[HN Gopher] Show HN: AirBending - Hand gesture based macOS app M...
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Show HN: AirBending - Hand gesture based macOS app MIDI controller
Author : bepitulaz
Score : 79 points
Date : 2025-07-04 19:40 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nanassound.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nanassound.com)
| johng wrote:
| This is really cool, thanks for sharing.
| Animats wrote:
| Theremin.
|
| Here's someone playing a theremin who's reasonably good.[1]
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6KbEnGnymk
| CharlesW wrote:
| Imogen Heap demonstrating her Mi.Mu gloves:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci-yB6EgVW4
|
| Using the gloves during an NPR Tiny Desk concert:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QtklTXbKUQ&t=555s
| vunderba wrote:
| From the article: _" When using AirBending for pitch control, you
| can lock your gestures to specific musical scales and keys. This
| ensures every note you play is perfectly in tune with your
| composition"_
|
| Reminds me of the Moog Theremini - that was a fun bit of kit.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremini
| singularity2001 wrote:
| Great work but wouldn't the iPhone with the lidar depth sensor be
| a better device?
| bepitulaz wrote:
| It's on the plan to expand this app for iPhone. But, I haven't
| tried lidar, so I decided to release for macOS first.
|
| Also with iPhone, I have to think how to transmit MIDI data to
| DAW on laptop. Well, most likely via USB or network.
| import wrote:
| I do this with "Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter". iPad
| basically talks to the midi sequencer via USB.
| docEdub wrote:
| Apple devices can do MIDI over Bluetooth. I've used this in
| the past to send VisionPro hand tracking data as MIDI.
| blacksignal wrote:
| Not just a 'theremin' -- that totally downplays the power of
| midi. Someone else mentioned the mimu gloves, and I love the idea
| of a vision based controller - almost everyone has a phone,
| tablet or laptop with a camera, especially if theyre making
| music.
|
| I also love that this could blur the lines of music playing and
| dance.
|
| Great job OP, thanks for sharing.
| whilenot-dev wrote:
| The _Leap Motion Controller_ came out in 2014 already (11 years
| ago, wow!) and isn 't very expensive. The SDK was lacking in
| the beginning if I recall correctly, but a webcam seems to be
| inferior. Technology isn't the limiting factor for a quite some
| time now. I'm sure many projects existed to translate gestures
| to MIDI, some less polished, some more polished[0][1].
|
| Reminds me... I even used two _PlayStation Eyes_ (EUR 5 each)
| with OpenCV and the EVM algorithm[2] on a _ThinkPad X230_ for a
| dance performance piece back in 2015. Movements rather than
| gestures and OSC instead of MIDI, but it worked great!
|
| [0]: https://midipaw.com/
|
| [1]: https://uwyn.com/geco/
|
| [2]: https://people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/evm/
| abalaji wrote:
| Seems like the same software could be used as a soundtrack for
| Tai Chi exercises. Would be pretty neat.
| bepitulaz wrote:
| It seems possible, since Apple's Vision framework can read body
| pose too. Maybe I can try it for the next update.
| Obscurity4340 wrote:
| This instruments timbre and tone are literally dream shit to me,
| so wavy and I dont know--unearthly/worldly
| greenpizza13 wrote:
| This is not an instrument and does not have a timbre. He is
| used a midi instrument in a DAW and using this software as a
| midi controller.
|
| This is not a theremin, it's a programmable controller which
| you can tie to various midi inputs. Think "slider" or "dial".
| irvanputra wrote:
| I wonder if Linux version will be available.
| bepitulaz wrote:
| Since I developed it using Vision framework from Apple, the
| current focus is still for Apple devices. So, not in the near
| future to develop for Linux and Windows.
| irvanputra wrote:
| Thanks for the confirmation!
| bjelkeman-again wrote:
| That looks great!
|
| Do you have any suggestion for how to learn how to hook this up
| to Logic for anyone who hasn't used midi before?
|
| I wonder how this would perform under live stage lighting
| conditions, i.e coloured strong lights and high contrast.
| bepitulaz wrote:
| Open the app and open Logic Pro. Create a MIDI track on Logic,
| try waving to the app it should automatically receive MIDI
| message from all channels and all MIDI devices.
|
| Then if you want to filter the track to receive specific MIDI
| channel from specific device, for example AirBending channel 2,
| then find it in the dropdown in the MIDI inspector section in
| the same MIDI track.
| drcongo wrote:
| I would _love_ this as an AUv3 for iPadOS, any plans?
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(page generated 2025-07-05 23:02 UTC)