Ever wanted to learn saxophone without pissing off your neighbors, or practice in the park without disturbing the peace and tranquility? Well, now you can with the Cardona Bits Haxophone Electronic Saxophone. Haxophone is not just any electronic saxophone that is easy to carry around but it is, as its name hints, a hackable electronic saxophone with mechanical keys.
Electronic saxophone is not common and when you do find one, it is super expensive. Plus, it is not nearly as portable because you can’t drop them into your backpack. The Haxophone enters as an affordable, and portable alternative that is open source, thus allowing you to modify as you see fit.
However, the US$200 asking price for this cool electronic musical instrument does not include the Raspberry Pi that is required for it to be functional. However, it is available as an add-on if you need one. That would cost you an extra US$16.
The Haxophone does not look like a saxophone, let alone have the length expected of a sax but it is designed to play like one. It uses keyboard keys in an arrangement that has the same fingering as an actual saxophone. Very clever.
When there is no one to disturb, you can set your performance free with the built-in audio amplifier. But if you prefer to save your family, neighbors, and whoever near you the torment of saxophone tunes, you can plug in a pair of headphones into the 3.5 mm audio output jack and keep your performance to yourself.
The same plug also allows you to pipe the sound to speakers if so desire. Another boon is that you can record your masterpiece(s) for electronic music production.
Javier Cardona of Cardona Bits has taken Haxophone to the crowdfunding platform, Crowd Supply, where you can secure a unit by pledging for a product for the aforementioned US$200, or US$200 plus US$16 if you don’t already have a Raspberry Pi board.
Images: Cardona Bits.
