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>When it comes to creating art, there seems to be a great potential for better tool UIs. A guitar and hands is not the optimal way to create music. We don't see

>When it comes to creating art, there seems to be a great potential for better tool UIs. A guitar and hands is not the optimal way to create music. We don't seem to have found the optimal tool for creating music yet (if there is one). My company is working on just that, creating the next generation of music instruments to allow anyone to create music. Here is our first prototype where we've changed the UI of the guitar, but also left in traditional elements to allow beginners or experts to play music by switching from what we call "Magic Mode" to traditional guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkM4sr2socQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkM4sr2socQ

mtdewcmu 9y ago
Music is not my area of expertise, but 1. It looks like there are limitless possibilities in that area of technology. 2. Magic Mode reminds me of Omnichord. It looked like with the Omnichord, you could do certain things more easily than with an analog instrument, but other things became harder or impossible. So it was a trade off. 3. In addition to allowing anyone to create music, it would be especially interesting if you could create new possibilities for expert players. For ex: some kind of augmented drum could allow you to create and play more intricate rhythms than would normally be possible, perhaps by having ML extrapolate and combine patterns in ways that are too complex to even write (I used to play drums). It seems like the ear can hear patterns that are beyond what can be played or even created by a person.
- andyjsong 9y ago
  For #3, it doesn't even have to be that fancy for expert players/song writers. One of our investors is Matt Bellamy, the lead guitarist/vocalist of Muse. Generally when he wants to write a song, he goes for the piano to figure out the chord progression. It's much easier to compose on the piano because all the notes are in front of you in sequential order (black and white keys). After he figures out the chord progression, he'll switch to the guitar. If he was to start composing on the guitar, there is a higher amount of cognitive load that is based on the physics of vibrating strings and his ability to physically shorten them by pressing your fingers on metal/nylon. With our instrument he gets best of both worlds, a guitar interface, but every button is a chord in any key/scale. Basically, you now have a chord encyclopedia (like omnichord), but once he figures out the chord progression, he can switch to traditional mode and do the crazy stuff that he does all on one device.
  - mtdewcmu 9y ago
    And it's more portable than a piano. That seems like the killer feature in that scenario, no? You can compose songs anywhere.

mtdewcmu 9y ago

Music is not my area of expertise, but 1. It looks like there are limitless possibilities in that area of technology. 2. Magic Mode reminds me of Omnichord. It looked like with the Omnichord, you could do certain things more easily than with an analog instrument, but other things became harder or impossible. So it was a trade off. 3. In addition to allowing anyone to create music, it would be especially interesting if you could create new possibilities for expert players. For ex: some kind of augmented drum could allow you to create and play more intricate rhythms than would normally be possible, perhaps by having ML extrapolate and combine patterns in ways that are too complex to even write (I used to play drums). It seems like the ear can hear patterns that are beyond what can be played or even created by a person.

andyjsong 9y ago
For #3, it doesn't even have to be that fancy for expert players/song writers. One of our investors is Matt Bellamy, the lead guitarist/vocalist of Muse. Generally when he wants to write a song, he goes for the piano to figure out the chord progression. It's much easier to compose on the piano because all the notes are in front of you in sequential order (black and white keys). After he figures out the chord progression, he'll switch to the guitar. If he was to start composing on the guitar, there is a higher amount of cognitive load that is based on the physics of vibrating strings and his ability to physically shorten them by pressing your fingers on metal/nylon. With our instrument he gets best of both worlds, a guitar interface, but every button is a chord in any key/scale. Basically, you now have a chord encyclopedia (like omnichord), but once he figures out the chord progression, he can switch to traditional mode and do the crazy stuff that he does all on one device.
- mtdewcmu 9y ago
  And it's more portable than a piano. That seems like the killer feature in that scenario, no? You can compose songs anywhere.