Category: Music

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Music Technology

Wily portable boombox releases an Android’s tablet’s inner voice

The Premise. It seems a week doesn’t go by without some company announcing a new portable speaker to tap into the rising tide of inexpensive smart devices such as Android tablets. Those devices today are often bridged using Bluetooth, but it might be more convenient to just have them merged into one.

The Product. The Auris Wily is basically a tablet with built-in sound, enabling it to easily access a wealth of popular audio sources such as Pandora, Spotify and Slacker as well as music stored on its internal flash memory and microSD card. It also has an HDMI connector so you can connect it to a TV and use it to stream video from Netflix, HBO Go or other sources. The curvy speaker even has a few other tricks up its sleeve such as being able to be used as a speakerphone or video chat terminal thanks to an integrated 2 MP front-facing camera. The Wily sports sleek, rounded, futuristic styling, similar to 60’s art-deco furniture; endearing, which is endearing in that tacky Jetsons sort of way. Available in red, white and black, it can also pump the volume thanks to its 90-decibel speakers.

The Pitch. The creators of the Wiley make their case with a video that features high production values, including an orchestral soundtrack and expensive digital transition effects. Detailed pictures of everything from production sketches to user-interface closeups are included and it runs through a detailed list of the products specs.

The Perks. Set to release in June 2014, the Auris Wily will cost early birds $169 for a model with 8 GB of on-board memory, and $188 for 16G. It will be available to backers for $189 for the 8 GB version and $208 for the 16 GB version.

The Potential. Although the Auris Wily logo bears a striking resemblance to that of the “Beats” franchise (Seriously, it looks like they just flipped it over) its design and concept stands out. The Wily comes on the heels of January’s announcement of Vizio’s portable smart audio system, which is heavier (8.8lbs for similar, 7-inch screen option) and has less bass response (60Hz). The Wily could be a fun poolside companion to backers who’d rather keep their smartphones out of the streaming chain this summer.

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Music

Guitar Wing lets instrument-mounted controls and effects take flight

The Premise. Austin, Texas is known for at least two things: live music and weirdness. The town’s Livid Instruments has long embraced the intersection of those with a range of music products. But while there’s nothing been weird about wanting to have access to musical effects and controls at the tip of a guitarists’ nimble digita, the company had nothing to offer them until now.

The Product. A button-laden and LED-filled overlay that fits over the bottom right corner of an electric guitar’s body, the Guitar Wing lets guitarists have control over their existing software on their computer via MIDI effects, GarageBand, and even stage lighting effects through the product’s Win FX software plugin. Performers can glance at the LED control panel while playing instead of over at the computer, and a motion sensor can be used to control performance effects to make it easier to be a musician and a stage tech. Wireless technology lets musicians move around the stage without snagging cables or accidentally unplugging things. Livid Instruments promises the Guitar Wing can be used on almost any electric guitar or bass, and musicians will be pleased to note that this can be added and removed without damaging your instrument.

The Pitch. Livid explains that the Guitar Wing has been built, tweaked and tested, and a final prototype is ready. The Kickstarter funds will be used for the production costs of making GuitarWing. By producing in bulk, the company plans to keep consumer costs reasonable, and hopes to crowdfund these start-up costs. Livid’s most powerful tool in the campaign is the testimony of artists, which is key for such a product that would ordinarily require a level of tactile experience to judge.

The Perks. For $179, or $149 early-bird pricing, backers will receive the GuiterWing itself. But that’s far from being the highest price point, with $1500 backers receiving a personal, instructional demo from Guitar Wing staff. It’s slated to do its thing on stage in April 2014.

The Potential. Livid instruments has a track record of designing and creating add-ons for musicians. Guitar Wing will simplify and enhance live music performances. The company has successfully identified a need for musicians, especially in smaller bands, to connect to their computer for effects while performing. The product may appear as a bit of distraction and one will have to trust the testimonials for how easy it is to integrate into riffs, but there seems to be a great opportunity for use with performers.

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Music

Zipi lets your earbuds dangle, avoid pocket tangle

The Premise. As we rely on our smartphones ever more for streaming audio content, earbuds are increasingly tucked in and around our ears. However, figuring out what to do with them when you need both your ears and hands free be a challenge.

