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Making music with BeatBox, a Labo-like drum machine kit
When I first heard about the BeatBox, I was skeptical. A build-it-yourself drum machine made from cardboard? Wouldn't that disintegrate within half an hour? Finger-tapping isn't as violent as, say, regular drumming with wooden sticks, but when you're in the zone you still tend to hit the buttons with melodic oomph. (At least, that's what I tend to do.) After a few seconds with the crowdfunded instrument, though, those fears evaporated. I'm no musical expert, but it's clear the BeatBox has been thoughtfully designed and can take a chunk of performative punishment.
Build your own cheap drum machine from cardboard and arcade buttons
Even the most inexpensive drum machines still tend to be not-so-trivial purchases, but you may have an easier time rationalizing this one. Rhythmo has started a crowdfunding campaign for the Beatbox, a build-it-yourself MIDI drum machine kit aimed at making beat production more affordable. It's not exactly your typical drum machine between the cardboard body, Japanese arcade buttons (for both drum pads and function controls), four knobs and a gamepad-style analog navigation stick, but it'll also be available to the earliest backers for $99, or $150 at retail. That promises to be a serious bargain, even if it'll take you roughly an hour to build.
Engadget Giveaway: win one of four Beats Audio bundles, courtesy of Daybreak!
We must be smack-dab in the middle of audio week, because even GSM giant AT&T is bestowing the fantastic phonic prizes for your possible procurement, with four Beats Bundles up for grabs. What is this bundle of Beats? It's a set of wireless over-ear headphones (on the right) alongside your very own Beatbox portable audio player (left). Of course, AT&T is putting this all together to celebrate the launch of its five-episode web miniseries, "Daybreak," which debuts tonight immediately following the finale of "Touch" on Fox and runs for five weeks. So make sure you hook us up with a comment below and check out the show tonight. Good luck!
The Tattered Notebook: EverQuest II highlights from SOE Fan Faire 2011
The EQII news from Fan Faire seems never-ending this year. The team has revealed several major announcements for the direction of the game, including new content for Game Update 61 and some exciting new features for the upcoming expansion in November. There are several big questions regarding the new changes, like what will Beastlords be like? How does the dungeon creator work? And why is Executive Producer Dave "SmokeJumper" Georgeson wearing a kilt? Read on for the answers!
Google Translate gets Doug E. Fresh-approved Beatbox button
We still don't believe that machines (or machine translation, for that matter) will ever replace the artistry that beatbox pioneers like Doug E. Fresh, Darren Robinson (RIP), or that guy from the Police Academy movies brought to the table, but it is nice to see Google acknowledging the wonderfully percussive nature of the German language phrase "pv zk pv pv zk pv zk kz zk pv pv pv zk pv zk zk pzk pzk pvzkpkzvpvzk kkkkkk bsch". [Thanks, benhc911]
Google Translate proves beatboxing is a universal language
Hilarious translations? That's yesterday's news. Google Translate's latest trick is beatboxing, yet another talent once normally reserved for humans but perfected by machines. Don't believe us? Head to site, select German to German translation, paste in the following bit of gibberish, and press the listen button. pv zk pv pv zk pv zk kz zk pv pv pv zk pv zk zk pzk pzk pvzkpkzvpvzk kkkkkk bsch Best of all, you can experiment with different strings of text and various languages to your heart's content. Feel free to post your best results in the comments below.
Beats by Dr. Dre launching Beatbox iPod dock, along with LeBron and Bieber-branded headphones
Dr. Dre knows a hit when he sees one, and the already sprawling Beats lineup is getting five new products to hit just about every demographic you can imagine. First off is the Beatbox, a high-end portable iPod dock with 5.25-inch bass drivers and 2-inch high frequency drivers which will retail for $400. Next up is a LeBron James-branded set of athletics-friendly earbuds dubbed the Powerbeats. The $170 headphones include dual drivers and a design that lets in external noises. Meanwhile, the Beats Pro blows the lid off with a $450 pricetag and audio pro-style quality and performance. At the cheap end we have iBeats, a $120 pair of i-device friendly cans for the less discriminating, and our personal favorites: JustBeats. JustBeats are better than all the other headphones and we heart them and they're totally worth $200 for the on-ear and $120 for the in-ear versions because Justin Bieber is totally down to earth and sexy and probably the best singer ever. All of these should be landing in the next few weeks; we know you'll make the right decision. Update: Oh, and just so you know: we still hate Monster. You just can't pass up some Bieber, you know? %Gallery-103656%
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]
Rock Band drum kit modded for beatbox control
The Rock Band drum kit continues to attract modders of all stripes, and we're loving the crazy directions people are taking it -- like this beatboxing kick drum mod from Kevin Child. It's a simple hack -- Kevin simply used a Thumper vocal-percussion mike to activate the pedal trigger -- but it's pretty sweet in action, responding to nearly any noise he makes. We'd love to see this thing filtered through a computer with the different pads assigned to various frequencies so you could straight up bust out like Rahzel in your living room, but we'll take what we can get for now. Video after the break.
DIY "beatbox" drives old neighbors crazy
We're pretty sure that he meant "boombox", but regardless, this funky little hack from music enthusiast Gregor Dauth will be making him a lot of new friends at the next break-dancing competition. For this feat of audiophile-DIY, Dauth gutted an old Grundig tape machine, added four 150-watt speakers, installed an amp he purchased on eBay, and flashed it all up with some blue fiber-optic lighting. The end-result? More ass-shaking low-end then you could possibly want.[Via hackaday]
