About us

Preamble

Sonoj, Esperanto for ‘sounds’, is a community of people who want to surround themselves with interesting topics and individuals from a cross-section of creative society. A group that supports, inspires and challenges each other productively.

  1. We respect all people regardless of gender, origin or worldview and advocate for the free development of personality.
  1. We recognise that mutual feedback and recognition are essential for our own creative work and mental health.
  1. We believe that continuous learning and broadening our personal horizons are useful and lead to higher artistic quality and personal fulfilment.
  1. We not only share knowledge, workflows and tools, but also invent them ourselves. We consider trade secrets and proprietary solutions to be problematic and avoid them.
  1. We meet both online and offline.

Topics

  • Our central topic is music: This includes playing music, composing, recording and producing. It also includes sound design, music theory and composition, as well as electronic, software and acoustic instruments.
    The active, critical reception of music is also important, especially the music of our group.

  • Computers and software: Recording, MIDI, DAWs, plugins, etc. are indispensable for the modern musician. We use and promote free programmes and apps that are meant to be shared and modified.

  • Crafts, Maker and DIY: This includes, for example, the maintenance, modification and construction of musical instruments and accessories of both acoustic and electronic types, the production of merchandise, or simply the joy of creating something beautiful.

  • Design: This includes both the direct connection to marketing, websites and flyers, as well as playful approaches and games (up to and including literal game development through soundtracks) and the ‘design’ of human interaction through meetings, events and the active involvement in shaping our community.

  • Society: We explore topics like teaching and learning, copyright laws, historical developments, and how music affects people and communities. Music history and musicology are also covered here.

  • Organisation: Modern life places extensive demands on us, which sometimes threaten to stifle creative work. We ask how we can deal with this effectively and efficiently: workflows, office, self-organisation and ‘second brains’, data processing and music collections, but also licences and rights for our own publications and music.

A brief history

The Cologne meeting is the starting point of the entire Sonoj community. Founded on 18 June 2014 initially as „Linux Audio Cologne“, we soon renamed ourselves OSAMC, i.e. „Open Source Audio Meeting Cologne“.

The „Sonoj Conventions“ began in 2017 as independent events, organised by OSAMC. Over the years, more online services were added, and in January 2026, the Cologne meeting was incorporated under the joint name ‘Sonoj’. From 2026 onwards, the topics were expanded accordingly.

We have documented our events and meetings. Details can be found in the archive.