Three years after first stepping foot in the Pervasive Media Studio, residents nu desine have, just last week, shipped their first ever order of AlphaSphere Elites. This is a huge achievement for the small team who have worked tirelessly to bring their revolutionary musical instrument to market.
 
“The AlphaSphere doesn't just improve the synthesiser, it completely reinvents it as a futuristic 3D space-bongo” [Stuff Magazine]
 
Invented by Music and Visual Art graduate and founder of nu desine, Adam Place, the AlphaSphere was designed to encourage electronic musicians to perform rather than hunch introvertedly over their laptops. Initially developed on Watershed’s Media Sandbox scheme in 2010, the design features 48 pressure-sensitive rubber pads, each one programmable to produce a different sound or effect when manipulated. Breaking from the traditional attack of classical musical instruments (think of how a felt hammer hits a piano string) the pads allow you to bend and stretch the sounds as you play creating a totally unique way of interacting with music.
 
2012 was a breakthrough year for nu desine with the AlphaSphere making waves in the international technology community. After securing their first distribution deal, launching pre-orders for the first batch of AlphaSphere Elites, and winning the UK Trade & Investment’s Exporting for Growth competition, nu desine found themselves ending the year sat alongside technology giants Microsoft, Google and Nokia with their nomination for Stuff Magazine’s Design of the Year Award.
 
A testament to their hard work and dedication, the new year has already started off at a phenomenal pace. After exhibiting at one of the world’s largest music trade shows, The NAMM Show in California, the nu desine team came home to get their first set of AlphaSphere Elites ready for shipping. With 20 ‘Spheres waiting to be assembled by hand and over 400 individual parts per device, the team had to wade through mounds of plastic, foam, and rubber, plus 15 rounds of electronic testing, to get to this stage.
 
With the first batch released out into the world, nu desine are now hard at work preparing for the UK launch of the AlphaSphere. If you can’t wait any longer to get your hands on this new instrument, catch the ‘Sphere and the nu desine team at the Mini Maker Faire, Saturday 23rd March at MShed.