Open Source and Open Innovation with whurley

Will Open Source Instruments Strike A Chord?

Will Musical Instruments Go Open Source?

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been following the maturation of ZoyBar, a singular platform for developing innovative musical instruments and effects. The platform allows independent developers to use ZoyBar hardware to integrate modular parts. Components can be swapped during a performance or mounted with an array of special effects that can dynamically change what the instrument does with a single touch. Build-your-own instruments are nothing new–Warmoth’s offered a custom guitar parts catalog and assembly instructions for years–but what the designer behind ZoyBar has in mind is unique.

When designing their open platform, ZoyBar not only built a system of modular hardware components, but also a community around the effort, including sponsoring a competition that encouraged decentralized innovation. Watching this event unfold, I was fascinated at how many musicians are geeks and how many geeks have musical talent. Brian Green, the winner of this little tilt, created the iTouch guitar 2.0, two iPods mounted on a six-string electric guitar. The iPod closest to the guitar pickups is running iTouchMidi’s Matrix application, which he’s using to send midi output to Ableton Live on his MacBook via WiFi. The other iPod is running the Bloom generative music application, designed by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers. Here’s a video of the iTouch 2.0 in action from the ZoyBar community:

I dig this new application of open source principles outside of software. True, it’s not unique–there are a several open-source hardware projects, including Arduino (my favorite), and musicians are experts at open collaboration–but ZoyBar feels different because it’s a disruptive innovation in the stagnant marketplace of musical instrument manufacturing. It’s a little-known secret that I’m a musician, and I sit on the board of directors for an instrument manufacturer. Around 1994 I met a luthier in Southern California named Mark Warr. Mark makes a unique instrument called the Warr Guitar. I played a Warr guitar in a band for a while my two good friends from Apple, Travis Hartnett and Brandon Powell. Warr guitars feature both a six-string and a bass on one neck, allowing musicians to play two parts simultaneously. Here’s my buddy Randy Strom showing off how the instrument can be played:

Like ZoyBar, Warr Guitars challenges the established manufacturers with new and innovative ideas. The connection got me thinking about the viability of open-source musical instruments. I’m a huge fan, of course, but I think the cost will make mass adoption difficult. Musical instruments are like any other piece of hardware: the more copies you make, the cheaper you can make them. Cost is going to be a constant challenge for shops like ZoyBar and Warr Guitars. In the case of Warr Guitars, Mark’s adopted a high-margin approach, since the instruments aren’t really intended for mass adoption. He makes high-end, custom instruments with gaudy price tags for a niche market, and doesn’t have to move as many units to make a profit.

ZoyBar may face an additional disadvantage, because I see mass adoption in the community as integral to the initiative’s success. The base kit costs $870. Having been a professional musician in a past life, I know this is chump change. Pros pay thousands for quality equipment and instruments like Mark’s. Heck, $870’s a relative bargain. Unfortunately, ZoyBar’s current community seems to consist largely of average users. Markets can be built around a large developer base willing to pay a premium for an open source musical instrument and all the associated benefits, but your average user can run down to the local Axe shop and purchase an Ibanez for $169. That’s an 80% savings, for the mathless out there. Open source hardware is a much trickier proposition than open source software. That’s not ZoyBar’s fault, just an obstacle.

Personally, I’m a huge ZoyBar fan, and I intend to buy a kit. I’d love to see these types of projects take off, but ignoring the challenges won’t make them disappear. I’m sure open source musical instruments have a future with developers and pros, I just wonder if they’ll ever enjoy the mass adoption of the open source software projects that inspired them. So I ask you, dear readers, if you were going to purchase a guitar, which way would you go? Would you pay an 80% premium for the freedom to create, or would you funnel that 80% into the amp, effects board, and editing software you’d need to record your music?