There’s no scarcity of methods for synthesizers to generate sounds. Generally, they rely upon one in every two tried and authentic technologies — analog or virtual oscillators. Gamechanger Audio went a unique course and grew to become too… Motors (hence Motor Synth). However, these aren’t the chaotic, gasoline-burning engines you would locate in a truck. These are eight excessive-precision, brushless motors (like the ones utilized in drones).
So how does it paint?
Well, it is virtually pretty simple. The vehicles spin at a particular RPM corresponding to a selected audio frequency. For instance, plug in a MIDI keyboard, press middle C, and the cars will, without delay, begin whirring at a frequency of 261.63Hz. To be clear, what you listen to while you press that button isn’t the actual sound of the motors. (Though they’re, unsurprisingly, pretty audible.) Instead, magnetic pickups seize the electromagnetic electricity through induction, then musical notes.
The result is unlike something I’ve heard pop out of a synthesizer. It’s aggressive and challenging but still very exciting. There’s a slight herbal waver to the tones. This is paying homage to an antique analog synthesizer but extraordinary in a way that isn’t easy to explain.
If this changed into all the Motor Synth did, it might nonetheless be pretty dazzling — if a chunk one dimensional. Gamechanger has some other trick up its sleeve, even though: reflective discs that take a seat on top of each motor. Those discs have patterns painted on them, and as they spin beneath a light inside, the black markings also take in heat. The unpainted sections replicate that heat lower back to a fixed of infrared sensors. That record is then transformed into audio alerts — both sines noticed or rectangular waves. They sound an awful lot toward a conventional analog synth. However, they nonetheless have a person all of their very own.
One of the first-rate parts is that you get to peer all of this occurring because there’s a window through which you may view the eight automobiles. You can virtually watch as they spin up and slow down in reaction to your playing. Best of all, they’re bathed in an, as it should be, angry-looking crimson mild.
Beyond this, matters begin to look a good deal more like a conventional synthesizer — and that’s no longer a terrible element. Because when you’re taking off with an idea this bizarre, you need something to help ground it within the acquainted. There’s a preferred ADSR (attack, decay, maintain, release) envelope, a multi-mode resonant filter (which can be bypassed), a drive circuit for including distortion, and a mod section that can add tremolo or vibrato or maybe affect the filter envelope.
The only one you might not see on different synths is the accelerate knob (which doubles as a brake). This changes how quickly the cars get up to speed and how quickly they backpedal. It might sound barely unusual. However, it essentially drifts management.
There are some specific connectivity options, too. There are CV (manipulate voltage) ports for pitch, clock, and gate; a 1/4-inch output for line-degree audio; a USB port; plus a popular five-pin MIDI DIN. There’s additionally a 1/4-inch input jack that now not only accepts audio but also can do pitch monitoring — this means that you may play the Motor Synth with a guitar, bass, or maybe your voice. That said, we can not guarantee approximately how nicely the pitch monitoring will work, considering that it’s not up and running yet.
Now, while you can hook up a conventional keyboard and play the Motor Synth like any other synthesizer, the folks at Gamechanger opt to use the eight buttons at the front; these can be set to play any scale, making it clear to bang out a melody or bassline, even if you don’t know how to play a tool. They can be either nonpermanent (notes prevent gambling while you release the button) or latching (notes play until you play new messages). The latter is particularly beneficial when you switch from free play to arpeggiator mode.
