Buddha Machine - The Anti-iPod
I came across Christaan Virant’s Buddha Machine while listening to the Studio 360 interview (requires RealPlayer) over the weekend. According to Mr. Virant,
My goal was to design a song or a piece of sound that people could listen to all day that would be constantly in their mind, constantly evolving, but it’s essentially the same sound over and over.
The device is quite simple; it features a volume control and a toggle switch that chooses between 9 endlessly looping FM3 songs. I’m really interested in buying one for myself since Virant really poured a lot of heart and passion into the tracks; at one point in the interview he talks about how he listened to the first track for about 2 straight weeks in an effort to get the tracks just right. If you’re interested in buying one for yourself, you can get one HERE.
June 20th, 2006 at 1:24 am
I vote for this as the strangest post and stranges product illustration I have ever seen. Truly a strange picture.
June 20th, 2006 at 11:21 am
I am honored to receive the prestigious “strangest post” nomination!
June 21st, 2006 at 5:04 pm
I own 2 of these. A blue and a green. The sounds are great, two for the stereo effect…one placed on either side of the room, turned on at the same time…
June 24th, 2006 at 1:26 am
Ward - I haven’t placed my order for a Buddha Machine yet, but now I’m wondering if I should buy two? Then we can meet up and create a surround sound effect using 4 Buddha Machines.
Chris - How about we get a Buddha Machine for the Tornado office & you can hook it up to Tom’s contraption for Buddha melodies every time you get a comment.
July 20th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Ok. So if I got this straight, the device plays a tune, one tune, over and over again and your mind takes the tune and “evolves” something new out of it?
Hmm.
Have you seen the video where this guy is driving for 10 hours straight while listening to nothing but Dancing Queen by ABBA? I don’t think his mind evolved to anything my mush by the time the experience was over.