C25, from Nonlinear Labs and Stephan Schmitt, is all about performance

It’s not lost on me that the same week InMusic announced its acquisition of Native Instruments, NI’s original founder, Stephan Schmitt was busy showing off new ideas about what a digital instrument can be.

Casio’s expressive guitar strap controller was inspired by a chopstick case

Surprise! Casio has something unexpected — Dimension Shifter, a spring-powered expressive wireless controller that attaches to your guitar strap. And it was the invention of one employee, inspired by his kid’s school-lunch retracting chopstick and cutlery case.

Peter Kirn - January 23, 2026

Lethelium, a 24-string instrument fashioned from a bicycle wheel

You can pluck it, strike it, bow it, use your fingers, use a pick. The Lethelium is upcycled from bicycle parts and imagined in a cycle-punk zombie comic where bike parts save civilization. And all of this could only come from the imagination of Montreal artist Lateef Martin, an artist who lives a sci-fi reality others might only dream of. Or as Lateef puts it: “it reinvents the wheel.”

Peter Kirn - December 2, 2025