DIY Granular-Synth
This project was part of my Bachelor-studies at Institute for Music and Media @ Robert-Schumann-Hochschule Düsseldorf.
It was submitted on June 17th of 2022.
Combining the principles of plate-reverbs and recent experiences with piezoelectric sensors, I came up with the idea to build a reverb-machine from some kind of stringed instrument.
One idea followed the next and the project grew pretty big.
It is still ongoing with a long todo-list,
but I want to present a functioning prototype to start out this documentation nonetheless.
Here’s a short demo:
At current time, there are basically two devices:
- : A Zither, that was prepared with speakers and piezoelectric sensors.
It serves as a makeshift reverb-device, aswell as an input source for the actual synth. - : A granular synth, programmed in SuperCollider and running on a BeagleBone Black, equipped with a Bela-Cape.
It takes audio input and stores it in a buffer on the press of a button.
The recorded audio is then rearranged in adjustable patterns, rates and various other parameters.
Here’s a short list of it’s current features:
- stereo i/o
- presets
- MIDI-input
- three assignable faders with value-pickup
- rotary encoder for menu selection
- trigger button
Once I have solved some of it’s current problems, I will upload a better demo video, aswell as a detailed build-documentation to GitHub. As of now, there’s only source Code to be found there.
Pictures
Zither after cleaning & before prepping.
Inside the Zither after prepping.
The face or UI of the synth.
The inside of the Synth, showing the wiring. I know this is a crude job, but remember this is just a prototype.
Side-view of the Synth, showing the connections.