Bless K-mart and their $2.50 contact sheets of faux woodgrain. They can turn your average, ordinary plastic M-Audio USB MIDI keyboard into a retro-styled custom job that just screams, erm, class. Melbourne-and-London-based CDM forum reader soloandata did just that. (Talk about bi-coastal — they have K-marts there?) Kudos: it takes a steady hand to line up those contact sheets. The woodgrain looks great on the curved design of the new Axiom keyboards — tres 70s.

Just finished Pimping my axiom-25. check that woodgrain! [Create Digital Noise]
solo andata [Artist Page]
solo andata [@Myspace]

Thanks, Kane. Now the gauntlet has been thrown: who has the pimped keyboard / audio gear that can top this? (And if you don’t have it already, by all means head to the local K-mart. Kane wonders if faux marble might be the logical next step. I’m rooting for something pink and furry.) I know some M-Audio folks read this site, so feel free to play (or introduce faceplates at NAMM).

Russian DJ Artyom has built his own DJ audio hardware out of wood and electronics, complete with dual cassette playback boxes. The cassettes feature pitch control (fine and coarse), pitch bands, a motor off switch, and more, and he’s custom-built mixers, cross-faders, and EQ.

Then, he hooks these boxes up to his PC and relaxes — wait, no he doesn’t. His PC is packed with custom DJ patches built in Max/MSP.

Full hardware and software details at Artyom’s site, including downloadable Max patches, in English (see also Russian content — I’m sure someone out there speaks Russian):

Self-made DJ equipment
Max/MSP DJ Stuff

Via the rich electronic music blog, Filter27: How to DJ with an old cassette tapes

See also: KDE-Head photo on flickr with specs

Updated: Doh! Tom at Music thing beat me to this in 2005. Slight CDM lag there. ;) Nonetheless, maybe somebody will have a look at those Max patches and get some new ideas.

Man, these lazy newbie DJs, embracing a new-fangled playback medium like cassettes and Max/MSP patches. They’re nowhere near as authentic as the oldskool DJs playing … erm … CDs … at weddings. ;)

Another gorgeous shot of his brilliant hardware-building work after the jump (so you don’t have to wait through glacial load times):

Charles Altmann has raised the bar: don’t talk oldskool and turntables unless you’re prepared to build your own turntable out of raw parts and wood.

Altmaan DIY Turntable

By using simple pieces of plywood and raiding his mother’s sewing box, Altmann says he kept his total parts cost under US$50. He even sources intake valves and valve-guides for the bearing from Harley-Davison. (Yes, the motorcycle manufacturer.) He has separate plans for building a DIY tonearm from more wood and a knitting needle. (Don’t worry — the knitting needle is part of the mechanism, not digging giant grooves into your records.)

Via the excellent Spanish-language media blog mediateletipos.

Sounds like this is begging to be made into a media installation. Previously:

David Ellis’ Turntable Trunks and Other Digital Deck Art

I’m back from a week at the Anderson Arts Ranch doing interactive Flash work, so I figured I’d get into the CDM posting groove gradually — a little analog before getting back to digital.

Tim’s back with another tip. Baltimore bender Peter Blasser has created oddities like the much-blogged worm-powered synth (using worms as connections for a circuit-bend patch bay; via Music thing) and bent wooden synth kits (also via MT).

But that’s not all. Blasser, aka Ciato-Lonbarseee, has plenty of other strange creations:

Many odd synths, many odd names: Blasser catalog

I love the eerie sounds of the percussive analog jacket. There’s another whole page of wooden and electronic oddities, like the “bass in a picnic basket.”

Some things can be explained. Some cannot, like these pages of instruments. Go explore and enjoy.

Designer Reynold Rodriguez writes CDM with details of his 00, a luxury turntable stand that’s “really about people who dig vinyl, own hundred of records and have their turntables setup on top of cinder blocks.” More after the jump.

Building your own cabinet for a home-built theremin or other music device? Some woodworking may be in order. Scott Sims contributes a great wooden knob tutorial for the all-audio DIY site AudioTweaks. (via thereminworld) The bad news (for some of you) is, you’ll probably want a drill press.

Check out this gorgeous tube project Scott worked on: there’s nothing like wood and tubes.

Straight from the files of "Looks-like-an-April-Fool's-but-it's-real":

From owlProject: The Log1k and iLog are instruments built from logs. (via near near future) The Log1k
is a log with a gearbox motor that spins wooden disks to produce
rhythmic noises, complete with "touch-sensitive switches" — wait, as
opposed to non touch-sensitive switches? Don't forget the flat panel
display. (It's a blank opaque flat panel that lights up, in other
words. But it is flat.) The iLog
is a new portable version with the same wooden toggle switches. The
iLog records samples, but much of the sounds have to do with "the bare
sound of electricity." And how does it sound? Completely terrible. But you know, in a good way, if you're into woodland noise art. (Is that a baby crying in the second video? Nothing like log instruments for terrorizing children.)

And, as if that weren't strange enough, the same team of Simon Blackmore and Antony Hall has created an instrument out of a lathe (scroll down to see it), with sensors to pick up the sounds of woodworking. Quoth Hall and Blackmore: "From a practical point of view, the lathe can easily produce truly round objects." Something that cannot be said of the latest USB keyboards from Edirol.

We've been saying for ages Apple needs to develop a music player for DJs. Jason O'Grady has been saying it for two years. Well, Apple, HP is likely to beat you to the punch:

The owners of the Playlist club
in London (which features a night for iPod DJs just like APT here in
NYC) alerted CDM to an exclusive interview with the team at HP
developing the DJammer handheld DJ device. Here's why it's going to
replace the iPod in clubs:

• Mic input
• Hold/scratch tracks, via sophisticated motion sensors
• More than a DJ device: sounds like a motion-sensitive portable
  sampler; HP says it will be "the new electric guitar" — we'll see, but
  it does look like a real instrument
• Streaming to other devices for collaboration
• HP team wants an open interface

This sounds huge — if the device makes it to market. Let's hope the honchos at HP see the value of this research.

Read Playlist's full interview with HP.
HP DJammer research page

Legendary synthesis innovator Moog Music has launched a rack-mounted version
of their Voyager synthesizer. There's no touch-pad or (naturally)
keyboard, but the RME does feature all the sounds of the Voyager in a
trim, 19" package. Perfect for augmenting your current rig or adding
polyphony to your existing Voyager keyboard. (And if you do own a
Voyager keyboard and are adding a few of these for polyphony, know that
I officially hate you. In a loving, jealous sort of way, of course.)

Optional wood handles, standard 'electric blue' backlit screen.

Drool.

Price: US$2195 (Just sell the car. You don't need it.)

It's difficult providing snappy commentary on the latest bizarre audio hardware people have created. Witness the Jesusonic CrusFX
(har, har) 1000. It's a custom-programmed computer effects system,
controllable by footswitches, in a homemade wooden case that's shaped
like a crucifix. In the words of its creators, it answers the question
"What effects processor would Jesus use?" In my words . . . I'm . . .
I'm speechless, frankly.

There's an OS X/Linux/Windows demo (no GUI yet) if you don't have room
in your studio for its rather peculiar dimensions, and some
promising-looking patches. They're promising a non-cross-shaped
alternate version in future. (I'm guessing if you want a Buddha, their
plywood skills probably mean you're on your own.)

Okay, one prediction: with this many hobbyists rolling their own hybrid
computer/custom audio hardware, more mainstream manufacturers can't be
far behind. (Or this is a sign of the apocalypse, not sure which. Stay tuned for further signs at EM411.)