The Nervous Squirrel's Furby Gurdy (version 2) isn't the first music maker we've seen that's better understood when viewed during an out-of-body experience, but it's certainly one of the strangest. The circuit bent Furby sequencer, which is linked to a Korg SQ-10 in the demonstration vid after the break, combines centuries-old musical methods with some of the strangest characters to ever grace planet Earth. We could talk for hours on end and still not do this thing justice, so just click through and mash play to see what we're referring to. We're warning you, though -- we haven't seen anything this weird since Smash Mouth's lead singer showed up at an Intel press event.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

Ah, concepts. They make us laugh, they make us weep. And in this instance, they make us proud of the human imagination. Designer Yoonsang Kim has provided an oh-so-subtle tweak to the common earbud, leaving each earpiece in the shape of a question mark. Besides looking fairly attractive in-ear, they can also loop together to make carrying them much simpler. For the clean freaks, the design also keeps bacterial growth to a minimum by removing those dark, damp corners so prevalent in traditional 'buds. Seriously, how can these not see mass commercialization?

Samba de Amigo is barreling towards the Wii, and we all understand that it'll be a lot less exciting without the Wii Maracas. Thanks to Amazon's quick trigger finger, we now know that Sega's Wiimote accessories will go for $14.99 per pair, and if all goes to plan, they'll be shipping out on September 23rd. Of course, we'd suggest you pocket that and just craft your own wildly colored (and slightly gourd-shaped) Wiimote covers, but we understand not everyone was blessed with those DIY genes.

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

You know how it goes with Sony -- proprietary just seems to rule the roost. Thankfully, the outfit is at least recognizing a trend in the market by trotting out an iPod-friendly version of its S-AIR wireless audio technology. The new S-AIRPLAY system (formally known as AIR-SA20PK) comes with one iPod docking station and a pair of S-AIR wireless speakers, though there is an AM / FM tuner built in should your stored jams get stale. Sony suggests that music can be beamed some 164-feet away from the dock sans cabling, and so long as your S-AIR speaker is plugged into a power outlet (and within the aforementioned range), it'll pick up the signal and start talkin'. Look for the kit to land next month for around $400, while additional S-AIR wireless speakers will set you back $130 apiece. Full release after the break.

Man, we didn't even know the Muteki moniker was still in existence. Nevertheless, Sony has just added a big, bad member to said congregation with the LBT-DJ2i XROSS FADE. This rather beastly music system packs 450 total watts of power, a CD player, AM / FM tuners, a line-in jack, a pair of 2-way shelf speakers, a dual 7-inch subwoofer enclosure and the ability to convert CDs / radio to MP3 files. And that's just the beginning. Aspiring DJs will also find a bundled cross-fader with monitor cue and a built-in two-channel mixer, and the iPod-lovin' interface ensures that you'll never have to touch your PMPs once they're mounted. There's also a USB recording function to save mix sessions to a USB device in ATRAC MP3 format. Too bad this setup will cost you half a grand when it ships next month. Check the full release after the cut.

What can we say? Intempo has launched a new pair of iPod-compatible speaker systems, and unless you're somehow just entering the market for one in the latter half of 2008, chances are you're already yawning. Nevertheless, the RDi-W (pictured) does distinguish itself somewhat by including support for DAB and wireless internet radio, and there's a 30-watt internal amplifier to kick out the jams. The much drabber Fusion keeps things small and simple by offering up just 25-watts of power and DAB / FM tuners. Expect the couple to sashay into e-tailers next month for £169.99 ($316) / £99 ($184).

Read - RDi-W
Read - Fusion

With all the incompatibility out there among Guitar Hero / Rock Band instruments, it's a real treat to see something like this. The Director of Publisher Relations at SCEA has posted an update that promises compatibility between instruments and software for upcoming titles; for instance, Guitar Hero: World Tour's guitars and drums will work with Rock Band 2 and Konami's Rock Revolution software, and Rock Band 2's guitar and drum set will work with Guitar Hero: World Tour and with Rock Revolution. Furthermore, the team is still "working hard to ensure compatibility between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles currently on the market," though we are told that an announcement on that could surface "shortly." Rock 'n roll harmony, baby.

