If you’re a fan of the incredibly cool robotic and STEM toys that the innovative minds at Sphero have steadily pumped out over the last few years—I’m talking about amazing toys like the Sphero BB-8 App-Enabled Droid, the Sphero Cars Ultimate Lightning McQueen, and the Sphero Mini Robotic Ball, then you’re sure to be interested in the latest announcement by Sphero at this year’s CES convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The latest development from these pure geniuses comes courtesy of their acquisition of a Kickstarter startup called Specdrums this past June and their subsequent development of their own version of this really cool musical toy. Read on for more details of this truly unique item that any musical mind is sure to enjoy.
Sphero Specdrums
Sphero’s Specdrums are small, music-making rings that allow you to tap out tunes to your heart’s content on virtually any surface that you might encounter.
In other words, these rings are tiny, app-supported musical instruments that come in the form of rings and are worn on one’s fingers to essentially turn those fingers into the equivalent of drumsticks (hence the name, Specdrums).
By tapping your Specdrums on various colourful items around your home, in the great outdoors, at school, or on the included playing pad (that colourful keyboard in the image above), you’ll play unique notes that correspond to the various different colours you’re tapping on.
With Specdrums—colour equals sound, and different colours represent different sounds. This means that as you become more proficient with your ring (or rings, as you can use either 1 or 2 Specdrums at a time), you’ll be able to create and play your own beautiful music wherever you go and whenever you want.
Uniquely combining technologies such as a light sensor (that can recognize any colour you tap on), an accelerometer (to detect your movements and taps), LEDs (that both match and illuminate whatever colours you tap on), and Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity (to communicate with your smart device), Specdrums are a truly unique invention that allows users of any age and musical skill level to enjoy the creation of music.
They’re accessible, portable, and (apparently) really fun to play—not to mention a great entry point into the wonderful world of musical creativity.
Specdrums allow for the hands-on and tactile production of hundreds of unique sounds and loops, with the sound playing through your Android or iOS based smart device in conjunction with the Specdrums MIX App.
Simply connect your “drums” to the app via Bluetooth and begin playing anything you wish simply by tap, tap, tapping your way to your own original musical masterpiece. The sound combinations you can come up with are virtually limitless.
You can even record your musical creations and share them among friends. And, you can fully customize your colour pallete by assigning any note, chord, or sample you choose to whatever colour you prefer. I don’t know about you, but Specdrums sure sound fun to me!
Moreover, Sphero designed Specdrums to be an educational toy, just like many of their other offerings. I suppose that this one would fall under the STEAM acronym (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). You can expect to see Specdrums hitting the market very soon; they are scheduled to launch within the next few days.
For all your tech toy needs (and, more importantly, wants), visit Best Buy Canada online today and revisit this blog often for more great tech toy info and announcements.
