Wearable MIDI controller to control sounds, effects and send commands with the motion of your hand.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Mon Apr 1 '19 Announcement
about 7 years ago
– Mon, Apr 01, 2019 at 08:07:23 AM
Dear backers and Wavers far and wide
I would like to begin by apologizing for the silence for the past few months. You deserve better communication and we have set up plans to do more regular updates as we move into production.
For the past few months, teams on both sides of the Atlantic have been hard at work and I am happy to inform you that we are still on track to ship in June. We hit a huge milestone in that process today as the first hundred circuit boards are being manufactured in Finland. Manufacturing of plastics and other material follows. This test batch helps us make sure that we are happy with the overall production quality. Of these units a handful will be sent to testing for certifications and quality, while the remainder will be sent to Iceland for the final beta-testing phase.
Given that we are happy with the outcome we can apply for the necessary certifications. This process naturally takes time and all we can do is wait patiently. In the meantime we will finalize the firmware and software that comes with Wave. But more on that later.
2019 NAMM Show
Alongside the manufacturing work, the team has been making some great progress in terms of functionality. Some of which we demonstrated at the 2019 NAMM Show. As you can hear and see we have added vibrato to our gesture engine and the tap algorithm has taken a giant leap forward in terms of accuracy and feel. You can read more about our presence at NAMM here.
Winter Lights Festival
Each year, the city of Reykjavík hosts the Winter Lights Festival, which is an annual event celebrating both the winter world and the growing sun light after a long period of darkness. The program consists of light installations, culture and outdoor activities. This year, together with Tiny/Massive and teenage engineering we organized a party in a bus outside Harpa, Reykjavík's stunning Music and Conference Hall.
In the extreme cold a powerful performance from Milkywhale (IS) got the bus bouncing and hearts pumping. During the concert, the lights on Harpa were being controlled by Wave. Afterwards party-goers also had an opportunity to work on the lights. Learn more about the performance here.
Thank you!
You are the people that believed in this project from day one. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement, it means a lot to us as we move into the strenuous production phase.
With love from Reykjavik, Ólafur and the whole Genki team.
Thu Dec 13 '18 Announcement
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 02:34:42 AM
Dear backers,
here is a fresh update from the Genki team!
Delivery
We mentioned some updates ago (last September) that we would not meet our December deadline. There are a lot of reasons for this - but the main one being that we want to do a splendid job in delivering you a class-A product.
We can now say that we are on track on shipping Wave to you in June 2019. Note that this is an estimate but we are doing everything we can to meet this deadline! So you can at least look forward to a fun summer full of motion and music!
Product
After numerous prototypes, sweat and.. well tears (happy tears).. we are finally doing a test build of our mass manufactured version of Wave in the beginning of January! We have been putting a lot of effort into making Wave look and feel the best we can and are happy to share with you our newest rendering. We really hope you like it!
A lot of effort has gone into designing a ring that fits all finger sizes. One strap that can be adjusted. One strap to rule them all. We now have a prototype that allows this! YAY! We will share pics of this in the next update along with pics of the first build, the LED matrix and of course the device in use!
Furthermore we’ve been making our algorithms steadier which will just give you a better product to work with!
We’ve been testing our current prototypes with a lot of different people which has given us a great deal of feedback and we will keep on doing that until we ship you the product! We are happy to share with you this video of dancer Shay Kuebler (@shay_kuebler, #radicalsystemart) and sound designer Kate De Lorme. They have prototypes of Wave and are doing some awesome experiments with our ring! We can’t wait to see more from them!
Wavefront
We just received new prototypes of Wavefront! Check it!
NAMM 2019
We will be at NAMM in Anaheim, LA in January where we will reveal the new build and let people try it out! If you’re there please find us! We’ll send more details about our booth et cetera when it’s closer to NAMM.
Lastly we just wanted to wish you merry x-mas and thank you once more for believing in us!
Thank you so much for your support!!
best
The Genki Team
Thu Nov 22 '18 Announcement
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Nov 22, 2018 at 04:01:25 PM
Dear Backers
A lot has happened since our last update went out and we're happy to share the developments with you.
First Development Test A couple of weeks ago we ordered all the components (batteries, PCBs etc.) needed to make the first Design Validation Test! Whoop whoop!
If you read that sentence and how no idea what's going on, don't worry. It means that right now we've finished everything needed to run the first tests to prepare for mass production of the Wave. That is the first of at least two validation tests to iron out the last changes to make the ring you receive the absolute best it can be.
As we finish this first validation test we will also know with more certainty when we'll be able to ship Wave out to you. Rest assured we're working tirelessly to make that happens as soon as possible and hopefully in the next update we will have a more concrete answer.
The Future of Music We participated in an event with The Verge that took place in Chicago in the beginning of November. The event was celebrating the end of Season 1 of The Verge's series on The Future of Music hosted by Dani Deahl. The series is really great and we recommend you check it out.
Here is a picture of the setup we laid out for people that came by to try Wave out and here is a video of Dani playing around with Wave in the days leading up to the event.
