Tag Archives: drums

Yamaha’s Full Body Drum Kit

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You probably know the name Yamaha. Among its many products, the company is known for producing motorcycles and musical instruments. It’s an odd combination that works well, but occasionally they like to experiment and one such experiment is called AH A MAY. That’s Yamaha spelled backwards.

For the project, the company switched up its motorcycle and musical instrument design teams, so that the musical instrument designers had to come up with motorcycle designs and the motorcycle engineers had to design new musical instruments.

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One of the musical instruments that came out of this idea is the Raijin, which means “God of Thunder.” This drum kit surrounds the drummer’s body, so he or she can use their whole body to make music. It’s a truly unique drum kit, that requires the drummer to play drums 360º around their body.

I guess this is one way to become one with your instrument.

[via Core77 via Neatorama]

Cliphit From Korg Turns Any Surface Into A Drum Kit

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Korg_Cliphit_Drum_Kit

If you can’t take your drums with you ehwever you go, Korg now gives you the ability to turn just about any surface into a drunk kit. With the Cliphit, you attach up to three sensor clips onto surfaces like tables, cardboard boxes, notebooks, empty buckets, and just start playing. The attached control box will interpret the vibrations and start belting out sampled sounds, which you can control through a foot pedal. A 3-inch speaker with 2W output and a bass-reflex design ensures that your playing is amplified, at least enough for passersby to hear you and maybe toss a couple of dollars your way. Or maybe just for you to hear, since usage of the Korg Cliphit isn’t limited to street performing.

There’s no price or availability information at the moment.

[ Product Page ]

The post Cliphit From Korg Turns Any Surface Into A Drum Kit appeared first on OhGizmo!.

Mr. Knocky: I Don’t Wanna Work, I Just Wanna Bang on the Drum All Day

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Japan is home to all sorts of brilliant things. Chock up another one courtesy of Mr. Knocky. This silly invention is a remote-controlled drummer, and looks like a ton of fun – for at least an afternoon.

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I have no idea why there’s a “Parental Advisory” logo above, unless you start to swear because he’s only available in Japan so far. The way Mr. Knocky works is by shaking or pressing his remote triggers to make his left or right appendage hit tiny percussive instruments. You can also use him with other drumming surfaces like Pringles cans. Just watch the videos below to see what you’re missing without a Mr. Knocky on your desktop:

Awesome, no? What are you waiting for? Just hop in a plane and head to Japan so you can get a Mr. Knocky now! Or maybe you’ll be lucky and somebody will start importing these things. For now, check out Rakuten for more on Mr. Knocky. As the ad says: “Let’s Knock and Roll!”

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Super Mario Bros. Drum Kit: Our Drumsticks are in Another Castle

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This custom Super Mario Bros. Drum Kit looks pretty awesome. It’s the kind of thing they would play at the Koopa Cabana. If such a place existed. Anyway, your Mario themed band has found it’s first set of equipment.

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It was made for the drummer from One Fell Swoop by SJC Custom Drums, who makes all kinds of cool custom drum sets. I say beat on Bowser, not drums, but if you are a Nintendo fanboy with rhythm, you’ll want to get your drumsticks on this awesome themed drum kit.

This is sooo much better than Donkey Konga. Of course, I’m no Keith Moon. More like a Keith Loon. I’m one Goomba shy of a gaggle, but I know a cool drum set when I see one.

[Facebook via it8bit]

Guy Drums with Fire

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Youtuber COOP3RDRUMM3R is seen here covering Ellie Goulding’s Burn. Naturally, he’s playing it with flaming drumsticks, which is the only way to play a song called Burn. Kids, don’t try this at home. This is a professional, or at least a mildly crazy person.

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This guy is on fire. No, not really. I just mean he is flaming. Well, what I mean is, he is drumming with fire. He’s gonna need some new drumsticks after this performance. Check out the video to see the whole thing, or jump straight to 3:15 to see the pyrotechnics.

I vote that from now on, this is the only way to drum. Is everyone cool with that? Great job COOP3RDRUMM3R. Enjoy those hands while you still have them.

[via Geekologie]

Custom Super Mario Drum Set is Awesome

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Super Mario Drum Set

This Super Mario Brothers-themed drum set was made by Josh Fry and it’s all kinds of awesome. It features everyone’s favorite characters from the Mario franchise, including Mario himself, Luigi, the Princess, and even the Toad. I also see the Fire Flower power up and several question mark blocks that are just ripe for the hitting.

