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TheoryBoard is a MIDI controller that teaches you music theory
There are no shortage of crazy and unique MIDI controllers out there. It claims to let anyone create music, regardless of skill level, while also teaching them about music theory. Well TheoryBoard has two 12x4 sets of velocity sensitive pads, with a touchscreen in the middle.
Jammy's new MIDI guitar can control all your virtual instruments
The original Jammy had several problems. The Jammy Evo rethinks the original’s formula, and was designed as a MIDI controller first and foremost.
Kickstarter may cut up to 45 percent of its workforce
Kickstarter is preparing to lay off up to 45 percent of its staff as the COVID-19 pandemic hurts its crowdfunding business.
Kickstarter darling PicoBrew may soon go out of business
One of the original Kickstarter success stories, PicoBrew, is likely going out of business permanently, according to The Spoon.
Joué Play is a cheap, simple and customizable MIDI controller
The Joué Play lowers the price -- $289 with four overlays -- and adds a companion app that allows you to quickly and easily start making music with built in sounds. In fact, if you ask the company, it think the Play will appeal to even those who can’t play an instrument, but want to make music.
Kickstarter's live project count is down 35 percent from last year
Crowdfunding is taking a serious blow, with Kickstarter seeing a 35 percent drop in new projects. Layoffs are also expected.
Daisy is a tiny $29 computer for building custom musical instruments
Coding your own musical instruments just got a lot more convenient. Music tech company Electrosmith has launched the Daisy, an open source microcomputer packed with everything you need to code your own pedals, synth, modules and instruments -- and it's the size of a stick of gum.
MOD's latest effects pedal makes advanced sounds more accessible
MOD Devices might just make powerful effects pedals available to a much wider range of musicians. It's running a crowdfunding campaign for the Dwarf, a pedal that promises the kind of flexibility you'd expect from a much more expensive device. It's really more of a platform than an old-school stomp box. You can load open source plugins (including demanding ones like pitch shifting), synths, virtual instruments and MIDI utilities, and its high power lets it closely model more demanding analog circuits and polyphonic synths. Crucially, you don't need to connect to a laptop to take advantage of it. You can store up to 750 pedals or plugins and create patches using just the on-device controls.
Kickstarter employees vote to unionize
More tech company workers are unionizing in an attempt to improve their bargaining power. A group of 85 Kickstarter employees have voted to unionize, aligning themselves with a branch of the Office and Professional Employees International Union in New York. The staffers will use their collective bargaining power to push for equal pay, more inclusive hiring, greater transparency from management and more of a say in decisions.
'The Wonderful 101' remaster smashes Kickstarter goal in hours
If anything demonstrates that gamers love a bit of cult nostalgia, it's the eye-watering success of Kickstarter campaigns pledging to bring former hits back to life. And that's absolutely the case with former Wii U title The Wonderful 101, the remastering of which obliterated its Kickstarter goal in less than an hour.
Orba is a tiny, fun and surprisingly expressive instrument
I am simultaneously deeply fascinated by and deeply skeptical of strange niche instruments. As fun as a classic Stylophone is, for instance, it's pretty tricky to make decent-sounding music with. Even quirky controllers like Roli Blocks have a hard time finding a foothold in my life. But I still can't resist their allure. So of course when I heard about Orba, the new instrument from Artiphon, I had to check it out.
The crowdfunded cult of Amanda Palmer
Amanda Palmer wouldn't exist in her current form without Patreon. That's not to say Amanda Palmer the person would dematerialize if Patreon didn't exist, but Amanda Palmer the artist would be a completely different beast. As it stands, Palmer is an independent musician churning out music videos, new songs, complete albums, blazingly honest social media diaries and bits of international activism on the daily. She's constantly online, sharing her life as a touring artist, mother, wife and modern human with more than 1 million people on Twitter alone. She responds to a shocking number of tweets. All of this is funded through Patreon. Every month, more than 15,000 individuals send some of their money to Palmer, in amounts ranging from $1 to $1,000. She takes that cash and turns it into art, bypassing restrictive corporate contracts and pop-obsessed music labels. Palmer fled the traditional system in 2010, after years of fighting for creative control over her solo albums and those of her debut band, The Dresden Dolls. So, sure, it's fair to say Amanda Palmer wouldn't exist in her current form without Patreon. It's also true that Patreon wouldn't exist without Amanda Palmer.
Thousands of 'Coolest' Kickstarter backers will only receive $20
Five years later, it's time to put a pin in the saga of "Coolest," the all-in-one entertainment system/cooler that broke crowdfunding records on Kickstarter in 2014. The Oregonian reports that in 2017 the Portland-based company and its founder Ryan Grepper reached a settlement with the Oregon DOJ that included a provision to send just $20 to backers outside the state who never received their promised hardware. In a message that blames the Trump administration's tariffs on products made in China, Coolest has finally admitted the remaining 20,000 or so backers (out of 60,000) will never receive their coolers -- a statement that comes after it was selling off coolers in a "cyber week" sale at prices of just $100 a few days ago.
Orba is a tiny instrument that you shake, tap and twist
Artiphon first made a splash back in 2013 when it started showing off a rather rough prototype of a device that would eventually become the Instrument 1. By the time it hit Kickstarter in 2015 it had undergone a serious facelift. In its final version it was sleek and futuristic, with an almost minimal design. Now that company is back with it's second product, the Orba, and it takes many of the core concepts of the Instrument 1 to their logical extremes.
Kickstarter wants projects to be more transparent about their budget
Crowdfunding is great in theory, but many projects fail to meet their fundraising goals, end up asking for more money or fall apart entirely. In an attempt to help creators avoid those fates, Kickstarter is launching a new tool called Project Budget.
Hitting the Books: Boomers not understanding tech is the circle of life
Welcome to Hitting the Books. With less than one in five Americans reading just for fun these days, we've done the hard work for you by scouring the internet for the most interesting, thought provoking books on science and technology we can find and delivering an easily digestible nugget of their stories.
Phonocut will let you make your own vinyl records
As CD sales continue to fall, vinyl is becoming more and more popular of a music format. Some fans enjoy the bigger packaging and artwork while others claim vinyl playback produces a "warmer" tone compared to CDs and digital files. But vinyl doesn't have the flexibility of those formats. Phonocut hopes to change that with its home vinyl recorder, which launches on Kickstarter this week. The device's diamond stylus cuts the waveforms from an external source into a blank 7- or 10-inch vinyl disc so you can create records of compilations or your own music.
Kickstarter accused of union-busting after firing two employees
Kickstarter has fired two employees who headed a unionization effort within the company, according to Slate. The crowdsourcing company fired Taylor Moore (its head of comedy and podcasts) on Thursday, a week after firing Clarissa Redwine (one of its design and technology outreach leads). Moore accused the Kickstarter management of launching a union-busting campaign on Twitter, where he also said that he was fired specifically for organizing a union. He also said that a third prominent union member was just told that "there is no place for him at the company."
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.
Kickstarter game teaches players how to identify fake news
Between fake news, viral clickbait and biased reporting, it's hard to get a sense of what is really true when reading the headlines. So a new game being pitched on Kickstarter aims to take the public behind the curtain and show them how journalism works by putting them in the driving seat.
