The instrument of the future.

Just when you think you’ve pretty much hit the limit on musical instruments and resorted to using trash cans and empty containers to make music - “Stomp” comes to mind - a bunch of brilliant guys down in New Zealand come up with this:

Using the Kinect, prerecorded sounds, and some software manipulation, the V Motion Project turns the body and its movements into a musical instrument. No, this isn’t like Guitar Hero or one of those Kinect dance games where you’re pressing buttons or moving to music. Here the music comes from the movements the young man is making in front of the Kinect. This is of course a promotional project for the V Energy Drink but the possibilities that come out of it are exciting.

From a whole new evolution in DJ-ing to turning this into an actual instrument, the new musical possibilities are almost endless. Imagine an entire dance floor that creates music from a dancing crowd - or entire symphonies and arias played only by one person. This technology even lends itself into a game that can actually allow the player to make music instead of following a specific sequence for points.

While recent years has seen the creation of many new musical inventions such as the Tenori-On, Eigenharp, and the Hydraulophone. Nothing quite embraces technology and the future like the V Motion Project does - and to be quite frank, the Hydraulophone is really just a water wasting gimmick more than anything; cool, but hardly the instrument of the future.

As we move headlong into a very motion interface oriented future, the adoption of the Kinect as a potential musical instrument is indeed exhilarating. I mean, it sure beats having to lug a violin case to school everyday.