Creating music through a wearable wristband
A sonata by Bach, the theme music from Star Wars or your favourite song from the radio. All this can be played with gestures in the air. The Swiss start-up Mictic has developed a wristband that generates sounds based on body movements.
Related news
Didier Guzzoni, the Swiss inventor of Siri
SwissCovid Keeps Your Secrets
EPFL spin-off Nexthink is the next Swiss unicorn
The gadget is about the size of a wristwatch and can be worn on the wrists or ankles. A number of different instruments can be played with the sensors. For Mictic to work, the wristbands are connected wirelessly to a smartphone app. The movements are then analysed and converted into music and sounds. It is one of the very first audio augmented reality devices worldwide and has its origins in Zurich.
Creating music with your own body
Mictic allows the user, no matter what their level of experience playing music, to immediately play guitar, piano, drums, cello, or turntables, and to create music using Mictic’s soundscapes, which include Rock, Hip Hop, EDM, and Latin. New instruments and soundscapes will be downloadable monthly. Mictic enlisted the help of the University of Zurich to perfect its spatial mapping and the precision of its drum effects.
I want to empower everyone to intuitively create music with their own body! Everybody should experience the excitement of hearing sounds connected to their movements, something unknown so far.
Showcase of Mictic at the swisstech pavilion during CES 2020.
Support from Grammy-winning musician
Although the technology in the background is very complex, the user doesn't notice it and can move intuitively to create music. Mictic has also been well received by professionals. The start-up received USD 2.5 million worth of support to fund the new wearables from international investors such as PTK Capital and Grammy-winning musician Moby. The funding round is enabling the Zurich-based start-up to continue growing and to test out new products on the market. The team currently consists of 10 people, and it is hoping to grow further.
Mictic launched its first version of the wearables in November 2021. The company also participated in the Pop-up House of Switzerland in Stuttgart to showcase Swiss innovation in neighbouring Germany.