Glinster

An MPE MIDI controller and instrument that learns your hand.

On Apple Vision Pro you play it in the air with your bare hands. On iPhone and iPad, you place your hand anywhere on the glass and the notes appear under your fingers. Glinster measures the shape of your hand and follows as you play.

Available now on the App Store $9.99 for Apple Vision Pro, iPhone and iPad
Glinster on Apple Vision Pro: the floating note ruler in the middle, the playing hand on the right bending a note inside its expression sphere, the other hand on the left raising the octave.
Apple Vision Pro: the right hand bends a note inside its expression sphere, the left hand holds the octave, and the ruler shows the sounding note.

Apple Vision Pro

On Apple Vision Pro

Glinster tracks both of your hands, so there is nothing to hold while you play. Touching your thumb to a fingertip plays a note and releasing it stops the note, and turning your palm reaches the rest of the scale. The first note you play places an expression sphere around your hand. After that, where your hand is inside the sphere sets the volume and the brightness.

  • Touch your thumb to a fingertipplays a note
  • Turn your palm overreaches the upper notes
  • Raise your handmakes the note louder
  • Push your hand forwardmakes the note brighter
  • Move your hand sidewaysbends the pitch
  • Pinch or turn your other handshifts by a semitone, a whole tone or an octave
The constellation of the last notes played, hanging in the sky above the ruler.
When you pause, the last notes you played hang above the ruler as a small constellation, then fade.

The ruler

A ruler floats in front of you and shows which note is sounding, how far it is bent, and the angle of each palm. It stays where the space opened. Watch it while you play rather than your hands.

The constellation

Every note you play becomes a star. When you pause, the stars are joined in the order you played them, and the figure fades out after a moment.

Left-handed and one-handed play

Either hand can be the playing hand, and the other hand can be switched off entirely. A guided tour watches you perform each gesture before it moves on to the next one.

iPhone and iPad

On iPhone and iPad

Glinster measures your hand once, by having you rest your playing hand flat and then reach up. It records how far apart your fingers are, how far you reach, and how your fingers arch. After that, wherever you put your thumb the notes appear beside it, the rows curve the way your hand does, and the grid keeps following your hand while you play. Left-handed players are detected from the way they rest their hand.

iPad demo, 90 seconds: how Glinster measures your hand, then how to play it. Watch on YouTube
Glinster on iPhone: a grid of notes arched to the hand, three notes sounding, the thumb resting below.
iPhone: the rows follow the arch of the hand, higher under the middle finger and lower under the little finger.
The fit: four fingertips measured at rest and reaching, and the curved rows of notes fitted through them resting row reaching row thumb ABCD EFGA
How the fit works: the height of each fingertip is measured at rest and reaching up, and a curve fitted through them is used for every row.

Bending, tone and volume

Sliding a playing finger sideways bends its pitch, sliding it up and down changes its brightness, and sliding your thumb up and down controls the volume. Every finger plays its own note. Resting a fingertip of your other hand beside the notes brings up arrows that shift everything by a semitone or an octave.

More rows on a larger screen

On iPad, more rows continue the scale above your hand, and there is room for both hands.

Glinster on iPad: both hands on the glass, the other hand's octave arrow engaged on the left, a chord sounding on the arched grid.
iPad: a chord on the grid, with the other hand holding the octave arrow.

MIDI

MPE for the synths you already have

Glinster sends MPE, so every finger's note goes out on its own MIDI channel with its own pitch, brightness and volume, and a polyphonic synth can follow each finger separately. It has its own sounds too. It runs as an AUv3 instrument and as a MIDI generator inside your DAW, and connects over Bluetooth MIDI, a virtual MIDI port, or a network MIDI session with a Mac.

bendbrightness
channel 2
channel 3
channel 4
channel 5

Four fingers on four channels, each with its own bend and brightness.

Who makes Glinster

Geert Bevin

I worked on the Eigenharp, created GECO, helped create LinnStrument, I'm one of the authors of the MPE specification, and I created the Moog apps. Glinster continues what I started over a decade ago with GECO, which turned hand movements over a Leap Motion sensor into music. On Apple Vision Pro that needs no extra hardware, and on iPhone and iPad it works on the glass you already have.

  1. The EigenharpThe expressive instrument by Eigenlabs, which I worked on
  2. GECOHand movements over a Leap Motion sensor turned into MIDI
  3. LinnStrumentThe expressive grid controller, with Roger Linn
  4. The MPE specificationOne MIDI channel per note, adopted as a MIDI standard
  5. The Moog appsMoog's instruments on Apple platforms
  6. GlinsterApple Vision Pro, iPhone and iPad

Story ideas

Possible angles

An instrument that fits your hand

Glinster measures each player's hand, including the arch of their fingers, and places the notes where their fingers rest.

Playing music with bare hands

On Apple Vision Pro, Glinster is a complete expressive instrument played with hand tracking alone, without a controller.

Accessible music making

Left-handed play, one-handed play, and on Apple Vision Pro, playing without a controller. A guided first start checks each gesture as you perform it.

At a glance

Released
November 3, 2026
Platforms
Apple Vision Pro with visionOS 26, iPhone with iOS 18, iPad with iPadOS 18
Price
$9.99, one App Store purchase for Apple Vision Pro, iPhone and iPad, AUv3 plugins included. No free version and nothing to unlock.
MIDI
MPE or single channel, Bluetooth, virtual port, network
Sound
Five presets, sixteen scales, twelve roots
Recording
Lossless takes, played back with the instrument still live
App Store
apps.apple.com/app/id6800377951
Website
uwyn.com/glinster

Press materials

Download the press kit ZIP, 65 MB
App icon
1024 × 1024 PNG
Apple Vision Pro
Seven screenshots, 3840 × 2160 PNG
iPad
Six screenshots, 2752 × 2064 PNG
iPhone
Six screenshots, 2868 × 1320 PNG, and six on the iPhone Duo inner display, 2853 × 2007

The kit also has a fact sheet with the text of this page, and the iPad demo video is on YouTube. For press questions, write to [email protected].