Maker TPalowski13 built an experimental Bluetooth speaker that squeaks a rubber chicken in time with the bass in music. Audio from salvaged Bluetooth earbuds is analyzed into frequency bands, and low-frequency signals trigger a solenoid to squeeze the toy. A custom 3D-printed holder supports the chicken and actuator. The chicken is not reproducing bass notes; it squeaks along with the beat.
Instead of reproducing the bass, it makes a rubber chicken squeak along with it. The rhythm section has acquired poultry.
Cafe Phin Composer turns drops of Vietnamese coffee into live-generated music. Sensors beneath the glass detect the vibration of each drop and estimate where it landed among seven positions. AI uses the timing and position to choose notes and chords while generating a song in real time. Brewing takes around five to seven minutes, enough for a track to take shape. The coffee selection also influences the musical style, and the changing drop patterns make each performance different.
The coffee spends its brewing time composing its own soundtrack. You might want to listen before taking the first sip.
Robot Karaoke is an event at New York's Wonderville where a custom system replaces the lyrics of a familiar song with completely different text. THE WEIRD ALGORITHM matches the replacement text to the original lyrics by syllable count, and human performers then sing the newly generated words to the familiar melody.
The catalog offers more than 100 songs and over 50 texts. Past combinations have included Yelp reviews of psychics, Craigslist vehicle ads, and negative professor reviews set to familiar songs. The event is hosted by Jamie Brew and Jenn Schiffer.
Instead of using technology to make karaoke easier, the system deliberately turns a song you know into text you have never sung before. The lyric system has joined the sabotage team.
A wrist-worn synthesizer and 16-step sequencer attaches like an old-fashioned slap bracelet. Its transparent enclosure contains an ESP32-S3, display, speaker, and rechargeable battery, while brass contacts along the side can be touched with a stylus to play notes.
Instead of a custom spring mechanism, the wristband uses a curved strip of steel measuring tape wrapped in clear tape. Combined with the transparent PETG enclosure, the result deliberately recreates the translucent gadget aesthetic of the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was built by maker 3DSage.
A portable sequencer makes sense. Choosing to wear it by slapping a piece of measuring tape onto your wrist is where the project becomes much more memorable.
Strange Inventions Lab's Fidget Spinner Synthesizer uses the rotation of a fidget spinner as a musical control. The maker describes it as turning motion into music, with the spinner physically moved as part of the performance.
Five signed units were made as a limited-edition instrument and offered through the maker's product page.
The toy for keeping idle fingers busy has become an instrument where spinning is now an actual responsibility. Fidgeting has acquired performance pressure.
Maker zomb23 built a drum machine around a rotating cylinder covered in LEGO studs. Orange pieces are placed on the grid to program beats, while a smartphone camera watches the cylinder and triggers sounds according to which pieces reach the front.
Spin the cylinder faster and the tempo increases; turn it the other way and the sequence plays in reverse. A software-style step sequencer has been turned into a physical object you can reprogram with LEGO and control by hand.
Remove the tempo knob and suddenly how enthusiastically you spin the cylinder becomes the tempo control. Music sequencing has become unexpectedly athletic.
Instead of reproducing the bass, it makes a rubber chicken squeak along with it. The rhythm section has acquired poultry.