Genki Instruments announced that they were shipping Wave, the ring that lets you control sound with motion. With three easy-to-use buttons, Wave allows musicians to easily change sounds, parameters and effects using gestures. Since being funded on Indiegogo, many well known musicians have used the Genki Wave on stage and in the studio. 

Bergur Þórisson used the Wave on the Björk’s Utopia Tour in 2018.

“Wave adds a new dimension to musical creativity. It took me a while to realize that the best thing about Wave is not only that it can replace some of the tools you already have to control stuff when you are making music, but that it can make you control stuff in a completely different way, therefore making decisions that you would have never made without it. It’s a cool tool for all creatives and I can definitely recommend adding it to your workflow, whether you use it to replace your old techniques or invent new ones.”

by Bergur Þórisson

Richard Devine, electronic musician, producer and sound designer also uses Wave along with Wavefront, the Eurorack receiver also developed by Genki Instruments. 

Wave has 6 functions you can use individually or mixed together to control your sounds. 

Four different motions allow you to control any parameter in a new way. By tapping any surface you can trigger notes or samples. Easily accessible buttons on the ring allow you to cycle between presets, send commands and simply pause Wave so you can move your hands freely without changing anything.

You can easily customize each function to suit your setup. You can for example customize

• Movement range
• Sensitivity of taps (how hard you need to hit the surface)
• CC values of output
• Which note values are sent out by taps and button clicks
• And more…

It’s compatible with: 

Hardware

A computer with built in bluetooth 4.0+

Mac OSX 10.10+

Windows 10 v.1809

iOS 8+

Android 6+

Software

All DAWs that can map MIDI

All iOS Applications that can map MIDI

All Android applications that can map MIDI

You can find more information on the Genki website.

Geert Bevins’ watch app lets you wear your MIDI controller on your wrist

Geert Bevin (who was one of the main people who developed MIDI Polyphonic Expression)  recently released MIDIWrist.  MIDIWrist truns your Apple Watch intoa MIDI controller. 

Here is a pre-release demo using the Moog Model D iPhone app (Geert does a lot of work for Moog).

The Apple Watch has some real advantages as a MIDI controller because it provides  haptic feedback (the use of touch to communicate with users). 

MidiWrist turns your Apple Watch into a wireless MIDI controller.

The tactile feel of the digital crown combined with haptic feedback, gives you control over any MIDI synthesizer by touching your wrist, even when you’re not looking.

MidiWrist makes no sound on its own and requires an Apple Watch to function.

Any CoreMIDI application or device can be controlled by MidiWrist. This includes Virtual MIDI, Network MIDI, Bluetooth MIDI and Physical MIDI Devices through a supported MIDI hardware interface.

Features:

• Four knobs can be controlled with the digital crown

• Macro control over multiple synth parameters from the Digital Crown

• Remotely Play / Stop / Record / Rewind your DAW from your Watch

• Knobs can be controlled individually or simultaneously

• Knobs can be linked to preserve their offsets

• Four buttons can be toggled by tapping the Watch

• Buttons can either be stateful or momentary

• Program changes through the digital crown or by tapping the Watch

• Transport control over MIDI Machine Control (MMC) or Mackie Control Universal (MCU)

• Scrub transport with the digital crown

• Save / Undo / Toggle Cycle / Toggle Click through MCU

• XY pad with individual messages for each axis

• Optional haptic feedback for all Watch interactions

• Optional value display on the Watch

• Configurable colors for all knobs and buttons

• Configurable labels for knobs and buttons

• Configurable MIDI channels and CC numbers

• Hide the Watch pages that aren’t needed

• Save your configurations to preset for easy retrieval

• MIDI learn for easy controller configuration

• MIDI input to sync the state of the controllers with the controlled synths

• Advertise as a Bluetooth MIDI device

• Connect to other Bluetooth MIDI devices

• Monitor the last MIDI values on the iPhone

• Low latency and fast response

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by Geert Bevin

SIRI voice control coming soon 

Soon MIDIWrist will allow you to control SIRI bringing voice command control of MIDI to your DAW.   We always find it amazing how MIDI adopts to the newest technologies to always stay relevent. 

MIDIWrist Screenshots