Not every expressive controller needs to be a keybed. Genki Instruments, the Icelandic company behind the Katla synthesizer, makes the case for wearable gesture control with Wave, a $349 ring that tracks hand movement and turns it into MIDI data — no pads, no keys, just motion. It's been quietly building a following among electronic musicians and sound designers looking for a different way to shape sound in real time, and interest in the device has picked up again this year as more producers discover it as a companion to their existing MPE and modular setups.
How It Works
Wave sits on a finger like a normal ring and reads motion through onboard sensors, recognizing gestures including tilt, pan, roll, vibrato, tap, and click. Genki's editor software lets you map each of these gestures to MIDI CC values, define the range of motion that triggers them, and set tap sensitivity — so a subtle wrist roll might control filter cutoff while a tap triggers a sample or transport command. Because it connects over Bluetooth MIDI, Wave works with software instruments, DAWs, and outboard gear alike, without needing a direct cable connection to your hands.
The pitch here isn't to replace a keybed or pad controller for note input — Wave doesn't play notes in the way a Seaboard or LinnStrument does. Instead, it's positioned as a secondary expression layer: something you wear alongside your main instrument to control modulation, effects sends, or live performance parameters with a free hand, while the other hand continues to play.
Where It Fits Alongside MPE Gear
For musicians already working with MPE controllers, Wave offers an interesting complement rather than a competitor. A player performing on an Osmose or Seaboard with one hand can use Wave on the other to ride a filter, automate a reverb send, or trigger loop changes — gestures that would otherwise require reaching for a mouse, a foot pedal, or an assistant at the mixing desk. Genki's own Wavefront accessory extends this further, letting Wave (or any Bluetooth MIDI device) connect directly into a Eurorack modular system, which has made it a recurring sight in modular performance setups where physical knobs are already at a premium.
Notably, Bergur Þórisson, the Grammy-nominated musical director known for his work with Björk, has publicly praised Wave for adding "a dimension of musical creativity" to studio and live work — a reminder that gesture control has real traction beyond the demo-video stage.
A Wider Product Family
Wave is now one piece of a broader Genki ecosystem. The company also makes Katla, a five-voice polyphonic desktop synth sold in limited batches, Softwave, a software counterpart that unlocks additional mapping options for Wave, and Cosmos, an effects and interface app built around playful, gesture-friendly controls. The through-line across the lineup is a bet that physical gesture — rather than screens or grids of knobs — is an underused input method for electronic music, one that sits naturally next to the per-note expression that MPE controllers already bring to the keybed.
Availability
Wave is available now directly from Genki Instruments for $349, with worldwide shipping and documentation available at docs.genki.is covering gesture mapping, Bluetooth pairing, and integration with common DAWs.
For musicians experimenting with layered expressive setups — an MPE controller for notes, a secondary device for modulation — mpesynth.com's guides on multi-controller MPE routing cover how to keep these data streams from colliding inside your DAW.