For those of you who just cannot warm to punching pads on MIDI controllers, there is a new alternative. Nowadays, recording audio and playing it back sits squarely in the domain of computers but an inventor is challenging the status quo.

The excellently named designer Axel Bluhme has come up with a machine that uses magnets to activate sound samples. As seen in the video below, the XOXX Composer is made up of eight rotating discs each with its own programmable pattern. It allows the user to layer up to eight different sounds over sixteen steps to produce a variety of different styles.

The samples themselves sit in a computer inside the machine and are triggered by an electrical switch when the magnets revolve around the wheel.

He says: "This project started with a curiosity to understand when, why and how people take their first steps into producing music. The goal is to inspire and allow this exploration even though there might be lack of confidence or knowledge."

What's more, Bluhme has hit upon a distinctly groovy design that brings to mind a 1960s sci-fi ray gun that will surely be a hit with design nerds, gadget fans and hipsters alike.