New Electronic Instrument, The Zen Flute, Now Available
Instrument designer Keith Baxter let us know that his latest design, the Zen Flute, is now available.
The Zen Flute is described as a “mouth theremin”, that maps the pressure and shape of a performer’s mouth to the pitch output. It provides USB and analog outputs of the on-board procedural flute synthesizer, along with USB MIDI for controlling other MIDI devices or software.
The instrument was First Prize winner in the 2023 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition, an annual invent that celebrates “innovative musical instruments at the intersection of musicality, design, and engineering”.
Features:
- Housing: Solid color PVC with cast acrylic end panels (white or black)
- Processor: Teensy 4.0 ARM Cortex-M7 at 600 MHz
- Open Source software featuring the Faust procedural synthesizer from Grame Research Lab, France.
- Outputs: analog stereo audio (right stereo jack), USB audio (digital stereo); USB MIDI, analog monophonic pitch monitor (left jack)
- Cherry “red” fast action keyboard switches
- Includes USB cable and mini-CD with schematic, source code, instructions and hints
An example of the Zen Flute in action:
The Zen Flute is available for $320.
