Hackin’Toys is a project by Xavier Garcia that explores alternative ways to design, manufacture and distribute electronic music instruments and more specifically: midi controllers.
This kind of machines are manufactured in big batches usually in order to be profitable, happening at the expense of the musician's needs. Either the instruments have too much functions, either they do not have enough. Modularity seems like a good answer to that problem. It allows customization on the one hand, but also ease of repair and to evolve over time.
The instruments are built at Villette Makerz - a makerspace located inside Parc de la Villette in Paris.
The white acrylic sheets are laser-cut, then painted and finally engraved. The side panels are made from reclaimed wooden floors. The potentiometer buttons are made from laser cut acrylic, the fader buttons are 3D printed. The product itself is developed throughout a 4h workshop where musicians learn how to build, solder and repair their own instruments.
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Project
by Xavier Garcia
Paris
May 2023
