Career
Hotz began playing guitar at the age of seven. He plays a number of instruments such as the guitar, keyboards, flute, drums and his own inventions such as the "Hotz Box" and the "Hotz MIDI Translator". Hotz has done a number of recordings where all of the instruments were played by him using only the Hotz Box as an input device.
In the music business Jimmy Hotz has worked with Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood Dave Mason, NSYNC, Mobius 8 B.B. King, Yes (band), Jon Anderson, Haven and dozens of other recording artists as either a producer, engineer, mixer, studio musician, or musical instrument designer.
You Rock Guitar featured a video of Jimmy playing their MIDI guitar through the Hotz Midi Translator software. In 2011 he released his debut novel, The Gates of Time.
Hotz lives and works in Southern California. He is noted for his pioneering work with electronic music synthesizer MIDI controller development / programming and as a technical consultant to Microsoft, Intel, Electronic Arts, Atari, JBL and other concerns for new product development.
Performers such as Mick Fleetwood, Jon Anderson, Paul Haslinger, Scott Gershin and others have been using Hotz products in their creative work.
He is the inventor of numerous electronic devices and software innovations and has received three United States in music technology. As an expert in 3D computer graphics, Hotz was the chief visionary behind the 3dMAxMedia "Zuma Project", assembling the team which developed the technology to manipulate 3D imagery in real-time with audio, MIDI and other real-time control devices). United States Patent Number. 5,099,738: "MIDI Musical Translator" United States Patent Number.
5,502,274: "Electronic musical instrument for playing along with prerecorded music and method of operation." United States Patent Number.
5,619,003: "Electronic musical instrument dynamically responding to varying chord and scale input information.".