Listen first
Every sensor should serve the performer: enabling a new technique, refining control, or preserving the nuance of a gesture.
ABOUT / SAGITTARIUS A
Music begins
before the first note.
It begins in the tension of a string, the roughness of a surface, the movement of air. We seek new ways to carry those movements forward.
“Otherworldly sound is earthly matter asked
an unexpected question.”
A laboratory
at the boundaries
of disciplines.
Sagittarius A Studio is an independent music laboratory and instrument workshop. We create experimental music, hybrid instruments, and our own software.
Our name sets a cosmic perspective, but our working vocabulary stays tangible: string, filter, body, sensor, gesture. Unfamiliar sounds emerge from a clear design and a precise performance gesture.
Ivan Salamin and Daria Salamin founded the studio in 2019. Early experiments with contact recording gradually grew into a workshop: mechanics, sensors, and our own algorithms gave performers the ability to change the sound source itself.
Our work moves between the instrument workshop, the measurement rig, and the listening room. Each offers a different test of the same idea: how it feels to play, how reliably it works, and how well it serves the music.
OUR PRINCIPLES
What holds it all together.
Respect the origins
We identify the acoustic principles we borrow and the traditions they come from, explaining what each hybrid preserves and what it changes.
Keep people in control
Chance helps us discover something new. The ability to repeat, stop, and explain the result helps us turn it into music.
Make limitations visible
Noise, drift, latency, and wear are part of the design. They need to be measured and discussed, not hidden behind impressive terminology.
WORKSHOP / PRODUCTION AND SUPPORT
From the workbench
to small-batch production.
Four models are produced in small batches. Two instruments remain working laboratory prototypes.
We assemble NACRE, GRAIN, HALO, and SEREIN in batches of three to five per cycle. Each is made by hand, with individual adjustment of its mechanics, sensors, and acoustic response. Small differences in wood, ceramics, and tuning preserve each instrument’s character.
The prototypes are used in studio sessions and continue to evolve. For each project, we define the next practical step: improve the mechanics, simplify maintenance, refine the gesture mapping, or adapt the system for performance.
We discuss configuration, build schedules, and support for each project. Technical questions go to the engineer responsible for the instrument or software.
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