Making Music With Your Mind

Now that we’ve entered 2014, it’s worth taking a look at how far music technology has come in terms of making music creation more accessible to everyone. Although the venerable piano still has pride of place in many homes, some newer devices have brought musicianship into places never thought possible before…

In Touch With The Music Scene

Since the turn of the millennium, perhaps the single greatest technological breakthrough in music accessibility has been the touchscreen tablet; this portable, tactile and generally intuitive interface opened up a whole new arena of potential for musicians.

This format has been embraced by music creators of all levels; advanced producers can use tablets as auxiliary display/control panels for their main DAW rig, or for sketching out and developing productions on the go without the need to cart around any heavy equipment. Live performers have found a myriad of ways to use the touchscreen as a performance interface, allowing them to play software like an instrument.

Enter The Mindtunes

However, there are other far more profound and enabling uses for new music technology – as seen in the promotional video below, it is now possible for people affected by significant physical disabilities to become music creators in ways that could not have been realised even a decade ago.

In this example, a combination of visual feedback and brainwave monitoring inputs are used to connect a group of musicians to a music production system – these new technologies form an interface between brain and software, bypassing limitations that previously would have made such creativity almost impossible.

Although the video is heavily branded, there’s no arguing with the benefits and the philosophy behind it – democratising the creation of music and overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles when doing so is what music technology progress should be all about.