The Product. Frank Cho conceived Zipi as he walked from his parked car into his work building with only two minutes of a podcast left, three minutes until start time, and highly keen to finish listening. No worries. The magnetic earbud strap would keep the earbuds in place and free up his hands to pause the podcast, gather his things, open and shut the car door, unpause, and proceed to sneak past the boss. Bonus: because Zipi uses neodymium magnets, the strongest magnets on the market, he also managed to avoid hearing or speaking to his least favorite coworker who is directly along the route to his cubicle. Zipi is also easy to attach to earbuds and grips onto itself for easy transport. And if the florescent yellow color in the video seems too painful to look at, there’s always the option of stylish translucent white, teen girl hot pink, computer geek black, and pop culture aqua.

The Pitch. The video for the $6,000 dollar campaign is presented professionally with a nice, feminine, empathetic voiceover actress and demonstrations of the product by Frank Cho that just might have Emmy award winning potential—ok, slight exaggeration. The video also highlights that Zipi is easy to wear and take off, isn’t bulky, and like a good neighbor, is always there when needed. In addition, the magnetic connectors keep it from snagging on clothes and help prevent the risk of breaking a nail. The Perks. For $10, backers get a Zipi strap in the color of their choice, which is really pretty reasonable. One should note, though, that Zipi is compatible with the original Apple earbuds and EarPods. It has not been tested with other types of earbuds. The earbud accessory is anticipated to be available for delivery by September 2014.

The Potential. Zipi is an item that has a large addressable market — from student to homemaker to blue collar worker and even hip grandparents. That it comes in multiple colors means backers can color coordinate with any outfit, which adds potential cosmetic appeal. The most similar item to Zipi presently on the market would be neck strap earbuds, but these don’t have the advantage of the magnetic connectors and easy self-grip transport of Zipi.

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Cycling Music Winter Sports

Jalapeño mixes beats to your extreme feats

editors-choiceThe Premise.  Your favorite music flows. You wipe your brow with the last dry spot on your shirt before bearing down for that last attempt at nailing this trick, lest the daylight and your body give out. Start your run, compress for the jump, pop, hit the air, and then the silence, the calm, that instant between bad idea and successful trick. Time and sound resume, and you can stop holding your breath. You stuck that! What could make this moment better? How about if your music was more than a backtrack to that trick? What if it was the unique score to that moment?

The Product. The Jalapeño, so named for its cubist resemblance to the spicy pepper, is meant to enhance the extreme sports experience by allowing your movement to remix music; essentially, shredding on a board or bike creates the effect of a DJ mixing.  Along with the accompanying Beat Farm smartphone software, it allows your jumps, spins and turns to slow, freeze, cross-fade between tracks, and pan audio between headphones.

The Pitch. A compact (under 3x2x1″), durable, weatherproof design and a seemingly sturdy mount make the Jalapeño viable across a wide range of applications from snowboarding, to BMXing to breakdancing. Its campaign includes multiple endorsements and three videos depicting testimonials, product demos, and brief explanations of operation, but little technical info about how it actually works. The only info about the creators is that they “first met at the University of Pennsylvania’s IPD graduate program.” In fact, technical development information is lacking overall. Not a campaign designed to appease techies, there are only two prototype development photos, and short, broad descriptions of the development state.

The Perks.  Early birds will pay $199 for essential equipment (Jalapeño, mount, software), and everyone else can expect to pay $239, or more, for packages that include extra swag like tees and hoodies.

The Potential.  This seems like a ton of fun. Who doesn’t want their own personal soundtrack enabling you to mix and remix.  Shredding to your own sounds looks like it will add a new element of fun to showing off, but the challenge will be in ensuring that the novelty doesn’t wear off.

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Cell Phone Accessories Music Tablet Accessories

Drytunes delivers the sound waves while in water waves

DrytunesThere is a veritable ocean of Bluetooth speakers out there, but how many can be used in the ocean? If the creator of Drytunes has its way, you’ll be able to pack up your troubles, or at least a few of your valuables, in music-spewing suitcase enclosure and toss it straight into the water without worry about damage. Project creator Michael Applebaum uses his radio-friendly voice to tell the story for the submersible speaker system. This includes having people express surprise at how good it sounds, although such demonstrations are of course hard to appreciate through whatever speakers you may be using. Drytunes is being made offered to backers for $315, or $299 if you catch the early bird and should be available in March 2014.

