The Mitt

mitt1 “The Mitt” is a digital synthesizer that explores the fine motor skills of the human hand and the performative aspects of micro gestures. Its tangible interface is constituted by an array of five channels, each composed of an extremely accurate thumb joystick, potentiometers and buttons. The layout follows the morphology of the hand, with each finger resting on top of one joystick, providing extreme gestural amplification of the hand where small movements can have significant impact.


We chose to explore the ambient and drone style through a 5-channel granular synthesis. Sounds can be freely assigned to each channel and joysticks are mapped to amplitude and sample read position, requiring continuous energy input from the player to reach morphing sustaining sounds.

In turn the potentiometers control grain density, pitch and gain. Interesting performative behaviors emerge from the mechanical and physiological constraints implicit by the design and through gestures like opening, closing, translating or rotating.


Mitt top view Mitt top view playing Mitt perspective Mitt perspective behind Mitt connections Mitt guts