How Geeks Play Music

You’ve seen how they make coffee, fire, and paint, now check out how geeks play music — it’s not what you think.

Rubik’s Cube

Douglas Edric Stanley created “Rubik’s Cube DJ”, which basically transforms a normal Rubik’s Cube into an interactive instrument — each instrument/face, as well as their volume are based on how you position the cube.

Each face on the cube is a separate instrument, and the colors represent the notes on that instrument. Each face is played in a loop, just like any other basic electronic music sequencer, and by manipulating the cube you manipulate the sequencer

Laptop Orchestra

Laptop Orchestra by Toshiba is basically “an interactive synaesthetic instrument, designed for performances of audio visual compositions in real time.” Video from NextFest ’06 after the jump.

The space conformation of the fifteen laptops, arranged on regular rows, brings back to the formation of an orchestral group. On each one of them is installed a Software consisting in algorithms which activate sounds and abstract visual shapes based on color spectrum. Each laptop has its own sound and its own instructions for the construction of a shape. Interacting from the orchestra conductor podium, lightly touching metal stems, it is possible to activate or deactivate each single laptop , permitting the generation of an endless number of different compositions

Music-Playing Scanner

If you thought HP ScanJets were only good for saving important documents, think again.

…The HP ScanJet 3c/4c have a variable speed scan head that is driven by a stepper motor. The Play Tune command can be used to move the head at different frequencies

[via Gizmodo – Hackaday]

MusicCube – Expressive Tangible Interface

MusicCube is basically “an expressive tangible interface for controling your Mp3 playlists remotely, it makes contol more exciting and fun when compared to regular interfaces.”

Wireless Air Guitar Shirt

Australian researchers have developed an innovative “air guitar shirt that lets you play music by moving one arm to pick chords and the other to strum the imaginary instrument’s strings.”

Information is then sent by wireless signal to a computer which interprets them and plays them as a series of guitar riffs. One arm chooses chords and the other strums imaginary strings. Because the T-shirt is based on wireless technology there are no trailing cables for budding Bon Jovis to trip over or become entangled in

[Source 1 – 2]