Tag Archives: Blackrock Neurotech

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and music composition

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Brain implant recipient Galen Buckwalter and his wife, Deborah, play together in the LA-based punk band Siggy (source: courtesy of Blackrock Neurotech). [downloaded from https://engtechnica.com/music-composed-directly-from-neural-signals/]

h/t to Jose Ruben Rodriguez Fuentes’ one line April 1, 2026 posting “Meet the Man Making Music With His Brain Implant” posting on Lifeboat

Ruchika Saini’s March 31, 2026 article on ENG technica provides some technical detail about the musician and his brain-computer interface (BCI) Note: A link has been removed,

Music Composed Directly from Neural Signals

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A new chapter in brain-computer interface research is emerging, one that extends beyond restoring movement or communication into the realm of creative expression. The Wired.com article profiles Galen Buckwalter, a 69-year-old quadriplegic who is using implanted neural devices to compose music directly from his brain activity.

Buckwalter received six implanted electrode arrays developed by Blackrock Neurotech as part of a research study. These implants detect neural signals associated with intended movement and translate them into digital commands. Initially designed to help paralyzed individuals control computers or regain limited sensation, the system has evolved in his case into a tool for artistic creation.

Working with a researcher at the California Institute of Technology, Buckwalter uses an algorithm that maps specific brain activity to musical tones. Instead of pressing keys or strumming strings, he imagines movements, and the system converts those signals into sound through a virtual interface. The result is a form of composition that bypasses traditional physical interaction entirely.

For Buckwalter, who has a background in music, the experience is both technical and deeply personal. He describes the process as learning to play a new kind of instrument, one that exists entirely within the brain. The sounds he generates have already been incorporated into a song titled Wirehead, demonstrating that neural output can function as a legitimate creative input [emphasis mine].

The broader implication lies in redefining the purpose of brain-computer interfaces. While much of the field focuses on restoring lost abilities, Buckwalter’s work highlights the importance of creativity and enjoyment. Researchers are beginning to recognize that quality of life includes not only function but also expression, exploration, and agency.

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I found out more about the music in this March 11, 2026 posting on nationaltoday.com,

SIGGY Releases ‘Wirehead’ Album Created from Neural Signals by Neuroscientist Dr. Galen Buckwalter

The album explores consciousness, identity, and the evolving relationship between humans and machines through experimental rock music.

SIGGY, an alternative rock project led by neuroscientist and brain-computer interface researcher Dr. Galen Buckwalter, announced the upcoming release of its new album ‘Wirehead’, scheduled to debut on streaming platforms on March 15, 2026. The project draws conceptual inspiration from neural interface research that translates brain activity into digital signals, exploring how emerging neurotechnology may influence creative expression and the future of music.

Why it matters

The research foundation behind these technologies demonstrates how neural interface systems designed for therapeutic goals can also support creativity, identity, and expanded user experience. The album ‘Wirehead’ raises questions about where human expression ends and technology begins as neural technologies and artificial intelligence continue to evolve.

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  • The album ‘Wirehead’ is scheduled to debut on streaming platforms on March 15, 2026.

The players

SIGGY

An alternative rock project exploring the intersection of psychology, philosophy, and technology through music, blending experimental sound design with emotionally driven songwriting and conceptual storytelling.

Dr. Galen Buckwalter

A neuroscientist and entrepreneur known for contributions to brain-computer interface research and neurotechnology innovation. He is the co-founder of two companies, psyml.co (psychology/machine learning) and Credtent.org (content licensing for AI).

Ryan Howes

A Pasadena-based clinical psychologist and author of The Mental Health Journal for Men, who brings sharp melodic instincts and a clinician’s insight into human tension, channeling both into Siggy’s wired, cerebral edge.

Deborah Buckwalter, Ph.D.

A clinical and neuropsychologist who anchors Siggy with steady, melodic bass lines and intuitive harmonies, bringing decades of therapeutic insight and relational intelligence to the band’s chemistry.

Paul Netherton

Siggy’s rhythmic engine, delivering driving percussion that powers the band’s live intensity. Beyond music, he’s a longtime fixture in the Altadena community through his thrift store.

