Kraftsound launches platform for 3D-printable playable music discs
Kraftsound, a new UK-based music technology platform, has launched with a system that allows students, artists and fans to create playable physical discs from digital audio files.
Developed by Benoit Granier, composer, musician and Professor of Music and Audio Production at Coventry University, the platform is designed to make recorded sound tangible in an era dominated by digital streaming.
Kraftsound’s technology converts audio into a physical structure using software and materials research. The resulting disc can be printed at home, in a school fabrication lab or through a Kraftsound studio partner, and is playable on a standard turntable.
Because each disc is shaped by the sound itself, and because printing conditions vary, no two printed objects are exactly the same. According to Kraftsound, the same piece of music printed by ten different people would result in ten distinct physical discs.
The company says the platform has particular potential for music education, giving students a practical way to connect music, digital fabrication and physical making. Students can move from listening to recorded music to creating a playable object from music they have selected, studied or made themselves.
The platform also includes a royalty model for artists, with creators earning automatically from every disc printed from their music.
‘For me it was never about the technology,’ said Granier. ‘It was about the connection. The human feeling of the disc. Music made tangible – something we have lost entirely in the age of streaming.’
Kraftsound is live now and is accepting early community members. The company is supported by Coventry University, Birmingham City University, Innovate UK and CreaTech.