Webcam hand tracking got good enough in 2026 that a wave of browser instruments appeared within weeks of each other. This hub lists the ones worth your time, what each does with your hands, and where the code lives when it is open. We include our own instrument in the table and try to describe it as plainly as the rest.
| Instrument | Inputs | Modes | Recording | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gesture Synth (open-source projects) Eric Wei (ericwei97-cloud) and Ekmand | webcam | chords | no | repo |
| Air Theremin Pavel Gurov | webcam, phone gyro, mouse | theremin | yes | no |
| GestureGroove BioniChaos | webcam, face | sandbox | no | no |
| gesture.live Independent | webcam | chords | no | no |
| HandSynth (this site) HandSynth | webcam, mouse, touch, keyboard | chords, theremin | yes | no |
The two July 2026 projects that started the gesture synth wave: left hand picks a chord, right hand shapes it.
Our take: The original idea, still the purest demo. No guide, no theremin, no recording, non-commercial licence.
Open gesture-synth-weld.vercel.app · checked 2026-09-17
A single-file browser theremin played by waving at the webcam, with waveforms, effects, note snap and recording. Hacker News front page in August 2026.
Our take: The best theremin feel of the group. Dense interface, theremin only.
Open theremin.bizibah.com · checked 2026-09-17
A research sandbox on Tone.js and MediaPipe that maps hands and even mouth movement to sound.
Our take: For makers who want to see what else can be mapped. Not a quick play.
Open bionichaos.com/gesturegroove · checked 2026-09-17
A minimal gesture synth with a how-to-play page and a changelog.
Our take: Small and quick to load. Few controls.
Open gesture.live · checked 2026-09-17
Chord synth and air theremin in one instrument, with note snap, one-hand mode, a beat, WAV recording and MIDI out to your DAW.
Our take: Built to be playable in ten seconds with a fallback for every device.
Open handsynth.com · checked 2026-09-17
Missing an instrument? Tell us via the about page. We list independent projects, not clones of the ones already here.
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