ELECTRONICS × INSTRUMENTS × INNOVATION

The invention of electricity opened a whole new world for the design of musical instruments, resulting in all sorts of fascinating experimental devices in the early days and innovative consumer products for us to play with today.

- MANDY J WATSON

ELECTRICITY, ELECTRONICS, | AND CODING HAVE ENABLED INVENTORS, AND more recently developers, to create all sorts of new and unusual musical instruments that weren't possible 150 years ago. When we think of making music with the help of electronics, analogue synthesisers are usually what first springs to mind but this is a selection that goes beyond that.

It includes concept ideas, prototypes, one-off devices, and niche instruments that have yet to find fame and a few that have progressed to products that everyone can now buy and which are even being used in massive international live performances.

Mi. Mu Gloves

In 2010 UK musician and artist Imogen Heap, who has always been an early adopter and experimenter with new technology, had the idea of performing music using a pair of gloves. The purpose of the gloves would be to allow an artist to perform on stage and use the space to be more expressive and connect with the audience, rather than being stuck behind banks of musical equipment.

Although not the first person to experiment with the idea she is notable for seeing the project through, with her team, to the point where, in 2019, the gloves were made available for the public to buy and now in 2024 an updated version is planned for release.

The eight years of development saw the gloves go through many prototypes as the team, which comprises computer scientists, engineers, textile experts artists, and musicians, experimented with hardware and software and refined the design.

The current version uses a variety of sensors and technologies to determine the positions of a wearer's hands and how they are moving. This includes haptic motors; flex sensors to monitor finger movement, orientation, and posture; and a motion tracker.

mimugloves.​com

Theremin