Modern Features In Classic Radio

As consumer electronics companies chase profits on tighter and tighter margins, it seems like quality is continually harder to find for most average consumer-grade products. Luckily, we don’t…

Guitar Pickguard Adds MIDI Capabilities

For a standard that has been in use since the 1980s, MIDI is still one of the most dominant forces on the musical scene even today. It’s fast, flexible, and offers a standard recognized indus…

Bass Guitar Gets Shapeshifting Pickups

Electric guitars were the hip new thing back in the mid-century. The electrification of the common and portable guitar opened up a lot of avenues in terms of sound and technique. Specifically, the …

Get Down To Some African Tunes With This HomeBrew Synth

South African [Afrorack] claims to have built the first home-built modular synthesiser in Africa. Whilst we can’t be sure of this (and to be frank, it doesn’t actually matter) what we c…

Generate Fully Parametric, 3D-Printable Speaker Enclosures

Having the right speaker enclosure can make a big difference to sound quality, so it’s no surprise that customizable ones are a common project for those who treat sound seriously. In that vei…

Spiral Music Visualization

Displaying notes live as they are being played can be a really powerful learning tool, but it’s usually used to learn how to play a specific instrument. This take on the topic is actually a n…

Ken Shirriff Breaks Open The Yamaha DX7

For better or worse, this synthesizer was king in the 1980s music scene. Sure, there had been synthesizers before, but none acheived the sudden popularity of Yamaha’s DX7. “Take on Me?&…

Bluetooth Record Player Puts A New Spin On Vinyl

You know, we were just discussing weird and/or obsolete audio formats in the writers’ dungeon the other day. (By the way, have you ever bought anything on DAT or MiniDisc?) While vinyl is har…

Live Jam Kit Helps Electronic Musicians Stay In Sync

Jamming live with synths and drum machines can be fun, but for [Christian], there was a little something missing. He was looking for a way to keep everyone in the group on the beat and rocking out,…

Arduino Plays The Glasses

Have you ever been on a city street and seen a busker playing music on glasses? Each glass has a different amount of water and produces a different note when tapped. [Cyberlab] must have seen them …

Popsicle-Stick Piano Sounds Sweet

Technically, this is a kalimbaphone, and not a piano or even a chordophone since there are no strings. But this handcrafted instrument doesn’t just sound sweet, it’s also mellow, and it…

3D Printed Marble Music Machine Looking Good Already

Inspired by the enormous marble music machines from the staggeringly talented [Wintergatan] and the marble run builds by [Daniel de Bruin], [Ivan Miranda] has been busy again building a largely 3D …

Teensy MIDI Air Harp Sounds Huge

Some of the coolest sounds come from wild instruments like orchestra strings, fretless basses, and theremins — instruments that aren’t tied down by the constraints of frets and other ki…

Arduino Piano Tuner Is Pitch Perfect

[JanHerman] knows that tuning musical instruments is all about precision and that precision is measured in a logarithmic unit called a cent. A cheap tuner unit might be accurate to 1.5 cents which …

Cheap DIY Mic Sounds (And Looks) Damn Good

As any musician, podcaster, or youtuber will be quick to tell you, there’s no substitute for a good microphone. They’ll also be quick to tell you all about their favorite microphone, wh…

Louisville Slugger Puts This Bass On Base

One of the most recognizable instruments in both jug band and American folk music has got to be the washtub bass. Also known as gutbuckets, these instruments tend to use an old broom for a neck and…

Know Audio: It All Depends On The DAC

Our trip through the world of audio technology has taken us step-by step from your ears into a typical home Hi-Fi system. We’ve seen the speakers and the amplifier, now it’s time to tak…

The Quadrivium EnsembleBot Is A Labour Of Love

The Quadrivium EnsembleBot project is a mashup between old school musical instruments and the modern MIDI controlled world. Built by a small team over several years, these hand crafted instruments …

Hacked Set Of Instruments Saves Musician’s Gigs

Most of the horror stories you hear about air travel seem to center around luggage. Airlines do an admirable job of getting people safely to their destinations, but checked baggage is a bit of a cr…

Demonstrating ThermoAcoustics With The Rijke Tube

The Rijke tube is a very simple device that demonstrates the principle of thermoacoustics quite clearly. Construction is quite straightforward, simply place a metal gauze at the bottom end of a tub…