Words by Mixdown staff
Benjamin is for musicians who have YouTube's entire teaching library at their fingertips but are tired of stopping mid-phrase to fight the interface.
Introducing Benjamin: a physical control surface and adjustable iPad stand built for musicians who learn through YouTube and online video, a category of interface designed for watching, not practicing.
Catch up on all the latest news here.
Features
- Loop any passage in two presses — tap IN and OUT, and Benjamin starts repeating the section instantly. Boundaries can be nudged or adjusted frame by frame with the rotary wheel.
- Navigates by chapter down to individual frames — no more overshooting a moment by dragging a small on-screen seek bar.
- Adjusts speed in 5% increments — standard controls jump in large steps that make music feel unnaturally slow; Benjamin lets musicians dial in a workable tempo and build up gradually.
- 14 tactile switches, a rotary scroll wheel, and a physical volume slider — designed to be learned by touch, so musicians stop looking away from their instrument.
- Nine days of battery life on typical use, works while charging, and pairs over Bluetooth Low Energy with any iPad running iOS 16 or later.
- Benjamin is for musicians who have YouTube’s entire teaching library at their fingertips but are tired of stopping mid-phrase to fight the interface.
YouTube has become one of the world’s largest resources for learning music, but its interface was designed for watching rather than practicing. Replaying a short riff can mean dragging a small progress bar several times. Slowing down a difficult passage is limited to large speed changes. Each attempt forces the musician to stop playing, reach for the screen, and struggle to find the right moment again.
Keep reading and become a part of the Kickstarter here.
