Linus Tan - 30 Oct 2020
A Next-Generation Speaker: COTODAMA Lyric Canvas Speaker
Have you ever seen a speaker that could display lyrics in sync with music? I definitely haven't until I came across the COTODAMA Lyric Speaker Canvas. At first sight, this speaker is simply mind-blowing. Hands down one of the coolest thing you'll see, as it changes everything you knew about what a speaker could do. Because a speaker should just play sound, right? Not exactly what the mastermind behind COTODAMA thought.
Source: HAKUHODO - Jin Saito.
Jin Saito wanted people to experience music differently. He started COTODAMA with that goal in mind.
As an award-winning creative director, Jin actively seeks to elevate our human perception of the things around us and he set out to design a speaker that would come to life. To come to life through their words - through lyrics.
The COTODAMA Lyric Speaker Canvas was borne as the visual masterpiece of what started as an idea and is now loved around the world by celebrities and audiophiles alike.
Shut Up and Take My Money
The COTODAMA Lyric Speaker.
That was our exact first expression. Because who wouldn't want to have the most exclusive speaker in the world sitting right in our own living room?
The COTODAMA Lyric Speaker Canvas was designed for the modern millennial. It brilliantly uses lyric visualisation technology to bring art, music and words together with a style that will augment your home atmosphere and aesthetics.
Designed as a high art concept to decorate the home, the Lyric Speaker Canvas allows listeners to live with their favourite lyrics like a painting on the wall, providing constant inspiration and motivation through the power of words.
An exquisite home decor piece.
When it plays music, the speaker crawls the song's lyric from its database and then displays the lyrics in sync with the song on the front panel, while the music is played out of the back panel.
Easily take your pick with over 2 million songs in their database. One unique thing the speaker does is that it analyses the song’s mood and then picks from a selection of fonts and animations to match it on the display.
You can get a more upbeat animation for pop songs, a jazz-like animation for RnB, or a slow-moving block of lyrics for ballads. If the speaker is unable to crawl the lyrics for a specific song, it will show an abstract graphic to fit the mood and tempo of the tune instead.
In a case like this, you can always send a request to COTODAMA to upload lyrics for the specific song you like into their database so that it will show up the next time you play it.
Let's Talk Design
A contemporary design made to fit in all sorts of places.
The Lyric Speaker Canvas comes with 2 boards - a black front square board that displays song lyrics, and a silver speaker grille square board. Coming together, it evokes a visual identity of vinyl record jackets leaned up against your wall with a truly sleek and modern aesthetic.
Due to its rather compact nature, the Lyric Speaker Canvas was designed to fit in various kinds of places around your home. You can display it as a frame on a console table or right in the middle of your bookshelf.
Feel The True Power Of Music - Tokyo, Japan (2018).
The speaker was designed bearing in mind interior design trends to match the aura of the aesthetic cosmopolitanism of today's era. It's frankly amazing to see that a speaker could be designed so beautifully, as most speakers in the market have a box-like or cylindrical shape due to the audio constraints.
Ultimately, the speaker was built to display a visual aspect to elevate the experience of music. The visual elements of the design and placement are not only aesthetically appealing but also provides a combination of functionality and a holistic experience that is unlike what has been possible before.
Quality in Sound
Engineered in collaboration with Abbey Road Red.
It would go without saying that the sound quality of a speaker is one of the most important aspects.
The COTODAMA Lyric Speaker Canvas was created by a team of world-class sound designers that have a history of creating artistic high-end speaker systems.
The speaker was aimed to give an acoustic experience that overflows with rich musicality, high-frequency range and a clear vocal sound as if the singer is there in the room with you.
The speaker adopts the rear-reflection method, which uses the interior wall as the resonating part of the speaker. This adds a uniqueness to the sound quality of the Lyric Speaker Canvas.
Enjoy crystal clear music in your living room.
Even when the speaker is cranked to the highest volume, the music and words of the song are clear and crisp with excellent vibration and bass.
Where do you play music from? Straight from your phone, just like most other speakers.
The only difference here is that the Lyric Speaker Canvas connects via Wi-Fi and not Bluetooth. If you're on iOS, you can hook up the speaker using Wi-Fi through Airplay, Google Cast, and Spotify Connect and stream music from most major subscription services like Apple Music or Spotify. For Android users, you can connect using Google Cast or Spotify Connect and play songs from Amazon Music, Google Play Music, and more.
"Oh wow, what is that?"
The perfect statement piece for your home.
There’s no doubt having the COTODAMA Lyric Speaker Canvas in your home is going to be an eye-catcher and conversation-starter.
Coming with a price tag of SGD$2,599, it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea.
But if you're looking for an exquisite centrepiece for your home's decor that would take your space from a "that's nice" to an "oh wow", this creative masterpiece that combines art with music from COTODAMA will surely mesmerise.
You can experience it first-hand at Synced by District.
