Guitar/Synth Combo Is Perfect for a One-Person Band

Some of our younger readers may not remember this, but there was a time when you needed an entire group of people to make music. Now you can direct an entire orchestra on your computer, but it used to be that you needed actual people to play instruments. The exception was the one-person band, where a single musician would strap many instruments to themselves and play them all. This guitar that has been outfitted with a synthesizer is the modern equivalent of that classic setup.

Sputnik was created by Remy Sefi and David Or, and it has everything necessary for a one-person band. Sputnik started its life as an Ibanez Artcore AS53 semi-hollow body electric guitar — well known for providing full, warm tones on a budget. Sefi and Or then added several Arduinos inside the body of the guitar to synthesize digital sounds. Those Arduino synthesizers work with a MIDI pickup for the strings, and Bluetooth MIDI arcade buttons combined with MIDI motion control and knobs.

The buttons can be used like a traditional synthesizer to create and loop drum beats and notes, and the motion control and MIDI pickup can be used for more complex sounds. There is even an LED matrix visualizer for added flair. Put that all together, and you have an instrument that allows one musician to play a complex song completely solo. In the video, Sefi demonstrates Sputnik’s potential by playing a rather catchy song all on the one instrument.