15 smart crowdfunding campaigns you may want to back this week

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Every Friday, we’re taking a look at some of the smartest, most innovative projects that have caught our attention on Kickstarter and Indiegogo over the last seven days. 

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Oval

This MIDI-compatible instrument lets you learn, play and create music through a series of multi-sensing pads and LEDs. Oval Sound is currently seeking $109,492 on Kickstarter.

Here Active Listening

This pair of earbuds don’t stream or play recorded music, but instead provide you with a volume knob, equalizer and effects to transform real world audio. Doppler Labs is currently seeking $250,000 on Kickstarter.

Eedu

This easy-to-use, do-it-yourself kit provides Makers with everything they need to develop their own drone. Skyworks Aerial Systems is currently seeking $100,000 on Kickstarter.

Hidrate Me

This smart bottle syncs to your phone to track your water intake and glows to remind you to stay hydrated. Hidrate is currently seeking $35,000 on Kickstarter.

Trago

This connected bottle accurately measures your water consumption by connecting to your mobile and wearable devices. Jac and Davis Saltzgiver are currently seeking $50,000 on Kickstarter.

Gloveone

These gloves enable you to feel and touch any virtual object that you can see on the screen or in your VR headsets. NeuroDigital Technologies is currently seeking $150,000 on Kickstarter.

COOPY

These three buttons can be configured to your liking, triggering different day-to-day functions with just the click of a button. PentaSens is currently seeking $60,000 on Kickstarter.

Grüt

This combination of sensors and an accompanying mobile app monitors the condition of plants, providing feedback to kids in the form a virtual buddy. Grüt is currently seeking $10,925 on Kickstarter.

My Driving Pal

This multi-purpose solution allows you to keep tabs on a variety everyday things, whether that’s a child, a bike or a vehicle. Shahram Rezaei is currently seeking $35,000 on Kickstarter.

uGALE

These app-controlled insoles can keep your feet cool, ventilated and odor-free, as well as heat them during winter. Vay Technologies is currently seeking $40,582 on Kickstarter.

AguaDrone

This waterproof drone is equipped with SONAR to spot fish and uses its own Wi-Fi signal to transmit its findings to your smartphone up to 320 feet away. Daniel Marion is currently seeking $150,000 on Kickstarter.

Pet Tutor Blu

This universal, Bluetooth-enabled system for pets combines training and gaming into one. Smart Animal Training Systems is currently seeking $30,000 on Kickstarter.

CreatorKit

These pre-printed conductive ink stickers can turn any object into an interactive surface with touch, sound and graphics. Novalia is currently seeking $18,425 on Kickstarter.

Seek N’ Sneak

This Arduino-powered, self-controlled robot is capable of autonomously finding, grabbing and relocating objects. Konstantin Stolpovsky is currently seeking $11,161 on Kickstarter.

SunRaiden

This innovative inverter-charger is designed to make solar more accessible and power off-grid applications in challenging environments. Michael Sewanaku is currently seeking $25,000 on Kickstarter.

Did you happen to miss last week’s notable campaigns? If so, you can check them out here. Also, if your project is powered by Atmel MCUs and you’ve been featured on our blog, be sure to download the respective badges here for use in your ongoing marketing efforts. 

Oval is the world’s first digital handpan

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Oval is a new electronic instrument that allows you to play, learn and perform music using any sound you can imagine.

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The brainchild of one Barcelona startup, Oval is a Bluetooth-enabled and MIDI-compliant USB device with multi-sensing pads and LEDs that helps users learn, play and create music. The electronic device, which doubles as an open source music controller, pairs to a smartphone, tablet and computer to allow musicians of any level to develop new sounds and share their compositions using its accompanying app.

Inspired by the handpan family of acoustic instruments (which resembles the classic steel drums of Trinidad and Tobago), Oval offers total freedom to make various notes and piece them together to perform an entire tune. This is accomplished through its Android and OS-friendly mobile app, as well as any MIDI-compatible software. Like a mini four track sequencer, the app lets users upload their own sounds and play them in different scales, add effects, adjust the sensitivity of its touchpads, download other songs, and pretty much anything else a percussionist would ever require.

“There are other ways to enjoy music besides listening. You are never too old or too young to experience the awesome feeling of playing an instrument and creating music. We believe that learning music should be fun and instruments have to be made to be ready to play right away. The Oval speeds up your music learning curve by leveraging the power of technology, gaming and sharing with others,” the team writes.

The Oval takes the design, ergonomics and musical qualities of handpans to create an electronic instrument that can be as simple for a beginner to start exploring music as a means of expression, and as complex as a professional musician needs it to be for layering samples and real-time looping. Its durable yet lightweight case is comprised of all natural materials like bauxite, marble and quartz, and comes in three colors: white, red and grey.

Designed with portability in mind, the unit itself only measures about 16” x 16″ x 5” in size and weighs roughly seven pounds. Oval is equipped with pressure-sensitive pads which illuminate to provide visual cues for tutorials, metronome mode and music-driven games. Meanwhile, housed inside its shell lies an Atmel | SMART SAM3X8E Cortex-M3 MCU for its brains, a Bluetooth Low Energy module for connectivity, and a lithium battery for recharging via USB. What’s more, the instrument comes with a jack that can be used to input pedals or an external controllers.

Whether you’re a pro musician looking for a new tool or just someone who misses the steel drum sounds of the Caribbean, head over to Oval’s Kickstarter page today. The team is currently seeking $109,492 and hopes to begin shipping units out by spring of next year.