This isn’t a product log. It’s a creature diary: what it wanted, what it resisted, what it learned.
The synth as CREATURE: I’m interested in building an instrument that feels like it has its own physiology: thresholds, sensitivities, quirks, and habits.
The goal isn’t super clean design for easy “control”. It’s a relationship: you learn it, it pushes back, it surprises you, you tune it, it changes again.
unstable but playable behaviour
2 VCOs [for FM Synthesis] sin / square / triangle 1 VCA [with CV] 1 Arduino board with 10V DAC [for generating CV sequences]
Sculptural object / interface driven by a need to design each part of it with sculptural qualities - I want it to read as an object with a body: surfaces, tension points, organs. Not interested in the usual modular synthesizer designs
The layout should reward wandering hands.
generative layout design
umbilical cord patch cables
loose heatshrink, coax cable and 3.5mm jack heads
Most fun: conductive rubber cord waveshaper — because it feels like a tactile non-linear element. A bodily interface, not a knob.
The cord behaves like a resistive membrane: pressure, stretch, grip, skin moisture… it changes the shape of the sound in a way that’s hard to fully predict.
What it does introduces non-linear transformation with contact / pressure / tension
What it's leading me MORE WEIRD CONTROLS! Wearable variable resistors and CV generators (body becomes controller)
Arduino sequencer / hybrid control
I like the friction between discrete steps (sequencer logic) and continuous behaviour (analog drift).
Analog role drift / richness / instability
Calibration as practice? I spend more time tuning relationships between signals than composing sounds. Small changes to frequency, modulation, and feedback change how the system behaves. When playing alongside Viva and their 808 I’m listening for where the waves start to interact in a way that feels right, then adjusting the patch to hold it there.
Focusing on how the sounds are feeling within my body:sensory feedback from the system.
Next: wearable CV generators — straps / bands / cords that output CV that can be patched in. NOT “controller gloves”, more like soft cyborg prosthetics.
The goal is collaboration between bodies and circuits: the control signal has noise, fatigue, micro-variation.
Output CV / variable resistance (simple, reliable)
Interest messy control (noise as compositional material)