All-in-one 32-in touch display piano (Mozart Piano)
My name is Eduardo and I wanted to share I project I worked on between Dec 2020 and Dec 2024.

Mozart is an all-in-one touch display piano. It is a digital piano with a 32-in touch display that powers a music-specific software ecosystem, similar to iOS.

Back when I started the project in Dec 2020, Peloton was booming -- I loved the concept of smart-hardware and removing all friction in the experience of using a consumer electronics device. What I didn't like, was the forceful push of subscriptions on every hardware product -- both these ideas I kept in mind quite closely throughout the project. I've played the piano for over 20 years so I started exploring the possibility of doing something simialr on the piano.

I wanted to attend to the following points
> Increasing the tablet size (beyond A4 --> multiple pages)
> Creating a frictionless experience (no Bluetooth connecting to an tablet -- directly integrated) - similar to iOS, with core apps and potentially a future app ecosystem
> Core apps for most important features across multiple audiences (playing, recording, learning, teaching)
> Making markets efficient (bringing any sheet music, sound, course instantly to the piano - 1-click/touch, without all this weird management, transfering and printing)
> Delivering something exciting, fun and new -- telling compelling story to revitalize the interest in musical instruments in younger people

Yes, initially I thought of this as a startup and went as far as a crowdfunding campaign -- which did not work out b/c I was trouble gaining attention + interest.

I also tried the accelerator and VC route -- took me a little too long to realize this, but the instruments industry is quite small ($ and units) -- rejected from YC a few times and VCs were never interested.

I self-funded the entire project -- most expenses were rent/food for the first year, then a good chunk when towards manufacturing & legal (got a patent --> which feels stupid in retrospect given how much it cost). In total, I probably invested over $40k in the project over 3y.

[Technical] There were 2 prototypes: prototype 1 was a plywood structure with the same keyboard and internal electronics -- just to show something physical to people and attract attention - prtotoype 1 was proper MDF, sanded, painted, glossed, in an attempt to replicate the designs and renders as close as possible. Hardware was an RPi4 CM4+IO-board, commodity Amazon speakers, Doepfer LM4K MIDI controller, HiFiBerry amp, and Fatar keyboard. Took a while to get it hooked up and working, but there's demos on Youtube of me playing it.

In the coming weeks, I'm going to publish the entire documentation process - conceptualization, designs, manufacturing and more -- it was a challenging yet fulfilling experience, entirely self-funded.

Happy to hear thoughts, comments, feedback about the concept and project.

As a side note -- I'm a software engineer in fintech right now, but would love to work and live in the US/Cali -- if anyone out there has an opportunities, please reach out: eduardo@garza.ca

https://mozartpianos.com
https://youtube.com/@mozartpianos

* Disclaimers:

> Logo: Funny story -- I wanted a "swan" logo and I hired a guy to do one for me -- guy fleeced me and gave me an old version of the Swarovski logo -- I know nothing about women's jewlery so I only found out about it months ago. No malintent here to steal another company's logo.

> Synthesia: Full reference to an app called SeeMusic that I used to record some of the prototype/demo reels related to the guitar-hero-like notes.