Overview

Orbit is a motion-sensing device for musicians and performers. It bridges the gap between acoustic and digital music by connecting you to your favourite digital effects and sounds. The device connects wirelessly to your DAW via the OrBit software plugin.

The project was conducted as part of an enterprise module at Imperial College London as a team of four. The project started with a product concept and progressed into a well developed hardware/software prototype. The team adopted the name BitLabs and I took on the role of CTO.

The team produced two promotional videos for the product. The footage for the first video was taken during a user testing session with different musicians. This video was then published to the Bitlabs public website. The second video produced was as part of a Kickstarter campaign page.

Developed alongside the physical prototype was a mobile app that would imitate the functionality of the hardware. The app was developed using React Native and was given a skeumorphic design to help give a convincing experience of the real product. Communication between the mobile app and the host DAW was facilitated by a websocket connection. The connection was served using Node.js, which was hosted in a Max for Live device.

Developing the app was an integral part of the early stages of the business strategy for the product. The strategy was to try and acquire backers and users before the hardware product was released by distributing a limited yet functional experience for free.