Lurking on the Gig Rig / Vintage & Rare Guitars stand at the London Music Show (Ooh La La Synth Mangler FTW!) was this - Electro Harmonix' brand-new Bass Blogger pedal. If you're thinking 'ick, crappy name', then it only gets worse. It's described on the EHX site as "Ultra subtle and perfect distortion creates the perfect dialog with your drummer." Geddit? It's like you're blogging to your drummer! Sending him irregular and poorly spelt updates about your latest, er, notes. In return, he can let you know that, actually, your notes would be better if you'd played them on a Mac. 2/10, Mr Harmonix. Must try harder.

via musicthing 

Looking, frankly, malevolent at your taste in music, Tiger Electronics’ A.M.P. Automated Music Personality robot is meant to ”revolutionize how and where you listen to music.”  Standing 29-inches high, the A.M.P. uses a piezoelectric gyroscope to stay upright on his twin-wheels (with a flip-out kick-stand for stationary use) and lets you plug in any MP3 player, stow it in his back compartment, and then watch in astonished horror as it “dances” to the music’s beat, flashing its 49 LEDs and adding any of more than 62 sound effects.  Playback is via the built-in 12 watt amp, through a 5-inch mid-range speaker and two high output tweeters.  On the A.M.P.’s hands are touch-sensitive mixing pads, the left controlling music effects and the right controlling the audio itself. 

There are several modes, ranging from ‘Dance’ during which the A.M.P. syncs movements to the music, ‘Track’ where it follows the remote control so that the speakers are always facing you, and ‘Drive’ where you use the remote to move the robot and trigger effects.  There’s also ‘Follow’ mode, where the robot uses IR sensors to track the remote around the house, as well as obsticle sensors to avoid driving into furniture, and ‘Park’ which triggers the flip-out kickstand.

A carry-handle on the back automatically cuts power to the wheels, and if the batteries are dying the kickstand flips out to keep the robot upright.  It’s a real battery eater, actually; six D for the A.M.P. itself and three AAA for the remote.  Thankfully Tiger (and Sega Toys, who are distributing the robot) include an AC adaptor.  You’ll get 10hrs playback from a full charge.

What’s scariest, though, isn’t the Cylon stare but the price: $500 when the A.M.P. launches in October.

Experience Music Like Never Before with the Introduction of A.M.P. Automated Music Personality from Tiger Electronics

A.M.P. Automated Music Personality Features D.B.T. Dynamic Balancing Technology, A Powerful Stereo Sound System and Unique Personality to Revolutionize How and Where You Listen to Music

TOKYO –(Business Wire)– Jun. 18, 2008 Tiger Electronics, a division of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS) has teamed up with Japanese distributor SEGA Toys to introduce the future of music mobility with A.M.P. Automated Music Personality, a mobile robotic music companion that revolutionizes how and where you listen to music. Gadget enthusiasts will get a first-hand look as A.M.P. Automated Music Personality makes his worldwide debut at the Tokyo Toy Show, the world’s premiere destination for the latest hi-tech toys, gadgets and cutting-edge electronics. SEGA will be hosting the robotic music companion at its Tokyo Toy Show booth from June 19-22 at Tokyo Big Sight.
A dynamic companion, A.M.P. Automated Music Personality will blast your music through his state-of-the-art stereo sound system - with attitude. Simply plug in any MP3 player and let A.M.P. Automated Music Personality show off some of his best dance moves. Perfect for the modern lifestyle, A.M.P. Automated Music Personality stands at 29 inches tall and features a sleek black and yellow modern exterior with stylized chrome detailing. Music has never looked this good! With five different modes and over 62 sound effects, numerous electrifying dance moves and 49 expressive LED light animations; A.M.P. Automated Music Personality connects you with your music in a unique new way.

