thingstruments

  I've covered the quirky original ANS synthesizer before. This is the synthesizer used by Eduard Artemyev on soundracks for movies such as Solyaris and Stalker . A virtual ANS software synthesizer has been made, and best of all it is totally free!

The Otamatone is something like the monotron, but with less control for the sound, a much longer ribbon controller and a peculiar casing.

Here's a free NES noise generator for you!  Check out also the other NES audio tools by Neil Baldwin .

The Ministar travel guitar by Bob Wiley is like taking only what's essential for the electric guitar to work and making a guitar out of it. However, it seems to work pretty well. Read this great article by Gizmag for more info on Wiley's guitar lineup. Also, a video of the ministar in action:

Meet the Misa Tri-Bass . It's a very cool solid wood synth axe with 3 touch-sensitive "strings" and a big XY pad on the body. The makers aren't new to guitar-like synth controllers: they've previously made the Kitara, a controller made famous by Muse, deadmau5 and others !

You've all seen the laser harp used by Jarre. Now they are available from Goodchild Engineering . Very impressive build! Found on Hack a day .

A real thingstrument.

The Sonic Wind guitar is quite different from the traditional guitar. The creator calls it an open-chamber guitar.

The Seaboard is a very cool new instrument from ROLI . It is a soft version of the classical piano keyboard, with polyphonic pitch bend and vibrato added in to mix things up. Yes, you heard it right, you can pitch bend multiple keys in different directions at the same time!

This punch-card operated drum synth / sequencer is too cool to be true. Be sure not to miss the part where he programs in a new sequence!

Here's more guitars for you! Olaf Diegel has made multiple designs of 3D printed guitars. Click here for the gallery!

Rob O' Reilly based the design on his favourite pair of sunglasses. More photos & info in this article by MusicRadar.

  The ANS synthesizer , imagined in 1938 and built in 1958 by Evgeny Murzin . It is controlled by glass discs that have the arrangement printed on them. It was used most notably on the soundtrack to Andrei Tarkovsky 's film Solyaris . A curious fact is also that this thing is 720-note (or should I say pitch) polyphonic! Also worth checking is this interesting article on the ANS. Update: now a virtual version of the ANS is available for everyone to play with!

Flamethrower guitars. Need I say more?

For your enjoyment, here's some more bad guitar playing with ridiculous guitars.

This guitar sure looks good, but they still have to do some tuning work on it...

Pedro Reyes made a robotic orchestra out of dismantled guns. It's controlled with Ableton Live. There's also brief shots of a bass, a violin, and a flute made of old guns.

SAM , or Sample Analysis at Mars is a mini-lab inside Curiosity rover . When it is used to investigate a soil sample, it gives out some audible tunes. So now the folks at NASA made it sing happy birthday to celebrate the rover's first year on Mars.

Something for the guitarists out there. Check out this collection of cool / ridiculous and above all, strange guitars.