instrument one
with Drake Music NI
Guitar-inspired. A wrist sensor strums as the player moves their arm, and a switch changes the chords.
Instruments · co-designed with disabled musicians · free
An instrument that fits the way you play.
If the instruments you've tried don't fit you, we'd like to make one with you. You decide what it does and how you play it. We build it from open, low-cost parts and show you how to fix and change it. It's free: our workshops pay for it. And if you'd like to build one yourself, the workshops are open to you too.
We're starting in Northern Ireland, in partnership with Drake Music NI, then the rest of the UK.
Prefer to talk? Email us a number and a good time and we'll ring you.
Work with disabled musicians? Organisations can get in touch too, with the musician involved from the start. See working with organisations.
01
how it works
Get in touch. You, someone who supports you, or an organisation you work with tells us about your music.
Design it together. We meet a few times and try things out. You make the decisions.
We build it, with you if you'd like.
Learn to look after it. We show you, and anyone who helps you, how to repair and change it.
We check in after six months, and keep helping after that.
02
instruments we've made
Alex co-designed these with disabled musicians as part of his PhD at Queen's University Belfast, before noise guaranteed began.
instrument two
with Drake Music NI
A drum machine with four pads that respond to how hard they're hit, a loop recorder and a rhythm generator.
instrument three
with Drake Music NI and the OHMI Trust
A one-handed violin that sits on a tray. Press a touch-string to bow a note, or lift off to pluck it.
03
why open matters
Every instrument runs on cheap, standard boards, so its owner, we, or anyone with the basics can fix it. With your permission we publish the design. You decide what's shared and whether your name is on it.
04
our partner
Drake Music NI is our primary partner. They've been inspiring and empowering creative musicians across Northern Ireland for over 30 years, with studios in Belfast and Newry and a music hub in Derry/Londonderry.
Together we reach musicians who'd like an instrument designed with them, and make sure each instrument fits into the music-making they already do.
05
working with organisations
Making music also depends on the people and places around a musician. So we work with music therapists, SEND schools and community groups to design tools that fit how they work.
- An instrument co-designed with a musician you work with. They make the decisions, as above, and it's free.
- Co-design projects and batches of instruments for your setting, with your staff and the people you support. These are heavily subsidised.
- Training so your team can set up, adapt and repair the technology.
- Talks and advice on accessible music technology and co-design.