Sound Blaster is again — with a modular Stream Deck-style management hub

These of you who can bear in mind a time earlier than large CRT televisions grew to become “retro” might need fond recollections of Inventive Labs. The corporate made the Sound Blaster sequence of add-in sound playing cards, {hardware} that’s now largely pointless for normal customers. Nevertheless it appears the Sound Blaster model has been resurrected for a brand new {hardware} management panel, even when it’s solely in Kickstarter type proper now.

The Sound Blaster Re:Think about is billed as a “modular audio hub,” combining a number of tactile controls with a small touchscreen in a fetching bundle. It’s form of an elongated tackle devices just like the Stream Deck+, providing bodily buttons for important audio and settings controls. (These button pads might be popped off and rearranged to your liking.) It additionally has some built-in ports and lots of further performance for recording professionals and audiophiles. We’re speaking a 32-bit DAC, separate headphone and microphone ports, optical and devoted USB-C for audio.

However this thingy is greater than a sequence of buttons and ports. Whereas it’s in all probability most helpful plugged right into a PC, it truly has sufficient inner computing energy to run a self-contained model of Linux, together with an inner microSD card slot and Wi-Fi. I’m unsure precisely what you’d do with that on a tiny 3-inch display, however hey, Linux individuals are inventive. The marketing campaign suggests DOS recreation emulation and (lengthy, exasperated sigh) an “AI DJ” that generates music for you.

Now for the bummer half: as I stated, this can be a Kickstarter marketing campaign, which signifies that placing down your cash isn’t assured to lead to an actual, shipped product. This is coming from Inventive itself, which remains to be round making audio system and different audio devices… however I’d nonetheless await the crowdfunding interval to complete on the finish of this 12 months, particularly for a $330 USD gadget even on the “early chicken” backer stage.

It’ll be much more costly ($500) if/when it launches. However it’s best to have an possibility for an even bigger, four-module hub when it does launch, because the firm has already smashed its funding goal.