Lidsong

Turn a tune you hum into a music box gift. Add a personal message and send a link, a video or a .lidsong file. Hum a tune, sing it on "doo" or whistle it. Lidsong listens on your iPhone, finds the notes and punches them into the paper strip of an 18-tooth music-box comb, with a bass note and simple harmony. Then the box plays it. The steel comb, the pinned cylinder and the governor are modelled in code, so every note is plucked by the mechanism, not played from a recording. Wind the brass key and lift the lid. The tune starts as the stop lever lets go, muffled at first and brighter as the lid opens. Close it mid-phrase and it stops on that pin; open it again and it carries on. When the lid is open, a goldfinch automaton sings in the mirror. SING IT - Hum, sing or whistle for up to 20 seconds and watch the strip punch itself. - If your notes run together, tap along once per note while…