Tour of Smomid’s DIY Instruments

Nick AKA Smomid gives us a quick tour of his instruments. Lots of thought and care put into building these. They aren’t just toys, they’re legit feature packed instruments. If you haven’t seen our other videos about Smomid, check them out in the links below: The Story of Smomid - Smomid performs his track “Geognosis“ - Smomid is a project by Brooklyn based musician and instrument builder, Nick Demopoulos. What started as a creative way to solve a simple problem, soon turned into a passion project and completely shifted the trajectory of Nick’s career. The project only utilizes completely original instruments he has personally designed and built from scratch. The name Smomid is derived from an acronym of his primary instrument, : “String Modeling Midi Device.” - midi controller designed for the guitarist’s brain. Building the instruments he uses today was not any easy feat, it required combining musical, electronics, and programming knowledge. Coming from a musical background, he decided to take additional classes to learn skills in electronics and programming in order to achieve his goals. Smomid music often features glitchy and scattered beats, sampling, abstract textures, ambient spaces, and improvisation. Smomid music draws on many varied influences and creates bizarre juxtapositions with deft sonic versatility, with samples of heavy beats, Gregorian Monks chanting and Taiko drum sounds all coexisting comfortably. All the instruments emit light through high powered LEDs, and some illuminate visual animations and secret messages through several LED display embedded in the instruments. As a guitarist Nick has worked with legendary jazz drummer Chico Hamilton and recorded on the albums The Inquiring Mind, Revelation and Euphoric. He also released recordings with Exegesis, a group that mixes jazz and electronic music. In 2008, on behalf of the U.S. State Department, Exegesis worked as cultural diplomats, performing in Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, and Kuwait. Other artists he has performed and/or recorded with include Vernon Reid, Camille Brown, George Bohannon and Jimmy Owens. There are two full length albums of music created with Smomid and Pyramidi instruments, Rhythms of Light (2015) and A Smoment in Time (2017). With his Smomid Nick has performed at Lincoln Center, and been featured on the Discovery Science Network, Guitar World, Create Digital Music, and Metal Injection among other media outlets. Links: Website: Facebook: Instagram: @smomid LemurPlex - Gallery and teaching space in Gowanus, Brooklyn where Smomid took his class on building midi controllers: Video crew: Sharan Kukreja Lee Milby Raj Jaiswal