“Hasbro is redefining the mobile stereo entertainment system with the introduction of A.M.P Automated Music Personality,” says Duncan Billing, global development officer, Hasbro, Inc. “By using D.B.T.-Dynamic Balancing Technology, A.M.P. Automated Music Personality is able to balance in a manner that seems to defy gravity. With this impressive technology combined with a unique personality and incredible mobility; the way you listen and interact with your music will never be the same.”

“Hasbro and SEGA have a long history of working together in both product development and distribution, and SEGA TOYS is delighted to premiere this cool new media bot to the tech-savvy Japanese consumer,” said Isao Kokubun, C.E.O. of SEGA Toys.

Now you can kick that old stereo to the curb! Remote control operated and easy to use, just plug in any MP3 player into A.M.P. Automated Music Personality and secure your MP3 player in the case located securely on his back. You’ll feel the beat as A.M.P. Automated Music Personality delivers powerful stereo sound through a 5″ mid-range speaker and two high output tweeters. A.M.P. Automated Music Personality’s Dynamic Balancing Technology enables him to dance and roll balanced on two wheels. You can also add more boom to any song with the dedicated bass boost button. Take control and be the DJ as A.M.P. Automated Music Personality becomes a virtual mixing deck. His distinctive touch pads serve as a way to layer different sound effects and scratches over your tunes. Use the left touch pad to add music effects and the right touch pad to control the audio.

Controlling A.M.P. Automated Music Personality is easy. Make him dance, watch him roll- it’s up to you! Using the remote, you can easily manage all of his movements and cycle through his five different modes: Dance, Track, Drive, Park and Follow.

To get the party started, switch this robot into Dance mode and he’ll show you how to get down. Whether its techno, hip hop or a rockin’ guitar jam from your MP3 player, A.M.P. Automated Music Personality will dance to the music utilizing his internal beat detection software. Watch as A.M.P. Automated Music Personality moves in sync to the rhythm of the song you are playing. A.M.P. Automated Music Personality will be sure to grab your attention as he expresses his personality through 49 LED lights and futuristic sound effects.

In Track mode, A.M.P. Automated Music Personality will always keep the music facing you so you’ll never miss a beat. A.M.P. will orient himself towards you as you hold the remote control, keeping the music pointed in your direction.

To control A.M.P. Automated Music Personality with the remote, shift him into Drive mode. Here you can manually control any and all of A.M.P. Automated Music Personality’s movements with the remote.

If you are just hanging out, place A.M.P. Automated Music Personality in Park mode and his glossy black kickstand will deploy automatically which will enable him to remain stationary. Sit back and listen to your music through A.M.P. Automated Music Personality’s impressive speaker system.

A.M.P. Automated Music Personality gives new meaning to the term “music server.” Whether you are playing video games or having friends over, A.M.P. Automated Music Personality will bring the music to you in Follow mode. A.M.P. Automated Music Personality utilizes IR technology to seek out, locate and move towards the user’s hand held remote. With specialized tire tread and built-in obstacle detection sensors, you can maneuver A.M.P. Automated Music Personality around most stairs, walls and other obstructions in his path. Bring A.M.P. Automated Music Personality to a quick stop in Follow mode by touching his head sensor and he will come to a complete stop.

A.M.P. Automated Music Personality also has built in features including an easy carry handle with a switch that will disengage the motor in the wheel and auto deploy his kickstand. When A.M.P. Automated Music Personality enters low battery mode, his specially designed kickstand will drop and he will alert you that his battery is running low while continuing to keep the music blasting. Solid and well-built, he has impact points on his back, front and both “hands”.

Battery-operated, A.M.P. Automated Music Personality comes fully equipped with an AC power adapter, 6″ headphone adapter plug and a carrying case for your MP3 player (not included). A.M.P. Automated Music Personality and his controller require six D batteries and three AAA batteries (not included) for approximately ten hours of continuous entertainment.

