An inspiring alternative Victorian steam synthesizer. Across the dirty, sooty rooftops of the city, maneuvering between belching chimneys and Tesla arc coils, an evil genius in a clanking mechanical exoskeleton grimly pursues a dashing young woman whose only crime was daring to dream of becoming an aeronaut. Now this dream will be beaten out of her in the dark, lonely walls of Newgate Prison – unless, of course, she manages to get to her prototype gyrocopter in time…
Taking inspiration from alternate universes and alt-Victorian gothic excess (with a little HG Wells thrown in for good measure), SteamPunk is a Frankestian mash-up of hurdy-gurdy, steam engine, and electric synth – the perfect instrument for serenading the ghouls of Paris at night while you float safely above them in the gondola of your hot air balloon. Or something like that. However you choose to use it, it sounds pretty cool.
SteamPunk is powered by three sound engines: Steam Pipes are organ-style wooden pipes with a throaty, flute-like presence; Reeded Pipes are taken from our 37-note Suzuki Melodica, and bring a more buzzing, harmonically dense tonality; While Anbaric Waves accesses a gritty, electrically generated set of oscillators, driven by faulty paper-cone speakers and prone to clipping and tearing, with Sub and Noise waves able to be welded into the mix to expand the sonic palette even further.
These sound engines create the basic tone, but what really brings SteamPunk to life is the Mechanisms panel, where you can take control of the creaks, wheezes, buzzes and hisses that any self-respecting alt-Victorian anbaric hurdy-gurdy will produce as it goes along. Key press and release noises are handled separately, while a dedicated bank of dials controls exactly how imprecise you want your waveforms to be. Pitch and pressure are subject to random variations, and there’s plenty of deliberate instability to the instrument. The basic waves can be detuned, set to fifths, or doubled for thickness; and all of this can be run through a good chewy filter circuit to bring it under control.
The result is a soundscape that can evoke both the nostalgic glow of a fairground calliope and the unrelenting menace of Dr Jekyll’s laboratory: a turn of the dial can be the difference between sweet simplicity and moody oppression. Anbaric Waves’ balancing act with two airy oscillators allows the organic vibration of the sound to be either subtle or full-on, while the filter and various control options mean that more traditional pipe-based starting points can be given a modern (or wormhole-universe) twist. And of course, our Glitch Control gives you instant randomized patches to call your own!
SteamPunk is perfect for sound design, scores, or just adding instant inspiration and a patina of left-field to any genre. It plays great with our other hybrid or sci-fi instruments (like Crank, Shortwave or Spaceman) and adds a weird and eerie quality when layered with more traditional synths. Put on your goggles, drop your chronometers and give it a go…
A strange and unusual alternate universe sound generator
Bellows-driven pipes, reed tubes and anbaric circuits working in harmony
Powerful uncertainty controls ensure every note is unique
Customizable mechanical noises for user-defined squeaks, rattles, groans and hisses
This is what synths would sound like in a parallel wormhole of Dickensian London
