At Superbooth 2019, Gamechanger Audio gave us a demo of their upcoming Motor Synth – one of the most unique synthesizers we’ve ever seen.
Motor Synth produces sounds by accelerating and decelerating eight electromotors to precise rpm (revolutions per minute) that correspond with specific musical notes. The instrument’s eight-electromotor configuration allows for four-note polyphony, with two voices per key played.
We talked with Gamechanger Audio’s Ilya Krumins, who explained the details of the Motor Synth and gave us an in-depth demo of how it works.
The Motor Synth will be available via an IndieGoGo campaign later this month.
The means justify the end.
What exactly is a drone engine?
Isn’t he just talking about the little motors that are used in flying drones?
I gather a ‘drone engine’ is a synth that doesn’t change pitch much. Accentuate the positive! 🙂
No, they actually do change pitch rather well. It is in fact a motor like used in a drone / quadcopter.
Oh man, I totally missed that.
This is fascinating and original, but I want to hear them demo something subtle and expressive, to see if it has that sort of range.
Given a cursory look at the video it seems possible but of course that depends on the artist since a decent one can coax wide ranges out of anything, since art is the point rather than standardized operations of specific technical gear
It reminds me of metasonix stuff a bit in the wacky dept, but yeh i bet its got way more musical range
Same here.
The speed up and break effect could be cool, but I would love to hear a more musical presentation of the thing happening between those two events, to see if it useful for the core sounds, or if it is more of an effect to put between notes of another instrument, for cool transition effects.
I really want to like it but there are cheaper ways to have fun with transducers.
At first I thought this was something along the lines of a stepping motor like the kind found in 3D printers, which themselves make interesting continuous sound waves. But if I’m hearing what he is saying correctly, these motors simply trigger a light meter which then produces an electric current.
I’d be really thrilled if they built one that worked off of stepping motors!
From the site:
The Motor Synth has two ways of producing its core sound.
Firstly, magnetic pickups are placed on each of its eight electromotors; the spinning coils result in a very industrial-sounding, over-the-top analogue tone. Think eight harmonious revving engines pumping out an intimidating noise!
Secondly, specially designed reflective optical disks have been attached to the shafts of each electromotor. Each disk contains a graphical representation of three standard audio wave-shapes. As the electromotors spin, the disks are set into circular motion, and each wave-shape is read by a dedicated set of infrared sensors, then converted into an audio signal. Thus, the wave-shapes on the reflective optical disks become precise musical notes, corresponding to the speed of the electromotors.
Looking up close at the optical designs on the disc, it appears that they put 7 wave cycles per rotation of the motor. Any reason they didn’t go with 8 (or some other power of two)? I can hear an undertone that is a different note than the one being played, and it seems that if they’d gone with 8 wave cycles instead of 7 the undertone would have a more musically useful octaving effect.
Excellent observation, perhaps there is a reason, or perhaps time to fix it before the kickstarter
i think this is fantastic, these guys are taking risks and making really cool stuff, bravo.
Did I miss something, or did they not demo the “raw” sound of the motor with the pickups – the one marked as (M) on the waveform selector? The optical disks are cool, and it’s a unique take on using waveforms we all know well – The motor with pickups seems like that would be the most unique, and that was what I was looking forward to hearing the most… and I have yet to hear it. It seems odd to me that they would have this very unique method of synthesis, truly unlike anything else out there, and not demo it.
i am a big fan of the concept, just wish it didnt sound like crap
Whacky and fun. I wonder how many people will actually want one, though? Also, can it fly?