YouTube sensation uses city inventor's technology for video

HE is a YouTube sensation, racking up more than seven million views of his comedy musical covers including Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake.

Now Brett Domino has unveiled his latest internet video - using an innovative piece of technology designed by Edinburgh University researchers.

The Skoog is a colourful cube which can emulate the sound of 12 different musical instruments to enable children who cannot play traditional instruments to make music of their own.

Brett Domino - who is the alter-ego of musician Rob J Madin - puts the Skoog through its paces on a cover of Outkast's Hey Ya!

At the start of the song, he explains the concept of the Skoog to his bandmate Steven Peavis, who pretends it is the first time he has seen the technology.

He says: "As you can see, it's very soft.

"There's five sides and each side has a different colour.

"Each colour has a different tone or instrument that you can assign on the computer."

Dr Ben Schgler, creative director of Skoogmusic Ltd, said he is delighted with the instrument's appearance on the video.

Dr Schgler, who is based in Albert Street, offered the Skoog to the musician as he is renowned for playing music using all sorts of strange equipment. He said: "We gifted a Skoog to Brett and said 'do what you wish'. He did show us the video before to check it was OK and we were very pleased with the result."

The Skoog was officially launched last year and is now available across the world. The device converts the way it is touched into the sound of various musical instruments, such as flute, guitar or keyboard, using computer technology.

Children can squish, punch or twist the cube to make different sounds and change the pitch and volume through a range of different movements.

The invention was originally designed for children with mild, severe and profound disabilities, but Dr Schgler hopes the video will open up new doors.

• To view the video, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkRPd5VtUOQ