Artiphon Instrument 1 Is a Guitar, Piano, Violin and DJ in the Palm of Your Hand — Video

Is it a guitar, a keyboard, a violin or a drum?

The Artiphon Instrument 1 is a universal MIDI controller that lets you play it however you want: as a guitar, a keyboard, a drum kit, a violin or anything else you can think of.

Connect it to your smartphone, tablet or computer and Artiphon lets you play hundreds of apps, like GarageBand, using common gestures like strumming, tapping, bowing, sliding and more.

Granted, it’s not a substitute for a real guitar. But a lot of people think this is going to be huge. The Nashville-based company doubled its $75,000 Kickstarter goal in a mere 24 hours. The campaign runs through April 10, and it's already up to $536K. We'll see where it is after today.

The Artiphon should prove to be a handy composition tool, allowing guitarists to switch between guitar, bass, drums and anything else. And any traveling guitarist who needs a small instrument to record with could find the Artiphon is great for trips and tour buses. Spontaneous performance is also possible, since it has a built-in speaker.

Check out the top video below and visit Artiphon.com for more information. If you find the video frustrating (like we do), head to 1:49 to see an ADULT play it like a guitar. Hopefully the company will make a real demo video at some point. It's kind of important ...

NOTE: We've also included an Artiphon video from NAMM 2013; it's a slightly older-looking model, but you get the idea.

- YouTube

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