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Imaginary Instruments is an art project that I created to present ideas for musical instruments.

MIDI Accordion. The illustration above shows the MIDI accordion concept. This would be an accordion without reeds. Since it would lack reeds, the sounds would be produced electronically, with a MIDI system. It would have a bellows, like a conventional accordion, and it would be equipped with strain gauges, to detect changes in air pressure. When the musician pulls the bellows apart, air pressure is reduced, when the musician squeezes the bellows together, air pressure is increased. Musical values can be assigned to these changes in air pressure, for example, sharps and flats could be assigned to various levels of air pressure. If changing sharps and flats isn't your style, you could assign waveforms to various levels of air pressure. For example, low air pressure would cause a square wave to be heard, while high air pressure would cause a triangle wave to be heard. If changing waveforms isn't your style, you could assign filter values to air pressure, so changes in filter settings would correspond to changes in air pressure. Any change in the air pressure in the bellows could control a different parameter of an electronic sound.

The illustration above shows the keyboard side of the MIDI accordion.

The illustration above shows the button side of the MIDI accordion. Nine bass buttons are shown. The round ball above the bass buttons is a track-ball. The track-ball is used to control the parameters of MIDI sounds, MIDI program settings, and so on.

Above: Another concept for a MIDI accordion.

Above: Another concept for a MIDI accordion. The round gray ball on the right-hand side is the track-ball.

Above: Another concept for a MIDI accordion. This detail shows the buttons and track-ball on the left side. An accordion of this type may have a track-ball on each side.

Above: An illustration of a 'lava lamp'. The idea of a 'lava lamp' guitar was based on this. This is not a completely serious idea for a musical instrument, it's actually rather whimsical.

Above: An illustration of a lava lamp guitar. The lava lamp guitar would have all the conventional features of an electric guitar, including guitar strings, magnetic pickup coils, volume and tone controls, tuning pegs, etc., but the body of the guitar would be made of transparent glass. The body of the guitar would essentially be a lava lamp. The 'lava lamp' part of the guitar would not contribute to the sound of the guitar, it is included purely for decorative effect. The lava lamp guitar could be plugged into an amplifier and played, like a normal guitar, and when you're not using it you could hang it on a wall, as a decoration.

Above: An illustration of a lava lamp guitar with a round body.

Above: An illustration of two lava-lamp guitars. 

Concepts for musical instruments by Anthony Ratkov.  Computer-graphic images by Anthony Ratkov. 

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