Geoff Smith has reinvented the piano, 300 years after the instrument was invented, giving it a brand new "fluid-tuning" system.

Until now, pianists and composers have relied on just 88 notes from their 88 keys, a limitation which has meant the piano is unable to cope with the differing scales of Persian, Chinese and Indian music.

Geoff's device could open up a new future for the instrument in places where it has previously been seen as an expensive piece of western furniture.

But not everyone will be pleased. His innovation threatens to put professional piano tuners out of business as players will be able to tune their instruments themselves, possibly while playing.

Former Carden Primary School pupil Geoff, 41, of Preston Park, Brighton, is keeping his exact design a secret until his international patent comes through but he is already in negotiations with manufacturers.

The new sound, which could launch a musical revolution, will be premiered on Geoff's upcoming national tour of cinemas, where he will be performing a live soundtrack to the 1919 Expressionist film The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari.

NME has already described the performance as "breathtaking".

It comes to the Duke of Yorks cinema in Brighton for a late-night showing on February 28.

Geoff said: "I just work very hard at my ideas and there's still a long way to go with the whole project. This is the moment where a lot of things seem to be coming together.

"I've been working on the idea for a long time. Some institutions have tried to find a way of adapting an instrument like this before. So it's funny that it's just me, one musician from Brighton, who's found a way of doing it.

"There's a lot of work still to do and I'm just getting on with it."

The piano was designed to suit early European classical composers who, after its invention, turned their backs on the other quarter and microtones between the piano's keys that can be found in traditional music, particularly in the Far East.

Geoff, a renowned composer and player of the dulcimer, an ancient stringed percussion instrument, developed his mechanism to expand the possibilities of his compositions.

Fitted to a standard piano, it means scales such as the Iranian dastgah-ha, which demand intricate microtones, will be accessible to pianists of the future.

Geoff recognises his biggest challenge will be to convert musicians with more conservative tastes to the vast new possibilities.

Some say our Western ears are so trained, the public will assume the new sound is coming from an out of tune piano.

He said: "People set in their ways will be freaked out by this."

But Geoff, who started his musical career as a child playing drums and percussion, said he hoped the piano will be just the start, adding: "I am hoping it will set off a chain reaction with other acoustic instruments."