The Mogees Kickstarter project is in its final day, and already is well over its fundraising goal.
Mogees is a software + hardware system, designed to turn anything into a playable musical instrument.
Mogees consists of a mobile app and a small sensor that detects and analyses the vibrations that we make when we interact with the objects around us. It uses a special sound technique to alter their acoustic properties so as to make them musical.
See the Mogees Kickstarter site for details.
I don’t know… its awfully close to April 1st. I did not see anything demonstrating HOW you choose pitches. “Special sound technique” sounds too much like marketing fluff. I’m extremely keen on seeing an explanation of how you get a pear to play a single pitch.
If you were “extremely keen” on finding out about it you could have watched some of the videos….
You can find plenty of videos on YouTube showing that it really works . And a TED talk too.
OK, I’ll go and look, but its not clear from THIS video. I think it should be if you’re asking for backing, that’s all. … This is as close to an explanation as I can find. “1. Sounds presets: Select different sound presets and associate them to the objects you play.” “Associate” doesn’t tell me HOW you assign them. Sorry, but that’s a sticking point. SHOW me. “Improvisation” doesn’t mean pure randomness; it has to have a solid footing somewhere. Its a well-appointed tool, but if its going to behave like a synth, it also has to be more or less configured like one. The idea seems a bit too cutesy for me, but its clearly useful and a +1 for making it compatible with less-than-bleeding-edge OS versions. Sorry to seem unduly grouchy, but we’re always seeing some shiny new doodad appear, only to be seen thereafter with a couple of DJs, a Rudess demo and a single use by the Flaming Lips. I have another thought about it, but its too ornery, so I torched it. You’re welcome!
Seems like it’s always going to sound the same, no matter what you do with it. Lots of marketing mysticism; but I feel like once we get this toy home the magic will die fast.
It can sample, in additIon to its built in synth, AND will be Audiobus compatible.
Why would it always “sound the same”?
It seems straightforward: a sensitive contact microphone generates a sample that triggers effects, presets and/or sequences and can synchronise them to a computer. From the kickstarter videos, it is clear that you can use the microphone sound directly (the ‘free mode’) or select from a range of presets. True, they do use cutesy marketing like Apple (Meet Mogees!… puhleez), but to me the key to this sampler is to get under the hood to control each parameter (the Pro version). Its an imaginative use for a forgotten tool — contact microphones– but the early adopters will show if it can go beyond a gimmick into a real instrument.
All videos sound different.
Also they say it can generate opensouncontrol to control any external synth.
Why should it always sound the same??
It also performs gesture recognition
I think this is the coolest music product I’ve seen in ages
if you think this is cool, check out Contact.
That movie with Jodie Foster? I liked it, but what does that have to do with anything?
Not familiar with Contact either, what is it? I did purchase a Pulse Controller – http://www.pulsecontroller.com – a few months back and enjoying it. Offers much of the same core functionality as Mogees but computer, instead of iOS-based, which I personally prefer.
I think mogees is completely different from pulsecontroller..
Correct me if i am wrong but i think mogges is not just a sample based controller like pulse..
Yes, very far from that 🙂
I am not sure what you mean by Pulse being a “sample-based” controller. Like the Mogees, it comes with a piezo and converts acoustic impulses for triggering things. Pulse spits this out as MIDI which you can then route to trigger whatever you want – sample-based content, modelling synths, etc. And being a computer-based product, it integrates nicely with my fancy vsts and Kontakt libs. 🙂 Not saying that Mogees doesn’t look like it does some other neat stuff that might be useful for some, just saying that the core functionality (i.e. tap something -> trigger something) is pretty much the same.
I’m very excited for your creation. I’ve watched your videos and this is amazing to me.
Thank you all so much for your interest!
My apologies if the technical description in the page is not clear.
We decided to put the more technical bit in the FAQ but I guess it wasn’t a good idea.
Here is what I wrote at that time:
***
Mogees modified the acoustic properties of physical objects so as to make them musical.
The Mogees sensor is a special contact microphone with an impedance matcher optimised to work with smartphones.
What it does is convert the vibrations that we make when interacting with objects into electric signal which is then sent to the software app.
The app analyses such signal, extract properties such as timbre, envelope and pitch and then modifies them so as to convert your gestures into music on the fly.
The sound is generated using an audio synthesis technique inspired to audio physical modelling, in order to create a tight coupling between your gesture, the object you selected and the sound generated.
An academic publication of the algorithm is on its way!
***
Mogees is, in my opinion, really different from any other mobile app I’ve seen so far.
First of all, obviously, because we sell it with a contact microphone that works with mobile phones. This means that you can play it everywhere and not only in a silent space.
But also because of the possibility to change the note and create melodies.
This can happen pre-loading a MIDI file (song mode), applying gesture recognition (Free mode) or controlling it remotely via OSC.
The gesture recognition works computing audio-description in realtime, based both on time (log attack time) and spectrum (MFCC and momentums). The algorithm is evolving everyday though 🙂
I hope this makes sense, and thanks again for your interest in the project!
All the best,
Bruno
Hi Bruno! I cant wait to try mogees! Wonderfull idea! I cant wait till november!
It makes everything sound like a Plaid record. I know they’re involved in this as I found about it on their website.
This is a similar concept to Korg’s Wavedrum I don’t know too much about this, but I think it’s probably more flexible than a Wavedrum Mini. If you can use your own samples then it would be more flexible than the Wavedrum
“Mogees modified the acoustic properties of physical objects”… Nonsense!. You mean uses, or something. But it doesn’t modify the material, does it.
It is true it makes all instruments near it musical.. but i have some queries regarding this device. please suggest me what to do with this.
1) I am getting confused in making a tone it says something like make your own tune OK i agree, we make a tone and can hear the noises, but if we hit a bit far on table or anywhere its sounding to low not same as hitting on the device itself…
2) there should be an option of registering with one or two people, we can just hand it over to anyone with our email id and password.
3) it complicated, please suggest an easy way to make a music or make some beautiful sounds as presented in some of the videos i have seen on you tube.
Thank you