Technology

The Most Beautiful Homemade Device I’ve Ever Seen

The Most Beautiful Homemade Device I’ve Ever Seen

I’ve been writing about DIY electronics for almost four years, and reading about it a lot longer than that, and I can say without hesitation that this freeform headphone amp from Briton Rupert Hirst is the best-looking homemade device I’ve seen in all that time. I see a lot of projects that are longer on technical skill and shorter on design and aesthetics, and its nice to see someone making waves by taking the opposite approach.

Huge Synth Sounds from Tiny Mixtape Alpha

Huge Synth Sounds from Tiny Mixtape Alpha

Jie Qi, from Media Lab’s High-Low Tech Group, took a synthesizer and distilled it into a compact, no-frills interface. About the size of an audio cassette, it has setting for multiple tones, looping ability, and five note polyphony. The sound has an 8 bit feel to it, but the real magic is in how it’s controlled They packed a ton of functionality into a small space, including the ability to share tracks with friends.