VIA [ Geekologie ]

DrumPants Are Exactly What They Seem To Be

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You’re looking at a set of flexible, velcro-attached strips with three touch sensitive zones. Each one of these zones can be assigned one of 100+ sounds so that you end up with a 6-instrument percussion set right on your thighs (or any other body part you feel like using). The strips are connected to a control box, which in turn connects either to an external speaker with wires, or (with the upgraded version of the kit) through Bluetooth 4.0 to your smartphone for added functionality. DrumPants are slim and unobtrusive and will allow you to jam pretty much anywhere, without having to lug real instruments around. Anyone that’s ever tapped a rhythm out on a steering wheel, or a table or any other surface will likely have thought about how cool it would be if those taps made “real” sounds. Well, yeah… now you can. $99 will buy you the basic kit, and $129 the upgraded kit with Bluetooth. It’s on Kickstarter so don’t expect immediate delivery, but the project is fully funded.

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[ Project Page ] VIA [ TheAwesomer ]

DrumPants Wearable Drum Pads: Your Body is a Drummer’s Land

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We’ve seen a way to play drums using normal objects and even a steering wheel. DrumPants takes on the final frontier: you. Despite its misleading name, DrumPants are not actually pants or even restricted to pants. They’re wearable drum pads that attach to clothing and other objects using velcro.

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Each kit comes with two drum pad strips, two pedal strips i.e. foot sensors and a control box, which seems small enough to fit in your back pocket. The foot sensors are wired to the two strips, which are in turn wired to the control box. The box has more than a hundred built-in sounds, including other instruments such as synthesizers, guitars and pianos.

Pledge at least $99 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a DrumPants kit as a reward. As hinted at in the video above, DrumPants can be connected to other music apps. It can even be used to emulate keyboard strokes, meaning you can use them to control even non-music software. If you’re interested in these additional functions, make sure to get the kit that comes with a Bluetooth adapter so you can interact with your computer wirelessly. Check out DrumPants’ YouTube page for more demos of the kit.

Leap Sensor Virtual Drum Machine: AirBeats

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Earlier this year we saw AirHarp, a virtual harp that uses the Leap gesture controller, letting the user make music by playing an imaginary harp. The developer behind the AirHarp recently introduced a similar program but for a more popular instrument. The AirBeats will actually make air drummers productive. Or at least expose them for the frauds they are.

airbeats virtual drum machine for leap by handwavy

The AirBeats is very intuitive to use. The instruments you’ve chosen are displayed on the screen. All you have to do is tap in midair as if those instruments were arranged in front of you. You can also record and replace instruments just by pointing and swiping in midair. It is incredibly responsive, whether you use your hands or a pair of drumsticks or even pencils.

Developer Handwavy said AirBeats will be available on Airspace – that’s Leap’s app store – on July 22, 2013. I love how it’s a more physical way of making digital music. Maybe artists can even use it live so their audience can “play” along with them.

[via UniqueDaily]

‘Drop The Beat’ is a Vest With a Built-In Electronic Drum Kit

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Drum Kit Vest

This isn’t the first time someone decided to create a wearable drum set, but this is the first time they actually did it right. Those so-called ‘drum’ shirts are usually novelty items that crank out drum-like sound effects that you usually hear from kids’ toys. Industrial design student Wesley Chau noticed this and set out to create a true musical piece of clothing in the form of ‘Drop the Beat.’

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‘Drop the Beat’ is essentially a vest with movable drum kit pads that the wearer can re-arrange and re-program based on their musical preferences. Chau was inspired by the film Home of the Brave, which features a 1986 concert where experimental musician Laurie Anderson performs a dance that triggers a particular note with every movement.

Chau’s drum kit consists of four neoprene drum pads, each of which has a piezo sensor embedded into it to detect any changes in pressure. The sensors are connected to an Arduino controller that converts each ‘hit’ into a MIDI signal. The signal is then sent to be interpreted on a laptop that’s running Garageband. In short, when the wearer taps, hits, or even just pushes the pads, a sound will be produced.

Check out the clip above to see the vest in action.

VIA [ Gizmag ]