How It All Started...
About BLACK BOX Prompter
“If you’re staring at your iPad® that’s eye-level in front of you, then you’ve lost that critical connection with the audience.”
-Tory Smith, co-founder BLACK BOX Prompter
As a guitarist, singer, and manager of two busy cover bands, I understand how critical it is for live musicians to be as confident and relaxed as possible on stage.
As a lover of live music, I’ve observed how many performers have become over-reliant on using tablets and smartphones for their lyrics and chords, which has prevented them from delivering their best performance.
Performers of all levels (from hobbyists to touring professionals) often lean on viewable lyrics as “memory-joggers” – no shame in that – however, I want to continue giving them that same level of confidence but without the distraction.
So I teamed up with a musician friend of mine (an electrical engineer and IoT software engineer I’ll call the “Mad Scientist”), and we got to work.
Our mission is to get rid of mobile devices and music stands from the stage and provide a smart lyrics/chord prompter that’s practically invisible – one that doesn’t require additional software or templates and is so easy to use a 90-year old musician could control it with its three pedals.
With BLACK BOX Prompter, we are boosting the confidence of amateur players, touring pros, church bands, and other performers, ensuring every sung word and every strummed chord are resonating with passion and assurance.
Our resident Mad Scientist holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering specializing in Control Systems and Software and has 13 worldwide patents (with more on the way).
He started his career designing cruise missiles and then went on to 20 years of designing medical products. In the last 10 years he has spent” many a stormy night” developing his AI and IoT systems. His AI helps automotive customers 24/7 at dealerships. And his IoT systems have won world-wide awards and is in products by major companies in the web software and healthcare industries.
The Mad Scientist has been playing drums for 51 years (he started before he was born, just ask his mom about him drumming in the womb!) and has played in numerous Rock, Blues, and Country bands.
The Mad Scientist recently stumbled upon a competitor’s prompter (he literally tripped over it at a rehearsal). He checked it out and said, “I can do better”. He teamed up with marketing expert Tory and the BLACK BOX Prompter was born.
The BLACK BOX Prompters include expert software written specifically for musicians by musicians.
The founders even use their own products in all of their rehearsals and performances! The goal is to enable musicians to engage with their audience and have the confidence to give their best performance – without being glued to a mobile device.
The Mad Scientist
Cos Roppolo, QA Engineer
Our expert QA person Cos, (Coz) joined our team after receiving and using our BLACK BOX. He is a seasoned lead vocalist for a popular East Coast party, dance and rock band.
“I used your prompter and loved it! No more using my iPad on stage. As a lead singer with a constantly changing song lists, it’s hard to remember the lyrics to all the songs. This is a game changer and a great way to step away from the iPad and have a clear vision to the audience.”
With 20+ years of professional software quality assurance background, the Mad Scientist is thrilled to have Cos on board to help make BLACK BOX Prompter as user friendly as possible.