inMusic, the parent company of Akai, Moog, Native Instruments, and more, has decided to embrace the modding community. In an interview with The Verge, inMusic CEO Jack O’Donnell said, “We’re going to provide a toolbox to the community, we’re going to provide the inner workings of, say, an MPC or Sample so that people can do what they want.” That “toolbox” includes making the code for devices like the recently teased MPC Sample Key open source, but also offering developers an SDK to make modifications easier and lessen the risk of bricking your beloved sampler.
While Akai is eager to see what the modding community cooks up, and has started seeding devices to developers ahead of the official release of the Sample Key, the company takes reliability seriously. O’Donnell said the company wants to “make sure that our official software is completely stable and good for an artist on stage.” He can’t have Fred Again going on stage and discovering his MPC is riddled with bugs. But he also wants people to feel comfortable tinkering. “We’ll try to give them a reset button,” he said so “They can experiment with it, and then not lose what they have.”
The company is planning to make a big splash NAMM, the annual convention of music manufacturers in Anaheim, with Creator Lab, where it will let technically curious musicians get some hands-on time hacking 22 new products from across its brands. That includes products from Moog, that might not seem like a natural pairing for vibe coding because of its analog design. But O’Donnell thinks it can be, “if we open it up correctly.” That will involve building a platform for devs to work around the analog parts of the circuit.
Other companies have also embraced the modding community. Erica Synths recently released the source code for its LXR-02 drum machine, Polyend open-sourced its line of Tracker grooveboxes, and Behringer has also announced a slew of open-source devices, including a $150 clone of the MPC One called Kick, a clone of the E-mu SP-1200, the Anima DJ controller, the Ignite sequencer, and the Polykeys 61 MIDI controller.
The change in the industry has been quick and seismic. O’Donnell said of the need to provide developers tools for hacking inMusic’s products, “I can tell you it wasn’t on our task list five weeks ago. It just all of a sudden has to be on a task list now.”
Of course, not everyone is thrilled. Elektron has expressed mixed feelings about the emergence of vibe-coded mods. The company banned linking to hacks and modified firmware from its official forums, though not discussing them generally, citing concerns about the possibility of damaging instruments. A statement posted on its forums says: “We would always warn against modifications to our firmware and/or machines that could brick them (potentially rendering them unusable), prevent future updates, affect warranty coverage.”
While Elektron doesn’t want people posting links to hacked Digitone firmware on its forums, it’s not actively trying to thwart the modding community. The consensus is there’s no going back now that vibe coding has upended the music gear world, and trying to stand in the way would be a mistake. inMusic’s O’Donnell told the Verge, “you can try to wall them off, which is just a losing battle one … and so we want to embrace them.”