Mind Music Labs - Sensus Guitar

Started by slooky, December 07, 2015, 04:07:39 PM

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slooky


Chumly

The question is how much support electronics were needed to pull all that off and what makes it better than oh-say a laptop with VST's, plus a Godin Session Custom Guitar FTP plus a foot-controller, plus a looper.   
I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. - Richard P. Feynman

Elantric

#2
QuoteUnfortunately Sensus is still in its development stage, so it's not on sale yet and it's too soon to know what the final retail price will be. Our goal though will be to allow as many musicians as possible to enjoy Sensus and its innovative features.

In the meanwhile, we are thinking about holding preview/trial sessions in different cities across Europe during the next year, so that people interested in Sensus can see it live and experience its groundbreakling technology.

If you want, you can follow us on Facebook  (https://www.facebook.com/mindmusiclabs/) and Twitter (@mindmusiclabs) to stay updated with the latest Sensus news about our upcoming initiatives and events.

http://www.mindmusiclabs.com/

https://www.facebook.com/mindmusiclabs/




"This is a demo video of the first prototype of Sensus SmartGuitar, developed by MIND Music Labs - a unique mix of musicians, audio engineers and computer scientists: from Stradivari violin makers to MIT Professors.

Sensus is the 1st real smart guitar in the world, designed to satisfy the needs of contemporary musicians looking for new sounds and new ways to express themselves and reach more people. It is at the same time a real guitar, a 360° wireless music system and a true IoT device.

With Sensus you can add infinite modulations and effects to your music in a natural, beatiful way, with no need for amplifiers, accessories or computers. You can then listen to what you just played and immediately share your perfomances online. Be carefull though: Sensus does not integrate any speaker: thanks to MIND's patented technologies, all sounds are produced in high fidelity directly by the guitar's wooden body, built on the same acoustic principles and with the same wood of Stradivari's violins.

With Sensus, you can also stream music and play directly on your favorite songs, or jam together with a friend at a distance.

Of course, you can also use Sensus to perform on a big stage, taking advantage of its sound and connectivity features to add new levels of expression and interaction to your music, or record your performances in studio-level quality straight from the guitar.

Thank you for watching, find out more about Sensus at mindmusiclabs.com"



MIND
MIND'S STORY


MIND comes from an idea of Michele Benincaso, an Italian "Maestro" from Cremona's Antonio Stradivari Luthiery' School. After working in the guitar world for more than 10 years producing guitars for world-famous guitar players, in April 2013 Michele understood that while the world was changing at a fast pace and musicians' needs were constantly evolving, guitars and most music instruments were stuck in the '60s – with artists increasingly resorting to electronic equipment and computers to fill this gap.

Michele decided to do what Stradivari did in the '600s and Fender did in the '60s: use state of the art technology and design to build instruments that satisfy the needs of contemporary musicians, constantly looking for new sound and new ways to express themselves and reach more people. Music players' needs and habits have changed, and so need to do their instruments.

To accompany him in this mission, he has put together a dream-team of experts in the most diverse fields, from physical acoustics to wireless networks and computer engineering – contemporary versions of the skilled scientists and craftsmen that supported Stradivari in its creations. Among them are Prof. Carlo Fischione, a mathematician and leading scholar in IoT technologies, currently teaching at MIT and Harvard, Luca Turchet, an expert in Electronic Music and Virtual Reality and Stefano Zambon, an audio and embedded systems designer with a broad experience in advanced digital musical instruments.

After two years during which the team worked non-stop in the company's headquarter – a small basement in the suburbs of Stockholm – MIND is now part of STING, Sweden's leading startup incubator – and is ready to present to the World its first creation: Sensus, the World's first REAL smart guitar. Sensus is the natural evolution guitar players have been waiting for 50 years, and its technology is as diverse as the members of MIND's team: a unique mix of acoustic tradition and state of the art technology covered by 3 international patents.

