Kaleidoloop
Kaleidoloop
Sound Gathering Instrument
The new Kaleidoloop is here, ready for exploring all kinds of music and sound phenomena. Use several devices to build up layers of sound, pass a sound from one to another and play with resonance, invent new musical games, practice speaking in reverse, alter playback speed and explore new harmonies, carry sounds around the room... the list is endless. Best of all the Kaleidoloop stores everything it records, so you have a collection of your sound journey.
Switch it on and it starts playing from the beginning. Press the top button to begin a new recording. Press again to end. A new track is added and the recording begins to play in a loop. Use the volume and speed/direction knobs to manipulate the sound. Additionally there is a button to change the speed control from continuous to stepped (locked into 15 steps along the harmonic series). With the left and right buttons you can skip to all the other recorded tracks.
The included microphone and built in speaker make the perfect pair, with enough clarity and loudness to recreate sounds with alarming realism. You can also remove the microphone and use the 1/4" input and output jacks instead.
With thick wood sides and unique paint jobs designed by the art collective Dearraindrop, the Kaleidoloop is beautiful and built to last. The sound is stored on a removable SD memory card (256 MB card included) and may be copied to a computer. Powered by 4 AA batteries that are accessible on the reverse side. See instructions for more info.
Details
- High Quality Sound Recording: 16 bit / 22050 Hz
- Max Individual Tracks: 32,000
- Record Times: 1.6 hrs on included SD card, over 5 hrs on 1 GB card
- Removable SD card for sound download
- Instructions PDF
Example Sounds
A few guitar notes with the speed control turned counter-clockwise, so playback is fast to slow in forward, then slow to fast in reverse.
In this example the speed control is in step mode and you can hear the melody from the tin whistle being transposed along the harmonic series.
Speed control in continuous mode.
Using more than one box, you can build up layers, and begin to make a 'sound nest'. Here one box records several others, with guitar playing along.
Bouncing a sound between two boxes while messing with speed and direction quickly leads to complex new sounds. Here are some more guitar notes after several iterations.