Music industry constantly gets transformed with new platforms, software and gear, but despite all that complicated tech behind it, music remains a very solid part of our lives. After Slush Music, NAMM 2018 was perhaps the most important event this winter. We watched carefully for the most interesting companies there, until one truly got us.
Genki Instruments and their connected MIDI ring, Wave is probably one of the coolest music products straight from the Nordics. Not only because it is designed an manufactured in Iceland. Wave ring technology lets you upgrade your music sound to the next level. With the new device, you can control music with the motion of their hands. You can choose which parameters to control and pair them with the desired motion, taps or clicks of a button. Wave offers the possibility to store several different presets of parameters and makes it really easy to cycle between them. It is wireless, non-intrusive and completely customised so everyone can set it up to suit their personal needs. The ring works out of the box with desktops or mobile and gives both visual and haptic feedback in real time.
The Future Sound of Iceland
Genki Instruments came together when Ólafur Bjarki Bogason and Daníel Grétarsson, both electrical engineers with a passion for music started to search for ways to make sounds more expressive and intuitive using tech. Their passion soon brought in Jón Helgi Hólmgeirsson, award-winning designer and Haraldur Hugosson, ex-Startup Reykjavik to bring to market something absolutely remarkable – a wearable music controller.
The concept of the MIDI controller ring is not entirely new. A couple of years ago American company Source Audio releases the Hot Hand – a Bluetooth midi controller for bass guitar players. Genki does not limit themselves to one instrument only. Several music artists from Iceland have been using Wave and many have helped Genki to develop and improve the product. aYia used Wave live on stage for the first time at Iceland Airwaves last November, and you can watch the result in the video below:
Genki comment that they already have some Icelandic artists lined up to work with them on their final beta which they plan to roll out in the next few weeks. The company is currently open to new testers and collaborations, so if you want to play around with a new device, check their website and signup for pre-order.
