We are excited to announce that in the following weeks we will release our 3D CAD (Computer-Aided Design) production files of the Zoybar components for non commercial use. By releasing these files, Zoybar as a physical platform will also become a virtual one. The cad files will be relevant for use on common cad softwares like Solidworks, Blender and Google Sketchup.
With this release we envision a new design process that will result in numerous new music instruments and applications.
The development of new features can be done on a collaborative playable prototype instrument.
Hardware design stands today where musicians were about 20 years ago.
Back then musicians were already able to write and produce their creations on a demo tape. Making several copies was reasonable but to reach the masses they needed partnership with the big music labels, which had the relevant resources. In the domain of physical objects, centralized platforms such as manufacturing, distribution and sales are by default organized as bottlenecks. When creating within centralized platforms, the resources lead the innovation. In these saturated platforms, design and innovation are held back by bottlenecks of logistics, finance and distribution.
File sharing and mashup culture
File sharing and mashuping are the creative expressions of today’s culture. Creative users share the same working methods:
copy / paste, cut / paste, reverse engineering and the reuse of ready made materials. Identity and culture that were once made by passive consumptions of brands is now shifting toward a new independent era, ‘Do It Ourselves’. Hacking and manipulating existing products is one of the signs of this discontent. These kinds of “protests acts” of manipulating the mainstream culture aren’t new. Turntablism, scratching and sampling music used to be patronized and dismissed by the mainstream culture.
In every creative discipline the change came when creative users started to share rich unique materials with no restrictions.
This bottleneck of creativity is looking for more open accessible platforms to express their skills and to serve their needs.
The Motivation
While digital media tools for creativity are becoming more accessible the physical tools are still being developed in a centralized innovation environment. Zoybar is a collaborative venture of creating new music instruments and effects in a co-creation environment. Zoybar was designed as an open modular platform. The copy/paste and cut/paste methods of the mashup culture can be applied both on the physical and virtual platforms ( 3d scan ). Every cad file is a component that provides a singular function. For example machine head brackets for tuning the strings can be added or removed in different positions across the profile grooves. Adding, removing or changing their position creates new instruments with different amount of strings, sounds and designs.
We believe that open cooperation is the key to maximize the potential of these resources and platforms. We’ve done most of the heavy lifting. Our vision is that this release will inspire independent users to innovate and share new add-ons and sound effects manipulation features with minimum restriction as possible.