Instrument

Swiss engineers have developed a new wireless audio system for musicians called the T.One, which offers low latency transmission and the ability to control the mix through a mobile app.

It may look like a strange version of Reversi, but the Striso MIDI controller from Piers Titus van der Torren out of the Netherlands is designed to offer players the same kind of musical expression that you might find with acoustic instruments.

Joué Music Instruments has launched the next generation of its modular music-making interface on Kickstarter. Where the original was designed with pro musicians in mind, the Joué Play has been developed so anyone can make music.

Instrument maker Frank Piesik has built a three-string robotic music machine called Greg's Harp where three different actuators excite the strings in different ways to produce sound controlled by a MIDI keyboard.

Switzerland's Relish Guitars – the company responsible for the novel Jane guitar from 2015 – has been working on a new project for over a year. The company's first solid-bodied guitar, the Trinity, now debuts with an instant pickup swapping system.

Back in February, Vlad Kreimer of Soma Laboratory announced the creation of a Dvina prototype, the first electro-acoustic instrument from the Russian synth maker. Now the slightly-tweaked production model has been released.

Artiphon first came to our attention in 2012/13 with a strange-looking digital instrument called the Instrument 1 that leveraged the processing power of a docked iPhone to create music. Now the ream is back with a handheld synthesizer called Orba.

A collaboration between the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has resulted in a mid-air gestural tone and beat controller called the GripBeats.

Originally announced in January, and planned for release a month later, the Stylophone Gen R-8 touch analog synthesizer has now finally been released. But only 500 will be made.

Skoog Music is all about making music easy and fun. Five years ago the company launched a touchy-feely cube on Indiegogo that could be picked up and played in minutes. Now a new big-buttoned melody maker has been announced called the Skwitch.

Roli is in the business of making weird, creatively-designed and hyper-expressive MINI instrument controllers. Its Beatmaker Kit features the Lightblock, a beautiful, wireless digital controller that's so flexible to play that, with the right instrument, it almost feels organic and analog.

​In 2013, David Packouz sampled some beats played by a top drummer and put realistic percussion at the feet of guitarists. That drummer-in-a-pedal got a baby brother a couple of years later, and now Singular Sound is aiming to shake up the looper space with the Aeros Loop Studio.​