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Emily Mullin’s Mar 30, 2026 article for Wired “Meet the Man Making Music With His Brain Implant” is behind a paywall. I’ve not been able to read it but based on past experience of the magazine’s articles, I’m guessing it provides a lot more detail than I can about Buckwalter’s intriguing work.

On other fronts, there’s an Italian research team that’s also working with BCI and music, Note: The link and citation follows this excerpt from their paper,

Music exerts a profound influence on the human brain, involving distinct neural networks that modulate emotions, trigger memory recall, and affect various neurological states1. Understanding how musical information is represented in neural activity has implications for both basic neuroscience and potential clinical applications. For example, Brain–Computer Music Interfacing (BCMI)2 explores how musical features can be decoded or modulated from brain signals, potentially supporting personalized auditory stimulation or communication for individuals with motor impairments. In addition, music-based cognitive tasks could improve cognitive functions such as mental flexibility and creativity3.

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Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Reconstructing music perception from brain activity using a prior guided diffusion model by Matteo Ciferri, Matteo Ferrante & Nicola Toschi. Scientific Reports volume 15, Article number: 42108 (2025) Version of record: 26 November 2025 Published: 26 November 2025 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-26095-w

This paper is open access.

The Italian team posted an earlier paper on arxiv.org,

R&B – Rhythm and Brain: Cross-subject Decoding of Music from Human Brain Activity

Matteo Ferrante
Department of Biomedicine and Prevention University of Rome Tor Vergata matteo.ferrante@uniroma2.it
& Matteo Ciferri* Department of Biomedicine and Prevention University of Rome Tor Vergata matteo.ciferri@students.uniroma2.eu
Nicola Toschi Department of Biomedicine and Prevention University of Rome Tor Vergata A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging Harvard Medical School/MGH, Boston (US) These authors contributed equally to this work

License: CC BY 4.0

arXiv:2406.15537v1 [q-bio.NC] 21 Jun 2024

This paper is open access.

Blackrock Neurotech can be found here.

Finally, my October 21, 2025 posting encompasses some of the evolving issues where artificial intelligence, intellectual property, brain implants, and cyborgs are concerned and poses this question at the end: So, who does own a thought?

Implantable living pharmacy

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I stumbled across a very interesting US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project (from an August 30, 2021 posting on Northwestern University’s Rivnay Lab [a laboratory for organic bioelectronics] blog),

Our lab has received a cooperative agreement with DARPA to develop a wireless, fully implantable ‘living pharmacy’ device that could help regulate human sleep patterns. The project is through DARPA’s BTO (biotechnology office)’s Advanced Acclimation and Protection Tool for Environmental Readiness (ADAPTER) program, meant to address physical challenges of travel, such as jetlag and fatigue.

The device, called NTRAIN (Normalizing Timing of Rhythms Across Internal Networks of Circadian Clocks), would control the body’s circadian clock, reducing the time it takes for a person to recover from disrupted sleep/wake cycles by as much as half the usual time.

The project spans 5 institutions including Northwestern, Rice University, Carnegie Mellon, University of Minnesota, and Blackrock Neurotech.

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Prior to the Aug. 30, 2021 posting, Amanda Morris wrote a May 13, 2021 article for Northwestern NOW (university magazine), which provides more details about the project, Note: A link has been removed,

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The first phase of the highly interdisciplinary program will focus on developing the implant. The second phase, contingent on the first, will validate the device. If that milestone is met, then researchers will test the device in human trials, as part of the third phase. The full funding corresponds to $33 million over four-and-a-half years. 

Nicknamed the “living pharmacy,” the device could be a powerful tool for military personnel, who frequently travel across multiple time zones, and shift workers including first responders, who vacillate between overnight and daytime shifts.

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Combining synthetic biology with bioelectronics, the team will engineer cells to produce the same peptides that the body makes to regulate sleep cycles, precisely adjusting timing and dose with bioelectronic controls. When the engineered cells are exposed to light, they will generate precisely dosed peptide therapies. 

