KnittedKeyboardII: The Wearable, Musical Textile

Described as “A multi-modal, soft and stretchable e-textile, musical interface,” the KnittedKeyboardII is an innovative design project brought to us by the MIT Media Lab.

This textile based instrument draws form early electronic music makers such as the Moog synthesizer and the theremin. However many features differentiate it from previous inventions, number one being its soft and mailable nature. The KnittedKeyboardII is flexible, foldable and wearable, allowing for versatility and creativity in its use. A variety of hovering, pinching, pulling and pressing motions can be used to draw sound from its electronically-conductive, piezoresistive fibers. For those musicians out there a close comparison might be found in the ROLI Seaboard ‘keyboard’ collection.

The project is spearheaded by electrical engineer and information technology specialist Irmandy Wicaksono, multimedia researcher and systems architect Mike Hao Jiang and professor in media arts and sciences Joseph A. Paradiso.