Oh sure, we've seen countless drum machine hacks over the years, but there's just something special about one that's so simple, yet so fulfilling. D-Touch is hailed as a visual markers recognition system "that enables the development of low-cost tangible user interfaces and mixed reality applications," and here, we're seeing it used to create movable sounds. Users simply print out the cubes, fold 'em up, add lentils and arrange them on the highly sophisticated A4 sheet of paper. We get the feeling this one won't cost you much to replicate, so why not hit the read link for more instructions after digging into the vid just beyond the break?

[Via Engadget German]

After what must've been a few painful minutes of rehearsal, a few robots built by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research have performed what we assume to be their first and last paid gig: a rendition of Happy Birthday to celebrate the 100th of the Science Museum in the UK. What's interesting about these bots -- outside of their horrible ear for music and laughable singing voices is the fact that they've actually been programmed to communicate and teach each other to sing through the process of singing to each other. Videos of both painful acts are after the break, and while we wouldn't call it art, we shouldn't throw stones: we've been in plenty of garage bands that sounded quite a bit worse.

[Via robots.net]

We've seen and ridiculed music-playing clothes before, but that doesn't seem to have discouraged the makers of the electronic bongo drum t-shirt. This party-rocking piece of geek chic comes with four distinct sounds and can be had for the low low price of $49 plus shipping. Then you can pair it with your special edition Guitar Hero peripherals for the ultimate in instrument-free music creation.

[Via OhGizmo!]

Remember that microphone that we peeked just before Lips hit and (subsequently fell off) the scene? Microsoft has just announced that a standalone version will soon be available sans a tether, giving owners of the aforesaid title, Guitar Hero Metallica, Rock Band 2, Disney Sing It: High School Musical 3: Senior Year and The Beatles: Rock Band the ability to carry a tune in a bucket right in the comfort of their living room. Too bad it'll run you $49.99 when it ships in the fall, but who knows, maybe there's some sweet Sennheiser diaphragm in there that we're not aware of.

[Via Joystiq]

Without a doubt, Sonos makes an excellent wireless distributed audio system. If we had to nit pick (and we do), then its massive controller, the CR100 is easily the first thing to complain about. For starters it's a $400 remote control that does one thing, it controls your Sonos audio system. Granted, the CR100 is rugged, splashproof, and turns on in an instant thanks to a built-in accelerometer; features that can't justify the price, however, in light of the solid Sonos did its user base when it released a free Sonos controller app for the iPhone and iPod touch. The app even one-ups the CR100 with its on-screen QWERTY since the CR100's scrollwheel isn't exactly the best interface for typing out the name of an artist search. So imagine our intrigue when we saw a new CR200 Sonos Controller pass through the FCC. The new controller appears to prefer a portrait orientation (instead of landscape like the CR100) and was tested across 802.11g WiFi frequencies with a 24Mbps fixed data rate. While that doesn't give us much to go on, at least it passed the tests meaning we could be close to an official announcement. Considering the controller's physical design hasn't changed since its launch in January of 2005, a few more days or weeks of waiting shouldn't be a problem.

Sonos has been sitting pretty at the top of the wireless audio distribution space for quite awhile now. Today Yamaha is fighting back with a totally refreshed (and very Sonos-like) Musiccast2 system that supports up to 32 rooms of WiFi-based distributed audio from sources such as Rhapsody, Internet radio, or tracks stored on your Mac, PC, USB sticks, Bluetooth devices, or networked shares. iTunes support is enabled via a bundled TwonkyMedia Server in the $500 MCX-RC100 Network Music Commander remote control (above) with 3.5-inch LCD, touch-sensitive trackpad, and GUI that displays details such as album art and song information from all your MP3, WMA (no lossless or PRO), AAC (no Apple lossless or FairPlay DRM), FLAC and WAV audio files. To distribute the audio, you'll need a $400 MCX-A300 (amplified, just add speakers) or $400 MCX-P200 (non-amplified for AV connection) Network Music Player placed in each room where audio is desired. The MCX-P200 can also function as a universal IR remote with multiple IR outs to control other devices in the AV rack via IR flashers or the MCX-RC100 remote control. So yeah, it gets expensive, but it's easy and quick and won't require a sledgehammer, wiring, or sheetrocking skills. Our only reservation is with Yamaha's choice of straight-up 2.4GHz 802.11b/g to link the audio compared to the rock-solid, customized-802.11n mesh created by Sonos -- nobody wants a microwave to harsh their mellow, dig? More component pics after the break.

