Final Day To Crowdfund Onyx Ashanti’s Amazing Beatjazz Cyborg

Onyx Ashanti, an artist and inventor based in Berlin, is in the final days of a crowdfunding campaign for the second phase of development for Beatjazz, his "quest to build the most amazing live music performance system ever." It's quite an interesting project that is hitting the end of its IndieGoGo funding window soon, possibly today. If you feel the time has come for improvisational music cyborgs that dance, this is a project you should probably be supporting.

Beatjazz System Crowdfunding Pitch Video

The first phase of Onyx Ashanti's development of the Beatjazz system resulted in a prototype that apparently wowed them at TED though he's clearly just getting started. The IndieGoGo campaign hasn't done nearly as well as one would hope but Onyx will receive the funds even if they don't meet the goal.

Beyond the head rig and hand controllers that communicate with his computer, as shown in the above video, Onyx is working on a helmet with external displays of information and will also be commissioning some performance wear to support extended performance while sweating buckets!

Additional plans include a portable busking rig for quick, mobile testing and physical training to support his performance abilities. He breaks down the materials involved as well as related expenses at IndieGoGo. It's worth noting that he's also open sourcing all the software and hardware.

Peter Kirn did a nice piece about the project at Create Digital Music, a great blog I'm following though I'm not so up on gear, and that led IndieGoGo to grant a 3 day extension for the Beatjazz project. However, that occurred on November 25th and as of the 27th it says there are 3 days to go. Not sure if they added even more days or if their system is fraked but I'd check it out and donate today if you're interested.

You can get an overview of Onyx Ashanti's work in both clubs and on the streets at his YouTube account and find out more at his official website.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and blogs at All World Dance and This Business of Blogging. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.