StylophoneBeatbox
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Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Fun Stuff
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. Still haven't found just the right gift for that particularly hard-to-buy-for someone in one of the more neatly defined categories? Well, then look no further, 'cause we've collected a wide assortment of other products right here that may have little in common with one another, but will each undoubtedly bring a smile to the face of anyone that receives one of them. Just try to remember you're not shopping for yourself.
Stylophone Beatbox electronic beats machine hands-on
We've seen the pros effortlessly tapping away classic tunes on the Stylophone Beatbox, so naturally we had to give it a shot for our faithful readers. Essentially the Beatbox is a portable electronic musical instrument that activates when the stylus contacts the metallic pad. For us the functions were pretty straight-forward to use -- there's a sliding switch for the three sound packs, a loop tool with record and play controls, a volume dial, a loop playback speed dial and a tuning dial underneath. We dig the loop function, but sometimes the Beatbox struggled to reproduce multiple effects at any instance, which is probably why the famed Brett Domino got help in his video. Another issue was that we had to tap fairly hard to get a response, and while you can isolate the tapping noise by plugging in your headphones, your hands would still quickly grow tired from the rapid beats. Of course, you can always cheat by putting in a sample loop via the "MP3" port, but where's the fun in that? Enjoy our amateurish electronic beatboxing after the break -- just promise you won't laugh. Deal?
Stylophone Beatbox made interesting, desirable by superstar Brett Domino (video)
The $25.50 Stylophone Beatbox doesn't look like much, and if it weren't for one Brett Domino and his partner in hip-hop crime Steven Peavis, we just might have continued about our lives without knowing of this thing's potential. Described as the ultimate street cred token for the average white boy, this diminutive box reacts to panel presses by dishing out the hottest beats this side of Compton. The result? An eclectic mix of melodic rap tunes, all beautifully re-rendered by Leeds' most handsome, talented and skilled resident. Hit the video after the break if you know what's good for ya, and feel free to fast forward to 1:33 before having your mind blown. Thug lyfe, y'all. [Via Gizmodo]
