inMusic, the parent company of Akai, Moog, Native Instruments, and more, has decided to embrace the modding community. In an interview with The edgeJack O’Donnell, CEO of inMusic, said: “We’re going to provide a toolbox to the community, we’re going to provide the inner workings of, say, an MPC or sampler so people can do whatever they want.” That “toolbox” includes making the code for devices like the recently announced MPC Sample Key open source, but also offering developers an SDK to make modifications easier and reduce the risk of bricking your beloved sampler.
While Akai is eager to see what the modding community cooks up and has started shipping devices to developers ahead of the official sample key release, the company is serious about reliability. O’Donnell said the company wants to “make sure our official software is completely stable and good for an artist on stage.” He can’t let Fred go back on stage and discover that his MPC is riddled with errors. But he also wants people to feel comfortable tinkering. “We’ll try to give them a reset button,” he said, so that “they can experiment with it and then not lose what they have.”
The company plans to make a big splash at NAMM, the annual music makers convention in Anaheim, with the Creator Lab, where it will let technically curious musicians practice hacking 22 new products from across its brands. That includes Moog products, which may not seem like a natural fit for vibration coding due to their analog design. But O’Donnell believes it can be “if we open it right.” That will involve building a platform for developers to work with the analog parts of the circuit.
Other companies have also embraced the modding community. Erica Synths recently released the source code for its LXR-02 drum machine, Polyend opened up its Tracker line of grooveboxes, and Behringer also announced a number of open source devices, including a $150 clone of the MPC One called Kick, a clone of the E-mu SP-1200, the Anima DJ controller, the Ignite sequencer, and the Polykeys 61 MIDI controller.
Change in the industry has been rapid and seismic. O’Donnell said of the need to provide developers with tools to hack inMusic products: “I can tell you it wasn’t on our to-do list five weeks ago. It just suddenly has be on a to-do list now.”
Of course, not everyone is enthusiastic. Elektron has expressed mixed feelings about the emergence of vibration-coded mods. The company banned links to hacks and modified firmware on its official forums, although it did not discuss them generally, citing concerns about the possibility of damaging instruments. A statement posted on their forums reads: “We would always warn against modifications to our firmware and/or machines that could brick them (potentially render them unusable), prevent future updates, and affect warranty coverage.”
While Elektron doesn’t want people posting links to pirated Digitone firmware on its forums, it isn’t actively trying to frustrate the modding community. The consensus is that there is no turning back now that vibration coding has disrupted the world of musical equipment, and trying to stand in the way would be a mistake. inMusic’s O’Donnell said the edge, “You can try to isolate them, which is just a losing battle… and that’s why we want to accept them.”
