MOTOR SYNTH
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- SPIKE the Percussionist
- Veteran Wiggler
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MOTOR SYNTH
this falls into weird interest category!
https://www.gamechangeraudio.com/motor-synth/
[video][/video]
https://www.gamechangeraudio.com/motor-synth/
[video][/video]
++
more noiz!
SPIKE the Percussionist
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more noiz!
SPIKE the Percussionist
- http://www.manipulate.net -
ASTROGENIC HALLUCINAUTING
CoRE - Constructs of Ritual Evolution
DOGGEBI
Fiddle Witch and the Demons of Doom
morgue city
Unified Space
- onthebandwagon
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- commodorejohn
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"Nothing like this has ever been built before?"
Laurens Hammond might like a word with them...
Laurens Hammond might like a word with them...
Computers: Amiga 1200, DEC VAXStation 4000/60, DEC MicroPDP-11/73
Synthesizers: Roland JX-10/SH-09/MT-32/D-50, Yamaha DX7/V50/TX7/TG33/FB-01, Korg MS-20 Mini/ARP Odyssey/DW-8000, Ensoniq SQ-80
"'Legacy code' often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling." - Bjarne Stroustrup
Synthesizers: Roland JX-10/SH-09/MT-32/D-50, Yamaha DX7/V50/TX7/TG33/FB-01, Korg MS-20 Mini/ARP Odyssey/DW-8000, Ensoniq SQ-80
"'Legacy code' often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling." - Bjarne Stroustrup
- Rex Coil 7
- Super Deluxe Wiggler
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That's no joke! And I wonder if this motor thing will last over 65 years like the 1952 Hammond M3 that belongs to my wife. Or for that matter her 1955 M3, or my 1962 C3.commodorejohn wrote:"Nothing like this has ever been built before?"
Laurens Hammond might like a word with them...
I spent less than $30 bucks on repairs of my '62 C3 (pre-amp power caps).

5U MODULAR NORMALIZING PROJECT (for your entertainment) viewtopic.php?t=78836&highlight=
.. as of Dec 8th 2020 on a break for a bit .. contact me via bamco60@hotmail.com if needed.
WELCOME TO 2021 .. THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES.
.. as of Dec 8th 2020 on a break for a bit .. contact me via bamco60@hotmail.com if needed.
WELCOME TO 2021 .. THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES.
This looks like a streamlined version of the motor piano they showed at NAMM (Thread)
[video][/video]
I still very much want one, only now it looks like it might be affordable.
[video][/video]
I still very much want one, only now it looks like it might be affordable.
- crowleywaltz
- Common Wiggler
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Essentially slew/portamento as far as I understand - it controls how fast the motors accelerate, I.E how fast they go up to a given pitch.crowleywaltz wrote:It looks cool/weird but listening to that little demo I'm not hearing much that couldn't be done with any other synth, although it does seem to have a mild fuzzy overdrive thing going on. Curious what the 'accelerate' knobs do
- crowleywaltz
- Common Wiggler
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Hammonds work with a motor that goes at "fixed" speed spinning a bar that has a number of tonewheels. The sounds are then generated by mixing different tonewheels together, like you would pipes on an organ. Essentially the different tonewheels are multiples of the base frequency of the motor.calaveras wrote:so it's a Hammond B3?
This works by having individual motors that accelerate/decelerate, with just a few "tonewheels" each - one for each octave. This allows for things like detuning two motors slightly for beating/"thickness", other non-fixed ratios, and gliding pitch. In addition, optical disks that reflect infrared light are not exactly tonewheels.
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- Learning to Wiggle
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Yeah I know how tonewheels work. I actually found an off brand tonewheel organ in pieces down the street a few months ago. Had all the bits except the keys. Had to give myself a stern talking to about not taking more junk home to tinker with.Blingley wrote:Hammonds work with a motor that goes at "fixed" speed spinning a bar that has a number of tonewheels. The sounds are then generated by mixing different tonewheels together, like you would pipes on an organ. Essentially the different tonewheels are multiples of the base frequency of the motor.calaveras wrote:so it's a Hammond B3?
This works by having individual motors that accelerate/decelerate, with just a few "tonewheels" each - one for each octave. This allows for things like detuning two motors slightly for beating/"thickness", other non-fixed ratios, and gliding pitch. In addition, optical disks that reflect infrared light are not exactly tonewheels.
The cool thing about the Hammond design is that it's basically like a guitar pickup. The tonewheel has little ridges that vary as they pass through the pickup's field.
You could in theory make a tonewheel organ that is entirely passive, with the wheels spun by foot or coal fired steam whatever.
This product is pretty neat, but yeah the price is a bit above my interest level.
I finally broke down and joined the indiegogo. The Motorsynth is just so unique and speaks to me in a way that very few things do.
I'm just paranoid as my one other experience with crowdfunding turned out to be a rip-off. I promised myself I would never do it again.
But Gamechanger has a proven track record releasing the products they said they would. And hundreds of others have also taken the risk with this investment.
The risk here is relatively small, right?
I'm just paranoid as my one other experience with crowdfunding turned out to be a rip-off. I promised myself I would never do it again.
But Gamechanger has a proven track record releasing the products they said they would. And hundreds of others have also taken the risk with this investment.
The risk here is relatively small, right?
- Synth Con Meo
- Wiggling with Experience
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Well stupid or not I also jumped on the band wagon with only an hour or so to go on the Indiegogo campaign. I am just so intrigued about the whole mechanical technology of the thing which is why I am interested in it. Might go well running along side my Lyra-8 (and maybe Pulsar 23 if I buy one of those).
motor synth
Wow this is cool!! I have heard it 1st time.
- muddy ranks
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I was curious if there's been any news since the end of the campaign. Happy to see that, sure enough, there were two updates detailing further design and production progress. Looks like they've been busy! (from the Indigogo site)

