It’s got tubes, it’s got transistors, it’s got a CD on a variable speed motor with the coating scratched off and a photo pickup underneath……it’s not on his website. Why does he do things like this?
Monthly Archives: April 2009
Want to explore alternate tunings? Now it’s easy.
H-Pi has released a new, updated version of their Tuning Box. It does any arbitrary tuning setup, from Archytas Septimal to Just to Harry Partch’s 43-Tone Chromelodeon Scale to Johnston Enharmonic. You name it, if your MIDI synthesizer accepts pitch bend, this device ($299 is an amazing price) will generate the correct MIDI messages to make any alternate tuning or key reassignment desired. I’ve already ordered one for my own experimentation.
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H-Pi also had something on its website that amused me.
Remember my post about unusual MIDI controllers last March? Well……
The New York Times ran a strangely familiar article four months later…..
The Electronic Peasant strikes again…..with a banjo synthesizer
His new pitch-CV processor and synthesizer was intended for processing the output of a banjo pickup with separate outputs for each string. Based on a Harry Bissell pitch-CV processor. The quality of the Peasant’s construction will embarrass most DIYers. (Not to mention his homebrew modular synth.) If you like to read about alternate controllers, here is a perfect example. How many other banjo players do you know of who build their own synthesizers?
And not only that, he has a lady friend, who is learning to DIY music electronics.
TUIST
Clever fellow made a controller with no keys, strings, or gizmos to trigger. You play it by tilting, rubbing, squeezing, shaking, etc……
Wired magazine article here, Gearwire video here, his website is here. Hope he manages to get it manufactured in some form.