I could never see myself buying a coffee table that was just a coffee table. But I could definitely see myself buying a coffee table that was embedded with a collection of drums and other percussion instruments. The Musical Rumba Series tables are hand built by artist Tor Clausen in his Olympia, Washington studio, and each one comes with a collection of interchangeable and rearrangeable percussion inserts. Why you’d want a table you can drum on is kind of hard to explain, so I recommend checking out this video of it in action. (That was all it took to sell me on the idea.)
The tables come in 2×2, 2×4, 3×3 and 4×4 configurations and can include various combinations of the of the 12 different percussion modules like snare drums, chimes, cow bells, high hats and even a cymbal crash. Since the tables are all hand made they range in price from $800 for the 2×2 configuration up to $2,900 for the 4×4 and require half the total price as a deposit.
In an effort to improve the nerdy image of the accordion Roland has added a few high-tech upgrades and improvements to their FR-2b model. Unfortunately though the only thing I know about accordions is what I’ve seen in Weird Al videos, so here’s a list of some of the improvements as taken from the Roland website:
Performance Parameters
The FR-2b has five pads for adding percussive excitement to your performance. Use them as drum pads or to trigger rhythms via Loop Playback Mode. There’s also a Song function for “minus one” play-along fun. The FR-2b contains eight user programs for instant storage and recall of your favorite settings.
Connections
The connection options of the FR-2b allow you to perform in any situation. A headphone output is provided for private practice. The Line output lets you plug into amplifiers and mixers onstage or in the studio. MIDI output allows you to play external keyboards and other MIDI-compatible instruments from your V-Accordion.
Adjustable Bellows Pressure
The improved Bellows Resistance Regulator on the FR-2b V-Accordion allows you to fine-tune the bellows pressure according to your strength, ability, and personal style — another FR-2b advantage for comfort and playability.
The FR-2b runs on 8 AA batteries, but even with them installed it still weighs almost half as much as a traditional accordion model. So if you spend your weekends rocking out at polka concerts or Polish weddings it might be able to improve both your image and your sore back. But if you’re looking to buy the Roland FR-2b you might want to book paying gigs all week long since it has a list price of $3,999.
Last week I wrote about the E-Paper Music Score concept that basically replaced a traditional book of sheet music with a flexible e-paper display. Well given it was just a concept you won’t be able to buy one anytime soon, but it looks like there’s a similar solution already on the market. Instead of e-paper the MusicPad Pro uses a readily available 12.1 inch TFT color display. While the 1024 x 768 resolution is probably more than adequate, it’s also a touch screen allowing musicians to annotate the music or jot notes in multiple colors.
As Apple has shown with iTunes, available content is just as important as the technology, so FreeHand also has an online store with over 98,000 titles of downloadable sheet music already available. The average price seems to be about $3.95, though some titles are slightly cheaper ($1.95) and some are considerably more expensive. ($59.95)
Though with a price tag of $899 on the FreeHand website, I think the MusicPad Pro should include more than just 64MB of memory, particularly since I don’t see any mention of being able to expand that limited amount with flash memory cards.
The Stylophone was apparently a big hit back in the 70’s, but since it was before my time I’ve never actually heard of the device. For those wondering it’s an electronic instrument that’s played by placing the tip of a stylus against a series of metal keys. As the stylus makes contact with each key it completes a circuit causing a particular set of transistors, resistors or diodes to produce a unique electronic sound.
While the re-issued version of the Stylophone looks and sounds exactly like the original, it does include a few upgrades like a volume control, some new sounds and a vibrato knob. If you’re curious what a Stylophone sounds like (as was I) check out this video of Finnish duo Mann Gegen Mann playing it alongside a drum machine.
For those trying to find their niche in the world of street busking or performing I suggest ditching the accordion and upgrading to a Stylophone. I guarantee your hat will be overflowing with quarters in just a few hours.
You can find the Stylophone Original at Firebox for about $30.
I’m no musician, but I can’t imagine the difficulty one would have transporting their instruments. Taking something such as a keyboard onto an airplane just doesn’t sound like something that’s going to happen. That is unless you’ve got an Infinite Response Vax 77.
