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MUGIC® FAQ
Q: What is MUGIC®? Is it a controller or an instrument?
A: MUGIC™ is a device that enables you to use your movements to control virtually anything in software. You can create sounds, control effects, change lighting parameters, generate visuals, and more. MUGIC™ enables you to expand your control over your system and translate your movements into meaningful data.
Q: So, what can I do with MUGIC®?
A: MUGIC™ was originally built with the intention of capturing nuanced physical data to control parameters in music software (like Max and Ableton Live), but you could also use it to control live video, lighting, Ardino projects, etc. MUGIC™ uses OSC data via UDP so theoretically anything that can accept or translate this data could be used.
Q: Do I need to be a computer programmer or coder in order to use MUGIC®?
A: No! We have built a suite of software and devices that will enable you to use MUGIC™ without any coding or computer programming experience. We have primarily used MUGIC™ with Max and Ableton Live and have made a number of patches and devices available for free download. (Go to Download page) These patches and devices will allow you to easily map MUGIC™ data within Max and Ableton. Some experience with Max will certainly help broaden your capabilities, but our patches can be used (and hacked) to achieve fairly advanced results with relative ease.
Q: Do you have tech support?
A: We do have a team of MUGIC™ Gurus, who are available to help you. Go to the MUGIC™ Gurus page.
Q: I am an instrumentalist and wants to perform with MUGIC®. Are there pieces and scores available?
A: Yes! Please visit our "Repertoire" page to see all the works that have been created with MUGIC™ and there you will also find links to scores and contact information for composers who are actively writing and working with MUGIC™. We will be uploading more soon.
Q: Are there composers writing for MUGIC®? Can I get in touch with them to commission a new piece?
A: Of course, please visit our “Repertoire page” to see all the pieces that have been written for and performed with MUGIC™. There you will also find contact information for composers if you are interested in speaking with them about writing for/with MUGIC™ and you may reach out to them directly to discuss new commissions. , Aside from Mari Kimura who has been writing numerous pieces for MUGIC™ and violin, renowned contemporary music composer Dai Fujikura just wrote a new work commissioned by Mari Kimura, called “Motion Notions” which is published by Ricordi. There are many more composers who have been writing for MUGIC™; please find and contact them!
Q: I want to wear MUGIC® on my hand (or foot), do you sell a glove?
A: For this limited edition of MUGIC™, we made a decision NOT to bundle the wearables. From several years of experience working with various instrumentalists and other artists, we realized that people have radically different approaches to how they want to use and implement MUGIC™ in their setup. Mari Kimura uses gloves made by fashion technology designer Milica Paranosic: see our “Wearables and Ideas” page.
Q: Can I use MUGIC® to control my other hardware and synthesizers?
A: Yes, if you have the proper tools. You will still need a computer for MUGIC™ to connect to, software to manage your data (e.g. MIDI), and an interface that has MIDI capabilities (most do). You simply need to use the “MUGIC™ to MIDI patch” (We will soon put them up on the "Downloads page").
Q. What computer does MUGIC® work with? (Windows, Mac, phone, Tablets?)
A: At this time, MUGIC® only works on computers, both on Mac and Windows platforms.
Q: How long does the battery last and how long does it take to charge?
A: While on WIFI mode in full use, the battery lasts about 1hr and 20 mins. If connected to an electric outlet (or computer via USB), it takes about 20 minutes to recharge to 100%.
Q. How frequently is it sampled from the device / how much data does the device send?
The data is sampled by default every 25ms (40Hz) and sends a single UDP packet of less than 512 bytes, as a result the network traffic is minimal. The frequency can be adjusted through the loop_delay parameter, but the device maximum frequency is every 10ms (100Hz) and it is hard to configure the sensor to achieve this throughput.
Q. How physically accurate is MUGIC®?
The sensor integrated in MUGIC® is a Bosch BNO055, one of the best fused IMU on the market. For technical documentation incl. range and accuracy, please see their documentation (https://cdn-shop.adafruit.com/datasheets/BST_BNO055_DS000_12.pdf)
Q. Can I track absolute position with MUGIC®?
This is a hard problem with any IMU sensor, since they only provide orientation and acceleration, not speed or position. For instance, it is physically impossible to distinguish a device traveling at constant speed from an immobile device since in both cases acceleration is zero. Using additional constraints (such as when the device is mounted on a doorframe or other physically -constrained element, or if the device undergoes a cyclical motion such as a rotation about a fixed axis) it is possible to achieve excellent positioning. For a free-form sensor like MUGIC®, it remains an active research project to estimate accurate speed and position, although in theory using physical constraints from an instrument such as a violin (if mounted on the box hand) should help. https://cdn-shop.adafruit.com/datasheets/BST_BNO055_DS000_12.pdf?fbclid=IwAR39iBXEzhbg2LK9Cv4X-RsQeHW8es390-tidt0F-jdZSAhF7Ba_Mfz5J4g
Q. How big and heavy is MUGIC®?
A: 1 x 1.8 x 1.4 inches (2.6 x 4.5 x 1.5 cm) and weighs approximately 0.6 ounces (18 grams.). One of our goals was to make MUGIC® as small and unintrusive as possible for performance.