ThumMusings

Bringing the user interface of music-making into the 21st Century, and changing the world... one note at a time.

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Name: ThumMeister
Location: Austin, Texas, United States

In the late 1980’s, I tried to write insanely great code for the Mac and help others do so, too. When Windows swept through the Valley in 1991-2, I realized my great code would become worthless if the Mac platform sank. I became very interested in knowing how to spot winning platforms. Since Microsoft clearly knew how to make its platforms succeed, I joined its Systems Strategy Group. While designing and executing practical "technology evangelism" campaigns, I studied the theory behind the practice, eventually teaching mandatory "how-to" seminars to Microsoft's new evangelists. I left Microsoft in 2000, looking for a new industry to disrupt. When my wife quit her piano lessons after six months of diligent practice, saying that “music is just too hard,” I knew I’d found it. Hammering the Web relentlessly, I found a novel combination of old ideas which could make music dramatically easier to teach, learn, & play, more emotionally expressive, and expand the frontiers of tonality. This blog tells the story of my bringing those innovations to market.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Industrial Design

I've met with a number of design & engineering firms in the Austin area, looking for one that can (a) make the Thummer more appealing and (b) finish the engineering work needed to get the Thummer on the market.

Personally, I like the way the Thummer looks now. However, (1) I have poor taste, and (2) the one negative comment that I often hear about the Thummer is that it "looks dorky."

It's very hard to shake an "uncool" rep in the music technology business. Look at Casio, for example. Its name is still associated with the toylike CasioTone keyboards it introduced in the 1980's, so the excellent high-end keyboards it offers today don't earn the unit sales, revenues, or margins that they otherwise would. In the music technology business, "cool" matters -- and there are no second chances.

So I need to fix this problem in advance, by spending money on industrial design to improve the Thummer's cool factor.

Hence, my meetings with industrial design & engineering firms. I'll announce Thumtronics' eventual decision here when I can.

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