This cool keyboard actually folds in half and comes with a nice carrying case that is slightly smaller than the FAA regulation carry-on size. This isn’t just handy when flying on a plane, as keyboards are something of a pain to carry around anyway. The Vax 77 keyboards are custom made, so you’ll have to contact them for pricing details. I’m pretty sure that there’s an old saying that applies here. If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
The Terpstra MIDI Keyboard definitely takes the quantity over quality approach, and while 280 keys sounds impressive, I think they could have gone the extra mile to hit the magic 300.
Each key is velocity sensitive and can be used to trigger a specific MIDI event whether it be a musical note, sound effect or controlling the massive, over-the-top Hallowe’en display on your front lawn. The keycaps are also swappable and customizable so you don’t need 280 pieces of masking tape and a Sharpie to keep track of what each one does.
And while the layout of the Terpstra keyboard might look like a complicated mess the connectors on the back remain surprisingly simple with jacks for a foot switch, volume pedal, MIDI in & out and standard 120V AC power.
Designed by Lee Dong Chul and Tamy Lee the Lapbeat is a concept drum synthesizer that sits between your knees like a traditional conga drum or can be played on a stand and uses touch pads to provide a realistic drumming experience using your hands.
Lapbeat is a digital percussion instrument that can be played anywhere, in any position, and at anytime. Lapbeat has been designed with precise ergonomic considerations for playing in a sitting position. This digital percussion instrument has adapted and innovatively redefined the sound structure of classical percussion instruments where sound of the drumming echoes and flows out from below. By installing built-in speakers at the bottom and v-drum (advanced electronic MIDI drum trigger) technology into the touch pads, the timbre of the sound is made deeper and richer.
The Lapbeat actually won its creators a reddot design concept award in 2006 but unfortunately it doesn’t appear as if there are any plans to make the drum available for sale.
The accordion has never been considered a ‘cool’ instrument and if someone like Weird Al can’t make it popular I don’t think anyone can. But while the Thummer appears to take some of its design cues from the accordion that’s where the similarities end. Besides being far easier to learn and play the Thummer also includes a couple of joysticks that look to have been salvaged from a dual-shock controller. If you’re looking for a way to encourage kids to play an instrument this is probably a clever way of doing it. But the joysticks also provide some very useful functionality when it comes to playing the Thummer.
The thumb-operated joysticks have similar mobility to the human shoulder and wrist. Each thum-stick has two DoF- technically, that’s four degrees of freedom. The left thum-stick controls brightness (muting/muffling) and expression (instrument volume). The right thum-stick controls portomento (sliding between two notes), modulation (a quavering or pulsating effect produced in an instrumental by minute and rapid variations in pitch) and pitch (which can be bent up or down).
The Thummer is still under development and isn’t available for sale as of yet but if you’re curious as to how it sounds I’ve included a video of it being played after the jump.
Your guitar is far too loud and no one really wants to hear your rendition of Freebird. Plug this into your guitar and along with a pair of headphones and save us all a little bit of suffering.
The little amps run off two double A’s and come in three new and exciting sounds; Classic Rock, Metal and AC30. Sadly, they all look roughly the same, but its still a pretty nifty music gadget for 70$. Available now from the rather British looking Vox site.
Riding on the popularity of the Guitar Hero game comes the POWER TOUR Electric Guitar from Tiger Electronics (Hasbro). While the game is meant as a loose guitar simulation for players of all ages the POWER TOUR is actually aimed at teaching the younger set the basics of playing the instrument.
The neck of the guitar lights up where your fingers should be placed while you learn to play six different rock classics including Wild Thing and Smoke On The Water. A strum sensor replaces the need for strings or a pick and you can even connect the guitar to your MP3 player and play along with whatever songs you’ve downloaded legally purchased. What’s particularly cool is that the POWER TOUR guitar is designed to look like an actual Gibson SG electric guitar and even has the Gibson branding on the headstock.
The POWER TOUR Electric Guitar is available in a white or black finish for $69.99 and if the instrument’s built in speaker isn’t annoying enough for you there’s even a POWER TOUR Amp you can buy ($49.99) complete with a volume dial that goes to 11.
Related Tags: Design, Furniture, Instruments
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