Category: Music

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Chargers/Batteries Music

The Ripcord USB cable powers all your musical gadgets anywhere

For the roving musician, inspiration can strike anywhere. The good news is that there’s never been a better for this to happen, with a plethora of options — both digital and analog — for playing and recording music. The bad news is that all of this equipment, from guitar pedals, amps, synths and keyboards to mixers, MIDI recorders, and tuners, all need to be powered by batteries that are too expensive or power outlets that may not be compatible or not there at all.

The team behind the Ripcord believe that due to its ubiquity, USB power is the future. To take advantage of the fact that most people carry already carry with the USB chargers, power banks, laptops, and smartphones all with USB ports, the Ripcord was developed to be a plug-and-play power cord that allows the standard 5V output of USB ports to charge musical equipment requiring 9V.

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Connected Objects Music

Harsaa multi-function earbuds offer NFC, sleep monitoring and more

There are many earbuds on the market, but few of them aspire to offer many features beyond good quality audio.

Harsaa are noise-cancelling Bluetooth earbuds that include NFC and emergency messaging, and also track activity and monitor sleep. As part of its NFC tap-and-go sharing feature, users just have to swipe the earbuds over their smartphones to transfer any information they choose.

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Music Networking

Hub lets you stream wireless hi-fi audio to multiple users

It would be nice if multiple people could all listen to a song, play a videogame, or watch TV using their own headphones or earbuds. It would be especially nice if the sound provided was hi-fi-quality.

Hub is a device that enables existing headphones or speakers to receive wireless, hi-fi audio from any source. Each user just selects a battery-powered sound “puck” receiver from the Hub base station. Each person can control the volume on their own headphones. In addition to promising better sound quality than many wireless audio solutions,

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Music Smartwatches/Bands

AirJamz turns air guitar wizards into rockers with a flick of the wrist

editors-choiceTom Cruise may have brought the risky business of air guitar playing in tightey-whiteys into the limelight back in the early ’80s. But today, the usually frivolous activity has a governing body and an annual championship in the U.S.

Now, the one activity that didn’t need a device to go with it finally has one: the AirJamz wearable. The strap works by combining a gyroscope to help translate pantomime shredding from movement to sound using its companion app. Two modes offer differing experiences: Music mode is a four player sandbox that allows the entire family to join in on the fun, while Guitar mode offers a more robust range of motion and tighter controls for a somewhat (and that’s used loosely) more realistic strumming experience.

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Music

Atmo Sfera turntable design adds positive atmosphere to your living room

Vinyl records are currently enjoying somewhat of a renaissance. But the design and appearance of most turntables is fairly standard.

Atmo Sfera, however, represents a new spin on the classic turntable. The most obvious difference between it and typical models is the lack of a platter. Drawbacks of the classic turntable design include heavy weight and a vulnerability to vibration. The unique design of Atmo allows records to spin in the air flawlessly and smoothly.

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Music Technology

The Lumen electronic handpan lets percussionists jam affordably

It’s not unusual to see handpans, a relatively newer form of percussion instrument, sell from the $2,000 range to over $10,000. Their rarity and handmade nature contributes to this price tag, with the result being a beautiful sound unlike any other. Unfortunately, that price tag prevents many from enjoying its unique nature.

In order to make the experience of playing a handpan more accessible, Guy Jackson created the Lumen, an electro-acoustic percussion instrument in the form of a traditional handpan. It combines the same basic form of a handpan with velocity sensitivity, a high-quality built-in speaker, the ability to store a wide variety of sound samples, and the ability to change scales and keys while playing.

All this together offers a diverse musical experience at a more cost effective price of $699. The Lumen is slated to ship in February 2017 should its Indiegogo campaign raise $70,000 by May 13th, 2016.

The previously covered Oval is everything the Lumen is and much more, with the ability to upload custom sounds and a companion app, for example, that opens up the handpan playing experience — and does so at a more affordable price.

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Music

“A” speaker can send audio only to “U”

When listening to music at work or watching TV at home while other people are sleeping, it’s convenient to have a speaker that only delivers sound in the user’s direction.

patent-claimed“A” speaker does exactly that. It’s parametric speaker, that is, a speaker that sends audio only to those people who want to hear it by creating a narrow beam of sound, in much the same way that a laser creates a beam of light to focus on a precise area. Instead of producing ordinary sound waves with a single, moving electromagnetic coil and cone, “A” generates ultrasonic waves (high-frequency sound waves) that are then turned into audible sound waves. Users can connect “A” to mobile devices, stereos, TVs or any other audio sources via a 3.5mm mini-jack.

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Music

RippleBuds out to send ripples through earbuds market with noise-blocking technology

Bluetooth earbuds are enormously handy for both listening to music and conducting hands-free phone conversations. But it’s often hard to hear the music or people talking on the phone due to all the outside noise that often can’t be avoided.

patent-claimedRippleBuds are noise-blocking Bluetooth earbuds with a built-in microphone that solves that dilemma. Its makers have replaced the mouthpiece found in most headsets with a microphone that fits invisibly inside the ear. Most of the patents its makers have for the product cover its core technologies that reduces echo and howling sounds when the speaker and microphone are placed closely together inside the earbuds.

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Music Technology

Loopa looping microphone lets you beatbox or harmonize with yourself

While beatboxing is an amazing skill, it takes years to really perfect due to the difficulty involved in creating complex rhythms. Likewise, singing a capella is beautiful expression of vocal skill but performing harmonies on your own is impossible (unless you have some particular skills, that is). The Loopa gives amateurs in both the chance to practice while letting already talented performers shine.

Questionably labelled the world’s first, the Loopa is a high-quality microphone with integrated looping technology. It sports the options to record, playback and overdub existing sounds along with undoing and redoing sounds, with an ARM Cortex M4 processing handling all the technical work inside. With it, beatboxers, singers, and musicians can use single button recording to build up layers of sound until a catchy beat is made. About $172 gets interested backers a chance to spittle the illest beats until their hearts are content. Loopa is slated to ship July 2016 should its Kickstarter campaign raise about $52,000 by April 23rd, 2016.

Put plainly, Loopa looks like A lot of fun. Putting everything together in one familiar interface, it makes beatboxing or singing much more approachable for newbies while giving already talented performers another tool to express themselves as opposed to a product like the Ditto Mic Looper.

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Cell Phone Accessories Music

Cobble cobbles together improved audio for iPhones

Smartphones have become the main portable device that many people rely on to listen to music on the go. However, just like most smartphone cameras lack the high-end functionality of good standalone cameras, smartphones also tend to not offer the best audio quality either.

Cobble is a battery-free, plug-and-play device for iPhones that combines a headphone amplifier with a digital-to-analog (DAC) converter to significantly improve smartphone music quality. It also works with iPods and iPads, although its compatibility is limited to only those iOS devices with Lightning connectors, from which it draws power.

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