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Tech Furniture: A Stool that Provides Haptic Feedback for Musicians

Useful, or gimmick?

By Rain Noe - February 26

in Furniture Design

Good product designs solve a user problem, occasionally a problem the user didn't realize they had. Other product designs emerge when companies try to apply some technology they've mastered to a new market, answering a question no one asked.

I think this product falls in the latter category, but I'd rather hear directly from the target market, which is musicians.

Cooler Master is a Taiwanese company that makes gaming accessories, like chairs that deliver haptic feedback. They've repackaged that technology into this Throne X, a stool targeted at musicians.

It uses "sound-to-vibration" internals to essentially serve as a haptic metronome. It can be set to keep its own beat, or provide the sensation of the beat that is already being played. "Sitting on the Throne X, musicians can feel the rhythm pulsing through their bodies, intuitively performing on the beat, better synchronizing with their bandmates, and immersing themselves in the art of music," the company claims.

Musicians among you: Does this actually seem useful? And would you pay the $1,000 this will reportedly retail for?

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Wil Hendricks

20 hours ago

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This technology has existed for decades, although maybe not under this new brand name. A lot of musicians started using a home-theater device years ago called the "Buttkicker" for live performance -- it was originally designed to be placed under couch cushions as part of a "feel it rather than hear it" home theater system, but a lot of drummers and bass players were quick to adapt it to drum thrones -- and as a platform to stand on -- in order to really feel the kick drum or the bass without having to crank monitors or IEMs for less feedback or quieter stage monitoring. Seems like the "ThroneX" is just putting a new name and hefty pricetag on a not-so-new idea.

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Alan Nomoto

22 hours ago

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Long time drummer here. It actually works albeit a lot cheaper than $1000. You run a monitor with a 15” driver & eq down the mids & kick the bottom. Your kick drum locks into the bass well. You can be squarely on the beat or play slightly before or after for effect easier.

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