Just a quickie today, your blogmistress is heading down to Florida for my niece’s graduation from med school. I’m bursting with pride, and I’m telling everyone who cares to listen- and even some who don’t!

As you know if you’ve read this blog, we at BIM love unusual musical instruments with built-in eye candy best of all. And no instrument embodies those two things better than the laser harp. The laser harp is a musical instrument with a built-in laser light show! Check it out:

Looks like fun, doesn’t it? Another instrument to add to the WANT list! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Since we began this blog in 2009 and had an interest in unusual musical instruments since long before that, it never ceases to amaze me when I discover a really weird musical instrument that I’ve never heard of before. That’s the case with the Zeusaphone- I found it by Googling “unusual musical instrument.” It’s a musical Tesla coil- you know, those cool plasma-producing devices you’ve seen in old monster movies from the 30s. Although the science of how it produces tones is WAY over my head, explanations can be found here and here. It’s connected to a keyboard via MIDI, and is made so that the keyboard is shielded from the high voltage. But never mind all that, check this thing out!

Wow! A musical instrument with a built in light show? How cool is that? The designers of the Zeusaphone started a band called “Masters of Lightning” and perform at sci-fi conventions and such. Here they are performing the Imperial March from Star Wars:

The Zeusaphone can be purchased on the designer’s website, starting at $1599. Hint hint, I have a birthday in December!

It’s especially interesting that I should run across an instrument made from a Tesla coil this week, hot on the heels of The Oatmeal‘s excellent Tesla comic. If you haven’t seen it yet, do it! Do it now! You’ll learn a lot, and laugh your head off too!

Ed: Rats! It looks like I have two black boxes where my supercool videos should be! If it looks the same for you, here’s a link to the first one:http://youtu.be/4fzRN-fLtoU and the second one: http://youtu.be/N_YSF7mRSs0

Thanks to Synthtopia for sharing this really cool project made by textile designer Lara Grant. She’s made a soft synth- no, not a softWARE synth, although technically you could call it that, since it’s made of wares which are soft. Felt, to be precise. There are also conductive & resistive fabrics in the mix, and snaps with wires soldered to them which connect to the circuitry. Have a look:

As evidenced by Lara’s creations, materials for making a synth are only limited by your imagination! Lara and her sister Sarah will be teaching a class on Soft Circuitry and Synthesizers at New Interfaces for Musical Expression in Ann Arbor, MI on Sunday May 20th. You can find the details on Lara’s website, here. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo proudly presents: Shanthi the harmonica-playing elephant! No, I’m not kidding, she even composes her own songs, and always gives her audience a big finish. Watch:

I’d invite her to a jam, but she wouldn’t fit through the front door, much less in our low-ceilinged living room. Maybe we should bring the jam to her! Road trip, anyone?