Sony Walkman was the first successful portable audio player. It introduced a change in music listening habits by allowing people to carry music everywhere and listen to it using earphones/headphones. This brings users in a sort of isolation state that initially was Sony Walkman’s main and successful feature, but then it became an obstacle to human interaction, even using new technologies.

MoovBox is a conceptual portable synthesizer that wants to revolutionize music listening experience, making it “active” allowing people to create new music, mixing it during the listening, and produce new tracks without any limit. It has to be used in association with a smarthphone.

Designers : Roberto Maurizio Paura, Francesco Mammetti, and Gilles Traditi

The basic design of MoovBox user interface features Moog Modular that uses a method consists of two movements: press keyboard button with one hand, and use the other one to rotate the control knob to modify the note. So MooveBox has been designed to be easy to use, in fact, it is possible to modify a note just using one finger, pressing one of the seven rolls and rotating it. MoovBox body is made of a flexible material, so it can be physically deformed, and every deformation will coincide to a sound distortion.

MoovBox can be used with common gestures, the design team has done some studies in order to take advantage common people gestures when holding objects to minimize any unnecessary and stressful gestures to make the sound. Twisting, compression, and beat are linked to specific musical instruments and the interaction intensity defines the uniqueness of every sound produced by every user, increasing its creative value.

The lack of a traditional touchscreen interface allows to create an important focus on the physical interaction with the product, delegating management, preparation and amplification functions the app that has to be downloaded on the multimedia device selected.

MoovBox, thanks to its universal “audio-sign” language, wants to be a device of “social meeting”, allowing a comprehensive comparison between all users who want to share their own creations and their own music culture using online jam-sessions.

New and mixed tracks are made available for other users, they can enjoy music streaming as if using a common radio or modify them again in order to create new and unique tracks. MoovBox concept was a finalist in the Samsung Young Award 2012 (during the competition model has been prototyped by Samsung), it is a finalist in Lucky Strike Talented Designer Award 2013 and it is in pre-judging phase in Red Dot Concept Design Award 2014.

Tuvie has received “MoovBox Portable Synthesizer” project from our ‘Submit A Design‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their design/concept for publication.