I have been working on an acoustic modular synth system for a while now. It fits a modular rack standard (not Eurorack – bigger for now) and is controlled via CV/Gate but all the sound production and manipulation is acoustic. It was originally commissioned by record label The State 51 Conspiracy but has since significantly surpassed the original commission in every sense – scope, deadline, budget etc. They have let it and so have I.

Part of the commission is to record an album. I am pleased to say the music is finally starting to creep closer.

It has also been consumed by my PhD, as it fits really snugly into my area of study. There is significant scope for in-depth development of various acoustic systems and for the re-exploration of historical musical instruments and sound production techniques, in a new context.

Recently, I have made a significant change to the spec. Where I had planned that each module would have a mic and audio output, I have since decided it should produce sound entirely acoustically…at least for now. This throws up many fascinating challenges, such as, how to get a balanced sound acoustically, how to produce any significant bass at such a small scale, how to deal with machine noise vs module signal etc. These are all challenges and constraints I have faced previously, with the Mammoth Beat Organ, where we decided to allow the relative amplitude of each module dictate the flow of our performances. A feature not a bug!