Research · Writing · Music

todd anstis

Founder, StudioOps Songwriter & producer as Project Hireth Fort Worth, Texas

Todd Anstis has spent three decades putting new technology in artists’ hands before most people knew they needed it. He started in the mid-’90s as a print designer, moved into multimedia design and art direction at DDB Digital on Pepsi World, and built interactive museum kiosks at D-Animation in Dallas. In the WinAmp era, before the iPod, he co-founded etherStream, one of the first digital indie record labels, which released All Eyes On the Prize by Prize Money. Full bio ↓

Todd Anstis presenting at AIMS 2026
01 / Follow along

Work in progress, in order.

Research, the Atlas Letters, and StudioOps news in one place, newest first.

  1. Atlas · 18 Yes, We Actually Make Music HereOn guitar pedals, artificial intelligence, and what happens when a Bloom gets on stage.
  2. Atlas · 09 Building Places Instead of ProductsSignal, Workbench, Practice Coach, and Runway aren't four products. They're one place.
  3. Atlas · 17 I Wanted Too Many ThingsOn wanting too many lives: mastery, curiosity, and refusing to pick just one table.
  4. Atlas · 16 Cross the CafeteriaOn crossing tribes, from high school cafeterias to how we sort ourselves in tech.
  5. Research Accepted: ISMIR 2026 Late-Breaking DemoThe Creative Memory Engine: Realization-Oriented AI for Independent Musicians.
  6. Atlas · 15 You Own ThemOn AI leaders who warn about danger without owning the consequences.
  7. Atlas · 14 Fear Is the MoatHow frontier AI labs turn existential fear into a competitive moat.
  8. Atlas · 08 Beauty Is a Product DecisionBeauty isn't decoration. It's what happens when purpose shows up in every detail.
  9. Atlas · 07 We Deleted Three Weeks of WorkThe hardest product decisions are about what to un-build.
  10. Atlas · 13 Don't Compress Mastery. Compress Serendipity.You can't manufacture the lucky bounce, but you can get better at being where the ball might land.
  11. Atlas · 06 Designing for MomentumInspiration gets you started. Momentum is what gets you finished.
  12. Atlas · 05 Craftsmanship in the Age of AIThe highest compliment is when the craft disappears.
  13. Atlas · 12 After the Workshop EndsWhat happens when the room empties, and why StudioOps exists to help artists keep becoming.
  14. Atlas · 04 Creativity Is a NetworkArtists don't think in folders. They think in connections.
  15. Atlas · 03 The Archive Shouldn't Be a GraveyardMost artists don't lose ideas. They lose access to them.
  16. Atlas · 02 The Artist Is Still the AuthorSome of our best demos never shipped, because they looked impressive and violated everything we believe.
  17. Atlas · 11 I Don't Want AI to Make ArtI want it to make artists better. Those are two very different ambitions.
  18. Atlas · 01 Why Principles Come Before FeaturesBuilding in the AI era is about knowing where you are willing to slow down.
  19. Research Presented at AIMS 2026, BerkleeThe Creative Memory Engine: Designing AI Systems That Preserve and Activate an Artist's Creative History.
02 / Research

Research

AI systems that help musicians reconnect with their own unfinished work, while the artist stays the author.

AcceptedISMIR 2026Late-Breaking / DemoLBD #633

ISMIR 2026, Nov 8–12, Abu Dhabi (hybrid)

The Creative Memory Engine: Realization-Oriented AI for Independent Musicians

Todd Anstis

B.A., Berklee College of Music (Berklee Online), cum laude.

Abstract

Independent musicians accumulate more voice memos, demos, lyric fragments, and references than they can keep available for finishing. Generative systems reduce the cost of producing new material, but they do not restore connection to work an artist has already begun. This late-breaking demo presents the Creative Memory Engine, a working prototype of realization-oriented AI: systems designed to increase the share of a musician’s own unfinished possibilities that can be perceived, judged, and completed, while preserving human authorship.

Demo video · 1:47 · captions on screen, no audio narration.
“Most artists don’t have an idea problem — they have a connection problem.” From the acceptance announcement

An extended abstract presented in the late-breaking demo session. It is not part of the ISMIR proceedings.

Read the paper (PDF) ↗ Announcement ↗ ISMIR 2026 LBD ↗
PresentedAIMS 2026Berklee · Session

The Creative Memory Engine: Designing AI Systems That Preserve and Activate an Artist’s Creative History

Todd Anstis

A session at AIMS, Berklee’s AI music summit.

Todd Anstis presenting The Creative Memory Engine at AIMS 2026, Berklee
Audience at Todd Anstis’s AIMS 2026 session
Session announcement ↗ Recap ↗ AIMS 2026 ↗

Related: StudioOps: An Apprenticeship Engine for Artists (slides)

03 / About & work

About

Todd Anstis has spent three decades putting new technology in artists’ hands before most people knew they needed it. He started in the mid-’90s as a print designer, moved into multimedia design and art direction at DDB Digital on Pepsi World, and built interactive museum kiosks at D-Animation in Dallas. In the WinAmp era, before the iPod, he co-founded etherStream, one of the first digital indie record labels, which released All Eyes On the Prize by Prize Money.

He went on to lead technology and build software for years, and today he works at the leading edge of applied AI as founder of StudioOps, which builds AI creative companions that remember an artist’s history and protect their authorship. That work was presented at AIMS 2026 at Berklee and accepted at ISMIR 2026. A cum laude graduate of Berklee College of Music, he writes and produces as Project Hireth, runs Hewn Ventures, and is preparing to pursue a PhD in music technology. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas.

Work · newest first

  1.  

    StudioOps ↗

    Founder. AI creative companions for independent musicians; AIMS 2026 talk, ISMIR 2026 late-breaking demo (accepted).

  2.  
  3. 2024

    B.A., Berklee College of Music

    Berklee Online, cum laude.

  4.  

    Director of Technology, iteach

    Led technology and built the InstructNET platform on Salesforce.

  5. Early MP3 era

    etherStream

    Co-founder (now defunct). An early digital indie record label founded with the owner of Carpe Diem Records in the WinAmp and Rio player days, before the iPod. Released All Eyes On the Prize by Prize Money, a band essentially made up of Slowpoke, formerly on Geffen Records.

  6.  

    D-Animation, Dallas

    Interactive kiosks for the Trammell Crow Museum of Asian Art.

  7.  

    DDB Digital

    Multimedia design and art direction (Pepsi World).

  8. Mid-1990s

    Print designer

    Print design and desktop publishing.

04 / Music

Project Hireth

Songs written by Todd Anstis as Project Hireth, listed as “Hireth” on streaming services.

Spotify ↗ Apple Music ↗ TIDAL ↗ YouTube Music ↗ Amazon Music ↗
  1. Aug 2022Right on CourseSingle SpotifyAppleAmazon
  2. Oct 2021Hey YouSingle SpotifyAppleAmazon
  3. Sep 2021You Were Never Really HereSingle SpotifyAppleAmazon
  4. Apr 2021Taken OverSingle SpotifyAppleAmazon
ListenSpotify
05 / Contact

Contact