Guthman Competition instruments in hexagon crops.

The 2025 Winners

The 2025 Winners

The Guthman Musical Instrument Competition celebrates the best new ideas in music, design, and engineering. This year, ten finalists competed for prizes awarded by a panel of judges and by popular vote. Meet this year’s winners.

1st Place: Chromaplane

Passepartout Duo & KOMA Elektronik – Italy & Germany

The Chromaplane is an instrument that uses two electromagnetic pickup coils to interact with a cloud of electromagnetic fields laid out in an isomorphic pattern on its flat surface. Designed in 2021 and refined in collaboration with KOMA Elektronik, it operates entirely in the analog domain, providing a responsive and polyphonic playing experience without conventional knobs or keyboards.

Learn more about Chromaplane Watch the Chromaplane performance

2nd Place: Mulatar

Lockruf Music – United Kingdom & Germany

The Mulatar combines elements of slide guitar, harp, and percussion into a single instrument. Moving bridges allow musicians to adjust notes freely, while the harp section supports quick retuning, and the body functions as a drum. Designed with both acoustic and electroacoustic systems, it enables high-quality recordings and real-time effects processing, making it versatile for solo and street performances.

Learn more about Mulatar Watch the Mulatar performance

3rd Place: Dinosaur Choir: Adult Corythosaurus

Courtney Brown & Cezary Gajewski – United States

The Dinosaur Choir recreates the vocalizations of extinct dinosaurs using CT scans, 3D fabrication, and physically-based modeling synthesis. Musicians produce sound by blowing into a mouthpiece, which drives a computational voice box and resonates through a 3D-printed reconstruction of a dinosaur’s skull and nasal passages.

Learn more about Dinosaur Choir Watch the Dinosaur Choir performance

Judges' Special Award: 3 Axis MIDI Guitar

Andrew Reid – United States

The 3 Axis MIDI Guitar expands on the standard XY guitar MIDI pad with a pressure-sensitive trackpad and a unique effect control system. Featuring a compact design and clear acrylic pickguard for style and demonstration, it offers control that isn't possible with a normal guitar and stereo output.

Learn more about 3 Axis MIDI Guitar

Judges' Commendation: Udderbot

Jacob Barton – United States

The Udderbot is a DIY slide vessel flute made from a modified glass bottle, a flexible bladder, and water. It functions as an acoustic cousin to the slide whistle, ocarina, and musical saw, producing a sound reminiscent of both the flute and theremin. With a simple construction from household materials, the instrument allows for precise pitch control, microtonality, and expressive vibrato.

Learn more about Udderbot

Judges' Commendation: ModμMIDI

Emily Koh et. al* – Singapore & Georgia

The ModμMIDI is a modular, polychromatic MIDI keyboard designed for ergonomic performance of microtonal music. Its modular design allows keys to be removed or rearranged, enabling customizable layouts. Unlike hexagonal microtonal keyboards, ModμMIDI retains a familiar keyboard format for musicians and uses a polychromatic color system where colors correspond to pitch.

*Full contributor list: Emily Koh, Hunter Becker, Andrew Burnes, Matthew Olsen, Adam Schwarzenbach, Landon Smith

Learn more about ModμMIDI

People's Choice: Mulatar

Lockruf Music playing the Mulatar with Jeremy Muller onstage at Ferst Center for the Arts.
Lockruf Music playing the Mulatar with Jeremy Muller onstage at Ferst Center for the Arts.

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