintendo Switch. The EASYPLAY 1s has a small form factor that can be either used handheld, or even kept on a tabletop surface. Switch it on and it starts working off the bat, allowing you to choose instruments, set your pitch or octave, and begin playing. A set of two 2W speakers on each side is enough to play solo, or if you want something a little more comprehensive, a 3.5mm input lets you hook the EASYPLAY 1s to a set of headphones or even a speaker system. Want to go a step further? A USB-C port lets you hook the device to a computer or tablet running any DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), effectively turning your EASYPLAY 1s into an external synth. Use it to jam, produce music, or even play samples and loops during a deejay set. Heck, you could even use the EASYPLAY 1s as a gaming controller for games like Guitar Hero, or a slew of other key-smashing games.

The small, lightweight device packs its own 25+ bank of music instruments. You can choose between traditional instruments like a guitar, piano, accordion, saxophone, or go more electronic with waveforms like sawtooth or square waves. Two knobs on either side let you choose instruments or octaves, while keys at the center become your MIDI pads, allowing you to tap for singular notes, or press multiple buttons together to create chords. There’s also a built-in metronome that makes playing in rhythm easy when you’re learning or composing, and Bluetooth capabilities that let you connect your EASYPLAY 1s to a smartphone and play along with your favorite songs on Spotify or any other streaming service.

What sets the EASYPLAY 1s apart is its incredibly low barrier for entry. At $99, it’s more affordable than most regular instruments, making it a great addition to your music arsenal, or even a perfect first gift for a youngster interested in music production. The entire device weighs around 6 ounces (170 grams) and is made of durable ABS and Silicone, making it impervious to rough usage. The $99 variant will get you one EASYPLAY 1s and a set of stickers to put on the keys, or upgrade to the full package for $129, which also includes a lanyard, a carry case, and four sets of keycaps to replace the current ones, for a more themed music experience.

Click Here to Buy Now: $99 $198 (49% off) Hurry! Only 60 hours left!

The post Affordable Music Production: The $99 EASYPLAY 1s MIDI Controller with Built-In Speakers first appeared on Yanko Design.

Music mixer concept uses generative AI to help you create music

Posted on by

I have a lot of respect for those people who can create music on their own, especially ones that are able to produce earworm-y pop riffs. Sometimes I’ve thought about studying how to create and mix music especially now that there are equipment, apps and websites where you can do that, but you need to study a lot of things before you can actually use them. Sometimes I think, can’t I just have something in my head transferred to a machine without having to do so much work? Well, thanks to artificial intelligence, that is somewhat possible, for better or worse.

Designer: Haechan Ryu

Happy Music Mixer 07 or HPMXR 07 is a music mixer that is powered by generative AI. This means, even if you don’t have knowledge on how to use mixers, you should be able to use this machine. The goal for this concept is to democratize composing music and using AI to help out with that. There are some ongoing issues in the music industry of course about using AI but it’s still an ongoing conversation that will continue to evolve. But if you are not hesitant to use AI to fuel creativity and things like music creation, then this should be of interest to you.

The machine looks like your typical synthesizer except that it is designed to not look so intimidating, with a clean interface and layout that should be easy to understand. The first step to using it is to describe the music that you’re thinking of, setting the length, tempo, mood, genre, prompt, mixing, and other things that may be in your brain. You can also even generate an album cover that will match your song. Once the AI has generated the song, you can also mix and adjust it according to your preference before transferring the completed song through an NFC card or a USB-C type connector.

All the buttons, knobs, and keyboard are designed in an intuitive interface. The housing of the HPMXR 07 is made from aluminum and has a monochromatic color with orange highlights. The switches and stabilizers have a tactile interface so you still feel in control even as the AI helps you generate the music that is in your head. It’s a good toy to play around with if you want to experiment with creating music but you don’t have the ability to understand more complicated mixers and synthesizers.

The post Music mixer concept uses generative AI to help you create music first appeared on Yanko Design.

AI-powered synthesizer lets you create tailored music just by pressing buttons

Posted on by

AI has become a powerful and controversial tool that’s being applied to the creation of many things in different industries. The most well-known are, of course, images and text, but these same technologies can also be applied to other fields, even ones that are considered to require more human creativity than others. Music, for example, is believed to be an art that’s hard to master and difficult to quantify in a way that would be of use to AI, but that’s exactly what’s happening here with this “artifact from the future.” That said, the suitcase-sized synthesizer doesn’t completely wrest the act of creation away from your hands but turns it into a creative collaboration between man and machine.

Designer: Arvind Sanjeev

Imagine having to only press a few buttons and you’ll have tunes that are specifically crafted to suit a given mood or genre. Most synthesizers simply give you the raw controls to mix and match to your heart’s content, but you’ll have to draw from your own creativity to actually come up with a pleasing harmony tailored to fit that situation. SPIN, the name for this AI-powered music synthesizer, actually helps you in this creative journey by serving ready-made ingredients to put into your mix without taking anything away from your freedom. It’s like the difference between buying a can of tomato sauce for a recipe versus making your own from scratch.

SPIN has buttons for different moods, genres, and sounds that you can mix and match to your heart’s content. How does happy death-metal disco sound? Why not try some dark jazz opera to really turn heads? Not every combination is going to work, of course, so you’ll still have to step in and fine-tune it to your tastes, no pun intended. And with sliders for BPM or duration and a turntable to scratch, you also have the tools to make your own style shine, with or without AI’s help.

The synth is just as much a work of art as it is a demonstration of the power of AI. A variety of off-the-shelf components are assembled to provide the brains and muscle behind the scenes, almost literally. You won’t see any of these while using SPIN, as all are hidden behind an interface and a design that’s meant to encourage playfulness and experimentation. Even the choice of bright yellow and white colors, unusual for most synth designs, emphasizes that rather jovial character.

