MusiNogi Hardware
The MusiNogi Hardware including the MusiPants, MusiShoes and the attachable MusiSenses can be purchased on this website (NOT YET). Visit the MusiNogi Shop.
BEFORE using the MusiSenses charge their batteries. Use the provided USB cables and plug them in your computer or a standard USB power adapter. The rechargeable batteries can be fully charged in about 3.5 hours. For detailed instructions on Bluetooth pairing of the sensors with your phone or tablet look at the Help section of the app or the keypad instructions provided by the manufacturer.
MusiShoes
The MusiShoes are modified Gogodance Men's Boys Professional Lace-up Black Leather Latin Salsa Tango Ballroom Modern Dance Shoes from Amazon. Each shoe has a MusiSense attached to the crease of the suede shoes sole. Each MusiSense has a power button and a mini USB charging connector. Please be VERY CAUTIOUS not to step directly on the sensors since this will certainly damage them. Avoid going up and down stairs with the MusiShoes. Don't walk or dance on un-even and dirty surfaces.
MusiSneakers
The MusiSneakers are modified SANYES USB Charging Light Up Shoes Sports LED Shoes Dancing Sneakers from Amazon. The sneakers come in all sizes and 5 distinct color designs. Each sneaker has a MusiSense embedded into the shoe sole. A power button located at the top-most shoe lace whole turns the MusiSense ON and OFF. A transparent dime-size circular window located on the bottom of each sole allows the built-in proximity sensors to detect when the sneakers are ON and OFF the floor. The musical notes played by the MusiNogi app are mapped to meaningfull color patterns of the LED strips. Don't walk or dance on un-even and dirty surfaces wince this may rupture the transparent cover of the sensors and damage them.
MusiPants
The MusiPants are custom modified LITIAN Men's Workout Leggings from Amazon for men or women.
Four mini pockets are added to the thighs and shins. The pockets on the thighs have mini windows to allow for dextral control of the IR proximity sensors which in turn change the octaves for each leg separately.
MusiSensors
The MusiSenses are custom built devices, which contain Adafruit Feather nRF52840 Sense boards, rechargeable 450mAh LiPoly batteries and a power switch. The 6 MusiSenses (2 for the thighs, 2 for the shins and 2 for the feet) are specially programmed to communicate with the MusiNogi app and transmit all sensor data.
BEFORE using the MusiSenses charge their batteries. Use the provided USB cables and plug them in your computer or a standard USB power adapter. The rechargeable batteries can be fully charged in about 3.5 hours. For detailed instructions on pairing the MusiSenses with your phone or tablet look at the Help section of the app or the keypad instructions provided by the manufacturer.
MusiNogi App
The MusiNogi app runs on iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 devices. It will be available soon for download at the Apple AppStore.
The main screen of the app shown on the screenshot is riddled with functionality. Here you can: Choose between data capture and predictions modes; Choose musical instruments for each leg; Observe in real-time the predictions of the 9 ML models in parallel; See and listen to the note(s) played by each leg; Look at videos of the steps in various dance forms; Monitor the octave in which each leg is playing; Change the steps-to-notes mapping and even Video record yourself as you play the MusiNogi app.
Steps to Notes Mapping
The mapping of dance steps to musical notes is presently in an early stage of research and development. Coming up with such mapping is where technology and artistic creativity come together since there are apparently countless dance steps and variations and only 12 notes in an octave.
Therefore, our objective is to come up with a many-to-many mapping. In other words, multiple different steps should trigger the same note. This is necessary so that dancers have many options how to play the same notes since not all dance steps go nicely and easily together in a choreography. In addition, one step should be able to trigger multiple notes. This is necessary since unlike the 10 fingers on the hand we have only two feet and we want to be able to play chords and arpeggios.
We are working on categorizing the most commonly performed dance steps from all dance families into 12 categories. Then we will map each of these categories, which are predicted dynamically in-real time by the MusiNogi's Machine Learning Models to actual musical notes. Inevitably and thankfully there will be more than one dance step mapped to a single note.
We do not think that there will be one "PERFECT" mapping. Each dance form might require its own specialized mapping. As illustrated in the screenshot, MusiNogi has a built-in user-friendly GUI, which allows users to do the mapping as they see fit in addition to a built-in default mapping.
Please stay tuned for further developments on this topic.
Changing MIDI Instruments
To change MIDI instrument: tap on the instrument image on the main screen. You can play the same or two different instruments - one for each leg.
Note Loudness: Piano Forte
In the present version of the MusiNogi app there is NO way to dynamically change the loudness of each note being played. In the next versions the loudness will most probably be controlled by the force (acceleration) with which individual dance steps are performed. Some dances are more hoppy like Bulgarian and Irish folk and others are smoother like Argentine tango. So you can mix and match.
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