Unleash Creativity in Music Creation with Muro Box and Other Instruments!
Unleash Creativity in Music Creation with Muro Box and Other Instruments!
Shawn James Seymour (Japan)
Hi, I’m Shawn from Lullatone. My wife Yoshimi and I co-founded Lullatone. We’ve released a ton of albums and also record songs for films and videos.
I’m a big fan of the Muro Box – the amazing electro-acoustic mechanical music box that lets you play your own melodies on its tines.
Why do I love music boxes?
I’ve used music boxes in some of our older songs for years. I always made our old melodies into music box sounds by punching paper holes into long strips of paper that plucked the tines on an old German music box before. Check out our previous video that shows Lullatone’s song “How to Tie a Scarf” played on a music box with all of the notes hand punched into a paper roll.
I still really love that machine, but I was interested in the way the Muro Box bridged technology (MIDI, etc) with classic analog sounds. That is a big theme of our music. Mixing electronics with real life objects leads to lots of interesting sounds and possibilities.
How I first learned about the Muro Box?
I first saw a small snippet of the Muro Box online somewhere. To be honest, I can’t remember how exactly. But, it peaked my attention immediately. The design was so sleek and beautiful and the sound was great as well.
When I looked into the company, I realized it is being run by a couple. Yoshimi and I do Lullatone as a couple (recording together on older albums, but lately she is more in charge of paperwork kind of stuff and I handle the melodies now). Also, I saw they were based in Taiwan. Some of my favorite concerts ever were in Taipei so I was excited to support them.
The Muro Box feels like a continuation of that tradition for me
Of course the sounds are pretty and nostalgic (which I love) but the idea that it makes it easy for people of any age or skill level to program a melody and share it with others really speaks to me. Making music is a kind of sharing (ideas, feelings, vibes) and the Muro Box is a practical hands-on way where you can see the melody played out right in front of you!
Here, I’m controlling the plucking of the music box’s tines with the OP-1 Field’s keyboard by MIDI over USB-C, while sometimes adding in soft sine tone synth sounds coming out of the OP-1 at the same time. Soft sine tones and music boxes have been the Lullatone dream team since the early 2000s : )
Here is a video of my performance using the Muro Box-N20 in ensemble with other instruments.
Various MIDI Connectivity
The Muro Bow is really interesting because it has so many different ways to get your notes in there. I work a lot with synthesizers and midi controllers, so it is exciting to see how adding MIDI effects to the notes the box is playing changes the sound.
Muro Box sent a prototype of their upcoming N40 midi music box to test out. This new unit can also do the black keys on a keyboard! (the original N20 version is limited to the C major scale)
I did a lot of tests with different MIDI controllers. I used the Arturia Keystep 37, and OP-1 Field, a Suzuki Omnichord OM-108, a Korg Minilogue and a Teenage Engineering OP-Z. They all worked great and the N40 sounds amazing.
What do I think about the Muro Box and their service?
In the video, there is a zebrawood resonance box specifically made for the N20 music box. The resonance box was really easy to put together. The instructions were super clear and easy to follow. Also, all of the parts are high quality (which is hard to tell when you only see something on the internet).
The team at Muro Box is really nice, too. When I had a problem with MIDI at first, they were very quick to help. They are super friendly and easy to communicate with. The shipping from Taiwan was fast and seamless.
Let's see how I set up my Muro Box for playing my own melodies!
My Recording Setup
I did a lot of tests to get the sound right for that video.
And, luckily, it was one of the times where the cheapest mic actually worked best!!
I used a Boya Lav mic (like $15 on Amazon). It was good because it is small enough to fit in front of the sound hole on the N40 without being very noticeable on the video (not too big like the Neuman mic we usually use to record instruments).
In post production, I did noise canceling with a plugin called Brufsi. It is really great.
This is the mic I used:
https://www.amazon.co.jp/デジタル一眼レフカメラ-スマートフォン-ビデオカメラ-オーディオレコーダー用BOYA-M1クリップオンマイク/dp/B00MT5K838
When shooting videos I usually just use a cheap lav mic taped to the table in front of the Muro Box.
Originally I used this set-up so there wouldn’t be a giant mic blocking the view of how nice the Muro Box looks. But, I ended up liking how it sounds just as much as using a nicer condenser mic above it. For noise canceling (if the motor vibrations come through the table or other room sounds occur) I usually use a plug-in called Brusfi.
