Results for organic

Sometimes I feel that we have so many virtual instruments and effects that it seems near impossible to come up with something new and exciting.

And then Sonic Charge brings Synplant, completely proving me wrong.

If you’re into electronic beats you may very well be familiar with Sonic Charge’s µTonic (or MicroTonic), Magnus Lidström’s top notch drum and percussion synth.

And if you’re a Reason user that name Magnus Lidström might ring a bell as well. Magnus worked on several things for Propellerhead Software, most notably designing and developing the Malström synth for Reason 2.0.

And now for something completely different

I hope you weren’t expecting I was going to tell you that Synplant is some kind of Malström 2.0… Just take a look at Synplant and compare that with Malström’s GUI.

This isn’t properly scaled, but I’m sure you’ll notice they don’t look much alike. Synplant has 7 sliders and a few buttons around the plant’s bulb, while Maltröm’s controls are… many.

Right, so let’s focus on Synplant then. Here’s what the product page reads:

Synplant is a software synthesizer with a genetic approach to sound creation. Instead of creating patches the conventional way by turning dials and knobs, Synplant lets you explore a world of organic sounds by planting seeds that grow into synth patches.

Aha, the lack of controls on that Synplant GUI is intentional! Btw, note how it says it has a genetic approach to sound creation, not generative. Although Synplant uses a generative synthesis engine, it isn’t actually a generative music system (you might’ve thought so when seeing the circle of notes on the interface…)

Synplant invites you to take a different approach to sound creation. Using seeds to plant, and branches to grow sounds isn’t something I’ve ever seen before.

… read more

Some interesting things I bookmarked on del.icio.us on April 11th, 2008:

# Brockenspiel in action – Brock Craft's Brockenspiel reads the magnetic strip on credit cards and swipe access cards, zips them through an Arduino board and triggers solenoids which bash the chimes.

Left: working on the Arduino, right: the actual Brockenspiel

# pe lang + zimoun : untitled sound objects – The “Untitled Sound Objects” by Pe Lang and Zimoun creates acoustic architecture from organic objects and forms connected up to motors and gears. The duo began as laptop performers but were offput by the lack of physicality so they investigated how to create physical instruments that react to their immediate environment and each other.

# Black Flag Hair: A Timeline – Nice illustration of Black Flag's hairstyles from 1976 to 1986.

# little-scale: Arduino Beats – Sebastian Tomczak is working on a sample-based drum machine for the Arduino. At the moment, bars and patterns have to be programmed into the code manually, but he's looking to adding a small and simple physical interface for real-time pattern sequencing.

# Ten Thousand Cents – Behind the scenes of a mechanical turk project: 10,000 people drawing a small piece of a 100 dollar bill.

Some interesting things I bookmarked on del.icio.us on November 19th, 2007:

• Anton Corbijn Talks Ian Curtis – Interview with Anton Corbijn, director of Joy Division biopic Control.

Anton Corbijn (photo by Carmen Valino)

• Lost in the Static – Lost in the Static is a simple little game that uses some surprising aspects of the human perceptual system to create a visible world out of animating static.
• Foamee – Foamee is a free service that helps track who you owe beers to (and vice-versa) using the popular messaging service, Twitter.
• CJO – Abstract – Organic agriculture and the global food supply – According to researchers at the University of Michigan, organic farms can produce more than enough food to support the world’s population without converting any additional land to crop production.
• pantone autumn – Chris Glass collected leaves from a single maple tree to create this pantone autumn image.