UWL partners with Soho Sound to manufacture and distribute invention by professor and PhD student
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The University of West London has agreed a global manufacturing and distribution partnership with music technology company Soho Sound for the portable USB-powered MIDI_Fader_One, a product co-created by London College of Music (LCM) Professor of Music Production Justin Paterson and his PhD student Andy Visser.
First developed through the Knowledge Exchange Seed Fund scheme, the MIDI_Fader_One is the latest Technology Transfer (TT) case study for UWL.
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There have long been commercial MIDI faders available, but MIDI_Fader_One is much more compact. It can be plugged straight into a computer running music production software and offers a tactile alternative to a mouse or trackpad, giving superior control over the software’s parameters. Its internal LED changes colour according to the position of the controller and via a light guide illuminates the transparent case to provide aesthetically pleasing visual feedback.
Co-inventor Professor Justin Paterson said,
My colleagues in LCM come up with great ideas, building their own prototype products for fun. I saw the opportunity to develop a route to market for these ideas, and this product acted as a pathfinder for future designs that we will release through the brand we developed with Soho Sound.
This is a simple product – it allows musicians and producers to have tactile real-time control over their productions whilst on the move, with a pocket-sized device. It is just useful!”
Co-inventor Andy Visser explained,
This is a product that I wanted to own, but there wasn’t anything on the market when we applied for seed-funding. We used the award to design and build a prototype, and it’s incredible to now see UWL support turning it into a commercial product in the shops.”
The deal enables Soho Sound to manufacture and sell the product to wholesalers and retailers beginning with partners across USA, Australia, South Africa, Canada and Europe. UWL have negotiated competitive royalty terms per unit sale and supports an important IP commercialisation metric within the Knowledge Exchange Framework.
Glenn Chapman, Managing Director of Soho Sound, commented,
From the first time we spoke to Justin and Andy we knew we had a chemistry and felt confident in the team's concept and design aspirations. We are now several months into the project, nearing the production of the first batch of MF1, and excited to be selling these worldwide in collaboration with our friends at UWL.’’
Launching under the ‘Clear West’ brand, more products are now in development and a UK launch will be announced for November very soon.
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