Musician Imogen Heap’s 4th solo album ‘Sparks’ is due out August 18th, but that’s not all there is to be excited about. The singer songwriter is at the heart of pioneering a new kind of sensor-laden connected glove which can be used to map, change, splice, and control music all with movements of the hand.
Initially a Kiskstarter project, the gloves from Mi.Mu are state of the art wearables that should have musicians drooling with envy.
Mi.Mu explains: "Most of us on our small team are musicians who are tired of being stuck behind computer screens, keyboards, faders, knobs, and buttons to make our music. We feel there could be a better way that is more like the experiences we have with traditional instruments: using the dexterity and mobility of the human body.
"Imagine, for example, that instead of turning up a fader in order to bring in a sound or add reverb, you could be raising your arms to achieve the same effect. Or to move a sound around the room, you could simply point where you want it to be. Not only is this much more intuitive, it is also more enjoyable to watch, making it easier for your audience to connect with what you’re doing. Our aim is to break down the barriers between musicians and machines, and between performers and audiences. Every musician and/or performer will know the bane of their existence is to have to carry, or worse, ship vast amounts of technological equipment to whatever destination they are playing. The gloves are a compact, lightweight and self-contained system requiring little more than a laptop to function fully."
Despite the Kickstarter project failing to reach its goal of £200,000 (£132,000 was pledged in the end), Mi.Mu said that it has found a way to move forwards by working with smaller groups, starting with its collaborators.
The gloves are an impressive piece of kit, and the software allows for numerous combinations of postures and gestures for mapping.
"It just feels like the time of the musician hunched behind their laptop is long gone," Imogen Heap told Popular Mechanics.
