Play notes on your fingers. Shape them with your wrist.
Kord is a glove MIDI controller. Your thumb plays notes on copper pads along your fingers. At the same time, turning, bending and moving your wrist shapes the sound. No knobs, and no taking your hand off one control to reach the next.
Launching on Kickstarter ······· Tuesday 25 May 2027
Kord is a working prototype and is not for sale yet. Sign up and we'll send you each new Polyrhythmia patch video as it comes out, and email you when the Kickstarter goes live with the backer price of $240 (it will be $420 after the campaign).
WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT
One hand, many things at once
With a keyboard controller you play notes with one hand and turn one knob at a time with the other. To change a second setting, you let go of the first. With Kord, one hand does it all together, and it feels less like turning dials than dancing with the sound.
NOTES
ROLL
FLEX
POSITION
SWING
Your thumb taps 12 copper pads on the segments of your four fingers.
Turn your wrist like a door handle.
From the start pose, thumb up, bend your wrist in and out on the sides
Move your wrist left and right.
Swing your arm up and down in rhythm. Every move up or down an octave re-triggers what's playing, so your swing locks in with the arpeggios. Hold a two- or three-pad chord and swing, and it goes wild.
POLYRHYTHM YOU CAN STEER
Start a pattern, then play another over it
Tap one pad and it plays a short arpeggio that runs out on its own. Tap another before it ends and a second pattern lays over the first. Add a third and three rhythms weave together while your wrist bends all of them.
A friend played it until the battery ran out. His review: “addictive.”
HOW IT WORKS WITH ABLETON
From the box to sound
1 · PUT IT ON
One small sensor on your forearm near the wrist, like a watch, and one on the back of your hand.
2 · CONNECT
The glove makes its own Wi-Fi network. Your laptop joins it directly, no router needed.
3 · LOAD A PATCH
Open Ableton and Conductor (Mac and Windows, included), then load the patch you're in the mood for.
4 · CALIBRATE
Two seconds in the start pose: elbow bent in an L, forearm level, thumb up.
5 · CHECK THE SOUNDS, THEN 'GO'
New patch? Skim its Kord tab first. Already know it? Go.
Patches shown here are built in Live Standard; the starter set will run in Live Intro. Kord also sends MIDI and OSC, and we've tested it working in Bitwig and Reaper.
PATCHES WRITTEN DOWN
Every patch comes with a Kord tab
Watch the patch, then go through it page by page. Each Kord tab page shows one move: which pads, in what order, how far to bend and roll, and where to take your wrist, with a 5-second clip of how that page sounds.
HOW TO READ A KORD TAB
4 7 2
Big number: the order of the hit.
Left: how many times it repeats.
Right: how fast: 1, 2 or 4.
A line to another pad: play both together as a chord.
A box around it: now improvise. Take that sound around the other pads.
HOVER ANY STEP: THE REMINDER
Hands: which way to bend or roll. Here: roll out and in.
5 × 5 map: where your wrist goes and how wide. Here: hold it low and still.
More patches: Lydian Steps · Copper Rain · new ones every week until launch.
WHO MADE IT
Fifteen years of motion gloves, eleven on this one
I'm Ali Kord, and yes, the glove is named after me. I founded Synertial and spent about 15 years building inertial gloves, including a data logger for baseball. G6, the system Kord's hub comes from, is the 13th generation I've designed, manufactured and brought to market. In 2015 I started on a music glove, and later added copper pads so one hand could play notes and shape them at once.
I'm 66, and I'm not a trained musician. I learned Ableton to build this, by trial and error. Kord is the version that worked. The copper-pad design has a worldwide patent pending.
SPECS
The glove
Thin, very stretchy fabric with the cables hidden in a layer on the back. Two small sensors: one on the forearm near the wrist, like a watch, and one on the back of the hand.
NOTES
MOTION
CONNECTION
OUTPUT
SOFTWARE
SIZES
POWER
12 copper pads, played with the thumb
Wrist roll and flex, wrist left/right, arm up/down for octave swings
Wi-Fi direct to your computer, no router
MIDI and OSC
Conductor for Mac and Windows, included
S–M, M–L · left or right hand
Swappable cartridges, about 2 h each, or USB-C while charging
FAQ
Questions
Can I buy one now?
No. Kord is a working prototype. It launches on Kickstarter on 25 May 2027.
Can I try one before the launch?
We're making 10 prototypes for musicians and producers who will review Kord and share what they find. Apply to review a prototype
How is Kord different from other music gloves?
Most gesture gloves measure how your fingers bend and leave you to design the gestures that make sound. Kord puts 12 copper note pads on your fingers, laid out as a scale and played with your thumb, so every note is something you can feel. Sensors on your forearm and palm turn your wrist and arm into live modulation, and it comes with patches built for it.
Is Kord a sequencer or a groovebox?
No. A groovebox records patterns on a grid and plays them back. Kord is a conductor: each pad tap sets off arpeggios and delays inside Ableton, and your wrist bends and layers them into polyrhythms while you play.
I already have a pad controller. Why Kord?
A pad controller sits on the desk and you look down at it. Kord is worn, so your notes are on your fingers and your wrist does the tweaking, several settings at once. Use the controller to build the track and Kord to perform it.
Do I need to be a musician?
No. Only at heart. Every pad sounds right, and most people get something they like within minutes.
Do I need Ableton?
For our patches, yes: Live Intro or above. Other DAWs work over MIDI and OSC with your own mappings.
Does it respond as tightly as a keyboard?
No, and it isn't meant to. Playing Kord is closer to conducting: pad hits start arpeggios that run in time with the patch.
Which size should I get?
S–M fits most hands. Choose M–L only if your hands are large.
When will it ship?
We're aiming for December 2027 to January 2028.
KICKSTARTER · TUESDAY 25 MAY 2027
$240
or 3 payments of $80
After the campaign $420
Backer Edition gloves get their own housing and fabric, so a day-one Kord can always be told apart.
STRETCH GOAL
Phone player app
Play your Ableton patches from your phone, through Bluetooth or the audio out.
STRETCH GOAL
Four more pads, your vote
Kord has 16 pad positions and uses 12. Backers choose what the other four do.