Young entrepreneur Josep Bergadà has released the first pre-production version of PocketPiano, a professional pocket piano that allows you to play music anywhere and is now coming onto the market after four years of development in partnership with the Eurecat technology centre.
Josep Bergadà has teamed up with Jorquera Pianos, a firm which has been in the industry for over 100 years, to release PocketPiano, a professional piano with 87 keys consisting of 10 modules which make up the complete instrument and two pedals.
The PocketPiano is divided into modules so that users can connect only the octaves they need while the sensitivity of its keys makes it the closest thing around to a grand piano. When finished playing, it can be stored in its case which fits into a backpack.
Playing the piano on the go
Josep Bergadà comes from a family of musicians and started playing the piano at the age of 22 with a passion. His idea for a portable professional piano came about when he was unable to play the instrument in his spare time while he was studying business at university since his piano was sitting in his parents’ house 25 miles away.
PocketPiano “is intended to be a gamechanger for playing the piano on the go,” he says. “It harnesses the qualities of the grand piano, the resources of several coordinated teams in Barcelona and today’s technologies to build the next generation piano.”
“This is a groundbreaking project which shows how Eurecat can help entrepreneurs to innovate and make their ventures happen and bring them to market by leveraging unique technological expertise,” notes Irene Rafols, director of Eurecat’s Product Development Technology Unit.
Three-step operation
The PocketPiano is assembled by using the controller module with the octaves needed, which are snapped together by magnets. Next the piano is synchronised on a smartphone, tablet or computer using a DAW app such as GarageBand. It is then ready to create, rehearse and perform. Sound output is through headphones or a speaker connected to a smartphone or tablet.
20x20x32 centimetre case
PocketPiano is sold in a case measuring 20x20x32 centimetres, weighs 3.9 kg and when assembled is 16.4 centimetres wide and 131 centimetres long. Plus it is the first portable piano on the market to have pedals and sensitivity in the keys.
It is sold online at www.pocketpiano.com. The partnership with Jorquera Pianos means it can also be bought at the firm’s brick-and-mortar store at Carrer Ferran Agulló, 10, in Barcelona where potential purchasers can try it out beforehand.
Entrepreneurship awards
PocketPiano has picked up several tech entrepreneurship accolades, including an opportunity afforded by TechCrunch Disrupt to give a presentation in Silicon Valley (San Francisco, USA).
It has also been backed by the “+PiME” programme, which is run by Eurecat to unleash technological innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises in conjunction with PIMEC (Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of Catalonia) and amec (Association of Internationalised Industrial Companies).