Technical Specifications:

– 12-watt stereo sound

– Bass boost touch sensor

– 2 tweeters & mid-range speaker

– 15 minutes of built-in music

– Audio input jack

– 4 control motors

– 2 obstacle-detection sensors

– Infrared tracking system

– 49 LED lights

– 14 touch sensors

– Piezoelectric gyroscope

A.M.P. Automated Music Personality will be available nationwide at select consumer electronics online retailers starting this October for an approximate retail price of $500. Visit http://www.ampbot.com for more information.

via slashgear. 

 

 

 robot drum

There is always more fun to do with this robot, but for now I will just mark it "complete" in the current version, hope you enjoy it.

Notice how the robot first plays on the object it finds (or is forced to find by the angry cameraman), plays a small beat, and records the beat it plays on it. Then this recorded beat is played again, and it starts to play on the object (an belt tracks and everything else it has),and also playing this sampled beat

Also some videos from construction and tuning-time..

What it does? Basically:

• Navigate around, collect some data, avoid obstacles, until it
• Finds something "worth playing on" (a single isolated object or a wide flat surface that it can find an angle onto)
• Snakes into place
• Plays some beats on what it have found, and samples this, checking it has a "good sound"
• Based on data collected in the area, and sample just made, then compose a little rhythm, and plays this along with the sample

Why? Well.. I was sitting thinking what I should do for my next robot, what it should do.. Listening to music.. making a rythm with some robot-parts.. Thought; "Hey, I will make a robot that drives around and plays on stuff"

via  /letsmakerobots.

 

While spelunking in the basement at the ThinkGeek headquarters we met a fairy girl handing out bright blue Ocarinas. She mumbled some warning about the end of the world, deku nuts and the tri-force but we were all too busy to notice. Later some employees found that during long afternoon meetings they could summon a galloping horse just by playing the correct melody on their ocarina. But then Ganon burst in and the jig was up... fortunately for you we stashed away a few of these completely playable Ocarina flutes to spend your hard earned rupees o

Product Features

• Real playable Ocarina lets you re-create your favorite Zelda tunes
• Made from glazed earthenware
• 6 Holes, Plays notes from C4-D5
• Includes song book with instructions on playing several Zelda tunes
• Tri-Force Logo adorns the stem
• Made in the USA

via thinkgeek

 

As music retailers struggle to stay in business, a Los Angeles firm is doing nicely targeting a demographic that gets bigger every year -- prisoners.

More than 2.3 million people were locked up in federal, state or local systems at midyear 2007, according to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, and they want their Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd just like everyone else.

Enter North Hollywood-based Pack Central, which runs a mail-order operation for about 50,000 prisoners. It stocks about 10,000 CDs and 5,000 cassette titles.

Cassettes account for about 60% of unit sales, since CDs are contraband in many prisons because the hard plastics can be used for nefarious means. The screws that hold many cassettes together are also verboten, so owner Bob Paris must manually remove them. A bigger problem is that the labels have largely abandoned cassettes.

Paris says he started stockpiling cassettes five years ago. "People thought I was nuts when I invested tons of money in analog prerecorded music on tape," he says.

He plans to order small runs of his best-selling catalog titles from cassette manufacturers, although some new titles would also sell well in the format, Paris adds.

Best-selling current titles include Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III," Mariah Carey's "E=MC2," Usher's "Here I Stand," Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad," Nickelback's "All the Right Reasons," Leona Lewis' "Spirit" and Lyfe Jennings' "Life Change."

Perennial sellers include Al Green's "Greatest Hits," Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory," Michael Jackson's "Thriller," Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon" and a best-of collection by the Stylistics.

Pack Central sends out its catalog twice a year, with monthly mailers featuring new titles. Prisoners pay for product through money orders or checks drawn on a spendable trust account set up by their family members.

But Pack Central has to be careful even here. "If someone, due to a math error, shorted us $1, we used to fulfill the order and ask them send us a buck extra the next time," Paris says. "But that is extending prisoners' credit, which felons are not allowed to have, since they don't have the capacity to enter into a contract. So we got into trouble for that and now have to lop off an item and refund them the difference."

