Maynooth University spinout launches new music creation app

Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 00:00

Maynooth University spinout, 'Surface Tension,' has launched 'Intunative,' a unique musical instrument for tablets.

Founded by Simon Kenny and Dr Patrick McGlynn, both graduates of the University, the new app is inspired by research from McGlynn’s PhD dissertation 'Interaction Design for Digital Musical Instruments.'

The new musical instrument app enables users to sculpt sound with a unique gestural interface.

Simon Kenny, BA Music Tech graduate, said: "Over the last few months the app really came together and we’ve had great feedback about it. The University is the ideal place to incubate our ideas and has been very supportive, especially Owen Laverty in the Commercialisation Office,  and colleagues in Music Technology, such as Victor Lazzarini, Gordon Delap and Shane Byrne. We’re very excited to see what the future has in store for us at Surface Tension."

“By winning first place in the University's annual Student Entrepreneur competition, we were able to incorporate 'Surface Tension' and bring our app to market using the prize money as seed capital. 'Intunative' is just the start of our contribution to the world of innovative, easy to use and expressive music software,” Simon said.

The app comes in a free version and a paid version. The free version restricts users to one sound program and access to a tutorial. The paid version includes 9 sound programs, access to the tutorial, and in January will offer users the ability to expand their sound program libraries with low cost in-app purchases.

The app is available on the Google Play Store. ​Intunative for iPad will launch in early 2015.