Okay, my studio might need an exorcist now. We're testing out the Demon Box, an odd analog/digital hybrid instrument/controller/listening device that translates EMF (electromagnetic fields) into audio, MIDI, and control voltage (CV) signals. It's the first commercial product from L.A.-based Eternal Research, and it's much more akin to a demonic science experiment than anything we've reviewed in the past.
The distinctive, sturdy triangular metal desktop enclosure of the Demon Box houses an array of 33 inductors on its top surface, organized into three overlapping channels that "read" EMF and then translate and transmit MIDI or CV to a source of your choosing. Anything that has an electromagnetic field will interact with the Demon Box – so that means anything magnetic or that has an electric current running through it. Think speakers, radios, power tools, tape machines, electric guitars, your electric toothbrush – there is plenty of mysterious and invisible electromagnetic energy passing through the world around us at all times. The Demon Box aims to translate that invisible chaos into something musical.
Powered by USB-C (which also transmits and receives MIDI), the Demon Box has three audio inputs and outputs (all 1/4-inch balanced mono), plus a "triphonic array" output (also 1/4-inch) that combines all three outputs. Three CV outputs and a standard five-pin MIDI output complete the I/O. The most intriguing use case for me was to patch the Demon Box via USB or five-pin MIDI to an instrument that accepts (CC) Continuous Controller values. Each inductor channel can pass different interpolated MIDI CC values, and each channel has varied levels of interpolation or "smoothing". When holding a small speaker output near the inductor array, I could find a variety of interesting (and predominantly random) modulation patches. The intensity of the modulation is "played" by simply moving the EM source closer to or further away from the inductor panel. It's like playing a Theremin, controlling a filter cutoff (for example) via the position of your hands in 3D space.