Among the people who already believed in MIND's mission and invested in it are music and technology angel investors Jacob Key – former Vice President of Digital Strategy for Europe at Warner Music Group – and Ludvig Linge – co-founder of TAT, a world leader in mobile user interfaces acquired by RIM at the end of 2010. With them are Per Brilioth, CEO at Vostok New Ventures LTD and Marcelo Benitez, founder of Proaltus Capital Partners S.L.







MIND'S TEAM


Michele Benincaso, CEO, is an Italian established luthier, a Maestro of Cremona's International Antonio Stradivari School who worked in the guitar world for more than 10 years.

Our Director and Chief Science Officer, Prof. Carlo Fischione, holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Information Engineering and is a leading scholar on Wireless Sensor Networks in Stockholm's KTH. He is currently affiliated with MIT and Harvard in Boston, US.

Michele's luthier skills and musical instruments knowledge and Carlo's knowledge of Wireless Technologies are supported by the technical and professional knowledge of electronic music and electronic musical instruments of Luca Turchet, COO, and Stefano Zambon, our Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Luca is a post doctoral researcher at the Media Technology Department of the Aalborg University Copenhagen with expertise in the fields of sound design, music technology, perception, human-computer interaction and virtual reality.

Stefano holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Verona, Italy and has worked for many years for various digital audio companies. He is proficient in most programming languages and tools used in the music and musical instruments industry.

Our Business Development team is composed by two experts in sales and marketing with long experience in the music and entertainment world: Sandro D'Errico, our Head of Business Development, has a degree in Business Management and Brand Strategy from Stockholm University's Business School and a deep knowledge of the musical instruments business. He is the former International Sales Manager for Marshall Headphones and has 8 years of sales experience at an executive level in the Consumer Electronics, Fashion and Music industry.

Our CMO, Matteo Monari, has a Master Degree in European Languages and Cultures from Modena University and Oxford Brookes University. He also has experience as a researcher in Human Computer Interaction at Stockholm's KTH. He is the co-founder of BizUp, an international Online Marketing agency counting on a team of 45 multi-lingual experts. Among his clients are entertainment industry leaders King.com, Paradox Gaming, Schibsted and Spotify.

Finally, our CFO Raffaele Curci graduated with honours in Business Administration at Bocconi University, Italy's top Economics and Business University. Passionate about digital and interactive technologies, Raffaele is an entrepreneur and management executive with over 15 years of experience. He is currently Owner and Managing Director of A&C Consulting (family holding and management consulting firm) and advisor at EBW Capital (London).

--
MEET MIND AT WEB SUMMIT 2015
2015 OCT 29
Visit Web Summit 2015 and see the World's 1st REAL SmartGuitar with your own eyes:

We will be exhibiting at WebSummit on day 1 of the event (Tuesday, November 3), stand number is M134 in the Machine area.

We will also demo the guitar live on stage during Web Summit's PITCH competition, the same day at 14:00. We will be on PITCH Stage 2 – come support us!

---

STRADIVARI LUTHIER AND MIT PROFESSOR TO PRESENT THE WORLD'S FIRST SMART GUITAR AT WEB SUMMIT 2015
2015 OCT 23
The Guitar, Named Sensus, Allows Musicians to Use Infinite Sounds and Modulations, Play Directly on Music Streams and Seamlessly Share Their Performances Online. It Will be Showcased by MIND Music Labs on November 3rd, with a Live Demo During Web Summit's PITCH.

October 23 – Stockholm, Sweden

MIND Music Labs (http://www.mindmusiclabs.com) is presenting the World's first Smart Guitar at Dublin's Web Summit on November 3rd, with a LIVE demo during its PITCH competition.

Sensus – this is the name of the guitar – is at the same time a guitar, a 360° wireless music system and a smart IoT device, allowing players to add infinite modulations and effects to their music in a natural way, with no need for accessories, computers or speakers. Thanks to MIND's patented technologies, all sounds are produced in HD directly by the guitar's wooden body, built on the same acoustic principles and with the same wood of Stradivari's violins. Musicians can also use Sensus to stream and play directly on their favorite songs, or jam with friends at a distance – immediately sharing their performances online.

