The brainchild of musician and Maker Nick Demopoulos, the SMOMID is a guitar-like MIDI controller that allows its user to control various aspects of a performance — from playing melodies and harmonies, to triggering percussion samples, to manipulating audio files — using a grid on the fret board and the buttons on the instrument’s body.
Aside from producing sound, SMOMID — short for “String Modeling MIDI Device” — also emits lights in sync with the music being played to provide visual feedback for the performer, indicating if an effect is engaged, the rhythm of a delay or the section of a composition.
The earliest version of SMOMID dates back to 2010 and had only four strings. The second SMOMID, completed in June 2012, has nine membrane potentiometers that function as strings, two joysticks, eleven high-powered LEDs, several force-sensing resistors, sixteen buttons and two Arduino Megas (ATmega2560) that enable the sensors to communicate with a computer or another MIDI gadget.
A few years later, this project grew to include two additional controllers called “Pyramidis” that incorporate a dynamic and interactive visual component. Lights on these devices interact with musical rhythms and timbrel aspects of music created with the SMOMID. They even provide additional control surfaces that let Demopoulos include “machine learning” and other algorithmic type processes in real-time.
“The SMOMID was created out of necessity. Despite the fact that the guitar is the most popular instrument in the world, there are almost no guitar-like MIDI controllers commercially available. But make no mistake, The SMOMID is not a guitar, nor is it a substitute for a guitar or a shortcut to creating sound,” Demopoulos explains. “The SMOMID is a new and unique interface. Like all musical instruments, it has its strengths and weaknesses, and requires patience and practice to master.”
If you’re as amazed by this project as we are, head over to its official page and see it in action below!