Keep in mind this was for the prototype: they felt good up/down, but I would have liked more resistance. Comparable to Octatrack, and I don’t think this will change. There was some wobble left/right, but in my opinion not on the fader itself, rather the caps (which it sounds like they will be replacing now). Some of them seemed to have set values where small movements wouldn’t change anything and then they would “jump”, others had fine values where you could tell the changes were in the smallest of increments.
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IMO there is a GAS factor here that will dissipate after consumer launch. I wish I had brought cables to test behavior with audio input from something like a phone. They had a Model:Cycles there but it was only doing a basic kick track. I am pretty sure it didn’t route incoming audio. So you could hear the kick affecting the ALT but you wouldn’t hear the kick itself coming out of ALT.
They should do more demo videos. If they don’t this is a reason for skepticism on my end. Also you have to be wary of statements like in the existing demo video where they say regarding the light sensor that “ALT will probably never sound alike in two different spaces” because I think this is slightly exaggerated. Similarly with the onboard microphone, the input levels don’t appear to be configurable, so it was only picking up taps on the chassis or finger snaps.
I’m almost certain they will release more demos as production unit gets finalized (if they are smart). I’m not sure the “never sound alike in two different spaces” was actually a positive thing for me as someone who would want to use this in a performance with somewhat expected results. Maybe they have some plans to add some configuration controls for the mic/sensors. Would have been even more interesting if you could direct what they actually control too, unless they do and I’m just completely missing that.
You are right, the pin matrix is only for modulation signals.
The synthi is a great synth, on our side we wanted to make something a bit more intuitive and straight-forward, so our take on the pin matrix was to focus on setting motions with cv modulation, while the audio signals are pre-patched to make sure the sound would come out right away.
Regarding FM/AM modulations, we are working towards it, the frequency and amplitude of each oscillator can already be modulated so we are thinking about 2 options to get some specific FM/AM sounds:
- Getting OSC1 as a 5th column in the matrix: we get one more source of modulation but we may lose one of the voices
- Adding switches to the LFOs so it has 2 possibles ranges 0.1Hz to 35Hz OR 10Hz to 1130Hz: different shape capabilities for a wider sonic range, it seems more intuitive
Any thoughts ?
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So great to have you here! Looking forward to seeing the ALT in action!
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This sounds great. Just want to say that I think what you guys are creating is incredibly innovative and even for a prototype, you’ve offered something so beautiful and thought provoking. Sure you’ve already heard this but it’s worth mentioning.
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Both sound like they could add many possibilities, I suppose having and osc that can act as a modulator would mean you might be able to have the lfo controlling its depth and such, but you already have a success on your hands it seems with the kickstarter. Should be a cool unique instrument.
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The faders we had on the prototypes at Superbooth did had some left/right wobble we didn’t quite like that’s right. This will be fixed in the next iteration. We have already identified the corrections for that : we are changing the faders, the new ones have some additional brackets soldered into the PCB, push/pull resistance will be almost the same though. We are also slightly changing the caps design so they fit better (and they will be coming from an injection mold instead of 3D printer) and finally we are reducing the slot on the plexiglas.
Regarding the sensitivity of each faders, this is something we are working on as well, but it’s quite hard to homogenize everything. 
For example we can hear right away a small LFO amp change in an oscillator frequency, but in an oscillator volume, it’s not as easy to perceive (at least for me).
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To be honest, it’s still an open question internally whether we should have some internal mixer to hear the audio routed into the “Outline In” into ALT final mix or not. And same goes for the mic input. One of us think it’s cool to have a one-in-all machine that could do the mixing, the other think that the added volume knob could be used for something else and usually when you get this kind of machine you have some sort of mixer already… Which side are you picking ?
Of course we will do more demo videos !!
As for the light sensor, the one thing I would like to add here is that compared to the prototypes at Superbooth, they will be quantized or not according to the setting of the oscillators, so they will be way more playable.
Regarding the onboard microphone, the gain level is adjustable, it was the top right potentiometer, we had a serigraphy issue on the prototypes, it was written “Attack” but of course this will be configurable. We set them up quite low during the show to better explain the feature when tapping on the chassis.
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I feel like I understand why there isn’t a built in mixer, and I think the instrument is standalone enough in conception that it doesn’t need one. It was just a commentary on capabilities. I think the more options the end user has the better.
Also thanks for coming on here for the feedback!
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@cyma_forma Just wanted to say that it’s great to have you here! ALT ticks almost all the boxes for me and the prototype already is an extremely inspirational machine! I’ll be buying one for sure, although I’m undecided yet if l’ll already back right now or if I’ll wait until the final product launch…
@cyma_forma do you plan on selling more cases for it in the future?
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If MIDI splitting per voice was possible and if each voice was accessible on a separate MIDI In channel, this could strongly benefit from MPE, or even just simple multi-channel MIDI control, adding additional modulation sources per voice such as pitch, (poly)pressure, etc.
Patch storage?
It is crazy to design such a nice case for it and then basically make it not available… any thought I had of buying one was gone after I saw that and the fact they are making colored versions that look amazing… But also not really available…lol.
I don’t like the dangling carrot thing… just make the case and colors available and tell me how much or don’t show me cool stuff…
Wat
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hey everyone, thanks for your comments and kind words!
as people have been asking about this: the synth that the backers will receive is the final version that will be later available through our e-shop and retailers. the final retail price has yet to be determined.
for those of you who weren’t able to access the custom casings on kickstarter, we’re really sorry. they were available on the first day, but we were honestly not expecting them to sell out as quickly as they did… same goes for the limited bags.
as for the MIDI integration, we’re working on voice splitting at the moment.
MPE will probably not be integrated though, as it is quite far from the synth’s concept - being analog and playable with the faders and pins. we see MIDI integration as a bonus but it is not the main way ALT is meant to be used.
finally: no patch storage for this one! but we are thinking about providing good old patch sheets (although we’re not sure yet how useful it would be, given that today everyone will probably just take a pic with their phone).
hope this clears things up
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Hey @cyma_forma, how is the progress? Looking forward to hear/more of your amazing synth!
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hi! thanks for asking
we’re making really good progress, ALT has definitely improved since the prototypes we showed everyone during the kickstarter campaign.
it now has DCOs so it’s always in tune, custom scales, double filter, FM, etc…
we publish updates of our progress here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cymaforma/alt/posts
and we wrote an article about DCO’s here: VCOs vs DCOs — cyma forma
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Video from SynthFest France on the ALT in this post with details on the new development.
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