Mogees Turns Any Surface Into a Musical Instrument

Prepare yourself to be blown away by Mogees, an innovative project that essentially turns any surface into your own music-making platform. Developed by Bruno Zamborlin, Mogees uses microphones and gestures to create different sounds, meaning that the side of a bus stop (as shown in this video) can transform your finger taps and swipes into sounds that mimic those of an actual musical instrument.

According to Wired UK, users just plug a contact microphone onto any surface—a tree, for example—and then use their hands to record different types of touch, such as a hand slap. They can also record actions that create sound—for example, hitting the top of a table with a drumstick. Then, after you associate the different actions with specific sounds, the Mogees software will initiate these sounds when you “perform,” or when the microphone picks up the sounds from the gestures you make. Watch the video here to see Mogees work its magic.

The Mogees project was created in collaboration with Norbert Schnell and Frederic Bevilacqua, along with the music interaction team at IRCAM.