Most of the setup looks like a regular electronic keyboard, but there are some extra buttons along the left side that correspond to certain sounds in Japanese. By combining those buttons with the regular keys on the keyboard, a person is able to sound out just about any word in Japanese, combining them with the notes and chords on the keyboard to achieve the sound they’d like. The net result is an incredibly creepy robot-like singer.

To make sure that the musician is getting the words he or she desires, there is an electronic display on the keyboard that shows the generated words in katakana. I imagine this could be translated into other languages, but Yamaha’s Vocaloid Keyboard is currently only available in Japanese… and when I say “available,” I mean not available, because Yamaha has no intention of launching this as a commercial product just yet.

[Source]

The post Yamaha Vocaloid Keyboard “Plays” Vocals (Video) appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

These days you can pretty much toss a rock in Best Buy and hit an iPod, iPhone, or other related music accessories.  This is certainly not the first dock we’ve ever encountered, so in an endless sea of accessories, can the Yamaha PDX-11 offer something just different enough to make it worth the purchase? It turns out that the answer is a maybe. This interesting dock isn’t about a simple little device you keep tucked in your room.  The times when those of us who were children of the 80s walked around with boom boxs in tow are long gone. This may be for them, while at the same time it is designed with fun colors and a feel that gives it sort of a hip-hop look.

The PDX-11 is a rugged octagon-shaped loudspeaker, featuring a steel grill and a single 4-inch cone woofer and separate tweeter. According to Yamaha, the sound creates a “strong bass and stunning mid-range”, though once again there are many similar options out there for those looking. Beyond being just a dock the unit be hooked up to a PC, Mac, and other audio devices through its 3.5 mm mini jack. It also offers extra portability through its chrome bar handle.

This could be a great option for those of us looking for portable unit that can be powered through six AA batteries, for up to 8 hours of playback, or is comfortable at home using an AC adapter. For those of us that aren’t trying to recreate boom-box moments from Sixteen Candles, there are plenty of other great accessories out there that work fine from home.  If portable is your thing and you want to be a little different, though, then Yamaha’s new accessory might be right up your alley.

The post Yamaha’s New Octagon Boom Box appeared first on Mobile Magazine.