The m!lTone – described as ‘a portable hands-free ultrasonic synthesizer, MIDI controller & more’ – is now under development as a Kickstarter project.
Features:
- Have hands-free control with up to 2 ultrasonic sensors for Continuous, Weighted, & Discrete “Air” functionality
- Control video and lights (using MIDI & third party software).
- Uses a very popular and open source code base that is Arduino compatible
- Play and explore different sounds and moods with over 200 scales from all over the
- world including 40 Quarter Tone maqams (scales)
- Small, lightweight, and portable
- Built-in speaker
- DC adapter, 9V battery or solar powered.
- Backlit 2×16 LCD display (White on Blue)
- Wooden enclosure with randomly selected exotic veneer
- The m!lTone is fully programmable to change its sounds and functionality
- Audio control using the body
Here’s the official intro video:
m!lTone Synth
- Wavetable Synthesizer with 7 waveforms
- Up to 3 note polyphony each with independent assignable waveform
- Discrete Air Mode – Never play the incorrect note with this feature
- Arpeggiator and Harmonizer with 4 modes (up, down, up&down and random) with adjustable tempo and step size
- Vibrato effect that can be controlled using ultrasonic sensor
The m!lTone is available as a DIY kit or assembled via the Kickstarter project starting at US $115.
looks great!
Nice looking box.
I have an Alesis Air Synth buried somewhere in the house. This contraption is hopefully much better than the Alesis. The problem with the Alesis is that the control was based off of light. UV light was shot from the unit to measure the distance from the device to your hand, or any other obstruction. The problem with that was when the light in the room would change, the response of the Air Synth would change. Imageine playing a guitar in a dimly lit room, and then someone enters that room, turns on a light, and the guitars scale goes from 24.75″ to 14″!
Hopefully this works better, maybe more like a theremin?
Very nice!!!
Looks like it could be used for all kinds of weird and wonderful things 🙂
The m!lTone uses ultrasonic sensors which can be used in any kind of lighting environment. The response of the sensors are great. I will add a video tonight or tomorrow showing the accuracy of distance to sensor. The range of the sensors can be adjusted depending on your application (1 inch to 8 feet). For example, last night I was jamming on my electric guitar and set the sensor range to be around 6 inches from the sensor and used my body or head of my guitar to change the distance from the sensor which was mapped to a depth/rate parameter on an effect I was using. Leaning towards the sensor would increase the rate/depth and leaning back would decrease the parameter value. This setup uses MIDI control messages and mapping the sensor value to an effect parameter.
There are a lot of features available on the m!lTone. Over time I will add demo videos to show how to setup the m!lTone and do specific things. Other than that it is plug and play. Any questions please feel free to ask : )
This sounds exciting! I will keep my eyes, ears, and mind open to this project!
I wonder if you could mod it for a CV output? All those scales to go to modular 1V/octave would be sexy!!
oh yes CV output and input please !!!!!!!!! 🙂 your instrument are wonderful and beautiful too 😉 nice grain!!
Austin and I will look into adding CV support. We’ll get back to you soon. Thanks for the comments ! In the meantime, check out this article I found online about the m!lTone. The author does a better than me in explaining what it really is.