Ye and Kano release MP3 player designed to "challenge what an album can be"

American musician Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and design technology company Kano have launched Stem Player, a pebble-shaped device that allows users to customise songs in the palm of their hand.

Stem Player lets users control the vocals, drums, bass and samples – the "stems" of a track – by swiping their fingers across the grooves of the device as they listen to music.

Stem Player is an MP3 player that allows users to customise songs

"We wanted to create a living album that allows you to remix the songs, add effects and listen to the music differently each time you repeat use," Bruno Schillinger, lead product designer at Kano, told Dezeen.

"It is a way to be a participant in the listening experience and it really challenges the idea of what an album can be."

The Stem Player can be connected to headphones or speakers

The device gets its name from the music production term "stems" – individual sections that make up a song. Stem Player allows users to speed up or slow down different sections of a track, as well as reverse and loop parts of the song.

It also incorporates haptic feedback, as users slide their fingertips over the silicone-covered object and the lights flash in real-time to changes in the song.

Users can download music onto the device and then remix the stems

The designers see this "return to primal interactions" as an antidote to popular MP3 players on the market, which are usually controlled by users tapping or scrolling on black screens.

"One thing that we set out to do from the beginning was to use very primary dots of light and colour to signify function," explained Schillinger.

"The grooves in it – the channels that you slide your finger across – are supposed to be a little bit like meditation stones that you can stroke to make you feel calm," he added.

The portable device can fit in pockets

With this brief in mind, the team set about creating something that could be intuitively used by children. The interface is designed so that it reveals itself as you watch it, with the stems pulsing to the data.

For example, you can watch the vocal stem move up and down as the artist speaks, and the speed of your loops is mirrored by the pace at which the lights move.

Users can listen to music directly from the MP3 player, which can also be connected to headphones and speakers using bluetooth or cable.

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In their quest for simplicity Ye and Kano looked to nature for inspiration, which is why the Stem Player resembles a smooth pebble.

"Kanye has this mantra where nothing should have sharp edges and everything should be rounded as it is in nature," explained Schillinger.

"As a result, we also looked beyond stones and pebbles and were really inspired by ancient artefacts."

Users slide their fingers across the grooves and lights to alter tracks

Ye and Kano have been working together on the device since meeting at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2019 and believe that the Stem Player has the potential to revolutionise music in a similar way to the iPod.

"[It] lets you go from listening to music to creating and then you're building new creations – but then at a press of a button, you go back to listening," James Hicks, lead designer at Kano, told Dezeen.

"I think that way to move from consuming something to creating something in single seamless transition is something that doesn't really exist anywhere else in music."

The beige device looks similar to a round pebble

Playing it on the device will also be the only way people will be able to listen to Ye's upcoming album Donda 2, in a move that Ye and Kano believe will give control back to the artist – especially when compared to releasing the album on a streaming site like Spotify.

This is Ye's first music-playing device, but the musician is no stranger to product design. His previous projects include footwear line Yeezy and an ongoing partnership with high street retailer Gap.

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Maisie Wilen uses giant otherworldly holograms to model latest collection

Fashion label Maisie Wilen showcased its autumn/winter collection using a cast of seven-foot-tall holograms at its New York Fashion Week show.

Set in a dark empty room, the presentation consisted of 28 holograms of different models that were beamed into the room using more than a hundred simultaneously running cameras.

Holographic models showcased Maisie Wilen's AW22 fashion collection

Styled to resemble Monster High dolls, they donned prosthetic fangs, gills and pointed ears alongside bright blue and pink body paint, blurring the line between fantasy and reality.

Some of the looped, moving projections showed the models pointing or laughing at the audience, while others appeared to be electrocuted or blow bubbles from their mouths.

Some of the moving holograms interacted with the audience

"The performances were so engaging that many who attended lingered longer than they might have for a conventional fashion show," one reporter wrote.

The event took place in real life in front of a real audience, but the actual presentation of the garments was entirely digital, which according to Maisie Wilen makes it the "first-ever all-holographic fashion show".

Another projection shows a model playing with a VR headset

Each projection showcased a look from the brand's latest collection, spanning iridescent vinyl trenchcoats, matt silver sequin flares and skintight catsuits with op-art prints.

"I wanted to delve into what could prompt the viewer to question their reality," co-founder Maisie Schloss told Vogue. "The clothes have optical illusions, and we use a lot of textiles with visual effects."

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The holograms were created in collaboration with Yahoo using the web company's volumetric video technology, which involved surrounding each of the models with 106 separate cameras and capturing them in ultra-high 6K resolution from all directions at the same time.

Unlike in 360-degree videos, where multiple cameras face outward from a central rig to capture a flat image of their surroundings, this footage helps to create a kind of 3D model that can then be projected onto a wall to create the impression of a real, larger-than-life person.

Each projection was looped like a gif

For those unable to attend the show, a dedicated website houses all of the 3D models and allows users to place them into their surrounding environment using augmented reality (AR).

"You get to zoom in on them, beam them into your space to walk around them," Schloss told Vogue. "It's a level of engagement that we haven't had with the live show previously."

The holograms were created using volumetric video technology

Fashion has long toyed with holograms, from Alexander McQueen projecting a dancing Kate Moss into his autumn/winter 2006 show to Diesel floating giant aquatic creatures over its runway.

In the last year, brands from Gucci to Balenciaga have moved beyond just virtual set dressing to creating entire virtual garments, which can only be worn in AR or in the growing network of virtual worlds known as the metaverse.

Elsewhere at New York Fashion Week, designer Jonathan Simkhai presented his latest collection in the online world of Second Life this month and made the clothes available as virtual wearables for players to purchase before ever showing their physical counterparts.

All imagery is courtesy of Yahoo.

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