Innovative & Unique Electronic Music Instruments that Push the Limits

Music technology has evolved and advanced a lot in recent years, and plays an important role (besides talent of-course) in pushing music forward into uncharted territories.

So you think you have seen it all – microphone, electric guitar, multitrack recording, analog synthesizer, sampler?

While these are the most common music instruments that you would see in a studio, gear/equipment makers are still putting a lot of effort in R&D to come up with better & music gear.

Here we take a look at some innovative musical instruments that we have seen in the recent past.

Skwitch – The One-Button Music-Making Gadget & App

Skwitch is a one-button midi controller that clips straight on to your iPhone, just press the pressure-sensitive button to play notes. The Skwitch uses the sensors within your iPhone, and as such there are no electronics inside the gadget and it requires no batteries.

Despite its simple design, its a versatile MIDI controller with MPE, mappable modulation, real-time step sequencing and pressure-sensitive arpeggiator. It’s very compact and an inexpensive way to add a music making device to your setup.

Dualo Du-Touch: Standalone musical instrument

You can compose and play songs using this intuitive musical instrument. The Dualo is small in size and lightweight, you can play and create music wherever you want. You can play up to 52 different sounds in addition to looping melodies and chords so you can create custom tracks.

• The Dualo the Dualo du-touch S is a controller, synthesizer and sequencer in one, deigned like a futuristic accordion
• The instrument can play up to three octaves, its tuned to the chromatic scale

Available in touch versions:

• Dualo du-touch L: 116 pads (5 octaves), 116 editables sounds, 7-tracks Looper (24 loops), 2Gb memory
• Dualo du-touch S: 52 pads (3 octaves), 52 editables sounds, 7-tracks Looper (16 loops), 1Gb memory

You can see the Dualo in action in the video below.

The instrument looks simplistic and cool, especially the lighting of the touchpads and the innovative scrollbar to adjust the volume are very noticeable. The Dualo du-touch S comes with a concise manual, however, this manual is more than sufficient to control the instrument in minutes. The Dualo is standard equipped with more than enough instrument packs to create every kind of music on the spot.

The new version is MIDI compatible, allowing it to control music software (Reason, Ableton Live), but you can do a lot with this unique instrument even without a computer. You can play and create music very easily.

Record and remix your tracks in real time, with a simple gesture of the hand!

The Dualo du-touch instruments look cool, packs in several instrument sounds and features, doesn’t take much time for you to control it, and because of its small size the the Dualo is extremely portable and easy to carry.

Recap
Pros: Quite versatile despite its seemingly small appearance
Cons: There are no integrated speakers
Website: dualo.org

Musical Tesla Coil Kit

Get the young whipper snappers interested in science by having them build their very own mini musical Tesla coil. The kit comes with everything needed to easily build a compact singing Tesla coil that emits a charming melody as the sparks fly.

tinyTesla DIY Mini Musical Tesla Coil Kit

Play MIDI files and make music using the sparks themselves
The completed kit shoots sparks up to 4 inches long
A USB interrupter allows you to control your Tesla coil from a laptop.
Easy to assemble, ideal for newcomers (to the Tesla coiling hobby) as well as seasoned DIY electronics enthusiasts.

tinyTesla: Pirates of the Caribbean

DIKAVS DIY Mini Music Tesla Coil Kit

This is a DIY KIT, you need to set it up.
Wireless transmission principle
Size: 38 * 79 mm Power: 15w Power input: DC 15-24v, current 2A, DC5.5 Interface
Audio input: 3.5 jack, you can connect your phone, mp3, computer audio.
Plasma speaker stereo speakers: Better sound quality, stable and secure.

[easyazon_link identifier=”B071R95N8P” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]See PRICE on Amazon[/easyazon_link]

Once the musical Tesla coil kit is set up, it shoots four-inch sparks, plays music and wirelessly excites fluorescent tubes.

Musical Tesla Coil Kit

Korg LittleBits Synth Kit: Build Your Own Analog Synthesizer

LittleBits sells open-source electronic modules that can be snapped together to create simple circuits and non-threatening robots. LittleBits partnered with KORG to create this synth-building kit, and these look easy & fun.

The littleBits Electronics Synth Kit is perfect for both beginners as well as experienced musicians who wish to create music on their own analog synthesizer. All great musicians, in the present as well as in the past, have used analog synthesizers to produce some great music and have created complex sounds.

Now you could do the same with the littleBits Electronics Synth Kit.

The Korg LittleBits Electronics Synth Kit is a fun and inexpensive way to learn more about sound processing, electronic construction, and synthesizers. With this kit, you’ll learn a lot more in a day than what you would learn in a week at school.

Using this kit, you have to use the various building blocks, without having to do any programming or soldering, which is what makes it different, and so useful to those who’re new to electronics. The various blocks are color-coded and snap together with magnets to create circuits instantly, the magnets are specifically polarized so that only the correct ends can be connected to each other, so you don’t have to get frustrated over that part.

Over the last few years, New York-based littleBits have been trying to make music technology more accessible to those who aren’t fluent in the language of wires, circuitry and programming. In collaboration with KORG, who’re among the top synthesizer innovators in the world, they have come up with a DIY Synth Kit for those who’re keen to build their own analog synthesizers.

