Threat assessment for gear makers: AI-assisted hackers are already inside the firmware. Opportunity assessment: high, if you hand them the tools.
inMusic, the parent company of Akai, Moog, Native Instruments and more, is opening its hardware to the modding community, according to The Verge AI. CEO Jack O’Donnell told the outlet, “We’re going to provide a toolbox to the community, we’re going to provide the inner workings of, say, an MPC or Sample so that people can do what they want.”
The speed is what stands out. “I can tell you it wasn’t on our task list five weeks ago,” O’Donnell said. “It just all of a sudden has to be on a task list now.”
Situation
Vibe coding means describing what you want in plain language and letting an AI assistant write the code. In music gear, that’s put firmware hacking within reach of a lot more people.
The Verge AI calls the shift “quick and seismic.” Before this, the instrument’s software was mostly whatever the manufacturer shipped. Now the owners are rewriting it, and the manufacturers are deciding how to respond.
inMusic’s plan
- Open source code. Code for devices like the recently teased MPC Sample Key will be open source.
- An SDK. This software development kit should make mods easier and lower the risk of bricking your sampler, which means leaving it dead after a bad install.
- A way back. “We’ll try to give them a reset button,” O’Donnell said, so “They can experiment with it, and then not lose what they have.”
- Early hardware. Akai has started seeding devices to developers ahead of the Sample Key’s official release.
- Creator Lab. At NAMM, the annual music manufacturers convention in Anaheim, technically curious musicians will get hands-on time hacking 22 new products from across inMusic’s brands.
Official firmware stays protected. O’Donnell wants to “make sure that our official software is completely stable and good for an artist on stage.” Nobody wants Fred Again finding out mid-show that his MPC is full of bugs.
The hard target: Moog
Moog doesn’t look like an obvious fit, since its instruments are built around analog design. You can’t prompt your way into a physical circuit.
O’Donnell still thinks vibe coding can work there, “if we open it up correctly.” That means building a platform that lets developers work around the analog parts of the circuit.
Who else has moved
- Erica Synths released the source code for its LXR-02 drum machine.
- Polyend open-sourced its line of Tracker grooveboxes.
- Behringer announced a slew of open-source devices, including Kick (a $150 clone of the MPC One), an E-mu SP-1200 clone, the Anima DJ controller, the Ignite sequencer and the Polykeys 61 MIDI controller.
The holdout
Elektron has mixed feelings. It banned links to hacks and modified firmware from its official forums, though people can still discuss them.
Its forum statement warns against changes that “could brick them (potentially rendering them unusable), prevent future updates, affect warranty coverage.” Those are fair concerns, and they’re the same ones inMusic’s SDK and reset button are meant to address. Elektron isn’t actively trying to thwart modders, though.
O’Donnell doesn’t think resistance works anyway. “You can try to wall them off, which is just a losing battle one … and so we want to embrace them,” he said.
Why this matters beyond music
This is significant because it’s a preview for any company that ships software on a device. When AI cuts the cost of writing code, locked firmware stops being much of a barrier.
My take is that inMusic has picked the right response:
- Publish the code, because people will dig into it anyway.
- Give them a supported interface, so mods have a safer path than raw firmware hacks.
- Make failure cheap to undo. A reset button matters more when the person installing a mod may not fully understand the code an AI wrote for them.
There’s a real open question here, though. Warranty and support get messy when a device’s software came from a stranger’s prompt, and inMusic hasn’t laid out in this report how that will work.
What to watch
- NAMM: Creator Lab will be the first big test of whether 22 products can really be hacked by curious musicians.
- The Sample Key release: Developers already have units, so early mods could show how good the toolbox is.
- Moog’s platform: If inMusic pulls off a clean split between code and analog circuitry, expect others to borrow the idea.
- Elektron: Watch whether its forum ban holds as rivals open up.
The Verge AI’s full report has more from O’Donnell on where inMusic is headed.