Rubik’s Cubes Become a Musical Instrument

Learning to play any musical instrument is a challenge, but the new synthesizer made of Rubik’s Cubes from acclaimed Swedish producer and music inventor Hakan Libdo is literally a puzzle. A camera mounted above a 4 x 4 grid of customized cubes detects each square of color and translates it into a musical note, and it’s the player’s job to solve each puzzle in a way that makes beautiful music.

White is drums, green is bass, orange is percussion, red is synth 1, yellow is synth 2, blue is synth 3, and you can scramble the cubes in real time to keep the song moving. If you’re not a Rubik’s cube expert, before taking on Cube Sequencer, it might be worth learning to play the piano. 

“But why does it have to be easy?” Libdo asks The Creators Project in an email. “Most of today’s electronic music tools have a low learning curve. But the Cube Sequencer is not easy. Just like learning how to play the violin or chess—or to solve the Rubik’s Cube, this takes time to master.”

Libdo, whose record-breaking Mastermind game board wowed Sweden in October, designed the Cube Sequencer with Per-Olov Jernberg, who tackled the programming and visual design, and Romeo Brahasteanu, who designed the game board. Libdo leaves us with the question, “What is the difference between playing a game and playing music? And who is the winner?” Let us know in the comments below. 

Visit Hakan Libdo’s website for more music experiments.

If you also have an awesome project to share, email us: editor@thecreatorsproject.com

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