Singer-songwriter, producer, and music tech innovator Imogen Heap has spent years developing the MiMU Gloves with Thomas Mitchell and the rest of the MiMU team. The Gloves—a wearable MIDI controller that can control sounds, effects, and other parameters through the Glover software—seek to give performers a unique way to express their music through gestures and hand movements.
In the video above, which we shot earlier last year, Heap not only demonstrates how the technology works, but, through parts of her own songs, shows the kind of control and expressivity they allow. Today, the MiMU Gloves are on Reverb—and are available for pre-order now, directly from MiMU.
Using the Glover program, you can set up to nine separate hand gestures at a time for each glove (for example, clenched fist or flat palm), which will then trigger MIDI events within a DAW such as Ableton Live. In addition to these user-created hand gestures, you can also map additional parameters to larger arm movements on up-and-down and side-to-side axis, as well as speed thresholds.
In the video above, Heap shows off all the mappings she has for her song "Hide and Seek," which makes great use of vocal effects that she brings in and out of the mix with the Gloves. Reverb, panning, recording loops of her voice on the spot—all of it is controlled through the MiMU Gloves.
Be sure to watch the full video to see what's possible with these new devices. While Heap has used various versions of the Gloves to create music for years, a production run of MiMU Gloves (in both single and double configurations) is now available on Reverb.