- One Hacker Band is a robot band that covers Queen, Michael Jackson, and Nirvana.
- So far, its TikTok page has amassed over 10 million views.
One Hacker Band, an American one-man band, has gone viral for its unique covers of songs by Queen, Michael Jackson, and Nirvana.
The twist? All of the instruments in the band are controlled completely by robots.
With over 10 million views on TikTok — and counting — the band is the brainchild of Aaron Todd, a professional audio-visual design engineer from North Carolina.
To make the robot band work, Todd uses Ableton, a digital audio workstation, to sequence out the notes each instrument will play. These sequences are then translated by digital interfaces and sent to motorized robots, or servos, aligned around the instruments.
"It's basically orchestrated servo movements. That is what is making the music," Todd told Insider. "I really wasn't expecting to get kind of the reaction that I did."
@onehackerband Smells Like Teen Robots #guitar #bass #drums #robot #band #music #midi #arduino #stem #animusic ♬ original sound - one hacker band
When Todd, who is also an accomplished saxophonist, started posting on TikTok, he shared short clips of him automating single instruments, including an electric guitar and a snare drum.
Though the videos did attract some attention, it wasn't until he combined the instruments together to cover Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in December that things really took off.
The video has nine million views and counting across both TikTok and Instagram.
"When I did that one, I had no idea that one was going to blow up," said Todd. "So I would have spent a lot more time to perfect it if I knew the video was going to get nine million views."
Todd's previous covers have since blown up too. His cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" has been watched over 2.3 million times, while his cover of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" has been watched 1.3 million times.
"It's just gone crazy," he said.
@onehackerband Tweaking palm mute mechs Sloppy, but getting better! For the eagle eyed, 5th string is tuned to a B to make power chords possible with a barre. #guitar #bass #drums #band #robot #MIDI #arduino ♬ original sound - one hacker band
While Todd makes it sound easy, building a robot band isn't without its complications.
One of the most difficult hurdles, he said, was 3D-printing many of the parts used in the robots himself.
"I've had to do a lot of modeling to see what works best to get the guitar strings down the most efficiently and to build it in a way that I can continue to make adjustments," he said.
"Doing what you can do with your hand with a fixed piece of equipment, that's a lot more difficult. So I've had to continually adjust things as I go."
Speaking of adjustments, Todd is currently upgrading his guitar from three strings to 12, which he said will enable him to play chords and therefore more complex songs.
Todd doesn't plan on stopping there. Ultimately, he wants to have a "full animatronic band complete with vocalists" that he can "take on the road." For now, however, he's sticking to TikTok to perfect his product.
"Right now, I'm just having fun with it and letting the views grow," he said.