drum

Just a four-armed mohawked robot playing a Ramones cover

OK, stop what you're doing this instant! The pinnacle of robotic and viral video achievement (at least for the rest of today) has just been reached in the form of a four-armed, mohawked robot playing the drums in tribute to the Ramones' legendary song "Blitzkrieg Bop." You've really got to see this one to believe it. Seriously. … Read more

Pix & Stix bring real-world guitar picks and drumsticks to GarageBand

Apple's GarageBand gives wanna-be and real-world musicians alike the instruments they need to make music on an iPad. But when it comes to drums and guitar, there's something lost in translation; your fingertips just don't measure up to the feel of drumsticks and a guitar pick.

Of course, the real deal won't work on an iPad's screen; wood and plastic aren't conductive materials, so their taps and strums will go unrecognized.

Enter Pix & Stix, which give you a rubberized, conductive guitar pick and pair of drumsticks. (Slogan idea: "For those about to … Read more

Yammer acquires OneDrum for Google Docs, Office tools

Yammer is expanding its repertoire of file-sharing and collaboration services for businesses with the acquisition of OneDrum.

The U.K.-based startup brings even more social-minded work tools to the enterprise social network. OneDrum has developed a peer-to-peer desktop application that connects Google Docs with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), enabling users to be able to collaborate, co-edit and share these documents in real time.

Thus, Yammer will be able to boost its own real-time document editor feature, Pages, with desktop sync capabilities, enabling file folders to be shared across multiple users' desktops. Furthermore, new versions and changes to … Read more

Figure lets you make electronic music in three easy steps on iOS: Hands-on

Figure (99 cents) lets you create a song with three tracks -- drums, bass, and synth lead -- through a series of taps on a beautifully designed touch interface. The easiest way to get started familiarizing yourself with Figure is simply by touching record, then holding drum sounds to lay down your first beat.

Once you're satisfied with your beat, touch the red Bass tab at the top to add a bass track. You'll see three circles at the top with Rhythm on the left (number of bass notes per eight bars) and Range in the middle (this adjusts what part of the scale your notes will come from). On the right side of the interface you'll see a circle divided up into pie pieces illustrating the steps of the scale -- the actual notes you are playing. Figure automatically makes sure you're in tune, only using notes from the same key. Once you've filled out the loop, let go and listen to your drum and bass lines.… Read more

Drum Machine Shirt is a chest-thumper

Music may live in your heart, but it also lives right on top of it when you wear the ThinkGeek Electronic Drum Machine Shirt. Pair it with the drum kit jeans, and you'll become a walking rhythm section.

The wearable, fully playable $29.99 shirt crams a whole lot of drum machine into a very portable format. There are nine different drum kits, including "bass invaderz" and "zapf dingbeats." The rhythm is, indeed, going to get you.

The machine is triggered by a set of pads right on top of your chest. You can record loops up to three minutes long and then layer them for a fuller sound.

It comes with a mini-amp that clips to your clothes and hooks up to the drum machine's audio output jack. And, yes, the amp goes to 11.… Read more

TableDrum app turns household items into drums

You can spot wannabe drummers from far away. They're tapping on their steering wheels, whipping up chopstick rhythms at the sushi bar, and knocking knuckles on metal railings.

You can make your drum solo dreams come true with the TableDrum app for iPhone and iPad. Channel your inner John Bonham by mapping everyday items to the app's virtual drum set.

For example, you can tap a pencil against your table and map it to the sound of a snare drum. Thump a mixing bowl and map it to the bass drum. Pick out a couple of different cymbals and sync them up to a finger tap and a coffee mug.

The key is to pick objects that have very different sound profiles. That helps the app avoid confusion with triggering the right sound.… Read more

Musical pants

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Spotify may cut back on its free music model

Google Music may compete with Amazon's Cloud Drive

Capcom will release Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition

AT&T launches the LG Thrive, its first prepaid Android phone

The white iPhone 4 may go on sale by the end of the month

Microsoft enters the local deals business in Sweden

A high school student in England modifies a pair of jeans so that they can double as a drum set

Drum kit jeans are a real knee-slapper

Is that a drum kit in his pants, or is he just a really smart teen engineer?

Both, it turns out.

Aseem Mishra, a high school student from Hull, England, designed a pair of jeans that let wearers tap out a tune on their thighs by drumming on sensors sewn into the fabric. For his invention, he nabbed first prize in the senior division at the national Young Engineer of Great Britain competition and also got to stuff 1,000 pounds (about $1,600 dollars) into the pockets of his prize-winning pants.

"I have a band and we gig. Every time we go to a place we have to take the drum kit in the car first and then come back with everybody else, so it's a bit of a hassle," Mishra told the BBC. "I think at the time I might have been tapping on my legs, and I thought, I know, why don't I see if I can put a drum kit in my trousers?"

The eight paper-thin sensors make for a fully functional mobile drum kit with snares, cymbals, and the rest--as well as a surprisingly realistic sound. (Watch a video of Mishra and his legs making music here.) Currently, the prototype jeans have to be plugged into speakers carried in a backpack, but Mishra says he's working on a wireless version for ultimate portability.

The pants themselves look as ordinary as any jeans in an Old Navy catalog. Mishra, who has been playing drums for eight years, owns the sole pair of drum kit jeans, but says he would like to find a manufacturer and distribute them more widely. And all those drum solos haven't hurt his legs in any way, he insists.

The enterprising teen now goes on to represent the U.K. at a science and engineering fair in Los Angeles in May. To really impress the judges, might we suggest he pair his pants with a sound-activated equalizer shirt or air guitar Tee?… Read more

Vintage Roland drum machines on your iPhone

Electronic music fans and gearheads take note: you can now get ReBirth, a software emulator that duplicates the sounds and controls of Roland TR-808 and 909 drum machines and TB-303 bass synth, on your iPhone for only $6.99.

Back in the early 1980s, the Roland TR-808 was the king of drum machines. The old warhorses, beloved for their booming kick-drum sound, are still around, and have been resurrected in software emulators and name-checked by countless hip-hop artists-- Kanye West even named his 2008 album "808s and Heartbreak" after it.

In 1997, Propellerhead Software released a program, ReBirth, … Read more