Curt Malouin has two loves: engineering and music. He recently combined the two to create a third passion project,
Red Panda. The startup is now Malouin's full-time gig making digital guitar pedals for musicians of all stripes.
Guitar pedals have traditionally been pieces of technology that operate on analog systems. Malouin, a University of Michigan electrical engineering graduate, took his experience of creating analog circuitry for the automotive industry and applied it to guitar pedals. The result is a new guitar pedal that is focused on digital signal processing that can be used by guitarist, bass players and even DJs.
"They are very tweakable," Malouin says. "There are a lot of adjustment you can make to the sound."
He launched Red Panda in 2009 to begin commercializing this technology. He turned it into his full-time job last year and is in the process of adding his first employee to help with assembly. It also recently moved into its first office in the
Green Garage in Midtown.
Red Panda now offers three guitar pedals, including a reverb pedal that gives musicians more control over the sound that the company released last year. Its flagship product is The Particle, a guitar pedal that allows musicians to chop up sounds with granular synthesis. That technology was once only accessible on a laptop. The Particle transfers that power to a guitar pedal.
The boutique company has watched its sales double in the last year, but is still working at a low sales volume. Malouin expects to grow those sales over the rest of this year as his company comes out with new products, ups its production and continues to successfully marry its creator's two passions, engineering and music.
"I can combine these two interests to create a way for people to create really cool music," Malouin.
Source: Curt Malouin, owner of Red Panda
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.