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Music

Crane Elite gives a lift to laptops of DJs, others

The Premise. We currently live in the era of the DJ. With records and CDs becoming a thing of the past, many of today’s most popular DJs “spin” their tracks straight from laptops and MP3 players. Laptops are fragile, though, and sometimes setting them up on stage can be trick. There are many laptop stands out there, but most DJs can agree that more could to be done in order to create the perfect stage-ready laptop stand.

The Product. The Crane Elite Laptop Stand is a sturdily-designed product that is meant specifically to elevate a laptop off of the table it is placed on and pitch it at an angle. Its modular design allows the user to try out a number of different set-up combinations in order to find the one that is right for a given situation, and also features what the company calls an “industry first non-slip spline for rock solid placement. Its telescoping risers are constructed out of carbon fiber and allow for full adjustability, making it possible for DJs of all heights to find the perfect placement solution. The product is also collapsible, which can really come in handy on the evening of a gig.

The Pitch. Crane’s main pitch comes in the form of a video featuring DJs that love the company’s older products, yet have a few things that they’d like to see changed. Telescoping, tightness variability, wider legs and a few other suggestions are suggested; as a Crane employee explains, all have been implemented in the Elite laptop stand.

The Perks. It’s head-spinning how many different tiers of perks are available for the Crane Elite. A pledge of $67 gets the user a Crane Stand Plus, one of the company’s older models, while $150 is the entry level for a first-edition model of the Crane Elite. Pledge $999 or more, and you’ll get an initial prototype of the product. The Elite is set to be released in July 2014, while the older product perks will be shipped in February. The developers are looking to raise $35,000.

The Potential. There’s certainly no shortage of laptop stands for DJs out there — The Roost, another Kickstarter project, seems to serve a similar function. Still, it’s clear that Crane has put a lot of work into the development of this product, as it seems to blow The Roost out of the water in terms of durability. With more and more DJs popping up on the scene, it’s fair to say that Crane likely has a great product on its hands although the price and features will be overkill for someone just looking to prop up their laptop in bed.

 

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Music

Cue Page Turner gives Bluetooth page flippers some sheet cred

The Premise. Musicians around the world have experienced frustration at having to stop playing their instrument in order to turn a pages of their sheet music. At best, it can result in momentary panic in terms of catching up to the continuation of a composition. At worst, there’s an avalanche of paper that must be frantically gathered. Tablets can clean up the mess, but they involve their own compromises — limited battery life, distracting screen glow, and generally a smaller size than the area of a standard music sheet.

The Product. Cue Page Turner is a mechanical page turner that turns the physical pages of sheet music while musicians are playing. The turning mechanism is controlled by a wireless foot pedal. Cue Page Turner also has a vacuum bottom that allows it to rest stably on a music stand or piano.

The Pitch. The Indiegogo campaign for the Cue Page Turner features a short video explaining the device as well as the reward tiers of the campaign. The rest tells how the idea for the product was born and how, after years on the back burner, it can finally be manufactured thanks to 3D printers. What the campaign lacks is a photo of Cue Page Turner itself. Rather, because it hasn’t actually been manufactured yet, the campaign only features digital mock-ups of what the page turner is supposed to look like.

The Perks. Supporters of Cue Page Turner giving $50 or more will receive the Cue Page Turner Lite which can hold 12 pages. Contributors giving $100 or more will receive the Original Cue Page Turner that holds 24. Higher backers in the $500 range will receive gold- or silver-plated Cue Page Tuners, which look more snazzy and tell the world, “I have a silver-plated Cue Page Turner.”

The Potential. There’s nary a performing musician who wouldn’t find the Cue Page Turner intriguing. Orchestras especially will continue to use sheet music for performances for the foreseeable future. So, while there are other products on the market that turn pages digitally, none are able to do so with physical paper. PageFlip and AirTurn, for example, both use wireless foot pedals to turn pages on a Mac, PC or iPad, but cannot be used with physical paper. At such an early stage, it’s difficult to justify shelling out in anticipation of the product because there are just too many questions, but demand could heat up with the next movement for this musicians’ aid.

