A thread about the upcoming Melancholytron by Fraknoise. There won’t be a lot of users, these are limited editions but I thought it would be nice to give a window to what seems an inspiring and felt project by Allard Krijger.
Here are the latest news :
In this newsletter:
-
Things that made me unhappy
-
Things that made me happy
-
An unexpected summer
-
Building and shipping
the finished productionmodel making itself comfortable on the babygrand.
Things that made me unhappy
The past few months have been something of a rollercoaster.
For a while I honestly believed everything was finally falling into place. The plan was simple: start production this month, spend the summer assembling the Melancholytrons, and begin shipping in August.
That isn’t going to happen.
The biggest delay has been the production of the aluminium enclosure. Roy Gilsing redesigned the housing based on everything we had learned from version 01, and finding the right manufacturer turned out to be much harder than expected. We explored several options before finally settling on a Dutch company. They delivered the first prototype only a few days ago, but it was worth waiting for. We’ve now sent them the final adjustments, and next week the first production parts will finally be bent from aluminium.
That means the production run won’t be delivered until early September. Coincidentally, that’s exactly when the new academic year starts at the conservatory, and when Edwin’s electronics work becomes busy again as well. Not exactly ideal timing, but as soon as the parts arrive we’ll start assembling, testing and shipping immediately.
And then there was transport.
Over the past months I’ve had my share of adventures with FedEx, DPD and various other carriers. Parts were delivered to neighbours without anyone telling me. One shipment of Fatar keybeds was simply left outside my front door while I was in Eindhoven visiting my daughter after the birth of her second child. When we returned late that night there were already a few men standing around the pallet, trying to figure out whether it contained anything worth taking.
Those are moments that don’t exactly improve your mood.
Things that made me happy
Fortunately, there has also been a lot of good news.
Joran has spent what feels like every waking hour improving the software. Not because it wasn’t working, but because he wanted it to be perfect.
Good software is software you hardly notice.
It quietly handles sample playback, all the preset parameters I’ve created, the controls, keyboard scanning, preset selection and the communication through the multicolour LED. Reading that list almost makes it sound complicated again, but using it feels completely natural. It simply responds the way you expect an instrument to respond.
The unit I’m currently using for testing is now running First Release Candidate 2.0.
In other words: apart from the long-term endurance test, the software is essentially finished.
I’m very happy about that.
We also solved one final hardware issue just in time. The connection between the pushbutton, LEDs and the rest of the electronics now has a solid, reliable design that’s also straightforward to assemble during production.
Both books have already been printed: the full book for the keyboard version and the smaller edition for the No-Keybed Construct. They’re patiently waiting in boxes in my studio until everything else catches up.
Oh, and I finally selected and ordered the definitive screws for the enclosure. Nostalgic round-head screws. Very happy about those too.
An unexpected summer
Originally, this summer was supposed to be all about building Melancholytrons.
Since production has shifted, the summer suddenly looks very different. That’s frustrating, but it also creates an opportunity.
There are a few things I simply have to finish first, including completing my research article on how playback media influence the perception of music and finding a suitable scientific journal to submit it to.
But I’m also going to spend this unexpected free time creating a few more presets. I have far too many ideas, so I’ll have to choose carefully. At the very least I want to record a baritone saxophone, a female voice … And those nice rhythms from obscure home keyboards that can be spread across two octaves, allowing you to play complete chord progressions from vintage accompaniment patterns.
There are plenty of other ideas as well: microtonal sounds, a few unusual experiments… we’ll see how far I get. The important thing is this: Once the first SD cards are cloned for production, the collection of presets becomes final. Nothing else will be added after that. So although the delay is disappointing, it does have one upside: the first Melancholytrons will include more sounds to explore, experiment with, and hopefully inspire new music.
I’d also like to create a concise Quick Guide that will be available as a free PDF download from the website.
Building begins in September
I’ve mentioned it a few times already, but September is when everything finally changes from designing into building. We’ll assemble every Melancholytron in Eindhoven. Although I live in Den Helder, both Edwin and Joran are based there, and we have access to a large workspace where we can set up a proper assembly line. We’re also hoping to recruit a few extra helping hands to speed things up. Before that starts, I still have one job left to do.
Preparing the wooden side panels. I’ve already chosen the material: reclaimed timber from old Philips workers’ houses in the Edison district of Eindhoven. I found a beautiful batch of weathered boards, still partly covered in old paint. I could have chosen perfectly clean new wood, but these pieces already have a history. That somehow feels right for the Melancholytron.
So that’s a little glimpse behind the scenes of a very small company trying to build a from scratch designed synthesizer. I’m sorry things are taking longer than I originally expected. I wish I were packing shipping boxes this summer instead of writing about delays.
But reality has a habit of pushing back harder than optimism.
The good news is that we’re almost there.Thank you for your patience, your encouragement, and for believing in this pondering little instrument. In September we start building. And shortly afterwards, the first Melancholytrons will finally begin their journey into the world.
All the best,
Allard Krijger