Given the harsh business climate for music retailers, Paris is thrilled that his business has been flat for the last five years, with sales hitting more than $1 million annually.

"I have dodged every conventional bullet that has hit most music retailers," Paris says. "I don't have to worry about downloading, legal or illegally. The beauty of it is that prisoners don't have Internet access and never will."

via  nytimes

Your Music on Your BlackBerry Smartphone. It’s That Simple.

Use BlackBerry Media Sync to get your desktop iTunes® music files on your BlackBerry® smartphone.^1,2,3,4 Whether it’s a specific playlist from your collection, or a random mix of tunes, it’s incredibly easy to transfer the music you want to take with you.

Music for the gym? A random mix of songs to get you through the day? Whatever you need, it’s easier than ever to get it on your BlackBerry smartphone.

• View a demo of BlackBerry Media Sync

Easy to Update

If you make changes to one of your iTunes playlists, the next time you sync your BlackBerry smartphone and your computer, BlackBerry Media Sync will make sure the music on your device is updated too.

All the Memory You Need

Whether you choose the playlists or have download a random selection to your BlackBerry, you can control how much of your music is synced to your BlackBerry smartphone.

And with support for a microSD⁵ card for expandable storage, you can get plenty of free memory to store all your music, as well as the other files you want to carry on your BlackBerry smartphone.

Download BlackBerry Media Sync!

via na.blackberry 

Take Great Guitar Tone Anywhere You Go!
The Waves iGTR personal guitar processor lets you take great guitar amp and effects sounds anywhere you go! Plug your guitar into the iGTR, add headphones or speakers, and prepare to rock. You can dial up tones from clean to crunchy, and add incredible reverb, chorus, and delay for even more texture. Phaser, tremolo and wah effects are onboard, too. iGTR comes loaded with three virtual amps for a great array of sounds, plus Warm, Normal, and Bright settings. A built-in belt clip lets you carry iGTR anywhere, effortlessly.

Waves iGTR Personal Guitar Processor Features:

• Battery-powered (4 x AAA)
• Headphone/speaker out
• Three virtual amps
• Three ambient effects: Chorus, Reverb, and Delay
• Three modulation effects: Phaser, Tremolo, and Wah
• Warm, Normal, and Bright settings
• Input jack for MP3/CD player
• Built-in belt clip

via sweetwater

Legendary artist and producer Dr. Dre, Interscope Geffen A&M Chairman Jimmy Iovine and Monster^®, the leader in audio/video accessories, announced that their new Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ high definition powered isolation™ headphones will be available on July 25^th at Apple® retail and online stores (www.apple.com), Best Buy® stores and BestBuy.com®, as well as the official website beatsbydre.com, for a price of $349.95.

To provide consumers with a brand new level of headphone audio performance with extreme clarity, deep bass and full power which had been lacking in conventional headphones, Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine, and Monster set out to develop a new type of headphone with the capability to reproduce the full spectrum of sound that musical artists and producers hear in professional recording studios.

Noted Dr. Dre: “Artists and producers work hard in the studio perfecting their sound, but people can’t really hear it with normal headphones. Most headphones can’t handle the bass, the detail, the dynamics. Bottom line: the music doesn’t move you. With Beats, people are going to hear what the artists hear and listen to the music the way they should – the way I do.”

The Quest for True High Definition Headphone Sound

After endless acoustical engineering research, Monster finally achieved the kind of rich, high definition sound Dr. Dre was seeking. By combining new advanced materials, sophisticated construction, extra large drivers, and a powerful digital amplifier, Beats™ By Dre™ deliver clear vocals, detailed highs, and super low, deep bass. Furthermore, to recreate the quietness of an isolated recording studio listening experience, they also feature powered ambient noise-isolation, allowing consumers to hear all the details and nuances in their music.

Since hearing is believing, Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ headphones are exclusively available at Apple and Best Buy, which are providing special demonstration stations at select stores that give consumers the opportunity to experience the headphones for themselves.

Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ are designed to provide maximum performance when used with all of today’s portable music devices – and they’re being released just in time for use with the new Apple® iPhone™ 3G. In fact, for consumers who have an iPhone, Blackberry^®, and other music-enabled phones, Beats™ By Dr. Dre™ comes with additional Monster iSoniTalk™ headphone cable with integrated high grade microphone and answer button.

“Dre and I have been developing these headphones for a while and in Monster we found a partner that could work with us to crystallize his vision and develop them to the quality level he expects,” said Jimmy Iovine, Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records. “Beats™ By Dr. Dre™ is yet another example of Interscope’s commitment to working together with its artists in developing new avenues to experience music.”

Kevin Lee, VP of Product and Marketing for Monster, noted: “After three years of hard work, we’re extremely excited about launching Beats™ By Dr. Dre™. This is the most advanced headphone ever built and delivers a music experience I think people will find amazing.”

Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ feature a unique stylish look and fashion, and come with a convenient, hip carrying case. The wide adjustable headband, soft plush hinged ear cups and high-quality Monster cable makes the Beats listening experience unmatched for comfort and sound.

ABOUT DR. DRE

In addition to being a multiple Grammy award winning producer, Dr. Dre is an artist who helped create groundbreaking records with the group N.W.A. and landmark multi-platinum solo albums The Chronic and Dr. Dre 2001. He is currently working on his third and final album, Detox. Dre has also shaped the careers of numerous artists including Snoop Dogg and Eminem, who is signed to Dre’s record company, Aftermath Entertainment. Dre has been associated in producing countless hits for a range of artists including 50 Cent, Gwen Stefani, Mary J. Blige and Eve with a combined worldwide sales total of more than 80 million records sold over the past two decades.

ABOUT JIMMY IOVINE

Jimmy Iovine is the Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records whose artists include U2, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Gwen Stefani, Fergie, Mary J. Blige, Nelly Furtado and The Black Eyed Peas. Prior to founding Interscope in 1990, Iovine was an acclaimed record producer and engineer and was twice voted Producer of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine. He produced chart-topping albums for artists including U2, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Dire Straits, Bob Seger, Patti Smith and Stevie Nicks and engineered albums for John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen.

ABOUT MONSTER

Monster, under its Monster Cable brand, is the world's leading manufacturer of connectivity solutions for high performance audio, video, car audio, computer, console and computer gaming, professional audio and sound reinforcement. Monster, under its Monster Power® brand, is also the leading manufacturer of high performance AC power line conditioning and protection products for audio/video systems.

via .businesswire 

For those of you that play something besides the plastic guitars for Guitar Hero, Belkin has created a magnetic device to make your gigs run a bit more smoothly.  If you enjoy the ability of switching between guitars a whole lot, without wanting to put your amp on standby, this little connector is worth a try.  It is very similar to the connectors used on MacBooks, the magnetic part that attaches to the laptop.  Which also hopefully means when some drunk manages to pull your cord by tripping over it, it will cause less issues.

The connector is meant to get rid of that lovely popping noise that tends to occur when the cord is accidentally unplugged from a live amp.  It isn’t available just yet, but will be in the US, Canada, Europe as well as Asia as of September of this year.  The great thing is this little connector is only $19.99.  The BreakFree Tips come in two packs for $9.99.  Which I’m guessing is the part that goes on your guitar itself.  Either way the tips are used with the connector itself.

via coolest-gadgets 

Sometimes, things are built not because there's any need for them, but simply because people want to build them. We'd say that the Parker Steam Synthesizer falls firmly into this category.

This, as its name so clearly suggests, is a synth that's powered by steam. There's no electricity involved – the instrument can be run on coal, hexamine, ethanol or propane.

If you want to find out more about how the thing works, check out the explanation on the inventor's website. Better still, you can see the thing in action by watching this video.

via musicradar