Kyle Evans created this electronically modified digeridoo.

Details below.

via yakthekyle:

I created this instrument to experiment in the combination of the organic sound qualities of a didgeridoo with the advanced signal processing capabilities of modern computer programming and sound synthesis.

This custom built didgeridoo features externally mounted modules that allow the performer to process and manipulate the sound of the instrument in real time. All control data is transmitted wirelessly via blue tooth and is controlling several audio processes created in a custom-built software environment.

Wiimote Hacked Instrument

via eyesuck17:

My first stab at making the Wiimote into an instrument.

Made using Glovepie, PureData, and FM8.Roll controls pitch within a C lydian scale, pitch controls a morph, and 2 simple sequences at 120 BPM are controlled Via the buttons.

It’s all Legend starting tom cruise up in here.

Brian from Dewanatron demonstrates the Melody Gin.

Parts 2 & 3 below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Description:

The Melody Gin is an all analog synthesizer that has two oscillators, four LFO’s, an envelope generator and a host of other unique features. The Melody Gin can be externally clocked too.

These are absolutely beautiful looking and sounding instruments. All the designs are engineered from the ground up by Leon Dewan.

Dewanatron is a collaboration between cousins Leon and Brian Dewan.

As a group, we hoped to make a toy that not only encouraged physical activity, but that also acted a clear and direct musical interface.

Steppers transform walking, dancing, running, and jumping into a unique and dynamic activity, allowing the user to express themselves audibly through their movements.

The shoes contain force sensors, which communicate with a MAX/MSP program.

Here’s video of the Steppers in use:

Here are five Tenori-On videos that are not just visually boring, but they suggest that the Tenori-On encourages a certain sameness of sound:

I Am Robot And Proud @ Cruising Iris

Making MIDI Music with the Yamaha TENORI-ON

John Herndon from Tortoise plays the TENORI-ON

Battles Try the TENORI-ON

Tenori-on, Minimal style

While most Tenori-On performance videos aren’t that interesting, this video from Mouse on Mars suggests that there’s hope for the Tenori-On yet:

Mouse on Mars Plays the TENORI-ON

Let me know what you think – is the Tenori-On turning out to be kind of boring, or are these just five crap YouTube videos?

This is the most bizarre music synthesizer we’ve seen in a while.

Every synth should come with a skeleton sequencer!

via the Experimental Electronics-Blog

Tuttle Soundlabs has a great collection of quirky theremins at their site, including a theremin cigar box and even an curiously strong Altoids theremin!

via Handmadenoize

Check this out: The Sound of Touch is an instrument for real-time capture and physical stimulation of digital sound samples, using a specially constructed wand and any physical material.

The hand-held wand can be used to (1) record sound, then (2) brush, scrape, strike or otherwise physically manipulate this sound against physical objects.

These actions produce sound in a manner that leverages peoples existing intuitions about sonic properties of physical materials. The Sound of Touch permits real-time exploitation of the sonic properties of a physical environment, to achieve a rich and expressive control of digital sound that is not typically possible in electronic sound synthesis and control systems.

via David Merrill, MIT

The Virtual Drum

A haptic force feedback device that simulates the feel of a drum, designed as part of Bennett’s MEng in Cybernetics at the University of Reading. The switch held in the left hand is used to turn the virtual drum upside down (and also increases the pitch of the drum)

Bliptronic3000

Not strictly for music – an interactive art installation at the Big Blip digital art festival ‘06, Brighton, UK. Users influence the movement of the virtual swarm through the use of two pucks moved across the tabletop.

The Petecube

This is a demo video that shows the possibilities for combining a variety of sensors in one simple cube.

PETECUBE is a research project investigating the integration of touch with both sound and vision.

The focus is on musical instruments, as they provide an excellent platform for experimentation. The result is a range of musical instruments that explore different modalities of interaction.

The reacTable’s developers say it is the latest in an emerging wave of “tangible music interfaces,” but to the touring musicians who play the thing, it’s merely “cool.”

“Established instruments like the Moog, the turntable and the laptop are really powerful, but they do not provide the necessary control over the complex sound generation in the background,” said Martin Kaltenbrunner, one of the four-man team that created the reacTable.

“This is where tangible interfaces or multi-touch surfaces promise some new possibilities. We are interested in creating new electronic musical instruments which are more powerful for the musicians and allow the manipulation of the many possible parameters of synthetic sounds at any point.”

Here’s a video of Björk performing with the reacTable at The Glastonbury Festival:

Björk explains the appeal of the reacTable:

“When I first got it, I thought, ‘Why don’t I just make a funny noise on the Moog?’” said Damian Taylor, a Grammy-nominated producer who engineered Björk’s latest album, Volta, and who plays the reacTable onstage with the Icelander.

“But, as soon as you start to use it, there’s really no comparison — it’s a completely different animal. They designed it so you draw your finger across the board, but I just wound up picking stuff up and banging it on the table and playing it more like rock ‘n’ roll power chords. We had to replace the bottoms of each of the blocks because I was wearing away the patterns.”

via Wired

A color-shifting “chameleon shawl”, developed by Akira Wakita, incorporates red, blue and green light-emitting dioedes(LEDs). By varying the brightness of each type of diode, various colors can be created. A sensor in the garment lets it identify and match the color of the nearest item of clothing.

Other experimental clothing can react to the environment or respond to the touch. At right, a model demonstrates a wearable piano.

According to the Keio University site:

Our concept is based on the perception of clothing as a module. This clothing has both input and output. Say, we have an inner wear that senses the body temperature and changes its color. In this case, body temperature is input through a temperature sensor and processed by microcon-trollers. Here, by assuming the output of a module as the input of another module, linkage between two modules is realized. By connecting another fashion item, for example outer wear, that inputs the light output from the inner wear, “the coordination of information” can be established. Effectors, for example accessories, hats and bags, can be also thought that amplifies the output of a module.

This conceptual model is similar to the analog synthesizer. In analog synthesizer, users can generate infinite original sound by connecting and tuning three modules, VCA, VCO and VCF. We have named our model “Wearable Synthesis” in the meaning of enabling original fashion expression by combining individual fashion items.

Source: Information Design Lab, Keio University