GB Midi - The Concept

Ok, so by this point you're hopefully curious as to what GB Midi aims to do. Well, I'll tell you! I work as an electronics technician, and I really enjoy my work. I get to build and help design custom controls for big industry (mining, logging, farming, etc.) and it's very interesting, but I also need a side project. I want to take the things I know about electronics and crash them into my love for music. This is my passion and I'm very interested in this synergy. Modern electronic music has some incredible technology around it, and allows you to do some amazing things. High quality music production has now reached people on their laptops at home through software like Ableton Live, Traktor, Serato, Fruity Loops, Reason and many others. If you don't know how to use the software, no problem! There are high definition tutorials on Youtube. If that's not good enough, you can pay for a course with a pro DJ/music producer and learn through Skype. Once you've made some music you want to share, you can upload it and share it via Soundcloud or Bandcamp. Then, if you want more people to hear your music you can share it through social media. At all levels, people are becoming empowered and gaining the ability to produce studio quality music, from their living room couch (I produce from my hammock a lot) and share it with a global audience. It's amazing really.

So whats the problem? How does GB Midi fit in? Well, as an active participant in the world of electronic music (producing and DJing) I have noticed a problem. The problem is this:

DJ/Production software allows for enormous customization. Custom FX racks, custom track layouts, custom midi mappings, etc. You can personalize everything about the software and it's awesome. My only complaint as a DJ/producer is that I have no ability to modify the hardware. If I wanted a mixer for DJing shows that had a giant fan of green buttons and knobs down the middle with an oLED display, I would have to settle with the closest commercial controller available. To me this is a downfall. If I could customize anything about my DJ/production setup, it would be the interface that I actually touch with my hands and interact with. I want that to make sense to me. I don't want to feel creatively hindered because the controls feel cumbersome and convoluted. I want to feel like the controls aren't even there, and I can just think about the music. This is where GB Midi comes in.

GB Midi is a platform that allows musicians to dream up whatever hardware situation they like and have it built. As I have control over every level of the design, we can build it precisely to your spec. We can build that green button fan mixer no problem and it will interact with your favorite DJ/production software (Ableton, Traktor, Serato, etc.) seamlessly! We can even add custom behavior to the control as I write all the onboard software for the controller. There are so many possibilities. That's what GM Midi aims to do.

So please get in touch if you have an idea. I really want to start working with people who are excited about music and tech. As I said before, this is my passion and I'm really excited to do this work. Thanks for reading!