This afternoon I got to try out a brand new bit of gear. The Skoog was originally designed as a piece of Assistive Music Technology but has the potential to be used within any setting.

It is basically a big foamy brick just smaller than A5 square with a brightly coloured raised ‘nubbin’ on each side. At first glance it’s something exciting to play with, squeeze, hit. It does look a bit like a child’s toy. It even looks a bit spacey – which obviously appeals to me!

The software (Mac/Windows compatible) has its own sounds specially built for the Skoog. These sounds are better than samples, they have been built using digital modelling, which means they have the actual attributes of the real instruments. For instance, you can adjust the sound of the lip positioning if you’re playing a brass instrument, the breath control if it is woodwind, the sustain if you’re playing strings or a piano etc. The sound is affected if the instrument it is designed to be has wooden parts, metal parts or strings etc. It is brilliant. Plus with its MIDI compatibility and the option to just use it as a trigger as well (although I don’t know why anyone would want to) it has universal appeal.

The real masterpiece though, is the gorgeous, tactile hardware itself. This is a truly exciting instrument which is easy to get a sound out of but takes skill and practice to master. The Skoog is completely touch sensitive (the sensitivity is adjustable); you can even add vibrato to the sound (not through the computer but by actually shaking your hand as you would on a violin).

And now we get on to my very favourite thing about it. The ‘Twist’ function. The Twist means that as you twist or tilt or shake the foam in your hand the sound is affected.

For example: If you are playing a flute solo you can ‘Twist’ the foam and it will bend or overblow the note. If using a trumpet, the ‘Twist’ action creates a rasping blow sound. The differences are dependent on instrument choice and actually sound like the real instrument.

The cost of the Skoog is £500 per unit, this will go down in time but for now I hope you all club together and buy one for me ha ha! I’d also like one of these Ice Kube speakers with it please ha ha!

You can keep up with the Skoog blog here.

xx