Weird two-person e-instrument

John Biggs

Biggs is the East Coast Editor of TechCrunch. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. Email him directly at... → Learn More

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

This is an odd little device. It’s a dual-person synth designed for “primates.” Here’s the description:

Each side of this instrument is operated by one primate. Each side has identical controls, except for a single tempo control on the side. The lower manual contains four synthesizers with four independent ADSR envelope generators. Interlocking rhythmical elements can be generated by dialing numbers into a voltage reservoir, then assigning this number to any of four electronic counters on the upper manual. If the number 8 is dialed into the reservoir and assigned to each of the four synthesizers on the lower manual, the machine will distribute the four sounds across eight pulses produced by the internal clock. The counters can hold separate numbers, so the machine can play any number up to 16 against any other number. There are four horizontal rows of knobs and switches on the lower manual: two employ pairs of frequency modulating oscillators, the other two filtered noise. The upper manual has its own envelope generator and filter to shape sounds from external sources, and is played with push buttons that allow the internal clock to trigger it.

Yeah, I don’t understand either. Anyway, it sounds kind of good, doesn’t it?

via Make

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