We’ve seen plenty of synths with built-in speakers, but how about a speaker that has a built-in synth? That’s the seemingly unlikely premise of Popumusic PartyStudio, which is billed as “the world’s first wireless MIDI synthesizer speaker.”
It sounds like a crazy idea, but if you think about it, it does make a certain amount of sense. Assuming you’ve got a Bluetooth MIDI keyboard that can run on battery power (which, we’ll admit, is a bit of an assumption) all you need to do is pair this to the PartyStudio and you can start playing. “No complicated setups. No software. No cables. Just play,” is the tagline.
There shouldn’t be any issues with latency (under 16ms, according to Popumusic), as the audio itself is being played directly from the speaker. What’s more, you can link up to three wireless MIDI devices simultaneously, each triggering a different sound, which opens up the possibility of multiple people jamming together. You can also use one additional cabled MIDI connection if you’re not completely wedded to the idea of being 100% wireless.
The possible downside is that there are only 128 sounds (we suspect some kind of General MIDI offering), but these should cover the ‘stock’ bases (piano, strings, synth, guitar, etc) and Popustudio suggests that more sounds could be added via over-the-air Wi-Fi updates. There’s also a built-in drum machine with 50 rhythm patterns and customisable tones, which means that the PartyStudio could be a practice tool.
When it comes to control, Popumusic has chosen to keep things simple: two knobs, two buttons, two switches and a touchscreen. This isn’t one for hands-on tweaking, then, but that’s not really the point.
The speaker itself has 70 watts of power courtesy of two 10-watt high-frequency drivers, two 25-watt mid-low speakers and a rear passive radiator. In keeping with the ‘party’ vibe, there’s also a light-up colour strip that pulses with your music. There's a built-in rechargeable battery that we're told has a life of up to eight hours.
The PartyStudio has an official price of $499 but is set to launch on Kickstarter on 24 November for the early-bird price of $299. Find out more on the Popumusic website.
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