Wiimote, iPhone make good music together

Who would have thought that a Nintendo Wiimote and an Apple iPhone could make good music together, literally? A hack by musician Tim Soo turns both gadgets into gestural music tools, which he claims may "revolutionize the world of musical instruments." "The iPhone and the Wiimote pair via a computer over Bluetooth and uses the computer audio output as the sound source. The 'instrument' is played via gesture recognition by software on your computer. You can use the built-in sounds or output MIDI to your preferred digital audio workstation (GarageBand, Logic, ProTools, Ableton Live)," he said of his "Invisible Instruments" project on his page on Kickstarter.com. He said that his project has so far covered the drum set, violin, cello, bass, keyboard, guitar, theremin, and conductor baton —which controls the tempo of recordings. Future plans include brasswind instruments, harmonica, and the harp. Soo said that the project, which may end up as an app for iPhone as well as Google Android users, is for classical and electronic musicians, and even the family. He said that the goal of this project is "to create an affordable, portable musical tool that bridges classical instrumentation to computer/electronic music." "Although I was classically trained in music, I also ventured into the computer music world at an early age. I noticed, though, there existed a sharp divide between the two fields. Many classical musicians I knew scoffed at the idea that a computer could produce a timbre that would even remotely compare to an acoustic instrument. Similarly, I have known computer musicians who regard classical music as an antiquated field. My thought? C'mon - it's 2011, it's about time we connected the two a little better," he said. In his blog site, Soo said his project has been nominated in the MTV Online Music Awards for "Best Music Hack." (http://omusicawards.com/vote/best-music-hack/) Soo had demonstrated his project in New York last March and the project was named "Hack of the Month." He also demonstrated his project in Boston in October 2010, using a Wiimote and iPod Touch. Soo hopes to raise $10,000 to develop the app, via Kickstarter. As of 6pm Tuesday, he had already raised some $5,800 worth of pledges from almost 200 backers. The project will be funded only if $10,000 is pledged by 11:59 p.m. (EDT) of May 5. — TJD, GMA News