Only four days after it was launched, the Kickstarter page for the Artiphon INSTRUMENT 1 noted that the goal of $75,000 had already been reached. In fact, at the time of writing, with 35 days still left to go, the remarkable looking instrument has raised an astonishing $433,368 from 1,157 backers. By any stretch of the imagination this is a monumental achievement, but considering the sheer versatility of the device, it's not exactly surprising. This is a potential game-changer we're looking at here folks. The INSTRUMENT 1 is aptly named, as it essentially gives the player access to hundreds of instruments on one device. Of course, there are hundreds, nay thousands of devices that do this already thanks to the wonders of MIDI, but what makes this wonderful instrument so unique is not what you play, but how you play it.
Not only does the INSTRUMENT 1 allow users to play hundreds of instruments from a single device, but it allows them to do so as they would actually play those instruments
Not only does the INSTRUMENT 1 allow users to play (exceptionally convincing) piano, violin, guitar, drums and more from a single device roughly the size of a ukelele, but it allows them to do so as they would actually play those instruments. That means you can pluck a guitar, bow a violin, strike a piano chord and map out an MPC beat in the same way you would on either instrument. For musicians such as myself who play numerous instruments, and are forced to cart around all manner of monstrous hard shell cases to gig venues barely big enough to house them, this little miracle could finally offer a viable solution. It's potential as a teaching tool is also practically unparalleled, and for electronic musicians, it could mark a sea change in how they perform their music live.
Introducing the Artiphon INSTRUMENT 1
Artiphon founder Mike Butera, who holds a PhD in sound studies and has worked as a product developer for various stereo systems, is a man with some serious technical skills, but it took him four years of trial and error before he struck upon the finished design we see today. Speaking of his inspiration for the device, Butera said: “I was carrying a viola, cello, guitar, an electric guitar, all these instruments and it was hard to lug all that around. I got to thinking about GarageBand. It can sound like anything because it’s software. I wanted something like that to exist as an instrument.” He pretty much hit the nail on the head there. I myself, and thousands of people like me, have had that same thought countless times, but lack the technical skills and the wherewithal to put the pieces together. The idea was lent wings by AOL founder Steve Case, and entrepreneurs Dave McClure and Eric Reis, who liked the concept so much that together, they invested $700,000 into the company for research and development. Numerous musicians have also been giving the prototype a spin, such as The Weeks, Wild Cub, Moon Taxi, Mikki Ekko (who produced Rihanna’s “Stay”} and even techno wizard Moby.
At the time of writing, with 35 days still left to go, the remarkable looking instrument has raised an astonishing $433,368 from 1,157 backers on Kickstarter
Of course, the instrument itself doesn't actually create the sounds you'll hear in the demonstration above, that would result in an instrument costing far more than the reasonable $350 advertised on the device's Kickstarter page. Instead, the instrument is shipped with a companion app that can be installed on your phone, tablet or laptop, which includes a variety of modelled instruments for the device. It's also a MIDI controller, so can be programmed to play almost anything your heart could desire, as Butera says himself; “Any number of combinations can be used.” Of course, if you want to get your hands on one of these beauties (and why wouldn't you?) you're only option is to hit up the Kickstarter page, but Butera is already in talks with Apple's retail arm, meaning the INSTRUMENT 1 could be found on the shelves of your local Apple store as soon as 2016. The Artiphon crew will also be travelling to SXSW in Texas next week to let festival attendees try their baby out. As if I didn't already really want to go to SXSW this year!
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from Kidderminster in the UK. He's genuinely considering ordering his very own INSTRUMENT 1, but might still need a little more convincing.
