Stay melodic from the first gesture.
Start with pentatonic for forgiving melodies, major for seven-note movement, or minor for a darker sound. Changing the root transposes the note field while keeping familiar gestures.
Live browser instrument · Free to play
Gesture Synth turns movement into music.
Raise a hand, pinch to play, or use a mouse or touch. This free online gesture synthesizer runs in your browser—no app, download, installation, or account needed to play. Try melodies, Easy Jam, Beat Jam or Sing & Play with optional singing. Playing, recording and full local preview are free without signing in. Single export: US$9.99. Packs show prices and recording counts before payment. No subscription. Sign in with Google or email and password to export. A recording can be downloaded for 30 days from single payment or pack unlock. Beat Jam MIDI note export remains free; it contains neither video nor the same audio.
- Input
- 2 hands / pointer
- Engine
- Local Web Audio
- Output
- 15s / 120s recording
Loading the gesture engine…
RECORDED WITH THIS PAGE
Hear one pointer shape a melody.
This is a continuous 15-second take of the public-domain opening from “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” performed at 68 BPM in Mouse Mode with a C major scale and warm triangle voice. The picture and synthesized audio came from the same local recorder you can use above—no microphone, upload, or hidden production layer.
- 01 Open Mouse Mode
- 02 Play the opening phrase in C major
- 03 Record, preview, download, or share
01 / HOW IT WORKS
How to use Gesture Synth in three steps.
Gesture Synth is deliberately closer to picking up an instrument than configuring music software. There is no account, installation, MIDI setup, or empty project to manage.
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01
Start the instrument
Press Start Camera and allow access when your browser asks. Audio begins from the same click because modern browsers require a deliberate gesture before sound can play. If a camera is not available, choose Mouse Mode instead.
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02
Pinch to make a note
Bring your thumb and index fingertip together. The pinch acts like pressing a key: close the gap to start a note and open your hand to release it. This clear gate keeps accidental movement from becoming a wall of sound.
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03
Move to shape the sound
Travel left and right to select notes from the current scale. Move upward for a brighter tone and downward for something warmer. Bring in your second hand for harmony, a bass interval, or a drifting two-note texture.
02 / GESTURE MAP
Your camera becomes a playable two-dimensional surface.
The interaction is intentionally small enough to learn by feel. Horizontal position chooses pitch. Vertical position controls filter brightness. A pinch controls note on and off. The rules stay the same for both hands, so the second voice feels like adding another key rather than learning another instrument.
- X / horizontal
- Selects one of the visible notes. Because notes are locked to the chosen scale, broad movement stays musical instead of landing between pitches.
- Y / vertical
- Opens or closes a low-pass filter. Higher hands produce a clear, present tone; lower hands soften the upper harmonics.
- Pinch distance
- Bring your thumb and index finger together to sound a note; separate them to stop. Move horizontally to choose notes, rather than counting raised fingers or turning your wrist.
03 / MAKE IT YOURS
Useful musical choices, not a cockpit full of tiny knobs.
Choose Melody for scale notes, Easy Jam for four chords, or Beat Jam for a guided four-bar performance with beat and bass. Pinch or hold to play, then release to stop. See the mode and control guide for this instrument.
Choose the edge of the instrument.
Sine is soft; triangle adds definition. Sawtooth makes filter movement obvious, while square has a hollow, game-like sound. Try quick pinches and sustained notes.
No camera does not mean no instrument.
Mouse Mode uses the same audio engine. Move to choose a position, hold to play, and drag through scale steps before trying camera controls.
04 / CAMERA PRIVACY
Local hand tracking. You choose what to upload.
Hand tracking runs locally after you press Start Camera. The instrument reads landmark coordinates rather than sending your live camera feed to a server. Stop releases the camera; Mouse Mode needs none.
Recording and preview are free. Sing & Play can mix an optional microphone into your clip without speaker monitoring. Only after you confirm saving for purchase do we upload that recording privately. A browser recovery copy may survive a refresh for up to 24 hours, but can be cleared by your browser. Paid files are available for 30 days; see our privacy policy for storage details.
- Hand detection runs on your device with WebAssembly.