Gamechanger Audio wrote: MOTOR SYNTH UPDATED VERSION
(Sep 3, 2019)
Hey, Folks!
Thank you for your patience, hope you’ve had a great summer!
Our summer here at GCA has been extremely productive - we’ve spent this time developing the MOTOR Synth’s various aspects. Here are some of the biggest improvements :
1) Hardware:
Improvements to the MOTOR Synth’s casing.
Improved Optical disks with higher resolution for the Optical waveshapes.
Re-engineered the MOTOR drivers and improved power-supply system to ensure maximum torque, and stability at even extremely slow speeds.
Redesigned CV input panel - now moved to the MOTOR Synth’s back panel;
the CVs are now going to be assignable, thus you will be able to customize the MOTOR Synth to your exact needs.
Headphone out jack added
2) Interface & Functionality
Overhauled Sequencer module with expanded playback and recording options
KEYTRACK added for the Filter section
Expanded modulation section - phase control for each voice, added modulation shapes (with waveshaping control), extra filter modulation modes
Improved Filter Drive circuit
Additional instrument play modes - Chord mode, Split mode, 8-note poly mode, Vocoder mode
Standalone LATCH button that works in all play modes
The first few Improved MOTOR SYNTH Prototypes will be ready by the end of September, and we will post new materials showcasing all the new features as soon as possible.
In terms of manufacturing -
We’ve already started some of the big parts orders, such as Motors, knobs, displays, buttons, and we hope to have the first small batch of MOTOR Synth shipped in December.
Gamechanger Audio wrote: MOTOR SYNTH UPDATED VERSION
(Oct 14, 2019)
Hey, Folks!
As usual, the Autumn months have proven to be a wonderful and productive time of the year!
In the last 6 weeks we have succesfully solved almost all of the Hardware-related issues, and have successfuly placed orders for custom made Motors, Keycaps, Knobs, fully redesigned Optical disks and many other crucial elements - we are very pleased with the sourced parts and we're happy to say that MOTOR Synth is going to be a Beautiful and Sturdy machine.
As mentioned in the previous update, we did a partial redesign of the MOTOR Synth's knob and button layout - mostly to ensure expanded functionality and to support more playing modes.
The updated prototypes are going to be ready very soon, and we will be posting the new photos and videos here and on our socials by the end of October, so keep an eye out for more updates soon!
We are still on track to start shipping the first MOTOR Synths in the end of December, and hopefully by the end of March all MOTOR Synth pre-orders will be shipped.
Thank you for your patience, and for your support - we are still very hyped about this crazy MOTORIZED musical instrument, and literally can't wait to hear the music that YOU will create!
Best Regards.
Cahill is giggling somewhere every time a synthesizer is mentioned, being the originator of the term. That being said, the functional principle of Telharmonium is rather different from the motor synth: rather than having a lot of differently toothed wheels on a single bar with a fixed speed and then combining these tones like Cahill (and later Hammond organs) did, the idea here is to have a motor that speeds up and down.
The concept of having a toothed device that is then somehow read as audio goes well beyond Cahill though. Music boxes, for instance, and even before them Ratchets.
- commodorejohn
- Super Deluxe Wiggler
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A music box doesn't encode audio data in mechanical form, though; it encodes music notation that way. It's more like a primitive sequencer.
Computers: Amiga 1200, DEC VAXStation 4000/60, DEC MicroPDP-11/73
Synthesizers: Roland JX-10/SH-09/MT-32/D-50, Yamaha DX7/V50/TX7/TG33/FB-01, Korg MS-20 Mini/ARP Odyssey/DW-8000, Ensoniq SQ-80
"'Legacy code' often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling." - Bjarne Stroustrup
Synthesizers: Roland JX-10/SH-09/MT-32/D-50, Yamaha DX7/V50/TX7/TG33/FB-01, Korg MS-20 Mini/ARP Odyssey/DW-8000, Ensoniq SQ-80
"'Legacy code' often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling." - Bjarne Stroustrup
The basic principle is the same for any kind of data, and any kind of data read at correct rate will be in audio range. A lot of tonewheel organs, or ratchets, don't as much have audio data as any kind of repeated deformation, from which pitch is derived based on the turning speed. Pitch and tempo are not all that different, really.commodorejohn wrote:A music box doesn't encode audio data in mechanical form, though; it encodes music notation that way. It's more like a primitive sequencer.
Music boxes frequently contain a ratchet lever that is used to turn the cylinder, so from an engineering standpoint it's like Ratchet+

Either way, I suppose the Savart Wheel is the closest analogy.
- commodorejohn
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No, it's still a fundamentally different design. The one encodes audio data directly in the variations of the physical object; the other encodes control sequences which are applied to a different object which actually produces the audio.
Computers: Amiga 1200, DEC VAXStation 4000/60, DEC MicroPDP-11/73
Synthesizers: Roland JX-10/SH-09/MT-32/D-50, Yamaha DX7/V50/TX7/TG33/FB-01, Korg MS-20 Mini/ARP Odyssey/DW-8000, Ensoniq SQ-80
"'Legacy code' often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling." - Bjarne Stroustrup
Synthesizers: Roland JX-10/SH-09/MT-32/D-50, Yamaha DX7/V50/TX7/TG33/FB-01, Korg MS-20 Mini/ARP Odyssey/DW-8000, Ensoniq SQ-80
"'Legacy code' often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling." - Bjarne Stroustrup