Sound Wand – a musical instrument from the future

A lot of apps are going about putting traditional instruments into pocket size form but many of them suffer from trying to stuff everything into a tiny screen and let’s face it, a digital touch or stroke is not really going to play like a real instrument, is it? The end result is that these apps are often cute toys at best.

Not this one. Sound Wand takes a different approach, using the built in motion sensing (the accelerometer and gyroscope) to translate your conductor-like movements into the melodious sounds of a high quality harp. You slide open the shiny, golden cover, touch the screen with your thumb, and then move your iPhone through air, “plucking” invisible strings around you. It’s one of the first apps we’ve seen which truly liberates you from the eye-squinting, hyper-focus on a tiny screen.

The end result is very impressive, quick and responsive, with high quality, real life sounds which sustain for a long time. The visual interface is vibrant and stunning with colorful beams to represent the notes. There’s tons to discover: you can play harmonies and there are musical scales from around the world including some that are “tuned” to specific moods or times of the day (apparently based on centuries old indian classical “raags”!). Personally, I got the most oohs & ahhs from my friends when I whipped out some riffs on the “Blues” and “Spanish Flamenco” scales.

Here’s a video demo which shows you a bit of what’s possible with this app:

Obviously, it’s creator, Hari Karam Singh, founder of Club 15CC, has been practicing a bit, but I was impressed with how easy it was to achieve really pleasant and dare I say, impressive sounding results straight away. It’s very relaxing and soothing after a hard day at the office.

Currently there are no social or audio sharing features but it’s creator at Club 15CC, an indie digital creativity studio specialising in inspirational music, apps and web sites, informs us that more features and more instruments are in the pipeline for the very near future.

Regardless, of you musical interest or ability this is must-own app, if for no other reason than it’s “wow factor” – which is huge. For anyone who dreams of the pleasure of experiencing their musical expression without requiring years of piano lessons, Sound Wand is a great solution and a very well done app!

Apple App Store Link
Official Website

Club 15CC is a small, indie, digital creativity studio, based in London, UK, specialising in inspirational media for brands under spiritual lifestyle organisation, Amritvela. Sound Wand’s loving creator is also a producer and musician who is passionate about adding organic feel into digital music, opening up the experience of music creation to everyone, and just simply dreaming up and creating really cool things. More instruments and apps are planned for the very near future as well as a new, less geek-centric website at club15cc.com

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