There was so much going on in January for Music Accessibility.
The month started with the CES show-CES Show report on Accessibility.
We followed up with a year in review article about Music Accessibility
On January 15, SoundwithoutSight featured Lachi from RAMPD.org
Then on January 16, PBone Music and Yamaha Music UK hosted an accessibility event in Milton Keynes.
This was all before the amazing events at the NAMM show focused on Music Accessibility that we will be detailing soon!
Zen Olenski from the Music Accessibility Special Interest Group attended the Milton Keynes Music Hub Event and sent this detailed report.
Hosted at Yamaha HQ in Milton Keynes, close to the legendary Bletchley Park, this yearly event brings together technology creators, music associations, teachers and practitioners under one roof to try new products, discuss strategies and to network with the community. There were a number of inspirational talks and workshops (some of which are now online https://content.pbonemusic.com/conference-2026 ) as well as a number of technology showcases from some of the most forward thinking music companies.
Yamaha, Ableton, Focusrite, ROLI, Cosmo, DIGIT and pBone, were showing off their latest music gear, which included pBones’ incredible Soundbops, DIGIT’s CMPSR, all the terrific COSMO switches and the tantalizing new ROLI airwave. Also on show were developments of product ranges and new ideas from the likes of Focusright and Ableton who both demoed their existing products with exciting new features that bring a focus on immediacy and simplicity.
It is clear that access and inclusion were important to all the presenting businesses, and the conversations and knowledge base were at a very high level with true experts in many fields available. All questions were answered professionally and with insight, clearly coming from experience, covering very broad topics from safety and sustainability to funding and fixing instruments.
All in all, the event was a phenomenal get together and a wonderful hands-on test of products, the likes of which are very rare but very important. It was wonderful to be able to play and learn about how these products could fit into workshops, schools and communities and to be able to talk to the creators and producers to understand their visions.
It was very clear that everybody had the same passion and the community felt strong and unified with many familiar faces and lots of new ones too. Besides the new product developments, the workshops and tutorials were very educational and informative with many take-aways, lessons and things to consider.
The MIDI Association were on hand with their MASSIG initiative to answer any questions about instrument design, music communication and integration. There was a small demo of the Smile Powered “Sympathetic” Synthesizers and the MIDI protocol. as well as an introduction to the MIDI 2.0 project which we welcome all interested parties to participate in its development.
If there is a feature that you have in mind, MIDI 2.0 might well have the solution for you and MASSIG would love to hear from you.
These types of events are very valuable for the community and we would like to thank Yamaha and pBone for having the foresight and passion to put this significant event on and we look forward to 2027 where we would love to be more involved.
Yamaha, Ableton, Focusrite, ROLI, Cosmo, DIGIT and pBone, were showing off their latest music gear, which included pBones’ incredible Soundbops, DIGIT’s CMPSR, all the terrific COSMO switches and the tantalizing new ROLI airwave. Also on show were developments of product ranges and new ideas from the likes of Focusright and Ableton who both demoed their existing products with exciting new features that bring a focus on immediacy and simplicity.
It is clear that access and inclusion were important to all the presenting businesses, and the conversations and knowledge base were at a very high level with true experts in many fields available. All questions were answered professionally and with insight, clearly coming from experience, covering very broad topics from safety and sustainability to funding and fixing instruments.
All in all, the event was a phenomenal get together and a wonderful hands-on test of products, the likes of which are very rare but very important. It was wonderful to be able to play and learn about how these products could fit into workshops, schools and communities and to be able to talk to the creators and producers to understand their visions.
It was very clear that everybody had the same passion and the community felt strong and unified with many familiar faces and lots of new ones too. Besides the new product developments, the workshops and tutorials were very educational and informative with many take-aways, lessons and things to consider.
The MIDI Association were on hand with their MASSIG initiative to answer any questions about instrument design, music communication and integration. There was a small demo of the Smile Powered “Sympathetic” Synthesizers and the MIDI protocol. as well as an introduction to the MIDI 2.0 project which we welcome all interested parties to participate in its development.
If there is a feature that you have in mind, MIDI 2.0 might well have the solution for you and MASSIG would love to hear from you.
These types of events are very valuable for the community and we would like to thank Yamaha and pBone for having the foresight and passion to put this significant event on and we look forward to 2027 where we would love to be more involved.
