Kinetik Laboratories has introduced the Dao – a pattern-controlled gate effect, capable of turning any signal connected to the INPUT JACK into a rhythmic sequence, passing or muting it towards the OUTPUT JACK.

Dao rhythm patterns are based on ‘reverse Euclidean strings’ and Kinetik says that they ‘have a strong musical appeal.’ The pattern length can be selected by using the corresponding knob, in a range from 1 to 16 steps.

• The CHOP NUMBER knob is used to define how many slices of the input signal are passed to the output.
• The rhythm patterns are based on the position of two knobs, PATTERN LENGTH and CHOP NUMBER. Users can generate up to 136 patterns by setting these knobs.
• The ON/BYPASS switch is used to turn the effect on and to start the pattern generation.
• The CLOCK RATE knob is used to set the internal sequencer tempo.
• The DECAY switch is used to choose the chopped audio slices length. Using SHORT setting is possible to obtain percussive sounds from every kind of continous sound as pads, drone and noise sounds.
• Dao generates a 5 Volts pulse, at the beginning of each step, on the SYNC OUTPUT jack. It can also be synchronized to external devices using the SYNC INPUT jack. When a jack is connected to the SYNC INPUT, the CLOCK RATE knob has no effect and the sync signal is replicated to the SYNC OUTPUT allowing synchronization of compatible equipment.

Dao requires an external power supply, providing 9vDC on 2.1mm barrel jack, negative tip.

Pricing and Availability

The Dao is available for 250€ via Kinetik Laboratories.

via Andrea Reali