Pribek

From PR Newswire comes word of musical innovation.

A pioneering invention that allows people to make music by interacting with light and sound is making its worldwide debut. Created by accomplished musician and songwriter Jerry Riopelle, the beamz™ music system is now available online and at all Sharper Image stores for $599.95.

Inspired by a childhood memory of a simple, light-activated door announcer at his local ice cream shop, Riopelle has since leveraged decades of professional musical experience to develop this invention. His years of tinkering resulted in a breakthrough product that uses six laser beams like strings. Players simply pass their hands through each beam to trigger streams of musical notes or sounds. Each performance produces an original composition and the patented software ensures that the music played always will be harmonious, no matter which beam is engaged.

When connected via USB to a computer, the beamz software displays an intuitive interface which makes it a snap to select from 30 included songs in 19 musical genres, including jazz, hard rock, blues, reggae, hip-hop, Latin and classical. Additional systems also can be connected to play two in tandem.

Here is a video that demonstrates the beamz system.

Hunh?, the beamz system appears to be a cheesy, karaoke knock off of a real musical instrument, the Theremin. Invented by Leon Theremin in 1919, the Theremin was the first electroninc instrument.

Here is a video of Leon, at 95 years old, showing Paul Lansky how the genuine article works.

Hey Lookee Here! Moog has a Theremin in production and available for only $399.00 as opposed to $599.00 for the beamz system. Go figure.