If you’re prone to drumming on your steering wheel, desk or whatever is in reach when listening to your jam, this device could up your percussive game.
To make a musical instrument out of the mundane, users attach the circular sensor at the end of the stethoscope-like device to the surface of any everyday object and it becomes imbued the power of music. Then, users plug Mogees into a mobile device's headphone jack and connect their headphones to the gadget to listen to the music they create.
See also: Beep Speaker Is the Chromecast of Music
Mogees works by employing a small, specialized sensor called a "piezo-transducer" that converts a vibration produced by tapping any physical object into an electric signal. That signal is then sent to a mobile device running the Mogees app (available for both iOS and Android) which turns the signal into music.
Users can select different options that will determine how a particular object sounds once the vibrations are converted. They can also switch between free mode — where the user can change scales and keys and improvise pieces of music — and song mode, which lets the user tap along with their favorite songs.
Bruno Zamborlin, a musician who performs with British experimental dance group Plaid, designed and created Mogees to provide a fun, plug-and-play experience, but also as a tool for music education.
"I have done several workshops in primary schools in the UK, using Mogees to teach key aspects of sound and music in the national curriculum, and the results have been terrific," Zamborlin told Mashable. "Kids really learned concepts about vibrations and acoustic properties of materials in a brand new, interactive and natural way. Mogees is not just an instrument for musicians — it's a tool for music discovery that everyone should have fun in using."
Zamborlin started Mogees’ Kickstarter campaign on Feb. 17, and has raised almost $20,000 of its $83,000 goal with 22 days left.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.