Sensus was developed from an idea of Michele Benincaso, an Italian Maestro from Cremona's Antonio Stradivari School. While music and musicians' kept evolving, guitars' core technology has not changed since the '60s, with artists increasingly resorting to computers to fill this gap. This is what Michele noticed and why he decided to do what Stradivari did in the '600s and Fender did in the '60s: use the latest technology and design to satisfy the needs of musicians, looking for new sounds and new ways to express themselves and reach more people.

In his mission, Michele is helped by a dream-team of Italian scientists and artists, modern versions of the skilled craftsmen that supported Stradivari in its creations. Among them are Prof. Carlo Fischione, PhD – a leading scholar in IoT technologies currently affiliated with MIT and Harvard – Dr. Luca Turchet, PhD and Music Director – an expert in Electronic Music and Human-Computer Interaction – and Dr. Stefano Zambon, PhD – an audio and embedded systems designer with a broad experience in advanced digital musical instruments.

"Sensus is the evolution guitar players have been waiting for for 50 years, and its technology is as diverse as the members of MIND's team: a unique mix of acoustic tradition and state of the art technology." is how Michele describes Sensus.

About MIND Music Labs: MIND Music Labs is an Italian/Swedish startup founded in 2013 and is part of STING, Sweden's leading startup incubator. MIND also sees the involvement of Sandro D'Errico, former International Sales Manager for Marshall Headphones, and among its investors are music and technology veterans Jacob Key – former VP of Digital Strategy for Europe at Warner Music – and Ludvig Linge – co-founder of The Astonishing Tribe, bought by RIM in 2010. With them are Per Brilioth, CEO at Vostok New Ventures LTD and Marcelo Benitez, founder of Proaltus Capital Partners S.L.

For EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW PICTURES AND VIDEOS contact press[at]mindmusiclabs.com

mchad


Only if you're right handed though?

Not so smart really.

Now_And_Then


I am very, very unimpressed.

Just to start, they use "Stradivarius" and "IoT" just a wee bit too often (i.e. more than once.) And I am unclear as to why they made this an "internet of things" thing at all: possibly they want to add another security threat to my life? Not that I am uninterested in IoT devices: I am interested... in keeping them out of my house.

Please.

The thing sounds horrible. That could be the microphone setup that they are using, but the thing could, conceivably, simply sound horrible. Which would not be surprising insofar as they seem to be using the guitar body as a speaker.

Not only have they added a poor-sounding drum machine to the guitar but I see that it's got a ribbon controller - two of them actually - just like the ones that I never use on my VG- and VB-99's. But worse: the ribbon on the neck running along the fretboard would need to have some kind of on/off switch (or gesture / physical motion) or else the guitar would be completely unplayable; that in turn means you need to turn it on when you want to use it, and then turn it off when you're finished. Good luck integrating that into your playing.

The gesture-controlled vibrato is another bad idea: you need to relocate your picking hand in way and at a distance that insures that you can not play and gesture simultaneously and so using the vibrato becomes a far more interruptive action than it would with a real, physical vibrato device. With my conventional, old-fashioned, traditional, non-hipster, soon-to-be-technologically-outdated vibrato-equipped guitars, I can actually add mechanical vibrato while playing. That seems to be a capability that the Sensus does not allow me, or, in the very best case, is limited compared to mechanical vibrato devices.

Shake to change programs. Good one! Just try scrolling through presets - go ahead, do it; I could use a good laugh.  Imagine using this live: it would seem to make deviating from your set list kind of tricky (and comical) unless of course a smartphone or tablet is going to be an integral and necessary part of your setup. And don't count on using the one you already have that you've already got integrated into your setup; it'll want its own, dedicated device - if you don't want to be one of those guys who lost his gig because he's "fumbling through his [smartphone] instead of just entertaining people".* 

No fret markers. That'd be a problem for me (but then, even the thumbs on my Gretsch are problematical for me.) But that is a mistake that they can still rectify.

