For nearly twenty years, we have been creating electronic and expressive instruments to make music more accessible.
Making music more intuitive
At Intuitive Instruments, we imagine new ways to play, understand, and create music. Our ambition is simple: to allow as many people as possible to feel the joy of playing, improvising, and bringing their musical ideas to life. Because music is a universal language. And because everyone should be able to practice this language even before mastering all of its rules.
Bruno VERBRUGGHE, CEO of Intuitive Instruments
An idea born around a kitchen table
The story begins between 2005 and 2007, in a kitchen in the Paris region.
A musician and mathematician, Jules Hotrique was looking for a note layout that would make the logic of harmony more obvious. He then envisioned two complementary keyboards on which notes that sound good together are naturally placed side by side.
The dualo principle was born.
Its name combines “dual”, referring to the two keyboards, and the “-o” ending from Esperanto—a language designed to be universal and fast to learn. A name that already embodied the project’s entire intention: to offer a more direct path to musical language.
The first prototypes were built by hand. Accordion keys, force sensors, salvaged components, disassembled synthesizers, and assembled batteries gradually gave birth to a standalone instrument that could be carried and played anywhere.
In 2010, Jules partnered with Bruno Verbrugghe, a computer engineer, musician, and expert in musical gestures trained at IRCAM. Together, they turned the experiment into a real business venture.
The dualo principle on fingertips
Jules HOTRIQUE and Bruno VERBRUGGHE in 2013
Jules HOTRIQUE playing the dualo beta 0 in August 2007
The dualo principle on fingertips
Jules HOTRIQUE and Bruno VERBRUGGHE in 2013
Jules HOTRIQUE playing the dualo beta 0 in August 2007
Nearly 20 years of innovation
Inventing instruments for today’s music
With the dualo du-touch instruments, our team set out to create the “21st-century musical instrument”: a standalone electronic instrument that lets you play and compose entire tracks, anywhere, anytime. An instrument offering a new way to play and compose today’s music.
Chords become simple, transposable shapes. Scales light up under your fingers. Sounds, loops, and song structures can all be controlled from a single instrument.
Beginners, seasoned musicians, teachers, and artists embraced this new approach. Their use cases, feedback, and creative hacks shaped the project just as much as our own research.
Over the years, we realized that our expertise rested on several key pillars:
- alternative note layouts that make the logic of harmony visible;
- expressiveness that rivals acoustic instruments and conveys musical emotion;
- workflows that streamline creation, from initial idea to recorded track;
- a pedagogical approach grounded in exploration and the joy of playing.
→
From Dualo to Intuitive Instruments
By becoming Intuitive Instruments, we continued to explore what makes the essence of an electronic musical instrument.
Moving away from a standalone, all-in-one instrument, we chose to transpose our expertise into a suite of open tools capable of seamlessly integrating into an existing creative setup and interfacing with software as well as synthesizers. This shift led us to question the boundary between instrument and controller, and the relationship between musician and sound.
While the dualo already made harmony more intuitive and songwriting more spontaneous, it was still missing an essential dimension: expressiveness—that immediate connection between gesture and sound, where every pressure, movement, and nuance becomes the true vehicle of musical emotion.
Exquis and the Exquis App are the legacy of this journey.
Designing instruments built to last
Repairable
Our products are designed to be repaired rather than replaced. Their parts are available separately to extend their lifespan, and we strive to keep our software compatible with the latest OS versions.
Customizable
Every musician has their own sensibility, habits, and universe. Our instruments are designed so that each musician can choose an instrument that truly reflects them.
Open and evolving
We believe that an open design allows everyone to explore, customize, and expand their instrument. By sharing resources like our MIDI APIs and 3D models, we encourage the creation of new accessories, uses, and interaction modes. An approach that fosters ownership and allows our instruments to evolve alongside their community.
Bringing musical expression within everyone’s reach
We believe that theory can become visible. That technology can fade behind the gesture. That learning can start with joy. And that everyone should be able to experience that unique feeling: playing music that truly reflects who they are. This is the conviction that has guided us for nearly twenty years.
A collective journey
Inventing a new musical instrument is not just an industrial endeavor; it is above all a human journey. From the very first prototypes, we have designed our instruments in continuous dialogue with their users.
For an instrument to come alive, it has to be played. Musicians, beginners, teachers, researchers, developers, designers, and members of the player community have all contributed to making our products not merely control surfaces, but genuine musical instruments.
In this spirit of dialogue, we share our progress, as well as our questions and behind-the-scenes developments.
