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SMOMID
- Nick Demoopoulos

About me

Nick Demopoulos is a visionary musician, composer, and instrument inventor known for pushing the boundaries of sound and technology. As the creator of the Smomid ( String Modeling Midi Device), Nick has redefined the possibilities of live music performance, blending traditional instrumentation with cutting-edge innovation. With a background in jazz guitar, sound design and electronic music, Nick’s work spans a unique fusion of genres, offering audiences an immersive experience that is as visually captivating as it is sonically groundbreaking. Smomid music often features glitchy and scattered beats, sampling, abstract textures, ambient spaces, and improvisation. Smomid music draws on many varied influences and creates bizarre juxtapositions with deft sonic versatility, with heavy beats, Gregorian Monks chanting and Taiko drum sounds all coexisting comfortably. In listening to Smomid one gets the impression that anything is possible and that all sound universes can coexist. Nick designed and created his own instruments for the purpose of facilitating live interactive, audiovisual performances realized by using the gestures one would associate with playing an acoustic instrument.These instruments create sound, emit light through high powered LED displays  embedded in the instruments and control video animations.  As a guitarist Nick Demopoulos worked with NEA jazz master Chico Hamilton between 2008-2013 and recorded on the albums The Inquiring Mind, Revelation and Euphoric. He also released recordings with Exegesis, a group that mixes jazz and electronic music. On behalf of the U.S. State Department, Exegesis worked as cultural diplomats, performing in Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, U.A.E and Kuwait. Other artists he has performed and/or recorded with include Vernon Reid, Camille Brown, George Bohannon and Jimmy Owens. There are four full length albums of music created with Smomid and Pyramidi instruments, Cyber Solstice (2022), Pyramidi Scheme (2019), A Smoment in Time (2017), and Rhythms of Light (2015). Nick has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Lincoln Center Film Society,  Montreux Jazz Festival, Jojga Noise Bombing Festival, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Geographic Museum, the Museum of Technology, the Whitney Museum, Hamberg Jazz Festival, the Phoenix Festival, and many more .

About Smomid

Smomid (String Modeling Midi Device) is a unique, custom-built electronic instrument created by musician Nick Demopoulos. It resembles a futuristic guitar but functions as a MIDI controller, allowing users to generate electronic sounds, trigger samples, and manipulate effects in real time. Unlike traditional guitars, Smomid has touch-sensitive surfaces, LED feedback, and deep integration with digital audio workstations (DAWs), making it a powerful tool for live performances and experimental music production. Demopoulos designed Smomid to push the boundaries of musical expression, blending technology with improvisation.

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