Good luck trying to use it as a looper: it's looping functionality seems pretty limited, but it would appear that the more looper functionality it has, the more difficult and awkward it would be to access it. Maybe you can put your dedicated smartphone /tablet on the floor and use it as a footswitch!

Although this thing has some real drawbacks, I don't see anything to recommend it; it doesn't seem to have any compelling features at all.

I can, however, see one use-case: you could play it when you're simply lounging around on the couch, and want something to noodle a bit but don't want to bother setting up a drum machine, metronome, or anything else. It appears to have effects built right into it; most people who are sufficiently particular about effects and who have purchased even a small number of pedals would probably never use the built-in effects except when noodling on the couch or in similar situations.**

So, a real use-case; just not a compelling one. You could just plug your real guitar into a smart phone or mp3 player or tablet and use software effects, and backing tracks, etc, and basically noodle in the same way, right?

In brief: the Sensus guitar seems like a gimmick, far more than it does a professional musical instrument.



* See https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=1121.0 for Elantric's citation of http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/backing-tracks-the-death-of-cover-bands-club-owner-perspective.1619102/

**Note please that this particular criticism might be more subjective than the others, as I am becoming progressively more and more disenchanted - if not actually "fed up" - with multi-effects, with the notable exception, however, of my AdrenaLinn III.



mchad

Quote from: Now_And_Then on December 08, 2015, 06:21:37 PM
**Note please that this particular criticism might be more subjective than the others, as I am becoming progressively more and more disenchanted - if not actually "fed up" - with multi-effects, with the notable exception, however, of my AdrenaLinn III.

:)



Headless68


Autana

SENSUS Smart Guitar Performance
Mind Music Labs

Published on May 4, 2016

"The video shows the full expressive potential of SENSUS Smart Guitar, which allows guitar players to use infinite modulations and effects, switching between electro-acoustic and electronic sounds in real time and in a natural way.

All sounds and modulations can be obtained without the help of any accessory or computer: 100% SENSUS Smart Guitar sound.

The music in the video is produced and performed live by Valerio Fuiano, professional guitar player and music producer."





GR-55, GP-10, GI-20, Godin xtSA, GodinNylon MultiAc, Giannini classical, 3 GK-3'd gtrs, Cube 80XL, Primova GKFX-21 (x2)

Fear just pulls you out of being true to music, which is coming from a place of love. Love is the opposite of fear. I stay away from anything fear-related.
- Tal Wilkenfeld -

Elantric

#9
Through Thomas Nordegg, I'm due to meet up in LA later this year with Michele Benincaso and the Sensus development team, and provide some design input.

Autana

Great, glad to know you will meet them, because despite the criticism, I think underneath there's much more in Sensus Smart G. Today we are in need of new autonomous musical instruments. As long as does not contribute to the dumb tendency, real evolution should be supported, not hampered. 
GR-55, GP-10, GI-20, Godin xtSA, GodinNylon MultiAc, Giannini classical, 3 GK-3'd gtrs, Cube 80XL, Primova GKFX-21 (x2)

Fear just pulls you out of being true to music, which is coming from a place of love. Love is the opposite of fear. I stay away from anything fear-related.
- Tal Wilkenfeld -

Elantric

#11
QuoteGreat, glad to know you will meet them, because despite the criticism, I think underneath there's much more in Sensus Smart G. Today we are in need of new autonomous musical instruments. As long as does not contribute to the dumb tendency, real evolution should be supported, not hampered.


Agreed!- we need more instruments which allow the performer to remain in the right brain creative "Flow" during live performance, and IMHO the : Sensus- Mind Music Labs - Guitar controller has the potential to achieve that synergy.
https://plus.google.com/+Mindmusiclabs/posts

http://www.rockit.it/gallery/liutai-italiani/35723-124530



Read the proceedings of Project BBQ for design strategies for Audio gear that exhibit high levels of "Flow"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

Project BBQ - Audio Think Tank - Designing Musical Instruments for Flow
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=493.msg2003#msg2003

