The Powerhouse museum in Sydney has acquired one of only two surviving prototypes of the Ableton Push, the LEGO-built original designed by Ableton's head of hardware Jesse Terry.
Ableton Push is now one of the most widely used instruments in electronic music. The original prototype, built out of LEGO, is now part of the permanent collection at Sydney’s Powerhouse museum, recognised alongside more than half a million objects of national and international significance.
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The prototype was designed and built by Jesse Terry, who joined Ableton in 2005 and went on to become the company’s head of hardware. Terry’s path to the Push started in artist and partner relations, which led to his involvement in designing the APC40 with AKAI Professional – the first dedicated Ableton Live controller. From there, he began prototyping what would become Push, Ableton’s first proprietary MIDI controller.
Building the prototype in modular LEGO form allowed for flexible user testing, letting Terry and his team adjust the layout and ergonomics as the design evolved. The Push offered a level of tactile, expressive control that hadn’t been seen in electronic music production at the time, so it’s not surprise it found it ways into the hands of such a wide variety of artists – Flying Lotus, Timbaland, Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Townshend from The Who, Jlin, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, The Roots and Snoop Dogg. With such a breadth of musicians, it’s clear the Push translates across genres and approaches.
To mark the acquisition, the Powerhouse commissioned a short film featuring Terry, directed by Lucy Knox. Terry talks through the origins of the Push with the kind of detail you rarely get from instrument designers, and the LEGO prototype gets its moment on camera. Watch it here:
The Powerhouse is Australia’s largest museum group, operating at the intersection of arts, design, science and technology. Adding the Push prototype to the collection is an acknowledgment of electronic music’s place in that story.
Plan your visit here: powerhouse.com.au.
