Chapter 1 - The Beginning - Gamechanger Audio

Like all great things, Gamechanger Audio was born out of a mixture of dreams, friendship, optimism and dedication.

THE BEGINNING

In the early days of music tech - each new piece of equipment had the power to spark a new wave of musical expression - sometimes even creating whole new subgenres of music. These days it is generally considered that “everything’s been done already” and yet we have always been convinced that there are still many undiscovered electronic ideas and musical instruments out there in the ether, just waiting to be brought to life.

That is why we gave ourselves the bold name “Gamechanger Audio” - so it serves as a constant reminder that each new product is a challenge to create something that’s never been done before.

We started out in 2015 with an idea to build a piano-style sustain pedal for guitars and all melodic instruments, and over the years, Gamechanger Audio has become one of the most standout brands in the industry.
Here's the story!

Back in 2015 – after three years of music studies (and struggles) in London, guitarist Ilja Krumins moves back to Riga, Latvia with an idea to start a music technology company. After spending 6 months on his first project (an automatic BIGSBY tremolo arm) Ilja meets Kristaps Kalva and Martins Melkis – two new players on the local Rockabilly scene – only to discover that their primary occupation is in electronics and engineering.

The guys immediately head to the local pub (Leningrad Cafe) to get pints and discuss a new type of guitar effect - something that has been brewing in Ilja’s imagination for a while.

“It’s gonna be called PLUS, it's gonna look like a piano pedal and it’s gonna produce the same sustain / sostenuto effect but only for guitars and bass.”

As anyone who's played in trios knows - filling up spaces between individual lines can often be a real struggle, and even clever use of delay and reverb can only do so much...

Kristaps and Martins like the PLUS Pedal idea a lot and agree to come on board. A handshake seals the deal and the guys agree to start building this thing...

The following week the guys set up a basic workspace in Ilja's apartment and the development process begins: weekday evenings 7pm - 12:00pm and throughout the weekends. Martins begins writing the code, Kristaps starts drawing the PCB’s while Ilja keeps the coffee and ideas flowing.

To achieve the PLUS Pedal’s final design, Ilja brings on board a local artist and mechanical engineer Fricis Kalvelis - together they go through multiple stages of mechanical design, prototyping, and graphic design.

“We can probably build this in like 2-3 months.”

November 2016

It’s been 15 months of software development, engineering work and multiple iterations of the pedal’s mechanical design - the first two hand-built PLUS Pedal units with a playable firmware are finally ready.

The guys have already been test-driving the early prototypes with local players for a while, but now it was the right time to get feedback from bigger artists - the guys manage to show the PLUS Pedal to John Scofield & Avi Bortnick, Tommy Emmanuel and Kurt Rosenwinkel. At this point it became clear that the PLUS Pedal needs to go to market.

Ilja invites his former school-mate, the business-savvy Didzis Dubovskis to join the team and thus become the fourth founding member of Gamechanger Audio.

Kristaps, Didzis and Mārtiņš in the first workspace

The company was officially registered in Riga, Latvia in December 2016.

In the early days of music tech - each new piece and design idea had the power to spark a new wave of musical expression - sometimes even creating whole new subgenres of music. These days it is generally considered that “everything’s been done already” and yet we have always been convinced that there are still many undiscovered electronic ideas and musical instruments out there in the ether, just waiting to be brought to life.

That is why we gave ourselves the bold name “Gamechanger Audio” - so it serves as a constant reminder that each new product is a challenge to create something that’s never been done before.

We started out in 2015 with an idea to build a piano-style sustain pedal for guitars and all melodic instruments, and over the years, Gamechanger Audio has become one of the most standout brands in the industry.

THE BEGINNING

Like all great things, Gamechanger Audio was born out of a mixture of passion, dedication, friendship and optimism.

“It’s gonna be called PLUS, it's gonna look like a piano pedal and it’s gonna produce the same sustain / sostenuto effect but only for guitars and bass.”

The guys immediately head to the local pub (Leningrad Cafe) to get pints and discuss a new type of guitar effect - something that has been brewing in Ilja’s imagination for a while.

“We can probably build this in like 2-3 months.”

November 2016

The guys have already been test-driving the early prototypes with local players for a while, but now it was the right time to get feedback from bigger artists - the guys manage to show the PLUS Pedal to John Scofield & Avi Bortnick, Tommy Emmanuel and Kurt Rosenwinkel. At this point it became clear that the PLUS Pedal needs to go to market.

Ilja invites his former school-mate, the business-savvy Didzis Dubovskis to join the team and thus become the fourth founding member of Gamechanger Audio.

The company was officially registered in Riga, Latvia in December 2016.

THE BEGINNING

That is why we gave ourselves the bold name “Gamechanger Audio” - so it serves as a constant reminder that each new product is a challenge to create something that’s never been done before.

We started out in 2015 with an idea to build a piano-style sustain pedal for guitars and all melodic instruments, and over the years, Gamechanger Audio has become one of the most standout brands in the industry.
Here's the story!

THE BEGINNING

USEFUL INFORMATION

CONTACT US

News and Subscriber-only deals

THE BEGINNING

That is why we gave ourselves the bold name “Gamechanger Audio” - so it serves as a constant reminder that each new product is a challenge to create something that’s never been done before.

We started out in 2015 with an idea to build a piano-style sustain pedal for guitars and all melodic instruments, and over the years, Gamechanger Audio has become one of the most standout brands in the industry. Here's the story!

THE BEGINNING

USEFUL INFORMATION

CONTACT US

News and Subscriber-only deals

We started out in 2015 with an idea to build a piano-style sustain pedal for guitars and all melodic instruments, and over the years, Gamechanger Audio has become one of the most standout brands in the industry.
Here's the story!