We know you're struggling to take it in, but you really have just stumbled upon this week's episode of Ask Engadget. Fascinating, the timing, yeah? Now that you're here, we're going to ask you to stick around, answer Chris' question below and then send in one of your own to ask at engadget dawt com. First things first, though:

"My desktop is wired through my home theater, so everything sounds great when I listen to music at home, but when I'm at the office I only have little Harman/Kardon speakers that came with my Dell. I work in an office that is music friendly, but no one has any decent speakers. I was hoping the Engadget community might have some good suggestions for reasonably priced computer speaker sets that sound good. You know... so I can share my extensive Matchbox 20 bootleg collection with the rest of my colleagues. Thanks!"

First off, congrats on working in a "music friendly" environment. And for everyone else, why not give this guy a little advice before hitting him up for job opportunities?

It's been quite some time since Sleek Audio introduced its first set of custom tuned earphones, but now that folks are growing anxious for a true SA6 followup, it has gone and done the right thing by introducing the CT6. If you'll recall, Sleek decided to add Kleer's wireless technology to its original SA6 buds back in October of last year, and evidently that went over extraordinarily well. To that end, the CT6 packs Kleer's tech right from the factory, and they can even go back to wired mode thanks to the removable swivel cables. Improving upon the prior model, these boast up to 35dB of noise reduction as well as a custom tuning option that tweaks 'em to your preferences before you buy. Just think -- you can take that whole "equalizing" thing into your own hands today for just $350 (sans wireless) or $450 (with Kleer).

Apple's closing out the new application talk today at WWDC with a demo from Line 6 and Planet Waves, who have joined the Cupertino-based company in order to give your iPhone the ability to control your guitar and amplifier. Sadly, the wireless communication between the Line 6 Variax guitar and the iPhone on stage had some issues, though the folks assured us we could see more later on at Line 6's website. If this thing manages to function, it will also let you re-tune your six-string and change models on the fly. No word on price or availability just yet, but we'll let you know if either of those factoids appear.

Are you just now coming to the stark realization that you've nothing whatsoever to do this weekend? Calm down, there's no need to freak out. Thanks to Jeff Keyzer over at mightyOhm, you can now get to work on your very own DIY WiFi radio. In one of the most elaborate how-to guides we've ever had the pleasure of gawking at, Jeff has detailed exactly how to turn an ASUS WL-520gU router, a few spare pieces of wood and a couple of unwanted knobs into an open source internet radio streamer. Sure, there's always Pandora for those who aren't inclined to get their elbows dirty, but seriously, what fun is that? Roll up those sleeves, grab whatever tools your pop gave you when you left for college and hit the read link. Pronto.

[Via Hacked Gadgets]

We don't know a single soul who hasn't wanted to hear Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness from start-to-finish whilst swimming off the coast of Phuket, but seriously, who's going to tune in on a $40 waterproof Bluetooth speaker ball? Then again, maybe Billy's secretly more concerned with his choice of swimwear and lack of sunscreen than the clarity of Iha's riffs.

When we had the downright magnificent opportunity to toy with Philips' latest PMP line here in the States, we immediately noticed that the GoGear Opus stood out among the rest. The crew over at TrustedReviews recently spent some quality time with the 8GB version of that very unit, and while they found the audio quality to be "excellent," they seemed rather disappointed -- if not irked -- by everything else in the package. For starters, the whole solution just felt boring, with critics noting that its biggest problem was a lack of "excitement." Granted, none of this would matter at a rock-bottom price point, but for $100, there's an awful lot of competition. As we found during our short time with the player, these folks also noticed that the user interface was simply "old-fashioned," and that video playback was nothing to write home about. The bottom line? Unless you score some kind of spectacular deal, your PMP dollars are probably best spent elsewhere.

With just days to go before the gaming world goes wild at E3, the hotly anticipated DJ Hero is now spinning on its very own website. Granted, a few of the sections are still labeled as "coming soon," but we're given a few more sneak peeks at the hardware, the gameplay and even a duo of handy links to pre-order it. According to listings on both GameStop and Amazon, the software and turntable are slated to ship on October 27th, with the bundle priced at $119.99 for all four of the major consoles (yes, new games are still being made for the PS2). Better still, the latter e-tailer has the Jay-Z Special Edition Bundle listed for Sony's PS3 and Nintendo's Wii, though neither of those are accompanied by MSRPs or expected ship dates. And to think, those are just two of our 99 problems...

[Thanks, Joey]

Read - DJ Hero official website
Read - GameStop pre-order page
Read - Amazon pre-order page
Read - DJ Hero game trailers