Learning a musical instrument is rarely an easy road. That difficulty forces many to give up prematurely, robbing them of the opportunity of every really learning a skill that can provide much future enjoyment. As analterantive, the company behind Kurv hopes that people starting of with its stringless digital instrument versus a real one will immediately enjoy making music and stick around long enough to start really playing.
It’s designed in two pieces. The Kurv itself fits around the hand like a glove and offers eight comfortable points that each finger can easily touch. Eight points for the eight notes in an octave, eight notes in a scale and eight chords in a key make it so that there’s variety when the user strums with the second part of the instrument, the pick. Kurv responds to how hard the pick is being strummed. But it also responds to gestures, like shaking and flicking, that shift octaves or creates a vibratto effects in either electric, acoustic or bass guitar modes. Together with the iOS app’s intelligent tutorials on hit songs that provide instant feedback, Kurv is a guitar and tutor all in one.
Experienced musicians aren’t left out of the fun due to its portability. The app allows for full access to the chromatic scale and the ability to be used to as a MIDI controller so new tunes can be composed on the go or in the studio with established music programs. The Kurv system is $228 with an expected ship date of September 2016. The campaign is looking for $50,100 by January 23rd, 2015.
Kickstarter has long boasted a history of creative and innovative alternative musical instruments, with the directly comparable Jamstik+ and products like XKey, The Oval and OWOW all bringing something wildly different to the table. Kurv continues the trend. Its educational aspects along with versatility to play any kind of sound push it to something worth considering. Others might see it as an cheap alternative to a real guitar but there will always be purists, right?