Physical Synthesis - Cicada Pro Essential

The Cicada Pro Essential gets you the essential building blocks of the New Yorker startup Physical Synthesis, which offers a completely new and playful way to get in touch with sound though mechanical oscillation.

Audio or control voltage signals are translated into mechanical vibrations and then converted back into new audio signals by the contact microphones contained in the soundboard. Through the combination of different materials, as well as touching the components with, for example, one's own fingers, the user has the possibility to deform the final sound enormously and to bring it to motion.

The set contains:

• 1 amplifier
• 1 preamp
• 1 actuator
• 1 bridge
• 1 soundboard (maple wood)
• power and interconnection cables
• 3D printed case for the bridge

This set offers you a playground for this new kind of sound design through its clever connection and combination possibilities. Use it in the "traditional" way and create wafting and rich drones. Use the oscillating bridges to vibrate other instruments or household objects, or press the soundboards to create interesting control voltages that you can plug directly into your modular system. Instead of turning knobs and pushing faders here you move and touch Cicadas building blocks and surfaces. This natural way of haptic sound shaping, encourages new thinking to find new ways of influencing the signal path through your own physical form.

Through its intimate and intuitive way of use, as well as it´s free expandability, the Cicada is great for sound researchers and performers alike. The Pro Essential Set provides all things necessary for starting out right away.