{"603355":{"#nid":"603355","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Invention Disrupts Music Effects Market ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJeremy Leff taught himself how to play the guitar about five years ago. Like many guitarists he uses pedals, electronic or digital devices that let musicians alter how their instrument sounds.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut Leff, a fourth-year mechanical engineering major, was frustrated with what he saw on the market. The existing effects were rigid and if he wanted a new sound effect he had to buy a new pedal.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;What I wanted was the freedom to customize my sounds, and I wanted that variety without having to spend a ton of money,\u0026rdquo; said Leff, who is from Honolulu.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe teamed up with Dallas Condra, a fourth-year mechanical engineering major, and Vanya Padmanabhan, a fourth-year industrial design major, and together they started a company called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.pedalcreator.com\/\u0022\u003EPedalCreator\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETheir first product, disruption, is one of six devices competing for this year\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/inventureprize.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInVenture Prize\u003C\/a\u003E, Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s annual invention competition. The winner will be announced March 14.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDisruption, they said, is an affordable guitar effects pedal that gives musicians the freedom to create distortion sounds. The patent-pending device is fully analog and customizable.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETheir pedal system\u0026rsquo;s design includes a modular base -- smaller than a TV remote \u0026ndash; built to house two cartridges. One is a tone cartridge and the other is a distortion cartridge and they work together to create a desired sound. The cartridges can be switched out to change the effect. They have already developed six swappable cartridge options.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBefore entering InVenture, they participated in \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECREATE-X\u003C\/a\u003E, a series of entrepreneurship programs for undergraduate students.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENow much of the circuitry work is done in the apartment shared by Leff and Condra. They store parts and tools on an open shelf in their kitchen. Other shelves hold canned goods and cereal.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team went through several iterations to create the clean cartridge system design, said Padmanabhan, who is from Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EProfessional musicians are trying out the device and offering feedback. The company is accepting pre-orders and they plan to attend the National Association of Music Merchants gathering this summer in Nashville.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The InVenture Prize validates what we\u0026rsquo;re doing and shows us that we\u0026rsquo;re on the right track,\u0026rdquo; said Condra, who is from Knoxville. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re ready for that next step.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EInVenture Prize finalist PedalCreator provides guitarists with affordable, customizable sound effects. The team is one of six finalists and the winner will be announced March 14.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"InVenture Prize finalist PedalCreator provides guitarists with affordable, customizable sound effects. "}],"uid":"27918","created_gmt":"2018-03-06 16:23:12","changed_gmt":"2018-03-06 18:24:27","author":"Laura Diamond","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-03-06T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2018-03-06T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"603307":{"id":"603307","type":"image","title":"PedalCreator closeup - 2018 InVenture Prize finalist","body":null,"created":"1520345894","gmt_created":"2018-03-06 14:18:14","changed":"1520345894","gmt_changed":"2018-03-06 14:18:14","alt":"","file":{"fid":"229948","name":"N18C10302-P37-005.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/N18C10302-P37-005.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/N18C10302-P37-005.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":629465,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/N18C10302-P37-005.jpg?itok=cl5RJpAh"}},"603308":{"id":"603308","type":"image","title":"PedalCreator - 2018 InVenture Prize finalist","body":null,"created":"1520346104","gmt_created":"2018-03-06 14:21:44","changed":"1520346104","gmt_changed":"2018-03-06 14:21:44","alt":"","file":{"fid":"229949","name":"N18C10302-P37-006.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/N18C10302-P37-006.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/N18C10302-P37-006.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":601114,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/N18C10302-P37-006.jpg?itok=H9RrkUPj"}}},"media_ids":["603307","603308"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/inventureprize.gatech.edu","title":"Georgia Tech InVenture Prize"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"148","name":"Music and Music Technology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"169753","name":"student startups"},{"id":"7764","name":"InVenture Prize"},{"id":"3472","name":"entrepreneurship"},{"id":"137161","name":"CREATE-X"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"106361","name":"Business and Economic Development"},{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"},{"id":"71901","name":"Society and Culture"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELaura Diamond\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nMedia Relations\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E404-660-2927\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["laura.diamond@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}