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Music

A Sculptural Take On the Drum Machine Using Discs And Magnets

Axel Bluhme's 'XOXX Composer' is a drum machine for pros, amateurs, and novices that merges kinetics and magnets.

Eight rolling discs control the XOXX Composer, a drum machine designed to be accessible to anyone, producer or not. Created by Axel Bluhme, the machine allows you to sample music or your environment, and then activate the sounds using magnets to control the discs.

There are eight of these which can allow of eight different sounds to be played around with and mixed. "The physical interface is made up from eight rotating discs allowing the user to layer up to eight different sounds," Bluhme explains how it works on the Vimeo page. "Each set of eight discs is colour coded and each individual disc in the set has its own pattern so as to allow the user to create their own mental system and means of organising their sounds. Every disc is quantised into four bars, which is indicated by the coloured lines on their faces, and each bar is divided into four steps. That means every disc has sixteen steps which allows the user to explore a variety of different music styles and degrees of complexity."

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With its rotating motion and its chunky design, the gadget looks like a cross between a kinetic sculpture and a toy, but when you watch Bluhme sample everything from a smashed beer can to a ball bouncing, and even some celery being munched, the gears in your brain will be the things XOXX Composer begins spinning fastest.

Check out more in the video and head to Bluhme's website or his Behance for more of his design work.

Via Create Digital Music

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