“This control system allows us to deliver a peptide of interest on demand, directly into the bloodstream,” said Northwestern’s Jonathan Rivnay, principal investigator of the project. “No need to carry drugs, no need to inject therapeutics and — depending on how long we can make the device last — no need to refill the device. It’s like an implantable pharmacy on a chip that never runs out.” 

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Beyond controlling circadian rhythms, the researchers believe this technology could be modified to release other types of therapies with precise timing and dosing for potentially treating pain and disease. The DARPA program also will help researchers better understand sleep/wake cycles, in general.

“The experiments carried out in these studies will enable new insights into how internal circadian organization is maintained,” said Turek [Fred W. Turek], who co-leads the sleep team with Vitaterna [Martha Hotz Vitaterna]. “These insights will lead to new therapeutic approaches for sleep disorders as well as many other physiological and mental disorders, including those associated with aging where there is often a spontaneous breakdown in temporal organization.” 

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For those who like to dig even deeper, Dieynaba Young’s June 17, 2021 article for Smithsonian Magazine (GetPocket.com link to article) provides greater context and greater satisfaction, Note: Links have been removed,

In 1926, Fritz Kahn completed Man as Industrial Palace, the preeminent lithograph in his five-volume publication The Life of Man. The illustration shows a human body bustling with tiny factory workers. They cheerily operate a brain filled with switchboards, circuits and manometers. Below their feet, an ingenious network of pipes, chutes and conveyer belts make up the blood circulatory system. The image epitomizes a central motif in Kahn’s oeuvre: the parallel between human physiology and manufacturing, or the human body as a marvel of engineering.

An apparatus in the embryonic stage of development at the time of this writing in June of 2021—the so-called “implantable living pharmacy”—could have easily originated in Kahn’s fervid imagination. The concept is being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in conjunction with several universities, notably Northwestern and Rice. Researchers envision a miniaturized factory, tucked inside a microchip, that will manufacture pharmaceuticals from inside the body. The drugs will then be delivered to precise targets at the command of a mobile application. …

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The implantable living pharmacy, which is still in the “proof of concept” stage of development, is actually envisioned as two separate devices—a microchip implant and an armband. The implant will contain a layer of living synthetic cells, along with a sensor that measures temperature, a short-range wireless transmitter and a photo detector. The cells are sourced from a human donor and reengineered to perform specific functions. They’ll be mass produced in the lab, and slathered onto a layer of tiny LED lights.

The microchip will be set with a unique identification number and encryption key, then implanted under the skin in an outpatient procedure. The chip will be controlled by a battery-powered hub attached to an armband. That hub will receive signals transmitted from a mobile app.

If a soldier wishes to reset their internal clock, they’ll simply grab their phone, log onto the app and enter their upcoming itinerary—say, a flight departing at 5:30 a.m. from Arlington, Virginia, and arriving 16 hours later at Fort Buckner in Okinawa, Japan. Using short-range wireless communications, the hub will receive the signal and activate the LED lights inside the chip. The lights will shine on the synthetic cells, stimulating them to generate two compounds that are naturally produced in the body. The compounds will be released directly into the bloodstream, heading towards targeted locations, such as a tiny, centrally-located structure in the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) that serves as master pacemaker of the circadian rhythm. Whatever the target location, the flow of biomolecules will alter the natural clock. When the solider arrives in Okinawa, their body will be perfectly in tune with local time.

The synthetic cells will be kept isolated from the host’s immune system by a membrane constructed of novel biomaterials, allowing only nutrients and oxygen in and only the compounds out. Should anything go wrong, they would swallow a pill that would kill the cells inside the chip only, leaving the rest of their body unaffected.

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If you have the time, I recommend reading Young’s June 17, 2021 Smithsonian Magazine article (GetPocket.com link to article) in its entirety. Young goes on to discuss, hacking, malware, and ethical/societal issues and more.

There is an animation of Kahn’s original poster in a June 23, 2011 posting on openculture.com (also found on Vimeo; Der Mensch als Industriepalast [Man as Industrial Palace])

Credits: Idea & Animation: Henning M. Lederer / led-r-r.net; Sound-Design: David Indge; and original poster art: Fritz Kahn.