Music Technology Hackathon: Build the Future of Creative Tools
Date: 6–7 June 2026
Location: Boston, MA, USA (co-hosted with Berklee)
Context: Immediately following the Berklee AIMS conference
Join us in Boston for a 2-day, hands-on music technology hackathon, right after the Berklee AIMS conference.
This event brings together developers, artists, researchers, product thinkers, and sound obsessives to prototype new tools for music creation, performance and listening. Whether you're a seasoned audio DSP engineer, a web developer, a performer, or a student just getting started in music tech, you're welcome.
Building on the conversations and research shared at AIMS, teams will have two intense days to turn ideas into working prototypes. Expect a mix of rapid ideation, mentoring, deep focus time, and informal sharing with peers.
You can arrive with a project idea or form a team on site. We'll help match participants into small groups (typically 3–4 people) so that each team has a blend of skills across coding, sound, design, and user experience.
In particular, we are inviting Berklee musicians and artists to play a leading role in teams: bringing artistic visions, defining musical use cases, and shaping what success looks like for each project. Teams will be formed around strong creative directions from Berklee students, alumni, and faculty, then paired with technologists who can help realise those ideas.
Throughout the weekend, mentors from Music Hackspace, Berklee, and industry partners will be available to support you on topics such as audio programming, generative AI, UX for creative tools, and taking research prototypes toward real-world products.
Challenges
MuseHub Challenge
Build a creative music product that could launch on MuseHub
What teams can build
How to Get Started
Audiotool Challenge
Build a creative music product that could launch on Audiotool
What teams can build
How to Get Started
Ableton Challenge
Challenge details coming soon
Themes & Example Projects
Creative Tools for Musicians
- Performance tools that extend instruments on stage
- Composition assistants and idea-generation workflows
- Experimental interfaces for live, collaborative improvisation
From Research to Practice
- Prototyping tools inspired by AIMS research papers
- Bringing MIR / ML models into creators' hands
- Bridging DAWs, plugins, and web-based workflows
Accessibility & Inclusion
- Interfaces for disabled musicians and new audiences
- Tools that lower the barrier to music making
- Collaborative environments for remote or hybrid teams
New Listening Experiences
- Adaptive and interactive listening formats
- Spatial and immersive audio experiments
- Playful tools for discovering music in new ways
Schedule at a Glance
Day 1 – Saturday 6 June
- Welcome, introductions and overview of the hackathon
- Team formation and idea pitches, with a special focus on concepts led by Berklee musicians and AIMS participants
- Hacking sessions with mentor support
- Evening check-in and informal demos
Day 2 – Sunday 7 June
- Final hacking sprint and polishing
- Public demos and jury presentations
- Feedback, awards, and next steps
Exact times and room locations will be announced closer to the event and shared with all registered participants.
Who Should Join
The hackathon is open to participants from AIMS and the wider Boston community. You don't need prior hackathon experience, only curiosity and a willingness to collaborate.
- Berklee students, alumni, and faculty who want to lead or shape projects as artists
- Producers, performers, and composers looking to prototype new tools and workflows
- Audio and music technologists
- Students and researchers in music, CS, and related fields
- Designers, product managers, and UX researchers
- Anyone excited about building tools for music
You don't need to code to be central to a team. We're explicitly looking for Berklee musicians and artists to act as creative leads, defining problems, curating sounds and workflows, and guiding the product vision.
We'll help you find a team that matches your interests and skills so you can focus on building something meaningful over the weekend.
Prizes & Opportunities
Recognition & Showcases
A jury including representatives from Berklee, Music Hackspace, and industry partners will select standout projects to highlight. Selected teams may be invited to share their work in follow-up showcases, talks, or blog features.
Pathways Beyond the Weekend
The goal is not just a weekend demo, but to help promising ideas move toward real-world impact—whether as research tools, open-source projects, or commercial products. We'll share opportunities for continuing your work with the broader Music Hackspace and Berklee communities.
Intellectual Property (IP)
Who owns what you build
We want teams to build boldly, and we want this to be clear from day one:
- Your team keeps 100% ownership of what you create during the hackathon.
- Music Hackspace, Berklee, and sponsors do not take ownership of your project IP.
- You're free to continue developing your project after the event (open-source it, commercialise it, publish it, etc.).
Using sponsor APIs, SDKs, or tools
Many teams will use sponsor-provided APIs or developer platforms. That's welcome — just keep in mind:
- You still own your project code, design, content, and ideas.
- Your use of a sponsor's API or SDK is subject to that sponsor's licence and terms of use.
- This means your project may depend on that sponsor technology for some features (for example API access, usage limits, commercial terms, attribution requirements).
In simple terms: you own what you build; sponsors own their platforms. If you want to ship your project beyond the hackathon, check the relevant sponsor terms first.
Team contributions
- By joining a team, participants agree that team members can use and present the shared hackathon project or demo.
- If your team plans to continue after the event, we strongly recommend agreeing in writing on ownership splits, licensing, and future use.
Co-Hosts
This event is organised by Music Hackspace in collaboration with Berklee, as a practical, hands-on complement to the AIMS conference.
Sponsors
Special thanks to our sponsors for making this hackathon possible. See the Challenges section above for full details on each track.
How to Take Part
Capacity is limited. To help us plan teams and logistics, please register using the form. We'll follow up with details on how to confirm your spot, what to bring, and how to prepare.
If you're presenting at AIMS or bringing existing research, you're very welcome to build on that work during the hackathon.
In the registration form you'll be able to tell us if you're a Berklee musician or artist and whether you'd like to act as a "creative lead" for a team. We'll use this to prioritise forming teams around strong artistic ideas and to match you with developers and technologists.