Imagine the hoards of adoring fans, sellout arenas, the groupies, these are now virtually within the grasp of anyone who can play a searing solo on the air guitar, thanks to researchers at Helsinki University of Technology.
The Virtual Air Guitar uses a computer to monitor the hand movements of an air guitarist and adds genuine guitar sounds to match the player’s fret work. The innovative application combines gesture recognition with musical interpretation software and could be a boon to all those who aspire for rock stardom, but really cannot be bothered to actually learn the instrument.
The idea emerged at HUT’s Telecommunications Software and Multimedia Laboratory and progressed to the Otaniemi International Innovation Centre (OIIC). It was further developed through the Tekes’ TULI programme to Technopolis Ventures Oy incubator services. The idea was processed into a business plan with the aim of establishing a significant international business.
A Virtual Air Guitar company was set up in February 2006, and in March 2006 it received an award in the second stage of the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition. At the moment, the founders of the company are in the process of negotiating funding and publishing contracts with various parties.
‘The company’s first product will be a console game which will be on the market in time for Christmas 2007, and later on other games applications will be added to the product family. We are working on completely new and unprecedented applications,’ explains Virtual Air Guitar MD Aki Kanerva.