Playable Technology · Edinburgh

Making play possible.

Accessible music technology, designed in Edinburgh. Over 200,000 people have played our exhibits, at LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres, the Science Museum, the National Museum of Scotland and V&A Dundee. We also make music apps and instruments for classrooms, therapists and families, from the BeatBlocks app to the Skoog.

  • 200,000+visitors have played our exhibits
  • 8major venues, three continents
  • 20 yearsbuilding accessible instruments
  • SilverBIMA Awards, 2023
  • LEGOLAND
  • Science Museum Group
  • National Museum of Scotland
  • V&A Dundee
  • SXSW
  • Sónar+D

What are you looking for?

  • A woman and child play the BeatBlocks Live installation together.

    For museums & attractions

    Interactive music exhibits that install in under an hour and run unattended. Hire for a season or install permanently.

    See installations
  • Children compose music with BeatBlocks on iPads and brick baseplates in a workshop.

    For players, teachers & families

    BeatBlocks turns ordinary building blocks into music. Skoog is an instrument for people conventional ones leave out.

    Explore the apps
  • Rows of Skoog instruments, the accessible music controller we designed and manufactured.

    For partners & clients

    Hardware, firmware and app development, with two decades of specialism in accessible design.

    Work with us

The app

Turn bricks into beats.

Everyone already knows how to play with building bricks. Point your iPhone at a pile of them and BeatBlocks turns that into music, drums, bass and melody. No instrument to master.

  • Free to play
  • iPhone & iPad
  • Anyone can play
Explore the BeatBlocks apps
The BeatBlocks app on a phone: coloured bricks on a baseplate, each tagged with an instrument icon.

Why us

Twenty years of making instruments people can actually play

Most music technology assumes a player who can already read music, hold an instrument, or use a controller. We’ve spent two decades building the things that don’t.

Our team designed Skoog and Skwitch, accessible instruments retailed by Apple. We also worked with Digit Music on their CMPSR accessible music joystick. Much of what we make is accessible, playful technology for children and early learners. We’ve collaborated with Apple on Swift Playgrounds, the LEGO® Braille Programme and Sesame Workshop. We’ve built products for clients like Voxblock, and BeatBlocks won Silver at the 2023 BIMA Awards.

A young boy in a green shirt reaches out to play a Skoog, a soft cube instrument with coloured buttons, during a performance.
Coloured LEGO Braille bricks on a baseplate spelling ‘I CAN READ BRAILLE’, each brick labelled with its letter by the app.

Designed for the people other products exclude

Accessibility is where we started

Our instruments work through touch, shape, sound and light, so blind and sighted, seated and standing, verbal and non-verbal people can make music together, each in their own way.

It began in 2006, testing instrument prototypes in 40 special schools across Scotland. Accessibility has shaped how we work ever since.

We build for public spaces, classrooms and living rooms, and we design for the person who gets left out of everything else.

People we’ve built things for

  • A child holds up a Voxblock audiobook player.
    They bring a unique mix of technical know-how and practical, entrepreneurial insight, which means they understand not only how to build a product but also how to get it to market. Whenever we hit a snag, their pragmatic approach meant things kept moving forward.
    Rebecca LundgrenCo-founder, Voxblock
  • Hands holding a Digit CMPSR accessibility controller.
    We definitely picked the right partners when we chose to work with Playable Technology to take our product from prototype to market ready. Their experience in the space was, and still is, invaluable in helping us avoid potential pitfalls and get to market quickly with a robust product.
    Simon TewFounder, Digit Music
  • Sports Labs
    We've had the pleasure of working with Playable for over two years on a mix of challenging hardware, firmware and software projects, including iOS and Android applications and PCB design. They consistently bring innovative ideas to the table, deliver top-notch solutions, and show great flexibility and adaptability.
    John McLuckieInnovation & Development Manager, Sports Labs

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