Table of Contents

The Margaret Guthman New Instrument Competition is a yearly competition for newly invented musical instruments.

This page is a list of finalists of each years competition and their instruments

2009

Judges

Eran Egozy- co-founder of Harmonix
Eliot Van Buskirk- Music Reporter for Wired.com
Parag Chordia- Assistant Professor, School of Music, Georgia Institute of Technology

Semi Finalists

Finalists

Jaime Oliver- Silent Drum 1)
Eric Singer- GuitarBot 2)
David Wessel- SLABS 3)

2010

Judges

Johannes Goebel
Tod Machover
Tom Sherwood
Gil Weinberg

Semi Finalists

Finalists

Tomas Henriques- The Double Slide Controller 4) 5)
Keith, McMillen- the K-Bow
Kunal Gupta, Tristan Perich and Katie Shima- Loud Objects
Steven Litt- The CrudBox

2011

Judges

Sergi Jorda
Tom Oberheim
Jason Freeman

Semi Finalists

Finalists

Frédéric Bevilacqua and Julien Bloit- Interlude Consortium MO
Christian Graupner- MindBox Media Slot Machine
Leon Gruenbaum- the Samchillian Tip Tip Tip Cheeepeeeee

2012

Judges

Cyril Lance
Atau Tanaka
Parag Chordia

Semi Finalists

Finalists

Marco Donnarumma- Xth Sense
Kyle Evans and James Connolly, Cracked Ray Tube
Bojan Gagic and Miodrag Gladovic, Lighterature Reading

2013

Judges

Laurie Anderson
David Wessel
Richard Devine

Semi Finalists

Finalists

Hans Leeuw- The Electrumpet
Onyx Ashanti- Beatjazz Exo-voice Prosthesis
Merche Blasco- Espongina
Roland Lamb– Roli Seaboard

2014

Judges

David Zicarelli
Chris Moore
Young Guru

Semi Finalists

Finalists

Tolgahan Çoğulu- Adjustable Microtonal Guitar
Teenage Engineering- OP-1
Gao Jiafeng- TRI-O
Nu desine
Yuto Hasebe, Tree Guitar

2015

semi-finals and finals 6)

Judges

Joe Paradiso
Graham Marsh
DJ Hurricane

Semi Finalists

Tlacael Esparza
Suzanne Farrin
Bruno Verbrugghe
Monica Rikic
Krzysztof Cybulski

Martin Marier

Finalists

Christophe d'Alessandro, Boris Doval, Lionel Feugère, Olivier Perrotin- Cantor Digitalis
Peter Bussigel- Ndial
Dominik Hildebrand Marques Lopes, Amelie Hinrichsen, Till Bovermann- PushPull
Jonathan Sparks- Nomis
Ed Potokar- Magnetic Percussion Tower

2016

Semi-Finals
Finals 7)

Judges

Pat Metheny
Allan Kozinn
Marcelo Wanderley

Semi Finalists

Finalists

Ken Butler- Golf Club Sitar/Tabla
Görkem Şen- Yaybahar
Leo Bettinelli - STIMULiERTE EMISSIONEN KLINGEN
Greg Beller- The Sound Space
Robert Wechsler, Andreas Bergsland, and Eirc Naindouba- Motion Composer
Ed Potokar- Contriverb

2017

semi-finals
finals 8)

Judges

Elaine Chew
Mike Adams
Daedelus

Semi Finalists

Kristina Warren- Abacus
Nick Hwang- The Actuated, Embedded, Musical Instrument
Jiffer Harriman- Beatbox
Uday Shankar- Chitravenu
Yoshihito Nakanishi- Cell Music gear
Pasha Karami- Globe-Tombak
Nathan M. Asman- Logdrum+
Ivan Franco- The Mitt
Hanoi Hantrakul, Zack Kondak, and Somesh Ganesh- Moog's Greatest Hits :: Moog Hackathon Winner
Erich Netherton- The Netherbox
Victoria Grupp- Track It :: Zip It
Peter Williams, Alex Baldin, Troels Hammer- Tromba Moderna

Finalists

Subhraag Singh- Infinitone
Takumi Ogata- Rib Cage
Caleb Byerly- Salimbaa
Akito Van Troyer- MM-RT
Chet Udell- Optron
Ly Yang & Zak Seipel- Lyharp

2018

Semifinals 9) 10) 11)
finals 12)

