Cyma forma - RND

The Lounge Other Gear
22

I like weird products like this and the companies that make them. I was talking to someone earlier today about SOMA. I said I’m pretty sure I’d never buy one of their products but I’m really glad they’re out there making these things, halfway between music tools and works of art. I think of Cyma in a similar way.

I know it might go against their vision of this synth, but I can’t help thinking of this as a potential cousin to Synplant. As in, a fairly simple interface on the surface, but if you dive deeper into the “DNA” part of Synplant you can tweak things much further to your liking.

I wonder if Cyma would ever make something like that? A “DNA” software editor to further tweak and control the patches? Doesn’t bother me one way or the other. Just thinking out loud.

2 Likes
23

he said what he said… :grin:

24

A one button, randomized synth is absurd.
I like absurdity.

Furthermore

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25

pre-ordered! looks v fun, well thought-out and surprising depth

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26

Four track audio over USB sounds fun as a sound source for iPad, assuming it works like I’m imagining it does. Just mash that button and sample away!

This is an absurd little thing, but I feel like they might have put in just enough utility at just a low enough price to have a cult hit on their hands.

6 Likes
27

$150 is the new impulse price, and it got me! Excited to try this, and happy to support a company doing new and creative things.

And how fun will this be to feed into the TV???

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28

Think of the creative impulse. Every project starts with samples from only three ( ?? ) button presses.

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29

saw this on reddit and literally thought this was a joke… has to be… right?
right?

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30

Just made a little lightbulb fire off. Imagine a beat challenge where you have to make something with the button presses for the given month, week, day, or just whatever agreed upon number.

Hell this would even be a wild addition to jonmakesbeats Super Beatmaker. Roll a dice for the amount of button presses and find a way to incorporate one of four tracks (another dice roll??) into your beat :eyes:

4 Likes
31

I can hardly believe how interested I am in this.

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32

Preordered !

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33

I can imagine a use for this device in an educational setting, specifically for the analysis of tone and texture. Students could describe the characteristics of the sounds and develop a vocabulary for describing sounds. Too bad the unit only gives the listener one chance to listen to the sound before moving onto the next sound. Could a long press or double tap be added to the unit to repeat the sound?

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34

pretty sure it just loops until you press it again

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35

Or just continues to generate using the parameters it randomized for it’s generative engines.

36

or that yeah. Even better.

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37

And as mentioned above, you can play any or all of the the set of four generated sounds with a MIDI controller. The current collection of timbres doesn’t disappear until you re-randomize the parameters by pushing the button.

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38

How does the generative sequence stop its random playing ofnotes in place of manual note entry?

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39

No manual as yet, but specs say this:

9 MIDI modes: global transpose + individual track sequence take over — with the other tracks playing (4 modes) or solo (4 modes).

See also the video above from SynthFest France, starting ~5:12. How you will switch between the modes isn’t clear!

2 Likes
40

EDIT : May 15th

They updated their website with a clearer explanation of how this works. Each mode is given a single MIDI channel.

Detail from their website :

midi channel 1:

  • tonic note selection / global transpose
  • master volume (cc 7)
  • scale selection (cc 9)

midi channel 2:

  • track #1 random sequence stops. instead, send your own midi sequence to it, or play it with a midi keyboard.
  • the other 3 tracks keep playing their random sequences.
  • track #1 volume control (cc 7)

midi channel 3:

  • track #2 random sequence stops. instead, send your own midi sequence to it, or play it with a midi keyboard.
  • the other 3 tracks keep playing their random sequences.
  • track #2 volume control (cc 7)

midi channel 4:

  • track #3 random sequence stops. instead, send your own midi sequence to it, or play it with a midi keyboard.
  • the other 3 tracks keep playing their random sequences.
  • track #3 volume control (cc 7)

midi channel 5:

  • track #4 random sequence stops. instead, send your own midi sequence to it, or play it with a midi keyboard.
  • the other 3 tracks keep playing their random sequences.
  • track #4 volume control (cc 7)

midi channel 6:

  • track #1 random sequence stops. instead, send your own midi sequence to it, or play it with a midi keyboard, in solo mode.
  • the other 3 tracks’ random seqences are stopped.
  • track #1 volume control (cc 7)

midi channel 7:

  • track #2 random sequence stops. instead, send your own midi sequence to it, or play it with a midi keyboard, in solo mode.
  • the other 3 tracks’ random seqences are stopped.
  • track #2 volume control (cc 7)

midi channel 8:

  • track #3 random sequence stops. instead, send your own midi sequence to it, or play it with a midi keyboard, in solo mode.
  • the other 3 tracks’ random seqences are stopped.
  • track #3 volume control (cc 7)

midi channel 9:

  • track #4 random sequence stops. instead, send your own midi sequence to it, or play it with a midi keyboard, in solo mode.
  • the other 3 tracks’ random seqences are stopped.
  • track #4 volume control (cc 7)

Send midi to 4 channels at the same time to control all tracks

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41

Maybe depending on what channel it receives MIDI input from it will automatically switch modes?

I’m sure this little thing won’t require a thick manual by any means but I am very curious about these different usages also.

1 Like