Odd Ball, the ball-shaped music instrument, is adding new gestures so you can become a house DJ

Odd Ball is a company that makes fun electronic bouncing balls that allow you to generate MIDI sounds by tapping or bouncing them. The company is adding new gestures to its device, including rotating, twisting, moving, shaking, and air throwing, so you can generate sounds in a new way.

With the latest app update, the company also lets you be the DJ at a house party with these gestures. It includes a DJ mode with background tracks and on-screen instructions for gestures for that track. When you combine one or more gestures, the app will play sound effects at the top of the track.

Image credits: Strange ball

The startup now classifies gestures into two categories: triggers (press, shake, turn), which the company describes as being akin to playing a note; and modulators (move, rotate, air blast), which the company views as buttons on a console.

The intensity of the gesture also matters. The app will generate a sound based on how hard or fast you spin or shake the ball.

Image credits: Strange ball

Pasquale Totaro, the company’s founder and CEO, told TechCrunch that the ball has a built-in sensor that the company was not using. But with the new update, the startup is now using this sensor.

“Originally the hardware had a motion sensor that we didn’t use at all, it just sat there. The idea was to later offer new firmware that would bring it to life. This is where we are currently. It took a lot of R&D to unlock all the features. Imagine a trackpad that only understands taps… now it also has zoom, pinch, drag, pan, etc. Totaro told TechCrunch via email.

He mentioned that the team had to put a lot of effort into separating one move from another.

The company

Odd Ball started in 2018 with a Kickstarter campaign and the company began selling the first version in November 2020. Totaro said the startup wanted to make the process of creating music easy and fun. He said playing with a ball, which comes intuitively to humans, was one way to do that.

“Everyone already knows how to bounce, shake and throw a ball, and all these actions are naturally already musical and rhythmic. This quality of the ball virtually breaks down the initial learning barriers that a music lover must overcome when trying to learn an instrument, equipment or software,” he said.

Image credits: Strange ball

The company has sold more than 25,000 devices, with children and music lovers being the main buyers. Although Odd Ball hasn’t raised any institutional money, it does have a few advisors on its board. These include Glass Direct founder and Google director Jamie Murray Wells; Ali Mostoufi, whose startup me.com Inc. was bought by Apple in 2008; Ted Cohen, former head of EMI and Warner Bros. Records; and Roy Burstin, former CEO of digital media company Mitu.

Totaro said the company is profitable and looking to expand its product line with two devices in the works. Odd Ball is working on a version of the ball with several RGB LEDs for a new dimension of interaction.

Its gesture technology is adaptive and is also looking to expand to other form factors. Notably, Totaro said Odd Byall strengthens the ability to make everyday objects useful in the XR/VR sector.