If you have any comments, questions or feedback - press reply and reach out!
Love from Iceland,
The Genki Instruments team
Thu Sep 20 '18 Announcement
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 09:11:47 AM
Dear backers,
it's your favorite Icelandic music tech company with some important updates. This time we have quite a few, so let's jump straight in..
Manufacturing and Shipping
Creating estimates when working on a product that has never been done before is difficult, to say the least. When we said that we would ship Wave by the end of the year 2018, we truly, truly believed it. However, due to unusually long component lead-times and major improvements in the design and engineering of Wave, a delay in production and shipping is inevitable.
We are working full-throttle together with our amazing Finnish partners, Haltian, to bring you the absolute best version of Wave there is. We remain 100% committed to reaching our goal. When a final shipping date is known you will be the first to get notified.
Major Improvements
Over the past few weeks, we have reached out to you for feedback on the ways in which Wave would be most useful to you. Through that process, we learned a great deal and it has helped us improve Wave in several ways.
Simplified Buttons
We have replaced the complex D-pad shape with a simpler "up, center, down" configuration. This decision was made after we had a chance to understand better the various finger sizes out there and how the thumb interacts can best interact with a small device such as Wave.
Larger LED Display
We have extended the LED matrix to a 5x9 grid. We opted for beautiful white LEDs that are easily visible from any angle. Having the larger grid enables us to convey the information we need without having to rely RGB diodes that consume 3x more power and simply don't look as nice on Wave's form-factor.
Micro USB Support
Many of you voiced your concern regarding the custom cable that was supposed to connect to Wave. We had initially dismissed the idea of using a standard USB cable because we did not feel confident that we could fit it in nicely. However, along with Haltian, we were able to fit a Micro USB port into the ring. A lost cable shouldn't mean the end of Wave, now you can just grab another Micro USB cable, plug it in and start rocking!
Haptic
Going through the answers that you provided us with we came to realize that the haptic motor was nothing more than a nice-to-have and that battery life was more important (haptics are quite power hungry). After careful consideration and discussion with current beta-testers, we opted to remove the haptic. This results in prolonged battery life and gives us enough space to fit the larger LED display along with the Micro USB port.
Instagram Q&A Session Next Monday
We will have an open Q&A session on Instagram next Monday, September 24th. You can ask us about anything and everything and we will try our best to answer. Find us at @genkiinstruments.
Thank you for your understanding and continuous support. With love and gratitude from Reykjavik, Olafur and the Genki team
Wed Aug 15 '18 Announcement
over 7 years ago
– Wed, Aug 15, 2018 at 07:07:28 AM
Dear backers,
it is time for another update from Genki HQ.
New location, Innovation House
Since we last spoke the team has been hard at work at our new location at Innovation House, located in the beautiful municipality of Seltjarnarnes. One of the main tourist attractions of Reykjavik, the Grótta Island lighthouse, is next door, as well as a terrific public swimming pool. Our good friends at aiYa also have their studio nearby. And so the team has ample opportunities to both get instant feedback on ideas but also to revitalize when not crunching away in the office.
Main Developments
Anyways, back to business. The main developments of the summer are the following
Wave's software architecture has been refactored and tested thoroughly. New features include the ability to customize presets via the Wave Dashboard application, lower power consumption, and much more!
Through a government grant we received invaluable support from two university students studying mathematics: In collaboration with Össur, a global leader in orthopaedics, we gathered data from a precise high-speed motion capture system. We have used the data as ground truth to craft vastly more accurate 3D orientation estimation algorithms than we have used ever before.
Work with Haltian has resumed after the summer holidays in Finland. Together we are in the process of getting the designs for the enclosure and electronics ready so that we can manufacture a test batch in the next couple of weeks.
Mysteriously Jón, our designer, has been walking around asking people to feel their fingers; not dissimilar to the witch in the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel... perhaps he will explain what he has been up to soon.
At Superbooth this summer we had a chance to meet with modular aficionado Richard Devine. We left a Wave/Wavefront combo with him with the simple instructions of "Explore!"
He recently posted a video on Instagram of him playing around with the combo! Afterwards he had the following to say:
"The Wave wearable midi controller and wavefront eurorack module are an incredibly awesome package for controlling your modular in a very expressive way. The Wave finger controller is extremely versatile with a wide variety different motion controls, that makes this an essential tool for anyone wanting to explore sound shaping/sequencing possibilities using just simple hand movements."
Nordic Startup Awards Finalists
We are honored to tell you that Genki Instruments is a finalist in three categories at the Nordic Startup Awards! The categories are Best Bootstrapped, Best ML/AI and Best Startup. If you feel like we deserve to win, please consider casting us a vote (it literally takes less than a minute).
I hope that this update has cast some light on current developments in Genki HQ. We move forward with great excitement and continue to strive to bring you the best absolute possible product possible. If you have any further questions or feedback, please do get in touch.
On behalf of the Genki Instruments team, Ólafur Bogason, CEO
