Instrument 1, A musical Instrument for ALL!

Instrument 1 is a Kickstarter project by Artiphon. Artiphon is a Nashville base start-up by Mike

Butera and Jacob Gordon. Instrument 1 is a multi-instrument, Now whats a multi-instrument? A guitar is designed to be strummed; piano keys are pressed; drum pads are tapped; violins are bowed.
But what if a single instrument could be played with any of these techniques? That's exactly what a multi-instrument is. According the creators of Instrument 1 their patented technology enables a new type of musical experience focused on exploration and creativity rather than skill sets and signal chains. It’s an entirely new approach to what a musical instrument can do.

What Instrument is capable of?
Can play any instrument, style, and sound with a single device that connects directly to your smartphone, tablet, or computer.
INSTRUMENT 1 can be played as a guitar, violin, bass, piano, drum machine... it's any instrument you want it to be.


Plug in and play 100’s of apps like GarageBand with universal musical gestures: strumming, tapping, bowing, sliding, and more.
Digital string-like interface works with any MIDI-compatible software.
The unique ergonomic design can be held in multiple positions, and is fully ambidextrous.
Design new instruments and custom tunings via the Artiphon companion app.
It's compact, portable, durable, self-powered, and simple.

How it is Played?
The INSTRUMENT 1 to adapt to the way you want to play, and it scales in complexity based on your style and skills.

If you want to play like a guitar, you can chord and strum in familiar ways. In a piano preset, put it on your lap and the frets become “keys” like a piano (with up to six stacked octaves at your fingertips!). If you’re a drummer or a DJ, transform a whole fret into a pressure-sensing pad like a drum machine. And if you want to play a violin or pedal steel, slide your fingers along the strings to create sweeping fretless melodies.

What if you aren't a Musician?

You've got this. Our goal is to create the most effortless music-making experience at any skill level. Music isn’t about gear; it’s about self-expression. Every aspect of the INSTRUMENT 1 can be customized to behave the way you want it to. Tune it all to E-major if you like, adjust the sensitivity, or forget strumming altogether and let it auto-play the notes you press.

Effortlessly explore and create together.

The INSTRUMENT 1 grows with you as you explore new styles of playing. You can increase complexity as you go, allowing for greater control over every aspect of your performance with its feather-touch playing surface. It's always in tune, and you'll never break a string!

Interfacing with Smartphones and PCs

Connect the INSTRUMENT 1 can be connected to hundreds of apps on mobile devices and computers, and it can literally make any sound imaginable. No really, we’re serious.

For instance, you can plug it into Apple’s Garageband and start strumming. If you’re set to a guitar sound, it will sound like a guitar. Then switch to piano, and start matching your technique to new sounds. Or open a synth app like Moog’s Animoog and explore sounds you’ve never heard before.

Because the INSTRUMENT 1 is fully MIDI-compatible, it works with 100's of MIDI apps and software like Ableton Live, ProTools, Logic, and many more on your computer. The Artiphon INSTRUMENT 1 connects directly to iPhones, iPads, Macs, and PCs via Lightning or USB.
It works with any music creation software that uses the MIDI standard, which is the universal language of digital music. MIDI has been around for over 30 years, and lets electronic instruments tell each other what notes to play and how they should sound. But don’t worry: we’ve made it easier than ever to get started making digital music; no acronyms required.

Nashville Edition with hardwood back

Oh, and did we mention it has built-in speakers? This means no more worrying about external speakers when you play with your favorite apps. It's loud enough to play and sing along with friends, and you can even use it as an external speaker when you're not making the music. Of course, there’s a headphone output if you want to keep it quiet until you drop the album.

Artiphon App
Artiphon is creating a companion app so you can customize your INSTRUMENT 1. Basically, you can easily create new instrument presets and play them immediately. Want to strum a piano? Bow a banjo? Pluck a drum? Done.

Create and play new instruments in seconds.

It’s a great way to get inspired to play new styles of music. Whether you’re a songwriter, electronic music producer, or just playing your first notes, Artiphon lets you try out many different styles and sounds.

Strings that do not break
One of the revolutionary things about the Artiphon INSTRUMENT 1 is its string-like playability on a purely digital device. Use hammer-ons and pull-offs on on the fingerboard, strum on the bridge, and the notes ring out based on the velocity of your touch.

Artiphon’s patented technology also enables entirely new musical techniques, letting you play in ways that no stringed instrument ever could:
1) Turn the frets on and off. This is the first digital string-like instrument to support fretless playability, which is revolutionary for violinists, bassists, and anyone interested in sliding between notes.
2) Use vibrato to naturally add real nuance to your performance.
3) The entire interface is continuously pressure-sensitive, allowing for unprecedented control over software instruments via polyphonic aftertouch.
4) Instantly change to any tuning (guitar, bass, banjo, dobro, uke, violin... koto anyone?), with capo buttons at your fingertips.
5) Assign a different instrument to each string. For example, play a bass on the bottom and a guitar on the top.
6) Pressure-sensitive effect control, tap and auto-strum modes, multiple notes per string...

Features

 

Back the project on KickStarter
Funding for this project is live on Kickstarter. You can back this project on Kickstarter, click on the link to follow to Kickstarter profle.

The article originally appeared at Hotchpotch Post. It has been reproduced after taking permissions from Hotchpotch Post.