- Audio synthesis runs locally through the Web Audio API.
- Microphone is optional in Sing & Play, with no speaker monitoring.
- Only your chosen recording is uploaded after you confirm, for a paid video export.
05 / FAQ
Before you put your hands in frame.
What is Gesture Synth?
Gesture Synth at gesture-synth.com is a free browser instrument controlled by camera gestures, mouse or touch. Playing, recording and full local preview are free without signing in. Single export: US$9.99. Packs show prices and recording counts before payment. No subscription. Sign in with Google or email and password to export. A recording can be downloaded for 30 days from single payment or pack unlock. Beat Jam MIDI note export remains free; it contains neither video nor the same audio.
Is my camera video uploaded?
Live camera analysis, the camera stream and hand landmarks stay on your device. An optional microphone is requested separately and mixed only into the recording, without speaker monitoring. Only after you confirm the purchase upload does the selected recording go to private storage before payment, including your voice if you enabled the microphone.
Can I play without a webcam?
Yes. Choose Mouse Mode. Horizontal movement controls pitch, vertical movement controls brightness, and pressing the pointer gates the note. Mouse Mode uses the same scales, waveforms, and synthesis engine as the camera experience.
Do I need to download an app to use Gesture Synth?
No. Gesture Synth is a free online browser instrument. No app, installation or sign-in is needed to play, record or preview. Single export: US$9.99. Packs show prices and recording counts before payment. No subscription. Sign in with Google or email and password to export. A recording can be downloaded for 30 days from single payment or pack unlock. Beat Jam MIDI note export remains free; it contains neither video nor the same audio.
Which browser works best?
A current desktop version of Chrome or Edge offers the most consistent combination of webcam access, WebAssembly acceleration, and low-latency Web Audio. Safari and Firefox support many of the required APIs, but camera and audio behavior can vary between versions and devices.
Why do I have to press Start?
Browsers block pages from playing sound or opening a camera without a deliberate user action. Pressing Start Camera both resumes the audio context and opens the permission prompt. Gesture Synth never attempts to activate either capability on page load.
Does Gesture Synth work on mobile?
The interface is responsive, but this first release is tuned for laptops and desktops. Mobile devices differ widely in camera orientation, sustained hand-tracking performance, heat, and audio latency. For the most reliable session, use a desktop browser with a front-facing webcam and even lighting.
How can I make hand tracking more stable?
Face the camera with light on your hands rather than behind them. Keep your full hand visible, leave some space around your fingers, and avoid a background that closely matches your skin tone. Slow, intentional movement is easier to track and usually sounds more musical than fast waving.
Can I record or export a performance?
Sing & Play offers four configurable chords selected with 1–4 left-hand fingers while the thumb is folded. Right-hand height controls volume and wrist tilt controls tone; both hands must be valid to sound. It records 15 or 120 seconds, defaulting to 120. Melody, Easy Jam and Beat Jam keep their 15-second recordings. Record and preview for free. To keep the video, choose Download / share video and sign in with Google or email and password. Review the US$9.99 single-recording price or an optional pack and its included recordings before paying. Confirm the private upload of the selected recording for single purchase or pack unlock. Find your recording in My downloads for 30 days from single payment or pack unlock. Preview the take before buying; downloading a purchased file again does not charge for a new recording.
Are other Gesture Synth sites controlled the same way?
These instructions describe Gesture Synth at gesture-synth.com. In Melody, pinch your thumb and index finger or hold a mouse or touch pointer to sound a note. Horizontal movement selects discrete scale notes; vertical movement changes brightness. Other sites with similar names may use finger counts, wrist gestures or continuous Theremin pitch, so their instructions may differ.
Can Gesture Synth change my voice or control a DAW live?
Sing & Play can record your singing with the synthesizer if you choose to enable the microphone. It does not change your voice or provide vocoder effects. Free MIDI export contains loop notes rather than a video or the same audio, and is not a live DAW connection.
LEARN / MAKE A TAKE
From a first note to a song.
Follow the complete tutorial for this instrument’s controls, a real short exercise, and video or MIDI saving. Then try Little Star and Ode to Joy note by note.
READY SIGNAL