Category: Music

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Music

Music Wrap gently shares your audio aura with those around you

The dangers of hearing loss are always nipping at the ear lobe, yet everyone still regards the use of headphones to be perfectly normal. In addition, since the advent of the iPod and iPhone and their highly-valued place in society, much hullabaloo has been made about the unaware state in which headphones put people in — making them more of a target for thieves and other criminal types preying on people not having a clue.

The Music Wrap wants to envelop the ear in sonic goodness without all the negative effect.  The durable, highly transformable form factor allows users to take it wherever they want, however they want, as it features an IPX5 water resistant coating and anti-shock tech. Whether it be placed over the neck on bike ride or strapped to a book bag on a walk, the Music Wrap creates a directional sound field that can either be comfortably audible when near the ear or loud so it can serve as a Bluetooth speaker when farther away.

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Music

Ear3 headphone amp opens your ears for safety

More people than ever seem to be tuning out the world around them, listening to music as they walk, run or bike in public while listening to loud music on their mobile devices. In doing so, they are risking serious harm and injury.

Ear3 is a headphone amp that’s designed to make listening to music in public while on the move much safer than it is now. The amp’s built-in microphone picks up sounds around the user and mixes it with music being listened to at the volume level users want, according to its Indiegogo campaign. Turning the microphone mode off, Ear3 becomes a high-fidelity amp that enhances the quality of the music source, adding stronger full bass, according to the campaign.

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Music

Mandala’s many samples will help you bang on the drum all day

 

Electronic drums that allow users to create a variety of sounds in addition to those that can be created with traditional acoustic percussion instruments have been around for many years.

patent-claimedMandala Drum V3 System is an advanced take on electronic drums — a drum head pad that can trigger 100,000 sound samples via its software, according to its Indiegogo campaign. Mandala is based on a patented position sensing membrane switch that its makers say is able to sense where the user is striking the drum and how hard.

 

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Connected Objects Music

Learn real guitar by playing air guitar using Kurv digital instruments

Learning a musical instrument is rarely an easy road. That difficulty forces many to give up prematurely, robbing them of the opportunity of every really learning a skill that can provide much future enjoyment. As analterantive, the company behind Kurv hopes that people starting of with its stringless digital instrument versus a real one will immediately enjoy making music and stick around long enough to start really playing.

It’s designed in two pieces. The Kurv itself fits around the hand like a glove and offers eight comfortable points that each finger can easily touch. Eight points for the eight notes in an octave, eight notes in a scale and eight chords in a key make it so that there’s variety when the user strums with the second part of the instrument, the pick. Kurv responds to how hard the pick is being strummed. But it also responds to gestures, like shaking and flicking, that shift octaves or creates a vibratto effects in either electric, acoustic or bass guitar modes. Together with the iOS app’s intelligent tutorials on hit songs that provide instant feedback, Kurv is a guitar and tutor all in one.

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Music Television

Seiun Players lets you listen to a tune in hi-res audio

MP3 players and smartphones ushered in a whole new era of convenience for music lovers wanting to take their tunes with them wherever they go. But sound quality has been traded in for portable convenience because of the compression that’s done to the music.

Seiun Players are sleek high-resolution audio and, in the case of two models, 4K video players that its makers say offer much superior audio quality to rival devices on the market. Three models are being fielded: Seiun (pronounced Say-yune), Seiun Pro and Seiun Pro X. All three can play uncompressed hi-res PCM audio up to at least 192 KHz/24-bit and can upscale music that’s not hi-res to that same rate, according to the Indiegogo campaign.

While the entry-level model features only a 1.04-inch display and isn’t designed for video playback, the Pro and Pro X each have a 5.5-inch touch display and are built on the Android OS, adding access to hi-fi streaming services including Tidal and Deezer via the Google Play Store. The Pro and Pro X can play uncompressed hi-res PCM audio up to 384 KHz/32-bit. While Seiun Pro features a 720p-resolution screen and 32 GB of onboard storage, the Pro X offers 1080p resolution and 64 GB storage. The Pro and Pro X also each offer video output of up to 4K resolution, according to the campaign.

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Displays Imaging Music Smart Home

The Selfiemirror lets you capture who’s the fairest of them all

From the looks of it, the selfie trend is here to stay. Everything from pop culture to technological trends have responded to the rapidly increasing demand for photos that are way too close to the face. A perpetual kissie face to humanity, the humble selfie will continue on.

The Selfiemirror is a next step in the natural evolution of the selfie, combining a mirrored display and HD camera to facilitate selfies with armless ease. The Selfiemirror photo app lets users select a number of frames and time delay and then snaps a picture, with the option of using the included physical Bluetooth Button instead. But that’s just the beginning.

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Input Music Smartwatches/Bands

Skin wearable music controller needs appeal that’s more than skin deep

Not many people would enjoy the idea of having to take out their smartphone while working out to change music. There’s a level of focus necessary to really get the most out of a workout, and doing that will definitely make sure it’s never achieved.

Swiss inventor Yves Steinmann’s Skin wearable hopes to make that small but annoying situation an afterthought. It’s a simple black wristband that uses Bluetooth to connect to a device in order to control music without an app.

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Augmented Reality Displays Music

ORA-X raises the Glass bar for a twist on augmented reality

Augmented reality is one of the hottest emerging technologies right now. But it remains to be seen if the category will attract mass consumer appeal because AR devices tend to be bulky headsets that are specifically designed to exploit the technology.

patent-claimedORA-X, on the other hand, are over-the-ear audio headphones equipped with a Google Glass-like retractable, see-through projection display. Virtual video content is overlaid on the display, but doesn’t block out the outside world like AR devices such as the Oculus Rift or SEER.

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Music Television

Electric Jukebox streaming device delivers tunes from the TV

The modern age has gotten rid of that communal feeling inherent in the jukebox, a cultural relic rarely experienced and as a result underappreciated. Nowadays, music lives on smart devices which can make the act of listening to music a singular one.

The team behind the Electric Jukebox is eager to tap into the spirit of yesteryear with their plug-and-play music streaming device. By requiring only an HDMI-enabled television and broadband connection, Electric Jukebox is hoping to make the idea of accessing absolutely any song at a moment’s notice a reality — no smartphone or laptop necessary.

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Music Networking

Hidden HUB plays any music anywhere while you’re there, pauses when you leave home

editors-choiceIt says something about the allure of crowdfunding platforms that companies that have had initial success (and sometimes not initial success) go back to the well when they have updated or new projects. That’s already been proven out by the team behind Hidden Radio — one of the first of the now ubiquitous portable Bluetooth speakers — and its sequel, the HiddenRadio 2.

But they’re now up for something that is — if not completey different — a big step up from the modest audio quality of its smartphone companions with the Hidden HUB. The circular, omnidirectional speaker uses larger speakers to create a more room-filling sound. Like its predecessors, can take advantage of virtually any online music source. However, it supports a number of new connection methods, including DLNA and Apple’s AirPlay  as well as tapping its own standard for creating Sonos-like multi-room audio.

The HUB can also connect to HiddenRadios to add an extra burst of audio around the home. And in keeping with the deisgners tradition, it can be controlled with simple touch controls on its surface. HUB owners can mount it on the wall and the video even shows it being used as a home theater speaker. But they can also use it untethered and outdoors (in nice weather) with its 12-hour battery — even at night when its subtle LED underlighting would stand out most.

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