Right in the manual, KORG suggests that you might turn their magnetic modular system, the littleBits Synth Kit, into a keytar. But this is a sort of “attach all the modules to a bit of wood” affair.
Meanwhile, in Japan…
Pantograph is an art/design agency and animation house (site link – Japanese only). And when they got their hands on the Synth Kit, they did it up properly. Think beautiful, multi-colored cases, proper playable ergonomics – and a blinking light-up KORG logo. The results are enchanting:
If you want one of your own and you’re passing through Tokyo (superfans, buy that plane ticket now), you can make one apparently at the Tokyo Toy Fair. See the news item from KORG Japan:
And this illustration explains everything. I think. I definitely want the optional Crazy Monster attachment on mine.
I’ve seen various DIY projects bringing the littleBits together, mostly to do with putting a bunch of them in a suitcase, but this is stunning. You can find more gems like this on the official KORG Twitter feed in Japanese, which has enough pretty pictures to entertain us foreigners. It seems to be an alternative universe where people all play keytars and KORG titles for Nintendo DS.
The Detune team, for instance, has been churning out videos on the upcoming DSN-12 synth for Nintendo DS. (Again, reasonably easy to follow without speaking Japanese, though it’d be great, Detune, if you wanted to make an English-language video for CDM’s readers!)
