MAKE & DO
If you love modding; if you’re into Arduino; if your favourite board game is Mouse Trap, then we have the ‘thing-o’ for you. Oplab, produced by those crazy Swedes, Teenage Engineering, is a hub and nerve centre for making a racket. Oplab is based on a ‘musical experimental board’ that allows you to interconnect virtually any electronic musical instrument. There’s MIDI, CV, USB, LED I/O, switches etc. There are three sensors available, Tap TS-2 (a piezo mic for triggering sounds), Flip TS-3 accelerometer (control by shaking, throwing and impact), and Poke TS-4 (a pressure sensor — the harder the press the higher the value). What about TS-1? Well that’s a sand shoe… actually it’s called the Team Sneaker (US$127). Teenage Engineering teamed up with Spalwart Industries to create its own sneaker with rubber side pocket for electronics. (Apparently, Spalwart made the only sneaker available behind the iron curtain and is still made in Slovakia.) Use the sneaker (or at least the accelerometer in the shoe) as a kick drum pedal, for example. Yes, it’s all nuts, but that’s the point. Price from US$254.
Teenage Engineering: www.teenageengineering.com
RESPONSES