Generative AI has been receiving a lot of flak, in no small part thanks to abuse and misuse of the technology rather than anything inherent. SPIN is an attempt to reverse that perception and present AI not only as something approachable but even fun to use. Given how it works, you won’t even have to worry about infringing on anyone’s copyright or intellectual property, leaving you free to explore that harmony between human creativity and machine learning.

The post AI-powered synthesizer lets you create tailored music just by pressing buttons first appeared on Yanko Design.

Suzuki Omnichord is back to offer a fun and interesting way to make music

Posted on by

When you think of musical instruments, you will probably first think of things like pianos and guitars. Electronic musical instruments, on the other hand, conjure up images of keyboards, electric guitars, and complicated synthesizers. Suzuki’s Omnichord, on the other hand, is an odd yet curious duck that stands somewhere in between these two extremes. First launched in 1981, this electronic device empowered anyone to make music or accompany a song even without previous musical experience or even reading notes. The Omnichord’s distinctive electronic sounds and novel design made it quite a hit, but the product faded into obscurity back in 1996. To commemorate its upcoming 40th anniversary, Suzuki decided to give today’s generation a taste of that unique experience with a new model that recreates the original so faithfully down to using the same analog circuits.

Designer: Suzuki

Imagine just pressing a few buttons and sliding your finger on a flat surface and then suddenly producing wonderful music. That’s pretty much the experience that the Suzuki Omnichord offered, presenting people, whether musically trained or not, the joys of creating music with ease and freedom. There are no wrong notes, just new harmonies and beats to be discovered and incorporated into your masterpiece. It’s like an adventure for novices but also a new territory for veterans who want to add a unique flavor to their music.

The new Suzuki Omnichord OM-108 tries to bring that 80s experience to the 21st century, reproducing the tonality that characterized that period while also adding modern features that cater to today’s more demanding audience. To accurately recreate the same tones of the OM-84, perhaps the most popular Omnichord ever released, Suzuki opted to go completely old school and apply the same analog circuitry that gave the original its distinctive electronic sounds. It also has that popular harp sensor or strumplate that lets you easily slide or tap your finger to produce the “notes” that will make up your music.

The new OM-108 model boasts 108 chords, hence the name, as well as many new functions, like a switch that changes the way chords and rhythms are played. There’s also a drum pad mode that turns the chord keys as well as the sturmplate itself into beats. And like with many modern electronic musical instruments, you can connect the Omnichord to external MIDI devices to mix tones to your heart’s delight. Plus, the built-in speaker can be turned on or off when you connect an external speaker, useful when you want to monitor your own sound during a live performance.

The Suzuki Omnichord OM-108 may look like a toy, but the unique sounds it lets you produce are pure joy, at least to fans of the electronica genre. Its revival coincides with the retro craze gripping many industries and is a perfect example of a design that manages to remain relevant decades after its last appearance. That said, you’ll have to wait a bit before you can get your hands on the newest Omnichord, as sales aren’t expected to start until July, with the price and market availability still unknown.

The post Suzuki Omnichord is back to offer a fun and interesting way to make music first appeared on Yanko Design.

Teenage Engineering made a tricorder-like gadget that’s actually a portable synthesizer

Posted on by

Teenage Engineering is best known for audio equipment with unique aesthetics, though it does sometimes put out unrelated products, such as a desktop PC tower, wooden “choir” mini figurines, and a toy car. That last one was its prelude to the real product launch it had planned, a product that seemed to straddle the line between a full-fledged tool and a sophisticated toy. Given its size, design, and pedigree, Teenage Engineering’s shiny new EP-133 K.O. II is something you might find hard to take seriously at first glance. Fortunately, it seems to have just the right knobs and buttons, literally, to make it a real tool for music makers, at least those that will be able to shoulder its price.

Designer: teenage engineering

This new sampler, sequencer, and composer takes its inspiration from the brand’s Pocket Operator PO-33 K.O. I back in 2015. This device’s small, calculator-like design and accessible price point really made it look and feel more like some fun gadget for some whimsical music mixing. In contrast, the EP-133 K.O. II, or just KO II, for short, is way too large to fit in your pocket, which is the price you’ll have to pay for significantly more functionality that makes this portable synthesizer worth its weight in gold.

The aesthetics are also worlds apart as well. While the Pocket Operators really looked more like black Pocket Calculators, the KO II more than doubles the size and injects a mix of grays, whites, and oranges all over the place. The large buttons, tall knobs, and industrial aesthetic might remind some of the props from sci-fi shows during the 60s, specifically those from Star Trek. The rectangular screen’s choice of colors and shapes to display the user interface is also reminiscent of the show’s LCARS user interface. It might even be able to play those tricorder sound effects because, after all, it is a portable synth anyway.

It actually has quite a lot of features for that purpose, including 999 sample slots and a built-in speaker. There’s also a built-in mic to let you record your own samples right then and there, as well as a selection of drums, bass, and keys to help you get started. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack in case you want to extend the sampler’s features, but do note it only has 64MB of memory, which is probably the biggest deal-breaker for this product. Apparently, the limitation is there to encourage musicians to finish their creations in one go rather than delaying them forever.

Teenage Engineering is slapping a $299 price tag on the EP-133 K.O. II, amusingly just $50 more than its toy Grip Car. It’s still considerably lower than its other synths, enough to entice music makers of all skill levels, but still quite a hefty investment. Then again, it’s a fully functional portable groove box that has quite a distinctive design you can flaunt around, giving you an image of a retro-futuristic music genius controlling the beat with your hi-tech tool.

The post Teenage Engineering made a tricorder-like gadget that’s actually a portable synthesizer first appeared on Yanko Design.