Dog Paw

The Dog Paw is a weighted grid instrument. It combines our unique dynamic keys with an on-board computer. This combination means producers, live musicians, beginners, and experts can all make music on an instrument that evolves to suit them.

Our special keys provide the feel of a weighted keyboard, with movement tracking to enable vibrato and aftertouch. This expression drives an on-board sound engine for a no-hassle, plug-and-play experience. Or you can send MIDI/MPE to your favorite synths and software to give new life to your favorite sounds.

All of this runs on a powerful Raspberry Pi 5 with an expandable app system. So you can build or install community-made apps for endless customization. Open one app to run a step-sequencer, another to connect to ChatGPT for sound design help, and then another to loop and record your performance. All without any other gear except an outlet and some headphones.

The Dog Paw has two key features that combine for a unique playing experience.

1. Our weighted keys give the tactile feedback of an acoustic instrument that is critical to natural, consistent playing. The preeminence of weighted keyboards over their unweighted counterparts demonstrates the value of this feedback. Our keys also respond to left and right movement, enabling easy and natural vibrato that is instantly familiar to string instrument players. These keys sit in a grid, bringing this expression and feedback to the growing world of grid instruments, popular for their natural software interaction and symmetry.

2. Every Dog Paw runs a powerful internal computer. For a start, this means you can directly run our audio engine to your speakers, and don’t need any other gear to start playing. We’re doubling down on this by building an app store, meaning anyone can build or install community-built apps to completely change how their instrument behaves. We envision teachers connecting over the internet to their students’ instruments, triggering the LEDs under their student’s keys as they demonstrate a riff. Or producers sharing samples on the fly at a DJ convention. Or a singer pulling up the chords to their favorite Beatles song at their local jam. We expect some of the most compelling apps are things we wouldn’t even think of ourselves.

Many of the biggest innovations in musical performance, from Bossa Nova to Rock and Roll, emerged from disparate sections of music coming together to form a combination that was familiar and game-changing simultaneously. Today, popular live instrument performance and electronic music production/DJing reside in largely separate worlds. One requires diligent instrument practice and theory, while the other requires familiarity with an ever changing world of composition, editing and technical tools. It’s not uncommon today for a Berklee freshman to have barely any music theory background – demonstrating the incredible breadth of paths that can lead to compelling musical expression. But masterpieces are created where artists have found ways to combine the best of these various skillsets. We hope our instrument can bring these worlds together in a single instrument.

We look forward to giving producers access to their favorite looping tools right next to a sculptable, ethereal string sound with a physical interface that brings it to life – plus an AI companion to help them learn the theory relevant to their composition. Or giving a songwriter their favorite sounds along with an app to record and share their new ideas with their fans immediately. Or, even better, enabling aspiring musicians today to conceive of all of these aspects of music making – from live composition to recording to connecting – as one coherent act of self-expression.