Overview
Synth geeks, eat your heart out — but keep your brain, you'll need it. Robert Schneider, lead singer of Apples in Stereo, has created a mind-control interface for an audio oscillator or analog synthesizer, which he has dubbed the Teletron. Using a converted Mattel Mindflex toy with EEG sensors — which, to be frank, is cool enough on its own — patched into a vintage Moog MG-1 synth, Schneider is able to control the pitch of the synth "through the intensity of [his] thoughts", rather than with the keyboard.
"Experimental composers like Alvin Lucier and Pierre Henry [whose 'Psyché Rock' was reworked for the Futurama theme, itself a reworking of The Kingsmen's 'Louie Louie', which was a cover of Richard Berry's original version] used EEG sensors to make brain-controlled music as early as the 1950's," says Schneider. "What is cool about the Teletron is that you can go out and buy this toy and make this simple mod, and mentally control your own synthesizer at home."
The Teletron could be regarded as a (pretty awesome) slippery slope, however, bringing humanity one step closer to the Belcerebons of Kakrafoon. That said, if you wish to create your own Teletron, Schneider's released an explanatory video, below.
We're through the looking glass, people.
