MakeProAudio GmbH was founded by Frank Hund, serial entrepreneur and inventor of the pioneering tripleDAT native audio recording system, Pulsar and SCOPE DSP platforms, who developed TAN, a network distributed software framework that is the backbone of the MPA Platform. The company is based near Cologne, Germany, with an R&D center in Bangalore, India, and works with distributed-team members - technologists, musicians and makers - throughout the world.
The MPA Platform includes Tiles, Blocks and GLUE software, working together with Raspberry Pi or Arduino embedded systems. The MPA Tiles are the building blocks, using premium quality pre-constructed modular components (mechanical + electronics) and enable a wide range of applications from user interfaces to synthesis, audio processing, mixing and interfacing. MPA Blocks are what users build by combining MPA Tiles and the company's flexible mechanical framework. For starters, there are MakeKits, which contain everything required to build a Block for a specific function. Finally, running on one or multiple Raspberry Pis which are mounted in Blocks, GLUE software is what brings all the Blocks and the entire studio setup together. Mobile devices like smartphones or tablets can be used to operate GLUE via a WiFi or cabled connection.
"Makers have so much talent and many have an avid interest in audio applications. We want to provide Makers with a huge new playground and enable them to build pro audio solutions that are a real alternative to off-the-shelf product,” says Frank Hund, the founder and CEO of MakeProAudio. “Think of the MPA Platform as the LEGO system for building pro audio gear, where anybody with the interest is empowered to build gear that’s unique to them and only limited by their imagination,” he added.
The MPA Platform presents a new paradigm for making, connecting and controlling audio gear that puts users in the center of the design and how audio gear functions. A Makekit already includes instructions on installing a Raspberry Pi that runs GLUE and ties everything together providing the essential network connection. GLUE control software runs over the company's Network Distributed Software Framework. This allows users to experiment with new exciting workflows and control the Blocks with the network, exploring creative collaborative and performance possibilities.
The first individual Maker boards and MakeKits are to ship June 2019. Exact pricing is to be announced soon, although the company already confirmed that “all-in-the-box" MakeKits will be available for less than 200 EUR (approx. $225 USD). Additional Audio, Control and Connect tile modules for use in building larger scale projects and other audio solutions, will be available later in 2019.
www.makeproaudio.com
