Music

Multi-necked guitars are nothing new of course, examples include Luca Stricagnoli's Reversed Slide Neck, Rick Nielsen's five-neck Hamer, and the beautifully bizarre Manzer Pikasso. The Hydra follows a similar path, but does so with monstrous style.

Musicians can get their instruments to sing by using sampled vocals or a vocoder, or they can mouth words in a tube running to an effects pedal. Now Casio has developed a keyboard that can voice words and phrases tapped into a mobile app.

Three years ago, creator Burls Art released a video documenting the building of his first guitar, which rocked a body made from 1,200 colored pencils. Now the artist has partnered with 4ocean to make a double-cut from recycled marine plastic.

Samsung's innovation hub demonstrated a nifty learning and jamming system at CES 2022 called the ZamStar. The app-based setup allows for remote collaborations, while a smart guitar with LEDs embedded in the neck caters for quick-study learning.

Though perhaps mostly known for its high-end digital audio players like the mighty A&ultima SP2000T, Astell&Kern also has ear candy, speakers and amps in its product lineup. Now the company has combined a desktop headphone amp with a music player for a blocky all-in-one system known as the Acro CA1000.

If you can get past the strange looks, the Lava Me 3 has a carbon fiber sound all its own, and some wicked new digital smarts. A touchscreen interface gives you access to stackable effects, loopers, tuners, high-quality portable recording and more.

Startup Modal Effects has spent the last five years developing a 100-percent analog guitar stomp that allows players to tweak tone on the fly using interchangeable FX modules. Up to three modules can be used at the same time, in any stack order.

Musicians can use computer-based music production platforms to record, mix and produce songs, but some prefer the more tactile experience afforded by dedicated hardware. That's what the R20 from Japan's Zoom Corporation provides.

This intricate, lightweight "Greenaxe" electric guitar by Olaf Diegel shows off a new 3D printing technique that turns waste products like sawdust into high-strength, production-grade wood parts that cost virtually nothing in materials.

For his latest delightfully retro project, Swedish designer Love Hultén has collaborated with digital artist Lirona for an interactive synthesizer called the synth#boi that's limited to just 10 units, and is being offered for sale as a physical NFT.

Better audio is one of the best improvements you can make to your video setup, be it for streaming, podcasting or just video meetings. The MDrill one is a versatile US$80 condenser microphone that can instantly bump up your sound quality.

Toward the beginning of 2019, Fender introduced a new take on the electro-acoustic guitar called the Acoustasonic Telecaster. Now for the fourth model in the series, the company has introduced a more refined, versatile and accessible version.