This invention allows for easy field-customization of mainstream and exotic electronic musical instruments with extensive support for the easy creation of aggregated instruments. This invention leverages extensive functional customization of instruments within mainstream accepted instrument modalities as well as opening a wide range of completely new instrument modalities. The invention further facilitates entirely new manufacturing, marketing, and sales paradigms permitting a broad range of open industry development and commerce, thus making an individual musician's creation of new exotic instrument arrangements an economically viable sector for both mass manufacturing and the niche cottage industry. New opportunities are provided for the creation of multiple-vendor standardizations, multiple-vendor manufacturing, multiple-vendor competitive features, etc. while offering the music equipment user and music industry as a whole, access to an extensive range of instrument customization, diversification, and education. The principles of the invention thus create a rich environment for instrument, user, feature, music, and market.