We can all be guilty from time to time of staying inside a “music silo” — listening to music we already know and love instead of searching for what’s new. I have definitely been guilty of this, though many music streaming apps now make suggestions based on what you listen to. But this often leads to just reinforcing the type of music you already listen to. Enter the Knobby: an easy, handheld way to completely randomly pick music to listen to based on genre.
You can control popular music streaming services like Spotify with the Knobby, and have it play from your existing collection or pick from thousands of different genre-based playlists. It shows you what’s playing and allows you to easily control your smart speaker. By untethering your music listening experience from smart devices, you can focus more on what you are listening to. Or, at a party, you can hand it around and let your guests pick something to play!
Because it’s based on an ESP32 with a high-quality Bourns encoder attached, you can easily modify it to enhance your music exploration. The firmware is fully open source. You could add features to control other streaming services; integrate with your home assistant of choice to use devices you already have set up for music listening, or even wipe the firmware and use it for some other purpose entirely!
We particularly like the sparkly plastic used in the case — which is also released as an open design! You could re-print the case in any colour scheme you want, in case you want it to blend into your existing hi-fi system. Or go with an outlandish colour so you can always spot it, no matter which cushion it tries to hide behind.
If you’re ready to try exploring music in a whole new way, check out the Knobby!
