Bringing the latest concept in professional music keyboards within the reach of amateurs, Minima collaborated with Cambridge Micro Engineering (CME) and C-Thru Music to create the AXIS 49, a USB plug and play version of the revolutionary AXIS 64 hexagonal electronic keyboard.
Minima had already worked with C-Thru Music to produce the original AXIS 64, the company’s first, full-size electronic keyboard featuring a revolutionary new key layout. The key shapes are tessellating hexagons, forming a Harmonic Table, where every single, double or triple key-press creates a harmonic sound – something a regular shaped keyboard cannot achieve.
The AXIS 64 – a professional midi-controller – has been widely applauded by top musicians and record producers alike: Darren Price of Underworld, the English electronic group best known for ‘Born Slippy NUXX,’ used in the hit 1996 film Trainspotting confirmed that: ‘It allows you to make note combinations that you’d never dream of on a piano keyboard.’
In order to fulfil the latest brief and bring the benefits of the smaller AXIS 49 instrument to the home/studio market, Minima’s design is powered by USB as a plug and play peripheral for laptops and home computers.
The first phase of design was itself set to music, with Minima’s designers selecting music styles and associated ‘lifestyle’ products for four themes: Melodic, Technologic, Audiobridge and Sound-Kraft. Unique designs were created to fit each of the styles and this audiovisual approach helped Minima’s clients identify which of the four diverse routes should reflect their brand best and provide maximum appeal to musicians.
