In 1992, future inMusic founder and CEO Jack O’Donnell was working as Vice President of Sales at Stanton Magnetics when he learned the assets of Numark Electronics were available for purchase. Founded in Edison, New Jersey in 1971, Numark was among the earliest DJ equipment manufacturers, and responsible for innovations like the first DJ mixer with a built-in sampler (the DM1775)[2] and the first dual-well CD player (the CD-5020).[3][4][5] O’Donnell proposed to Stanton management that they should acquire Numark's assets, but they chose not to, and O’Donnell decided to resign from his position at Stanton and purchase Numark himself.[6]
Under O’Donnell's management, Numark recovered and grew, and he found himself looking for new opportunities. In 2001 O’Donnell acquired Alesis,[7] a company that had established itself in the recording market with affordable effects and later the revolutionary ADAT digital tape recorder, as well as drum machines and synthesizers. The following year he introduced the ION Audio brand, focused on entry-level and consumer electronics products.[8]
In 2005, O’Donnell purchased the Akai Professional Musical Instrument division (previously spun off from Akai Electronics). Musical instrument designer Roger Linn has accused that immediately following the acquisition, Akai ceased all royalty payments owed to him, and that O'Donnell sent legal threats warning him away from attempting to collect further royalties.[9] His company additionally acquired DJ software brand Mixmeister in 2007 and Alto Professional in 2010.[10] Despite continuing to sell the product through Numark, development of MixMeister was subsequently abandoned with the last update being v7.7.1 in 2015.[11][12]
In April 2014, inMusic acquired Denon DJ, Denon Professional and Marantz Professional from D&M Holdings, who retained the non-professional consumer divisions of those brands.[16]
In August 2015, the company launched a new brand of lighting products, MARQ.[17]
In 2017, leveraging the legacy of the Akai pedal of the same name, inMusic launched a new line of guitar effects processing products branded HeadRush.[19]
In May 2018, the inMusic company Denon DJ acquired SoundSwitch.[20]
In April 2020, inMusic acquired ROLI's subsidiary FXpansion's drum software instrument BFD.[21] In May of the same year, inMusic acquired Stanton from Gibson Brands.[22][23]
