With a little custom software, a camera and some musical know-how, you can turn 16 customised Rubik’s Cubes into a unique interface for a music sequencer. However, unless you’re one of those Rubik’s idiot savants who can solve them in seconds, this probably isn’t the best instrument for live performances.
The Rubik’s Cube Sequencer was created by Sweden’s Håkan Lidbo, Per-Olov Jernberg and Romeo Brahasteanu, and the only modifications made to the cubes was blacking out certain sections leaving only a small number of the six coloured squares that end up representing six different sounds in the software.
The song being created using the 4×4 grid of Rubik’s Cubes is updated in real-time as they’re moved or manipulated, and performers are encouraged to scramble or unscramble the cubes however they see fit to create new musical combinations. And unlike an unmodified Rubik’s Cube there’s no definitive way to solve these cubes, all that matters is that your performance is halfway listenable. [HÅKAN LIDBO AUDIO INDUSTRIES via Create Digital Music]