The Hyve Touch Synthesizer – a unique 60-voice analog synth design – is now available via a Kickstarter project.
The Hyve is controlled by pressure, and horizontal, and vertical movements of each finger on the surface. The instrument can sense tiny movements, allowing you to bring expression to your performance.
Here’s a performance demo by from composer Edmund Eagan:
Notes on the Hyve are arranged so that you can easily explore harmonies and tone combinations with small movements of your finger.
The bottom half is arranged like a piano keyboard. Each key senses pressure, vertical position, and horizontal position. Moving vertically allows you to sweep through octaves and harmonically combine them into evolving tones. Horizontal movements push the sound right and left in stereo. Touching the bottom row causes a pressure-controlled pitch bend.
The top half uses a hexagon grid to put notes that sound ‘good’ together right next to each other. Every adjacent note is harmonically related: straight up is a perfect 5th, up to the right is a major 3rd, and up to the left is a minor 3rd. This means that one finger can play a chord and slide to the next chord in the song. Each hexagon also senses pressure and horizontal position like the bottom half.
Here’s a hands-on demo, via synthesist Cuckoo:
Pricing and Availability
The Hyve is available to project backers, starting at US $79 for an advanced DIY version (requires surface mount soldering), $149 for a barebones version or $299 for ready-to-play version.
I was interested when the DIY was gonna be $40. Wondering why the steep increase?
I also recall the Price point being 40.
80 for a PCB is pretty steep. but im really inspired by the interface and imagine ill love it till the traces lift…..
if it was cheaper I would build tons of these and put them into all sorts of devices. since its so expensive ill build one and use as intended…. o well atleast he is sharing the schematics!
so… this only plays square waves? ok, 60 of them… but still, i’d say calling this a “synth” is more than a stretch…
A Hammond Tonewheel only make sine waves…..screw that.
thats why a Hammond is called an organ and not a synth
what a let down, if they are gonna charge 150 why no midi! pffffffft
I have stalked this thing for years, but 300$ is obscene, when you consider there is no CV or Midi Out.
It’s a toy at premium price 🙁 I’ll have to pass
Agree, nice design but way to pricey for a very limited device.
yeah me too – 300 is too steep which sucks because I was really looking forward to it.
So glad I’m not the only one who thought the price increase was ridiculous
Yeah, the price hike killed 4 years of interest in the thing.
A “synth” that offers no way to shape the sound, can’t be sequenced or controlled by anything else, and can’t control anything else… it wouldn’t fit very well into how I make music, but down near $40 it would have been worth picking up to play with the control and massive polyphony anyway. Oh well.
It’s cheaper than I was expecting. It looks like a well conceived instrument. Been looking forward for the opportinuty to get one for some time now!
It is equivalent to 0$ app for iPad
I was waiting for this. A great controller I thought. No midi/cv = no use for me
aren’t there a few ipad midi apps that use the piano keys + hive concept? i suppose when ipads get force touch they will be pressure sensitive too. this thing is really DOA for $300. for $100 it would be kinda fun in a monotron/volca kind of way.
He uses ripple counters [74HC393] as oscillators?! Kinda interesting in a weird way. Whatever works. I was interested until I saw surface mount. I won’t touch surface mount unless it’s a national emergency.