The kit comes with: Filter, Micro Sequencer, 2 Oscillators, Keyboard, Envelope, Delay and more. It lets you be creative and build your own sound. It doesn’t matter if you have little or no engineering knowledge (even musical knowledge is not required, because the LittleBits Electronics Synth Kit teaches you more about synth ideology, sound processing, electronic construction and audio flow.

Korg LittleBits Synth Kit (Videos)

Here are the main features of littleBits Electronics Synth Kit

• The box transforms to a performance station that is ready to use
• The kit can connect to live sound or recording equipment
• 12 Bits TM modules in a modular analog synthesizer that snap together with magnets to create circuits in seconds
• Quality sound in a small package
• You can create expressive interfaces or creations that span light, motion and sound by combining the little bits synth kit with other little Bits module
• Package includes a handy 35+ page booklet with step by step instructions for 10 great projects
• Included in the kit is a 9v battery + cable
• Dimensions: 12.2 x 4 x 2.8 inches, Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds

So go ahead and build something mind-blowing.

Moog Theremins

The theremin is one of the oldest electronic instruments, and probably the only one that you could play without touching the instrument. Moog recently announced the Theremini; they’ve taken the theremin and given it more features. Read more here on Theremins…

Watch: Theremin in action

‘Artiphon’ Midi Controller: Strum a guitar, bow a violin, make drum beat, play piano parts

The verstaile midi controller ‘Artiphon’ feels like several midi instruments in one – You can play piano, guitar, drum, violin, and more. It’s not for wind instrument players though (but it can do so much else).

• 23.5-inch-long, includes 72 pressure-sensitive keys in six octaves (that’s surprising because the instrument looks smaller)
• It’s a pure MIDI controller (no sounds of its own)
• Works with popular music recording software and apps
• It has an accelerometer
• Comes with built-in speaker (plays audio from any USB-audio-compliant app)
• has a bridge for strumming, tapping, and picking
• Comes with four presets; and four user presets.
• Knob lets you control volume and switch between presets
• Headphone/mic jack and USB jack that also functions as a MIDI interface like most controllers today.

Watch: The Artiphon INSTRUMENT demo

More details:

• Artiphon site

Teenage Engineering Synth (OP-1)

Teenage Engineering’s flagship miniature synth OP-1 is compact, aesthetically minimal, and offers a creative playground. The OP-1 can sample and record audio from a built-in mic, line-in source, and even the radio.

Watch: Teenage Engineering OP-1 synthesizer

Read more here…

Also Read: Instruments you can build with Raspberry Pi computer

DIY PCB Touch Piano (No Moving Parts)

This DIY PCB piano uses a Teensy 3.2 (small, breadboard-friendly development board) is basically an electronic instrument with practically no moving parts (levers, hammers, etc).

Watch: PCB Piano

Here’s another interesting video that I came across.

Watch: DrumPants: An Entire Band in Your Pocket

Musi Makes Rhythmic Melodies from Physical Objects Lying Around

Musi is a cool device that makes sound based on the physical objects that are scattered around it.

Designed by Ernest Warzocha ((graduate of Poland’s School of Form, where he studied communication design)), the sensors in the device raises or lowers the pitch, depending on how far the object.

“The more tidy the area around is, the less harmonic is its melody,” says Warzocha. May be, this is one reason to keep the room messy! Because ‘Musi’ scans its surroundings for objects and turns them into sound.

He has also made a Pro version that can be used as a MIDI controller (which’s capable of working together with music production software).

Although we are not sure about the practical uses of this device (for now), Warzocha says his music instrument is for everyone – as creative toys for children, interactive installation to experimental instrument which can be used along with any music production software.

Google Neural Synthesizer ‘NSynth Super’

Google introduces NSynth Super, an open hardware controller for its NSynth Neural Synthesizer.

Its part of a research project (Google creative labs worked with Magneta) that explores how machine learning tools can help artists create music in new and exciting ways. NSynth algorithm learns characteristics of sounds, and then create new sounds, based on the learned characteristics.

NSynth Super can be played via any MIDI source, like a DAW, sequencer or keyboard.

Here’s a look at the creation of NSynth Super. London-based producer Hector Plimmer, explores new sounds generated by the NSynth machine learning algorithm.

NSynth Super is available for download via Github. Check it out and let us know what you think of it.

Create your own Arcade Music with Pianocade synthesizer

The Pianocade synthesizer feels like a vintage arcade game and it even sounds like one. It’s fun to play and easy to use; go ahead and tinker with its powerful features.

Remember the good old days when 8-bit games used to be accompanied with 8-bit music? If you’re missing the good old chiptune sounds of your old arcade gaming days from your childhood, then you might want to check out the Pianocade.

Pianocade is a chiptunes synthesizer and a MIDI controller rolled in one. Its designed to look like an over-sized arcade game console. Instead of regular piano keys, it uses buttons/controls (arranged like the keys).

Check out the video of the Pianocade in action!

Pianocade boasts of a 128-note range and a MIDI connection. Its available in one-octave and two-octave designs.

Also Read: Unique Acoustic Music Instruments.