Having successfully showcased MOTOR Synth as the world’s first electro-mechanical desktop synthesizer at SUPERBOOTH19 in Berlin, May 9-11 — wowing well-known attendees like legendary French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre and Atlanta-based American electronic musician and acclaimed sound designer Richard Devine in doing so, uncharted music electronics territories explorer Gamechanger | Audio is proud to announce that its IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign starts on Tuesday, May 28
Once its IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign commences, MOTOR Synth will be available to pre-order — prices starting at $749.00 USD — for 30 days.
After the crowdfunding campaign closes, MOTOR Synth will only be available for online and in-store purchase at an MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested
Retail Price) of $1,299.00 USD when shipping starts, scheduled for around November/December 2019.
As the world’s first electro-mechanical desktop synthesizer, MOTOR Synth really represents a new method of analogue audio signal synthesis since digitally-controlled electromotors (used to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy) have never before been used as the principal sound source for a commercial musical instrument. In a nutshell, MOTOR Synth produces sounds by accelerating and decelerating eight electromotors to precise RPMs (revolutions per minute) that correspond with specific musical notes. Each electromotor is fitted with a magnetic pickup/inductor and an infrared photosensor that reads a spinning optical disc with printed sine, sawtooth, and square wave-shapes. Besides using motors as oscillators, the rest of the synth’s features are designed in the best tradition of analogue gear.
Extraordinarily employing electromotors alone are enough to make MOTOR Synth sound like nothing else out there — think eight harmonious revving
engines pumping out an intimidating noise! “Nowadays we can find so many synthesizers on the market more or less based on the same system,” says
Jean-Michel Jarre, before continuing, clearly impressed with what he first saw and heard at SUPERBOOTH19: “I’ve been really blown away by MOTOR
Synth by Gamechanger | Audio. It’s an analogue, electro-mechanical synthesizer. The little discs all turn. It’s very cool — very nice and very different
from a visual point of view. And, of course, the sound is quite extraordinary.”
Such sentiments certainly ring true with fellow celebrity SUPERBOOTH19 attendee Richard Devine: “It’s
really one of the most unique synthesizers I’ve seen
in a long time. It’s like a playground of really fun, interactive
function controls — a really unique way of playing pitches and morphing
the envelopes. The
entire system has this really interesting, organic sound to it. The
interface is super-easy to get around — the arpeggiator and sequencer.
On the first day
of not even seeing the manual, I was able to fumble around and get into
some interesting, strange things. I’ve got to say, it really surprised
me — really,
really interesting, and I want to get one! I love mechanical things. I
love things that are actually mechanical in nature — especially when you
mix it up
with electronics. I love its mechanical machine aspect; my music already
kind of sounds like that, so it spoke to my heart, instantly. I just
love stuff that
looks cool, that’s interactive with sound. So the mechanics and the
architecture of this synth — everything about the aesthetics, all the
way up to the
sound, just blew me away on every level!”
Little
wonder, though, that Jean-Michel Jarre and Richard Devine — definitely
no strangers themselves to just about every synthesizer ever made — were
both
blown away by MOTOR Synth, since nothing like it has ever been built before! But far from losing its users in totally unknown territory, MOTOR Synth still
features
familiar analogue audio processing circuits — filters, envelopes, et al —
alongside arpeggiation, cross-modulation, sequencing, and multiple
polyphonic mode
facilities, as well as an innovative looping system that allows
adventurous users to layer rhythm and melodies, just like when using a
loop station.
On a not so musical — though no less extraordinary — note, MOTOR Synth’s
see-through protective glass cover above its core sound system of eight
electromotors enables users to receive visual feedback from the
instrument itself by being able to see those spinning electromotors in
action. But better
still, the visual experience is enhanced still further by the
also-visible set of reflective optical discs attached to the
electromotors’ shafts being coupled to
a set of eight mini strobe lights, so those spinning discs themselves
turn into a hypnotic light show! Showman Jean-Michel Jarre should surely
be blown
away again. After all, he is also known for staging large-scale outdoor
spectacles.
Meanwhile, MOTOR Synth has also been on the receiving end of some welcoming words from Girts Ozolins, visionary founder of fellow Lativian company
Erica Synths, with whom Gamechanger | Audio closely collaborated on the PLASMA Drive module for the ever-popular Eurorack small-format modular
system: “I’m creatively envious for the second time about what Gamechanger | Audio has done. First was PLASMA Drive; second is this — such a
different instrument.”
Indeed
it is. Sonic enthusiasts who — like Richard Devine — cannot wait to get
their hands on the world’s first electro-mechanical desktop synthesizer
should seriously consider taking an online trip to its IndieGoGo
campaign (https://www.indiegogo.com/
The IndieGoGo campaign for Gamechanger | Audio’s MOTOR Synth starts on Tuesday, May 28 at 4PM GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), 7PM EEST (Eastern European Summer Time)/UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) +3, 5PM BST (British Summer Time)/UTC +1,
12PM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)/UTC -4, 9AM PDT (Pacific Daylight
Time)/UTC -7, 2AM AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time)/UTC +10,
1AM JST (Japan Standard Time)/UTC +9, and 4AM NZST (New Zealand Standard
Time)/UTC +12; explore and support the IndieGoGo campaign
for the project — pre-order prices starting at $749.00 USD — here: https://www.indiegogo.com/
For more in-depth information, please visit the dedicated MOTOR Synth webpage here: https://www.gamechangeraudio.
Watch
legendary French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre,
Atlanta-based American electronic musician and acclaimed sound designer Richard Devine, and Erica Synths’ visionary founder, Girts Ozolins, talking MOTOR Synth here: https://youtu.be/1YTAYIjbwxo
See and hear MOTOR Synth in action in its inaugural overview video here: https://youtu.be/sru4f4AJ0zI
Watch Gamechanger | Audio’s automotive-assisted trailer video for MOTOR Synth here: https://youtu.be/AaIhBu4adZ8
About Gamechanger | Audio (www.gamechangeraudio.com)
Gamechanger | Audio was
founded by four friends committed to exploring uncharted music
electronics territories to create devices that provide real value while
stretching the
imagination of both musicians and engineers.The Latvian company has been
praised for innovation in creating its inaugural PLUS Pedal — the
world’s first sustain and sostenuto pedal for
all melodic instruments, ingeniously based around a proprietary audio
algorithm that lets users capture and sample small parts of the
connected instrument’s signal in real time and loop
them into a seamless, warm, and responsive sustained tone — and its
PLASMA Pedal followup, forming the basis of a revolutionary approach
within the realm of overdrive and distortion by
transforming the connected instrument’s live signal into a series of
continuous high-voltage discharges within a xenon-filled tube.The latter
has since been applied to the PLASMA Drive
module for the ever-popular Eurorack small-format modular system,
created in close collaboration with fellow Latvian company Erica Synths.
Saying that, there are many more game-
changing (and head-scratching) ideas in the making — not least the
revolutionary electro-mechanical MOTOR Synth, successfully realising a
new method of analogue audio signal synthesis. © 2019 Gamechanger | Audio
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