Sensor Instrumentsexperimental lab · play the phone itself
Air Fiddle EXPERIMENTAL The original: a violin you bow by moving the phone up & down and finger by tilting, with lots of knobs to shape the tone. (AF2 is the expanded version.)
AF2 EXPERIMENTAL The Air Fiddle: sweep the phone through the air like a bow — movement makes the sound. Tilt to pick the note, twist the phone to change key, and tap the modulation pads (octave / tremolo / growl) to shape the one voice.
AF3 · Optical Bow EXPERIMENTAL An Air Fiddle that bows with the camera : it watches the scene like an optical mouse and merges that with the accelerometer to turn the phone's motion into the bow stroke. Hold still for silence; tilt sets the pitch.
Touch Harp EXPERIMENTAL A polyphonic string bed for your fingertips: each column is a note in the key, laid out low to high. Press with several fingers at once to play chords; slide up a string for a brighter tone.
Lighthouse EXPERIMENTAL A light-theremin: cover the camera for silence, open your hand for sound. Auto-tunes to the room. Pitch and volume follow the light.
Hand Synth EXPERIMENTAL Play the air with your hand — the camera tracks all 21 finger joints. Height=pitch, pinch=volume, finger curls=effects, and hand shapes switch the instrument (🤘 guitar, ✊ bass…).
HS2 · Duet Hands EXPERIMENTAL Strap the phone to your chest and conduct with both hands at once: your right hand sings the melody, your left hand holds the chords — locked to one key so they always harmonize.
HS3 · Duet Hands+ EXPERIMENTAL A refined Duet Hands: smoother, richer tones with a master limiter, steadier hand tracking (no more one-hand-plays-both), and new expressive axes — reach a hand toward/away from the camera for volume, and slide left/right to pan.
Beatbox EXPERIMENTAL A drum groove under a singing, vowel-morphing voice you steer by tilt — or record your own vocal samples (🎙) that replace the ooh/ah and pitch to the note. Lock the voice to the beat for a chopped vocal rhythm.
Beat Sampler EXPERIMENTAL A Circuit-style step sequencer: record a sample from the mic, drop it on the 16-step grid, and loop it with built-in drums (kick, snare, hats, clap, perc). Per-track mute + tempo.
Voice Amp EXPERIMENTAL Turn the phone into a live megaphone — speak and hear it through your speaker. One big on/off, a volume knob, and a few effects (echo, reverb, robot, radio). Adaptive anti-feedback notches out any howling frequency.
Sensor Instruments · build 24 — back to ericmayers.com
⌂ Lab
EXPERIMENTAL
—
⚙ Tech
● REC
SPIRAL tap: next mode · hold 10s: end take
▼ key
▲ key
🎻 Sweep the phone through the air to bow · tilt ↔ for pitch · twist (or drag the ↻ wheel) to change key · pads modulate the tone.
⌂ Lab
EXPERIMENTAL
Strings
—
?
Hand Synth — how to play
Point the camera at your hand and shape the air:
Raise / lower your hand → pitch Thumb ↔ index finger distance → volume (open = louder, together = quiet)Rotate your hand → tone / brightness Tap thumb to MIDDLE finger → 👊 kick drumTap thumb to RING finger → 🥁 snare drumPick the voice (Strings / Guitar / Bass / Lead / Bells) in the toolbar.
Got it — let me play
Don't show this again
✋ Start point the camera at your hand
↺ Flip camera
GPU
voice
Strings Guitar Bass Lead Bells
scale
Maj penta Min penta Blues
Major Minor Dorian
Lydian Mixolydian Hirajoshi Chromatic
range
⌂ Lab
EXPERIMENTAL
—
▶ Play
Enable motion
voice
Off Constant On beat
tempo
groove
Boom-bap Four-on-floor Trap Half-time
scale
Min penta Maj penta Blues Dorian Minor Hirajoshi
vowel
tilt auto-cycle
🎙 vox:
1
2
3
4
● Rec
✕ clear
record vowels · tilt ↕ morphs them · tilt ↔ = pitch
⌂ Lab
EXPERIMENTAL
100 BPM
🎹 melody
Grand Piano
Electric Piano
Strings
Synth Lead
Organ
Bass
play over the beat →
▶ Play
tempo
● Rec
↺ sound
🗑 clear
edit: KICK
⌂ Lab
EXPERIMENTAL
off
▶ Turn on amplify your voice through the speaker
Volume
🔁 Echo
🏛 Reverb
🤖 Robot
📻 Radio
🎯 Anti-feedback
⌂ Lab
EXPERIMENTAL
—
▶ Start allow the camera, then raise both hands
HS2 — a two-handed duet
🫱 Right hand = melody. Raise / lower your hand to change pitch (snapped to the key). Pinch thumb + index together for louder. Rotate the hand for a brighter or darker tone.
🫲 Left hand = chords. Raise / lower to move through the chords of the key. Open your hand to swell the chord; make a fist to mute it.
🎶 Both hands share one key & scale , so the melody always fits the chords.
📸 Best strapped to your chest with the rear camera facing your hands. Use Swap hands if the roles feel reversed.
Got it
🔄 Camera
🤝 Swap hands
GPU
? Help
key
scale
Major Minor
Dorian Mixolydian
Lydian Harmonic minor
🫱 melody
Strings Brass
Reed Saw lead
🫲 chords
Strings Organ
E-piano Warm pad
show hands
⌂ Lab
EXPERIMENTAL
—
▶ Start allow the camera, then raise both hands
HS3 — a two-handed duet, refined
🫱 Right hand = melody. Raise / lower = pitch (snapped to the key). Spread thumb + index = brighter tone. Rotate the hand = vibrato.
🫲 Left hand = chords. Raise / lower = move through the chords. Make a fist to mute.
✋ Distance = volume: reach a hand away from the camera to get louder (bring it close = softer). Slide left/right to pan & brighten.
🎶 Both hands share one key & scale . Smoother, richer sound with steadier tracking than HS2.
📸 Best chest-mounted with the rear camera facing your hands. Use Swap hands if roles feel reversed.
Got it
🔄 Camera
🤝 Swap hands
GPU
? Help
key
scale
Major Minor
Dorian Mixolydian
Lydian Harmonic minor
🫲 melody
Strings Brass
Reed Saw lead
🫱 chords
Strings Organ
E-piano Warm pad
show hands
⌂ Lab
EXPERIMENTAL
—
key
scale
Major pentatonic Minor pentatonic
Major Minor
Blues Dorian
Hirajoshi Chromatic
voice
Strings Soft
Pluck Bell
🖐 press with several fingers for chords