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Cell Phone Accessories Music

Sharebuds MX2 retract the cable, share the music

The Premise. Ever wanted to show a friend a video on your phone, or wanted to let them listen to a song? Most people just pop one of their earbuds out and hand it over — but this results in a diminished sound value and some questionable transfer of ear wax.

The Product. Sharebuds were inspired when the developers saw known-by-first-name celebs Oprah and Bono listening to a song on a Project(Red) iPod. Rather than rely on a simple — or not-so-simple — splitter, their solution combines two pairs of headphones on one cord — one to wear and one to share. The newest perk of the MX2 redesign is that both sets of earbuds are now retractable, which makes them more useful as daily wear headphones. Just tuck the extra pair away and go on your way, as you might hear Fleetwood Mac singing if I could share their song with you.

The Pitch. The video is not anything special. It doesn’t ever actually show how the product works, though. It just looks like two people wearing separate pairs of headphones. You have to scroll down the page to actually see a shot of the whole headphones set as well as a wide range of folks with different relationships — father and son, mother and daughter, couples Yes, you’re far more likely to share music with those you know than complete strangers. Also provided is a collage of audio sources — everything from Spotify to Netflix. Since Sharebuds don’t rely on any software, copy protection isn’t an issue. There are also quotes from a number of celebrities, including Tom Arnold, Selena Gomez, Hoobastank and Plato, although the last one probably wasn’t approved by his PR team. The project owners are also teasing a wireless version of the Sharebuds in a more traditional headphone design due in December 2014.

The Perks. The Sharebuds MX2 will be available in May 2014 at a price of $79, but the developers are doing something interesting to take advantage of the holiday giving season offering you to buy a special $50 gift card that can be redeemed for a pair at a discount. This could set a precedent in how project owners allow people to take advantage of gifting when their actual products are months away.

The Potential. It’s tough to say how good the Sharebuds’ audio quality is. Most people, while having many of the relationships featured in the campaign, don’t need to share headphones too often and retractable coils are prone to wear out. It might be useful to take the Sharebuds along if you know you’ll be traveling with a friend or loved one with whom you share music tastes. But if they bring their own buds, a splitter and a spare pair may do just as well.

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Music

For guitar solo acts, the BeatBuddy goes on

editors-choiceThe Premise. You’ve practiced your scales, know a few chords, can play a song or two, and are ready to start jamming with other musicians, but you’re still too shy about your guitar prowess. Or maybe you’re a working musician, and need something to help compose your masterpieces when the band isn’t around, or something to accompany you on solo gigs.

The Product. The BeatBuddy is a drum machine that functions like a guitar effects pedal. For those of you who haven’t become lost in the vast deserts of musical gadgetry and their jargon, this is a device that will accompany your playing with a drum beat, is foot-operated, leaving hands free to shred, and splices your guitar and amp, allowing both backbeat and axe to play over the same speaker, keeping gear (and headache) to a minimum.

The Pitch. A no-nonsense approach to presentation of the BeatBuddy is well-suited to the seasoned musician. Product specs are succinctly presented, benefits are simply and comprehensively listed, not “pitched,” and concerns are well-anticipated and addressed. These guys thought of everything, from possible shipping issues, to potential backlash from unemployed drummers. The video and audio production of both the sales and drum-sampling films are extremely high quality, demonstrating that the people behind this product know their stuff, even if their delivery of the dialogue makes it clear that they’re pro musicians and not infomercial MC’s.

The Perks. While the early bird tier for the new rhythm section ($179), has sold out, the standard backer pricing of $219 is still around, but incentives to contribute beyond that are minimal, considering how much more one is expected to give. $399 sweetens the deal with a t-shirt and dibs on the first BeatBuddies off the line, and $1,000 gets a song/beat you can choose and name yourself produced and uploaded into the product.

The Potential. With features like the ability to transition between beats to accommodate song sections (verses, choruses, bridges, etc), software that lets you create your own beats, pro-studio quality samples, and a $200 price tag, the Beatbuddy makes for a sound purchase which will continually benefit any level of musician and grow with you as you shred your way up the ranks to rock god.