Alex Moye Built the MIDI Controller He Could Not Buy

Alex Moye was lying in bed with a laptop on his lap when he ran into the problem that would reorganise his life. He was working on a song idea and wanted to shape a few notes live with a pitch wheel. The wheel was on his keyboard. The keyboard was on the other side of the room.

He did not want to get up. Instead he searched online for a standalone pitch wheel and expected to pay $100 for it. By the fifth or sixth page of results he had stopped expecting anything.

"I could not believe something that was seemingly so simple and obvious didn't exist," he says.

That gap became MOD POD, an expressive MIDI controller protected by a US patent, which he describes as a keyboard without the keys. A producer plays the notes on a laptop or keyboard and MOD POD handles the expression: pitch bend, modulation, filters, EQ and effects. It also folds in an automated sustain pedal, with modes that engage and release the sustain automatically so both hands stay free. MIDI in and out ports let it sit alongside existing gear in the studio or on stage.

A second life in music

Moye was born and raised in Florida and lives in Jacksonville. Both of his parents are civil engineers. Once they saw he excelled at math they told him he would become one too. He did, and he still works at the family firm.

The routine of a 9-to-5 left him wanting more. In his late twenties he watched a documentary about Avicii and started writing house and electronic music every day. The night with the laptop came two or three years later, somewhere around his 200th or 300th song idea.

Four years and a narrow window

Moye had learned about patents in college, when an earlier idea of his turned out to be patented already.

"If I have an idea for something, I guarantee you at least a dozen other people already had that exact same idea, but it's all about who acts on it first," he says.

That same night he looked up patent attorneys. The next day he was on the phone with one. Examination then took four years, much of it spent waiting for a reviewer and explaining to examiners why MOD POD was new.

While he waited, Moye went back to his engineering job and taught himself enough electronics to build a rough prototype. "It looked awful, but it worked," he says.

The US Patent and Trademark Office granted the design patent in February 2025. About a month later knockoffs began appearing for sale online. Had they surfaced sooner, they could have been cited against his application as prior art.

"Had I waited even a month to start that process, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this," he says.

Building the operation

The grant letter reset his priorities overnight. His weekends became research sessions, and he has not written a song since.

"I never planned to be a music hardware developer," he says. "I just found a need and I went after it."

He built the company one requirement at a time. At the end of May 2025 he signed with an engineering firm in Amsterdam whose staff included musicians who've worked on a MIDI device before. Manufacturing went to China, where Moye says the same quality cost roughly a third of what US factories quoted. Software development has been split between two different teams: one in the UK and one in India. Fulfilment went to a third-party logistics provider in a Dubai free zone that agreed to take on a startup when others would not.

"I'm calling all the shots from over here in Florida," Moye says. He is quick to credit his engineers and says nothing great is accomplished by one person.

Musicians came looking

Moye began marketing MOD POD with no audience at all. "I was just posting to an empty room," he says. He told the story of the build on social media as it happened. He now has roughly 5,000 to 6,000 followers across platforms. Most are musicians and many say they have been looking for something like MOD POD for years.

Over time, MOD POD began attracting attention from established names in the music industry, including artists and producers Moye had admired for much of his life. People who had influenced him musically were now taking an interest in something he had created. Some have expressed interest in collaborating with the brand, while others have simply reached out to show their support.

Pre-orders are split roughly evenly between the United States and buyers in Europe and Asia.

Getting the launch right

MOD POD was originally due in February. Manufacturing problems pushed the date back several times. When parts finally arrived, the team's own checks found a good number warped or defective.

"Don't overpromise," Moye says of the lesson. "I learned to keep my mouth shut as much as possible until I know for sure the things are in our hands."

The components are now with his engineers for final assembly. "It's not like this is our seventh or eighth product," he says. "Our first impression is crucial." Sales from this first controller are meant to fund the next project.

Those share one aim, which is to make music as portable and accessible as possible. Few of the musicians Moye knows earn money from their work. "Most of them are college kids living off ramen noodles," he says. Much of the gear on the market is priced for well-off hobbyists or loaded with features few people use. MOD POD was stripped back to keep its price down.

Further products are in development, including a game concept aimed at people who have never made music.

"If we start influencing non-musicians to become musicians, that would be a massive win," Moye says. "I think everybody is an artist to some degree."