Vochlea
1 known investors
Dubler makes software that converts voice input into MIDI notes in real-time, enabling musicians to compose and perform music using singing, beatboxing, humming, or whistling as a controller for virtual instruments and effects.
Also known as Dubler · Vochlea Music
Investors · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Vochlea Music is a London-based music technology company founded in 2017 by George Wright and Daven Sanassy. Its core technology is an audio engine that recognises human vocalisations and converts them into MIDI in real time, allowing a voice to act as a controller for virtual instruments, drum racks and effects inside a digital audio workstation.
The flagship product is Dubler 2, a standalone desktop application for macOS and Windows that tracks the pitch and timbral qualities of a voice and outputs MIDI notes, pitch bend (IntelliBend and TruBend modes), velocity, envelope following and up to four simultaneous CC values. Additional features include trainable percussive recognition for triggering samples and drum racks, automatic key detection, vocal note restriction, and chord generation from a preset library. A companion MIDI Capture plugin (VST3/AU) records Dubler's output, applies a cleaning algorithm to remove ghost notes and correct residual latency, and allows drag-and-drop of the resulting clip into a MIDI track. Dubler works with any DAW that accepts MIDI and can be calibrated to a user's own microphone; the company also sells a USB dynamic Dubler Microphone and a Dubler Studio Kit 2 bundle that pairs the software with the microphone and an Ableton Live Lite licence.
The product line has since expanded to DubBox, a tool that converts beatboxed input into quantised, DAW-ready drum loops with sample augmentation, overdub and editable kits, and Dubnote, an audio note-taking application for musicians aimed at organising and trimming musical voice memos. The company has said it also plans mobile and web offerings and uses OpenAI's Whisper for transcription alongside its own models for voice-to-instrumentation conversion, audio segmentation and machine listening.
Founding story
Founder George Wright studied engineering science and later design and innovation at the Royal College of Art and Imperial, where he started an earlier company that joined Y Combinator and built the first Vochlea prototypes. He subsequently met Daven Sanassy, a former lead developer with a doctorate in computer science and advanced algorithmic functions, and the pair established Vochlea Music in 2017. Kelly Angood joined afterwards, initially leading the Kickstarter campaign and later becoming part of the senior management team.
Business model
Vochlea sells its software directly to end users on a one-time purchase basis through its own online store, with Dubler 2 at $99 (listed from $119), DubBox at $39, the Dubler Microphone at $129 and the Dubler Studio Kit 2 bundle at $219. Purchases are backed by a 14-day return window for digital products and 30 days for physical products, and licences allow installation on up to three computers with one active instance at a time. The company also lists retailer, education and partner channels.
One-time paid licences for desktop software and bundles, plus hardware sales of a USB microphone and studio kit; the company has stated it has shifted from a hardware-software package toward predominantly software-only products.
Traction
Company materials cite more than 77,000 musicians using its products and use in over 40,000 studios, with a 4.5-star average across 2,468 reviews, and the founder has described thousands of users worldwide. The company employed 14 people as of December 2024.
Latest developments
DubBox has launched and is offered in a discounted bundle with Dubler 2. Dubnote, an audio note-taking tool for musicians, has been introduced on the company's site after being described in late 2024 as close to launch. As of December 2024 the company said it was seeking investment to scale its mobile offerings and unify its desktop, web and mobile products into an integrated suite, and had won the Raw Ventures-organised MediaTech Pitch Day in Potsdam.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
An independent creative-technology startup in the music software category, operating from London and part of the community around Abbey Road Red and MusicTech UK. Its site cites use by more than 77,000 musicians and 40,000 studios, endorsements from producers including Andrew Huang and Reeps One, and awards and press coverage of Dubler 2.
The company positions Dubler as distinct from DAW-native audio-to-MIDI conversion, which it describes as pitch-only and applied in post-processing; Dubler instead learns the timbral qualities of a voice and operates live, so users hear their voice as an instrument or drum kit in real time while simultaneously controlling pitch bend, envelope, velocity and multiple CC parameters.
Technology
A proprietary audio engine combining machine learning, AI and audio processing that performs real-time pitch tracking and timbral analysis of the voice, converting it to MIDI notation, pitch bend, velocity, envelope and CC data at low latency. Trainable percussive recognition maps a user's own vocal drum sounds to samples or drum racks, and a MIDI Capture plugin applies post-recording cleanup. The company integrates OpenAI's Whisper for transcription and develops its own models for voice-to-instrumentation conversion, audio segmentation and machine listening. Software runs on macOS 10.13+ (including natively on Apple Silicon) and Windows 10+, requiring an Intel Core i5-class CPU, 8GB RAM and, on Windows, multi-client ASIO drivers.
Go-to-market
Direct online sales from vochlea.com supplemented by retailers, education and partner programmes; demand generation via artist and producer demonstrations, tutorials, a blog and learning resources, an email list with a monthly "Win Dubler 2" giveaway, bundle promotions, and a Native Instruments tie-in offering Ignition Keys with software purchase. The first product was brought to market through a Kickstarter pre-order campaign.
Music producers, singers and songwriters, instrumentalists and beatboxers, spanning casual creators through professional musicians; desktop products target users of existing DAW software while planned mobile tools target anyone capturing musical ideas regardless of experience.
Geography
Headquartered and operating in London, United Kingdom, selling to users internationally; the company describes thousands of users worldwide and maintains a store locator for retail partners.
History
Founded in 2017 in London. In February 2018 the company presented at Abbey Road Red's incubator demo event, where it disclosed it was raising a £250,000 seed round ahead of a Kickstarter campaign for a 'smart MIDI microphone' embedding its audio engine, with longer-term plans to optimise the technology for smartphones. It subsequently shipped Dubler and the Dubler Studio Kit, and by late 2024 employed 14 people, had shifted toward software-only products and was preparing Dubnote. DubBox was later added to the product range.
Risks & controversies
The founder has cited growth, fundraising and people/culture management as ongoing challenges. Product compatibility constraints are documented for Windows users, where audio interfaces without multi-client ASIO drivers — including certain Universal Audio, Steinberg UR, Yamaha and Avid/Pro Tools setups — cannot be shared between Dubler and a DAW. No trial version is offered, only a return window.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsVochlea launched DubBox, a $39 one-time-purchase tool that turns beatboxed input into quantised, exportable drum loops with editable kits and overdub, sold alongside Dubler 2 as a bundle.
Vochlea Music won the MediaTech Pitch Day in Potsdam, organised by Raw Ventures.
CEO George Philip Wright said at Abbey Road Red's incubator demo event in London that the company was raising a £250,000 seed round ahead of a Kickstarter campaign taking pre-orders for a 'smart MIDI microphone' embedding Vochlea's audio engine.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Vochleavochlea.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Vochlea do?
- London-based music technology company whose Dubler software turns a singer's or beatboxer's voice into real-time MIDI.
- Who are Vochlea's investors?
- Vochlea's investors include Trind Ventures.