Ototo: Make Music from Anything on Kickstarter

You might remember the Ototo from this post back in October. It is now on Kickstarter seeking funding.  Click through for full details including additional pics and the different kit options.  You can find their official site here: http://dentakulondon.com/ototo/.

"Ototo is an all-in-one musical invention kit which allows you to make an instrument any way you want.

It’s a small synthesiser which allows you to build instruments using conductive materials and simple electronic sensors. You can make sounds straight out of the box by touching the keys to trigger notes. By connecting conductive materials or objects to the keys on Ototo you can make them react to touch; turning anything you can imagine into an instrument.

How it works

All sounds are made up of three parts: loudness, pitch and the texture of the sound (timbre). Using Ototo you can control all three of these and create an expressive musical instrument or installation. The keys on the Ototo are arranged like one octave of a musical keyboard. When you connect an object to a key using crocodile clips, you can trigger that note on your object.

There are four sensor inputs which control the different elements of the sound, one each for pitch and loudness and two that control the texture of the sound. You can select from different styles of inbuilt synthesiser sounds using the buttons or connect up to a computer to control sounds via USB MIDI.

Ototo will work with any conductive material, so that's metal, organic materials, water and anything else that can hold an electrical current. Each material reacts slightly differently with Ototo, so it's good to try out them all!