Fans of the bad old Eighties — that's "Yo! Flock of Seagulls", marble-washed denim, ice-hockey hair and keytars — look away now. The crazy space bassoon-cum-synthesizer you see these three musicians jamming with on a Moby track is called the Eigenharp and, according to its creator, could change the face of live electronic music forever.

"We've got pretty fed up with watching people twiddle knobs on stage," says the Eigenharp's creator, musician and internet entrepreneur John Lambert, who says he got the idea after he got sick of carting around a truck full of equipment when he was in a trance band in the 90s, and compares his $6,330 instrument to the simplicity of an acoustic guitar.

The 120-key instrument (there's a smaller, cheaper version, the 18-key Pico) ships in December and is Mac-compatible. There are, however, plans to make game console-compatible versions of the software — meaning that anyone who wants to play Rock Band on one of these will bring the house down.

Eigenlabs Via BBC