Judges

Suzanne Ciani
Jesper Kouthoofd
Perry R. Cook

Semi Finalists

Nathan M. Asman- Curve
Hakan Lidbo- Fruitsynths
Yuxin Zhang, Zichen Wang, Ning Yang- Zen Garden
David Baylies- Stella
Tom Greenwood- Illumicube Ensemble
Pasha Karami- Globe-Tombak
Mike Richison- Spin Stack
Yuto Hasebe- Deer Calling
Seth Thorn- alto.glove

Finalists

Jassie Rios- GramFX
Gurpreet Chana- TABLIX
Victor Zappi- Hyper Drumhead
Robert Van Rooyen- MechDrum
Gustavo Silveira- XT Synth
Matthew Steinke- Stepper Rattle
Jan Heinke- Stahlcello
Matt Borland- Shruti Box
Wesley Hicks- Microtonal Ocarina

2019

semi-finals
finals 13)

Judges

Pamela Z
Roger Linn
Ge Wang

Semi Finalists

Finalists

Nathan Asman- Kaurios
Rodrigo F. Cadiz- Arcontinuo
Keith Groover- The Glide
QianQian Jin- QJin
Amit Segall- Hit-Strike-Play
Enrico Vinholi & Ben Cooper- Spinstruments
Chet Udell- Spiderharp
Jag Jayaprakash- S.R.I Mrudanga
Alon Ilsar- Airsticks
Gabriel Passov- Chord Viola
Moforte & Wizdom Music- GeoShred
Alice Barbe & Asimm Hirani- Biot-Savharp
Astrid Bin, Ryan Rose & Richard Savery- Mission Control
Koradan- Koritas

2020

Semi-finals 14)
Finals 15)

Judges

Rebecca Fiebrink
Jordan Rudess
David Zicarelli

Semi Finalists

Finalists

Laurel S. Purdue- Svampolin
David Whalen- The Jamboxx
Joseph P. LoSchiavo- Galaxy Electric Harp
Krzysztof Cybulski- MEMO/MOVE
Alexandre Berthaud- Ork.1
Hugh Aynsley- Stretchi
Bosko- ElectroSpit
Dr. Benjamin Schogler- Skoog
Ruhan Yang,Jiewen Wang, and Xiangyi Li- The e-Trombone

2021

Competition gallery- 16)

The 2021 Guthman Competition was conducted differently then the prior competitions due to difficulties surrounding the Covid 19 pandemic. The event was moved to online and the finalists are picked based off the public voting conducted on the Guthman Competition (Georgia Tech) website.

Judges & Moderators

Grace Leslie- moderator
Anna Weisling- Commentator
Gregory Taylor- Commentator
Jocelyn Kavanagh- Commentator
Jason Freeman- Commentator

DJ Spooky- Judge
Kaki King- Judge
Dave Smith- Judge
Jayson Dobney- Judge

Peter Kirn- Proposed Judge
Roger Linn- Proposed Judge
Raghavasimhan Sankaranarayanan- Proposed Judge

Semi Finalists

There were 29 Semifinalists for the 2021 competition, a striking divergence from the structure of prior years.

Aodyo Instruments- Sylphyo 17) 18)
OWOW- MIDIS, built by Twan Muste 19)
Genki Instruments- Wave 20) 21)
Juan Arminandi- Maksnovation Instrument 22)
Bradford Reed- The Pencilina 23)
Evan Swanson- TheoryBoard 24)
Odisei Music- Travel Sax 25) 26)
Sam Underwood & Graham Dunning- Mammoth Beat Organ 27) 28)
Cortex Design- Lumatone Isomorphic Keyboard, made by Siemen Terpstra and Dylan Horvath 29)
Brian Alexander- “Q” 30) 31)
Allan Montan and the OMIT Team- The OMIT Instrument 32)
Eric Pitra- Stereo Field 33)
Patricia Cadavid- Electronic_Khipu_ 34) 35)
André Taques- Rainbow Double Whistle 36)
Úlfur Hansson- Segulharpa (Electromagnetic Harp) 37)
David Shea, Monica Lim, Mirza Ceyzar- Electromagnetic Piano 38)
Dualo- du-touch S, made by Jules Hotrique & Bruno Verbrugghe 39)
Clark Battle- Evolano 40)
PanMuse & Panaiotis- Bandojo Digital Musical Instrument 41)
Kamil Laszuk, Jakub Kozik, Ida Laszuk- Musicon 42)
Jon Pickard- 23 string Harp Guitar 43)
Rafaele Andrade- Knurl 44)
Atlas Çoğulu, Tolgahan Çoğulu, Ruşen Can Acet 45)- Lego Microtonal Guitar 46)
Piers Titus van der Torren- The Striso 47)
Steve Parker- War Tuba 48)
Artiphon- Orba, made by Mike Butera 49)
Nomi Abadi- NORY® double synth 50)
Mihalis Shammas- Kyklophonon 51) 52)
Axel Bluhme- Spin 53)

