Pat Downes

Video

Oral History Information

Interview Date
Job Title
Founder
Company Name
Palm Tree Instruments

Pat Downes combined his engineering background with his passion for music to create the electronic air drums.  Forming the company Palm Tree Instruments, Pat became an inventor in the world of electronic mechanical devices that produce sounds.  The air drums are among his most noted products, which relied on computerized sensors that detect the motion of hands and arms to create music.  In the early innovative years of synthesizers and MIDI, Pat helped shape the thinking that little was impossible when it came to electronic music making.