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SuONOIO synth takes soundgeeks from zero to tweaking in fewer than 60 cycles (video)
We'll admit that sometimes it doesn't take much to get our engines running here at Engadget HQ. If you can throw a couple of knobs, exposed circuitry, a 9v battery, and a sense of adventure into a semi-coherent package, we'll be pleased as punch. The SuONIO synthesizer, therefore, makes us very happy indeed. SuONOIO is the band of former Nine Inch Nails keyboardist Alessandro Cortini, and SuONOIO is a pint-sized slab of silicon that comes bundled with a digital copy of the band's latest album. Delivered bubble-wrapped in a hand-stamped cardboard box -- if you've ever had the pleasure of unboxing an Arduino kit, you'll know the feeling -- it's pre-loaded with two banks of samples that were used to create the album. Although it's a sample-based instrument, it's the user's job to create new noise using an array of jumper-activated effects and mixing techniques. It's not quite as expansive as an MPC, but as any good experimentalist knows, there's a lot to be gleaned from limitations and new interface paradigms. Read on for our impressions of the noisebox and a tour of its inner workings! %Gallery-107941%
20 great, free iPad comics
CNET's Crave blog compiled a great list last week of twenty great, free comic books to read on your iPad. For me, more than anything else, the iPad seems perfect for a visual, interactive medium like comics. Movies are better on my big screen, and books can be read on a Kindle (or just on paper -- weird, I know), but for the iPad, having the ability to zoom in on a great piece of comic art or download new comics straight to the device to be read on that big, colorful screen seems perfect. Enter this list, which has some great free samples from both the DC and Marvel comics apps, or a few other free Comics reader apps available on the store. There's some really good stuff out there for the low price of absolutely nothing, from some classic books that are hard to find in print to some newer promo books for current series or comics that have been made into movies. Man cannot live on free alone -- if you're really into comics, you'll probably want to buy a few from their official apps (though it's a shame that pricing and selection isn't quite there yet, but hopefully Marvel and DC will eventually figure that out). And this article doesn't even mention the tons of great single-app books you can find on the App Store, for both the iPhone and the iPad. The iPad was designed for consuming media, and comic books are one of my favorite media around.
Leica X1 photo gallery proves that big shots do come in little packages
For those who've never really understood the mystique and allure surrounding Leica's retro-styled cameras (and their stratospheric price tags), here's a gallery of shots that might just lend a little insight into the fixation. The outfit's X1 was announced back in September, though initial shipments aren't expected to begin across the pond until early 2010. That said, the shutterbugs over at dpreview managed to procure one ahead of time, and they've hosted up a cornucopia of sample images from the currently unpriced compact. Go on and give that read link a look if your interest in piqued -- we're guessing you'll come away wishing your SD200 could produce similar results.
Olympus E-P1 video samples posted, camera turns up in ad-within-an-ad Blendtec spot
There's much to love about the new Olympus E-P1, but the hip new thing for the DSLR market is video, and Panasonic has already demonstrated with the Lumix DMC-GH1 that Micro Four Thirds cameras are in some ways even better suited to the demands of high quality point-and-shoot video. The folks at Digital Photography Review have some samples up now of the E-P1's video performance, and while we'd like to see how the camera fares indoors as well, the outdoor samples they've posted are very promising. The colors seem just a touch washed out, but there's great motion and clarity, and solid manual controls. It is interesting to note that while the camera does include some built-in effects, most of them dramatically reduce the frame rate -- making them more or less useless. Most unfortunate, however, is the fact that there's no auto focus in video mode, which is where the DMC-GH1 still reigns supreme in DSLR land. Hit up the read link for the videos, or if that's not your style check out the bemusing Blendtec advert for the E-P1 after the break -- it's a real viral meets meta mashup, or something like that.[Thanks Richard L.]Update: We've heard conflicting word on auto focus. According to Photography Review's preview, the camera doesn't have auto focus in video mode, but according to the Olympus press release, as Super Marxio pointed out in comments, there is auto focus during recording. Perhaps Photography Review was looking at a non-final version of the camera. We do know that the camera does auto focus using contrast detection, like a regular compact camera, and while that's the same method used by the GH1, DP Review claims it's slightly inferior -- though they did state they were working with a 0.9 firmware.
Sample shots and video emerge from Pentax's K-7 DSLR
As with Panasonic's Lumix DMC-GH1, a few lucky folks who have managed to spend a few moments with Pentax's new 14.6 megapixel K-7 have stopped to host up the results for us to drool over. Early stills are rather impressive, with images being sharp, crisp and generally delightful to stare at. As for video, it's tough to judge the real quality based on a YouTube rendition, but feel free to glean what you can just after the break. So, if you weren't sold already, are you now?Read - Pentax ForumsRead - DPReview
Panasonic's Lumix DMC-GH1 produces sample shots and videos galore
Panasonic's Lumix DMC-GH1 has already shown off its visual prowess a time or two before, but the eagle-eyed photogs over at DPReview have finally hosted up a cornucopia of sample shots and videos for those still unsure if a Micro Four Thirds camera is right for them. And hey, even those cats obviously understand a little tongue-in-cheek humor, wouldn't you say? Tap the read link for the full array of goods.
Details about the new GarageBand Jam Pack: Voices
Yet another minor Apple product announcement that made it under our radar was a new Jam Pack for GarageBand: Voices. No, it isn't samples of Britney Spears, John Mayer and Adam Duritz - it's a collection of over 1,500 new instruments that fall under the categories of Drum and Percussion Instruments, Choral Ensembles, and Soloists. The focus, of course, is on filling up your tool belt with samples of professional instrumental soloists and choirs covering a wide variety of genres and styles.If you want more details on the pack, iCompositions has rummaged through and detailed exactly what you get in this new Jam Pack. Strangely, you get quite a bit more than what Apple advertises - the pack actually contains 1701 loops - and it takes up nearly half the specified hard drive space as well; instead of taking up 3 GB, all those loops only took over a mere 1.7 GB.As with most other Jam Packs, this new Voices pack is available in the Apple Store for the standard Jam Pack price of $99.00.