Finalists

2022

Semifinalists Gallery 54)
The 2022 Guthman Competition was conducted in a similar manner to the 2021 competition due to difficulties surrounding the Covid 19 pandemic. The event was moved to online and the finalists are picked based off the public voting conducted on the Guthman Competition (Georgia Tech) website.

Judges

Gerhard Behles 55)
Paola Antonelli
Rick Beato

Semifinalists

Jammy Instruments- Jammy Guitar 56)
Tolga Zafer- Tritonet 57)
Giacomo Lepri- Chowndolo 58)
Chet Udell- DPAK: AirGlow59)
Nina Kraus, Kevin Cole- 60)
Karin Schaupp- The Immersive Guitar 61)
Instruments of Things- SOMI-1 62)
Ghasi Yussef- Nailute 63)
Physical Synthesis- Cicada 64)
Notto J. W. Thelle- Spire Muse 65)
Franz Ehn- Aristid 66)
Ken Lovelett- Orthagonal Lap Drum 67)
Dániel Váczi & Tóbiás Terebessy- Glissotar 68)
Ni Shan- Mermy 69)
Mateo Mena- The Hypercubes 70)
Stefan Licheri- Licheri guitar 71)
Grégoire Locqueville, Christophe d'Alessandro, Xiao Xiao, Boris Doval- T-Voks 72)
Nick Wishart- Round Sounds 73)
Nick Millington- Saxmonica 74)
Arthur Clay- The SoundScapers Collection 75)
Chantelle Ko- The GLOBE (Gesture Sensing Luminous, Oscillating Ball Environment) 76)
Kseniia Vasileva- KSSL №9 77)
Serge De Laubier- Méta-Instrument N°4 78)
Andrey Bundin- Motion Vox 79)
Eleonora Oreggia- Rebus 80)
Brian Lindgren- Electronic Viola 81)

Finalists

2023

Finals 82)
Semifinalists Gallery 83)
The 2023 has returned to an in person competition with live audience at Georgia Tech, much like before covid restrictions the amount of finalists in the competition is also much smaller.

Judges

Athan Billias- President of the MIDI Association 84)
Kris Bowers- award-winning film score composer and pianist
Morwaread Farbood- Associate Director of Music Technology at New York University

Finalists

Elias Jarzombek- Abacusynth 85)
Violin ASR Project- Active Shoulder Rests (ASRs) for Violin 86)
Lia Mice- Chaos Bells 87)
Stefan Licheri- Grillophone 88)
Andrea Martelloni, Andrew McPherson, and Mathieu Barthet- HiTAR 89)
Patricia Cadavid H.- Kanchay_Yupana / / 90)
Karl Gerber- Sensor 32 91)
Iran Sanadzadeh and Sebastian Collen- The Terpsichora Pressure-Sensitive Floors 92)
Keith Baxter- Zen Flute 93) 94) 95)

2024

Judges

Bosko Kante- Inventor of the tubeless mobile talkbox
Andrew McPherson- computing researcher, composer, electronic engineer, and musical instrument designer.
Kelly Snook- music producer, music technologist, and data sonification researcher working at the intersection of the arts, science, and technology.

Finalists

Jean-François Laporte- Babel Table 96) 97)
Kat Mustatea and Yonatan Rozin- BodyMouth 98) 99)
Pippa Kelmenson- Bone Conductive Instrument (BCI) 100) 101)
Anthony Dickens- Circle Guitar 102) 103)
Thomas Coor- The Lorentz Violin 104)
Playmodes Studio- Sonògraf 105) 106)
Nicola Privato- Thales 107) 108)
Max Addae- VocalChords 109) 110)
Orpheas Kofinakos, Herui Chen, and Peter Zhang- X.E.K.I. 111) 112)
Chi Wang- YUAN (AEON) 113) 114)

14)
?
45)
Acet was the luthier who built the guitar