On Friday, February 17th during a live webcast the annual Georgia Tech Guthman Musical Instrument Competition will be available for all to watch.  Each year this eclectic mix of new and strange musical instruments takes the stage to see whose design will win what some people have gone so far as to call the X-prize for music.  In reality it is quite a bit less than that, with the top prize only being $10,000.  Still, the honor and prestigue of having your creation featured in this competition is definitely worth some cool points.  Last year's top winners fail to impress me much, a strange electronic table instrument called Mo Kitchen and the MindBox Media Slot Machine are interesting but a little bit boring IMHO.  In contrast the 2010 winner, the Double Slide Controller makes my trombonist heart beat with extended enthusiasm.

 

Read on for more videos about some of the 2012 Guthman Musical Instrument Competitors

The 2012 Competitors

In contrast some of this year's competitors are quite interesting, if not tasty to look at.  The first being the JelTone, a fairly simple electronic piano, but one that is made out of real Jello.  Yes, Jello!  

Another more useable keyboard instrument is the Hyperkeys, a piano with pitch bend controls built into each and every key.  Pull the key forward to bend the pitch as you play.

These all look pretty cool but the Sci-Fi lover in me has to also recognize the very futuristic Audio Cube entry:

 

To see these and more performances log into the webcast for free on Friday night, February 17th, from 7-8:30pm eastern time.  Go to www.gtcmt.gatech.edu/guthman2012 to view the webcast.