A “cajón” is an Afro-Peruvian percussion instrument that consists, essentially, of a box with at least one thin plywood “playing face.” The other five sides are commonly made of thicker plywood, and most designs feature a sound hole cut in the face opposite the playing face.
Spotted on the Dieselpunk site: In 1910 Gaumont demonstrated his Chronophone system, which synchronised sound and film, at the Gaumont Palace in Paris. The compressed-air amplifier, which he called the Eglephone, was just a part of the whole system. The volume was enough for an audience of 4000. Initially the longest moving picture that could […]
For the fifth year in a row, Brooklyn-based Ranjit Bhatnagar has committed to making an Instrument A Day every day in February
We’ve written about the work of instrument inventor and musician Bart Hopkin here on MAKE before. But I just spent a bunch of time on his site today and am enchanted for the experience. A lot of instrument inventor/builders create objects that look cool but don’t sound very… instrumental. Or others create devices that make great sounds but aren’t much to look at. Bart’s pieces are novel, gorgeous, and sound amazing.
Though described as an “electronic instrument” and an “orchestra…composed of levitating balls whose physical height determines their volume,” London design group Poietic Studio’s “Floating Orchestra,” cool as it is, cannot possibly be producing the big, bold, brassy sounds of The Benny Goodman Orchestra that accompany their embedded video, above. Which naturally leads me to wonder what it really sounds like.
Among other whimsical items, Xylocopa Design fabricates unique musical instruments, such as this 5 stringed boxy fiddle. These creations were born from Michele’s practice in musical instrument repair and grew into the design of completely new instruments that she demonstrated for delighted visitors at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011.
Founded in Japan in 1962 by a nightclub owner and an accordionist, Korg has been designing, manufacturing, and selling electronic musical instruments since the beginning. Their products have introduced ground-breaking features into keyboards and synthesizers and many of their older models are considered “classics.”
