If the feast of festivals and concerts this summer stirs your urge to make music, then CMPSR is your go-to digital device, an epic crowd pleaser sure to make your dreams come true.
Designed and hand built by UK start up Digit Music, whose mantra is Make Music Simple, the product is a must add-to-playlist for all abilities, from absolute beginners to DJs and polished professionals.
Anyone making music in a computer uses a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) system that enables electronic musical instruments to communicate and controls all sounds generated.
The current way to get MIDI operational still requires either piano playing skills – so a keyboard – or tech ones to get a Pad Controller to play what is wanted.
“CMPSR is completely different, enabling users to get creative instantly,” say founders Si Tew and Owain Wilson, who have applied their long-standing musical experience as producers and performers to disrupt the old order.
“We had observed the practical problems faced by people struggling to engage with traditional instruments and MIDIS, maybe because of body differences, complexity or lack of time,” they explain.
Their award-winning, patent-protected solution (£299) has received a chorus of approval for the way it transforms music’s accessibility for millions, including those in schools, colleges, community groups and care homes.
A musician with disabilities, for example, cut off from creativity is now able to record and perform live while a young beatmaker can easily make melodic and harmonic hooks for their music.
CMPSR connects through a USB cable or wirelessly via Bluetooth to any mobile device, laptop or piece of music hardware.
Its intuitive joystick interface then turns them into a powerful instrument with a five-octave range and built-in key, scale and chord engines backed by smart sustain. It can also work as an accompaniment.
“It’s the single point of entry to any sound you can think of. Tech is now a pillar of music making. With CMPSR one press of the button on the underside of CMPSR and one click on your phone or tablet connects the devices and you can open any music making app,” chief executive Tew explains.
“GarageBand is an excellent free option. As you move the joystick you hear the notes. Each direction plays a different one so you can follow the arrows to play well known songs instead of having to understand a musical stave (the five lines music is written on).
“The pads, when pressed, change the way the joystick plays notes so you can sound like an accomplished piano player in minutes rather than months.
“From there you can play lush electronic sounds using Audio Kit’s Synth One, for example, or a range of acoustic instruments with GarageBand.”
CMPSR has been used with the Halle Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic among others and “our biggest design challenge was to get it to feel like an instrument,” adds chief operating officer Wilson.
Based in Derby with a team of seven, Digit is forecasting a £1million plus turnover next year as it expands shipping. Manufacture is also local and carried out by contract electronic producer Tioga Electronic Assembly.
A new app with touch screen capabilities will be released next year. “Initally standalone to control any number of musical apps, we will develop it into a companion to supercharge CMPSR hardware,” explains Wilson.
The company is now poised to open a second £500,000 investment raise, under the EIS tax relief programme, so it can scale the team and introduce a new content platform with project templates so users can train and improve.
Expansion into new territories is also central to Digit’s plans.
“We’re keen to meet anyone who will stock our hardware,” declare the pair who are keen to hear from other music technology companies too.
“Thank you for the music Digit” – now that’s a hook that could catch on.
www.digitmusic.co.uk, hello@digitmusic.co.uk
Digitmusic.co.uk/cmpsr is sold as part of a complete package with a copy of a Bitwig studio 8-Track, a collection of music project templates and over 1GB of royalty-free samples, loops and pre-sets. Users also get six months of access to expert tutorials and resources, from the basics of music production to advanced techniques through an online portal.
