Special gloves used by pop stars including Ariana Grande have gone on pre-order sale for £2,500.
The gestural musical gloves, which use technology developed at UWE Bristol, were designed in partnership with Grammy Award-winning musician Imogen Heap.
The MI.MU gloves use motion capture tech and artificial intelligence to enable wearers to create music with their movements.
The gloves, which link up to computer software, are used by musicians - from classical pianists to film composers, beatboxers, and pop stars - on stage when performing, to create music.
UWE's Dr Tom Mitchell developed the tech for the gloves, which were created in partnership with fashion designer Rachel Freire, e-textiles designer Hannah Perner-Wilson, electronic engineer Sebastian Madgwick, scientist and musician Kelly Snook, musician and UX designer Chagall van den Berg and managing director Adam Stark.
Imogen Heap, who uses the gloves as part of her performances, said: “So happy that we are finally able to extend the incredible superhuman feeling of having music in our hands out to a wider audience.
"You just have to remember to open your eyes during a performance, as it becomes so second nature.”
Dr Mitchell and colleagues have been refining the technology over the last five years, streamlining designs with initial support from private investors and a range of academic and enterprise support including the EU Commission and Innovate UK.
Dr Mitchell said: “It’s exciting that we have managed to get to a point where the gloves will soon be available to all musicians.
“The gloves bring a new creative dimension to music performance, enabling musicians to create the movements that perform their music. I can’t wait to see what people will do with the technology.”
Adam Stark, managing director of MI.MU, added: “We are hugely proud to release the MI·MU gloves to musicians everywhere, and we can’t wait to see what they do with them.
“They are the result of years of research and development into new ways to compose and perform music.
"We believe they will enable musicians to discover new forms of expression, leading to new ideas, new performances and, ultimately, new forms of music.”