REPORTS / Conclusions
http://www.projectbarbq.com/reports-4/

Autana

Quote
Agreed!- we need more instruments which allow the performer to remain in the right brain creative "Flow" during live performance, and IMHO the : Sensus- Mind Music Labs - Guitar controller has the potential to achieve that synergy.
Read the proceedings of Project BBQ for design strategies for Audio gear that exhibit high levels of "Flow"

What a good flow of to me fresh information, I needed that, thanks. Project BBQ is fantastic. it is the carpet on which the bare feet of musical arts ideas and trends should to walk.
GR-55, GP-10, GI-20, Godin xtSA, GodinNylon MultiAc, Giannini classical, 3 GK-3'd gtrs, Cube 80XL, Primova GKFX-21 (x2)

Fear just pulls you out of being true to music, which is coming from a place of love. Love is the opposite of fear. I stay away from anything fear-related.
- Tal Wilkenfeld -

Headless68

If you are meeting them later this year to discuss design then I guess these guys are probably 18 months + away from having a production model available ?
If I were designing this, its the list of people I would want involved too, another good sign for this product :-)

I think this has got A LOT of potential :-)

Elantric


TheGrail

I just found this on Facebook.  They hope to begin shipping by the end of this year ...

VG-8, VG-99, GR-55

Guitar, Bass, Engineering, Production and Insolence.
YouTube channel : https://goo.gl/x4KnOp
SoundCloud : https://soundcloud.com/roysmith

Rhcole

Their team of developers and others is enormous for a startup like that, and they are in Sweden.
More power to them, but those kinds of products have had a hard time finding their market.

Hurricane

8)
I emailed them :

[ Hi Hurricane Ramon and thank you for your interest in Sensus Smartguitar!

Sensus is not commercially available yet, as it is still in its prototyping and development stage.
This means that unfortunately it is not possible to buy it right now, nor will it be possible to do
so in the nearest future - and price has still to be determined.

However, all people interested in Sensus will be able to preview it at a few events we will be
attending in the next months, to see it live and experience its groundbreaking technology.

To see SENSUS in action and know more about it, you can also check out its performance and
demo videos:

Studio perfomance:
LIVE performance:

Finally, do not forget to follow us on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/mindmusiclabs/ ) and
Twitter ( @mindmusiclabs ) to stay up to date with the latest Sensus videos, pictures and news!

And here below I will try to answer to your questions:

¿ Are you using Bluetooth as the means to transmit the guitar's signal/sounds to what ever you used
in some of the videos where live
playing was video'd ?
​no, bluetooth it would be to slow. We are using other wireless system​ ​and we are working on fully integration
with standard protocol like Wi-Fi​

My goal is to have a hand held Blues/Jazz/Rock/CW/POP/Classics/EDM/Dubstep  Harp/Harmonica microphone
able to  trigger myhardware floor FX  processor for live performances . I have a Source Audio Hot Hand 3 ring
expression controller to control FX like reverb/whah whaw/flanger  , etcetra  , wirelessly controlled , this I have
working , it's super ,  but only the up and down X control on the hardware floor processor .

For computer recording/looping ,  the Source Audio Hot Hand 3 XYZ USB wireless dongle midi controller allow's 
X-Y-Z axis control - like what you have accomplished in your guitar - cool sh** huh :) ,​Yes that is an interesting
toy, but our main tachnology a part the "sensors" is that we actually do all the processing on board, so we have
designed an operative systeme designed for audio performances, so the instruments is creating all the sounds
we are not using computer for processing.​

​Thanks a lot for your email and let keep us posted with your news!

Best,
Michele​ ]
----------------------------
Nice response

EZ :

HR

Sonnec

This has some things I've long thought about, like acoustic projection and wireless connection. Discouraging the maturity of it, yet lack of availability.


Sonnec

I don't Twitt, and I see nothing about availability, so what is it saying?

admin


Smash

Be interesting to see what someone like Matt Bellamy would do with it - the demos so far seem to suggest it's more like having one 'super' VG99 patch to play with that fits a certain track if you get me. Don't get me wrong - great demo but struggling to see what else you do with it. It is amazing what they've squeezed into one guitar with no apparent outboard.