[Image courtesy of BeSportier]

For those of you (we know, pretty much everyone in existence) who already picked up a set of Pink Pig PC speakers a few years back, you can carry on with your daily routine. For everyone else that owns an iPod, hold it right there. Speakal is delivering the iPod docking iPig, a unique speaker system that packs five total drivers (including a 4-inch subwoofer), adjustable bass controls, 360-degree sound distribution and a very debatable design. You'll also find a 3.5-millimeter auxiliary jack for hooking up every other source, and the bundled remote makes it easy to switch tracks and such from your sofa. The only problem? That $139.99 price tag. Check the full release after the jump.

Samsung already loosed a 3-channel Bluetooth speaker earlier this year, but apparently, one just isn't enough. The company has now introduced its YA-SBR510 over in South Korea, which streams audio from BT-enabled players and includes a 3.5-millimeter auxiliary jack for hooking up just about everything else. A tad pricey at €150 ($222), but it's a total bargain should it come bundled with that oh-so-furry rug. Sammy, care to comment?

Look out, Yamaha / Polk / Vizio / et al., you've got another rival heating up the surround bar game. Destined to hit CEDIA 2008, soundmatters' SLIMstage40 checks in at a luscious 3.3- x 3.4- x 39-inches in size and features 170-watts from eight internal amplifiers. The device houses four Linear Magnetic Drive main / satellite speakers and a trio of down-firing Extreme-Energy subs that are assisted by six mass radiators. Furthermore, you'll find three digital audio inputs (two optical, one coaxial), three analog inputs, a headphone jack, LED-backlit panel, an RS-232 port and an IR remote. Folks interesting in dabbling in faux-surround can snag one now for $899 to $1,199, depending on whether you spring for the bundle including the SUBstage100 subwoofer.

For you axe-slingers who blame your inability to write a new song on the inability to afford a simple, portable recorder, your excuse is officially lame. TASCAM's ingenious GT-R1 affords musicians the ability to simply plug their guitar and / or bass directly in and record using the built-in amp simulator and effects. Better still, the stereo condenser microphones up top allow users to record ambient noise, vocals, off the cuff jam sessions or anything else for that matter. The unit captures in MP3 or WAV format (16- or 24-bit), includes an SD card slot (1GB bundled in) and a USB 2.0 port for offloading files and charging the battery. Newbies can even queue up an MP3 and jam along, and the integrated metronome / chromatic tuner are just icing on an already über-sweet cake. Word on the street has a price of around €200 ($308), which actually sounds like quite the bargain from here.

[Via Engadget Deutschland]

Be warned: what you're about to see, hear and experience should you venture down beyond the break is exceptionally odd. Like, bordering on creepy. It's not so much the machine that's eerie -- after all, it's just a home built image scanning sequencer that uses LDRs to measure grey-scales and trigger MIDI notes from a selected threshold -- it's the audio we're concerned about. We're talking funeral tunes at their finest, which is honestly a bit heavy at this point in the morning. Those who can take it know where to head.

[Via MAKE]

If you didn't think every single third-party peripheral provider would try to snag a piece of the band game pie, we guess you thought wrong, huh? With outfits like Mad Catz and Ion already jumping in, it was only a matter of time before Logitech threw on its tightest jeans, blacked out its blond hair and threw up some horns. Details are admittedly scarce, but the company has promised to provide "premium instruments" for Guitar Hero: World Tour on PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii. Rockers can expect the new gear to start shipping "later this year," though prices, designs and pretty much anything else of importance remains a mystery.

[Via NintendoWiiFanboy]

It has been a solid tick since we've seen a good FairPlay hack, so it's with great pleasure that we pass along El Tunes for Ubuntu 8.04 users everywhere. Tested to work on Hardy Heron using RhythmBox (but assumed to work on any modern Linux Distro with GStreamer and a media player that utilizes GStreamer), said plug-in enables open-source aficionados to play songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store. As for limitations, the current version has no Pause / Seek support and cannot de-authorize a machine for playback, but a future version should hopefully cure those two quirks and add support for purchased video content and audio streaming to an AirTunes device. Give it a shot and let us know how it treats ya.

From all the coffee shop musicians here at Engadget, we'd like to sincerely thank Belkin for producing this marvelous device. For the rest of us who run around on stage like madmen, we have our doubts about how well this will work. Nevertheless, the BreakFree Connectors were designed to add a magnetic breakaway point in your 1/4-inch cable, meaning that things will simply snap away if too much pressure is applied. Sure, this could save you a mint in shredded cable costs, but we'd venture to say that only the calmer performers in attendance will really find it useful. Snatch (gently, of course) the BreakFree this September for $19.99 and grab a few extra tips for $9.99 per pair.

[Via Coolest-Gadgets]