A collaboration between Chicago’s Open Music Labs and MIT’s Jie Qi has garnered a re-release of the Mixtape Alpha, a synth that fits in a cassette case.
Anyone remember the Stylophone? It was a mini analog synth controlled with a wired stylus and championed by Australian artist and former Animal Hospital dude Rolf Harris in the UK. Well, that concept has been altered and remodelled into a synth the size of a cassette tape. The difference with this is you can touch it without the need of a stylus. The size and portability make the Mixtape Alpha quite a handy and quirky piece of equipment. It has four voices, five-note polyphony, the ability to record and playback loops but only packs in four effects so don’t expect an all-encompassing synth here. And the price? Only $42, which in the current music tech market is pretty cheap.
Head over to their Crowd Supply page to keep funding the project if you want one and stream the demo below.
(via CreateDigitalMusic)