01 / MAGNETIC STRINGS
NACRE
Kora × electromagnetic excitation
Small batch · 4 per run
A plucked note that gradually becomes a motionless, luminous cloud.
Explore the designIndependent laboratory for experimental sound
Matter.
Motion.
Otherworldly sound.
We bring acoustic instruments, electronics, and software synthesis together to explore new ways of making music through touch.
OBJECT 01 — NACRE
SMALL BATCH / FOUR INSTRUMENTS PER RUN
ELECTROACOUSTIC HYBRID
SMALL BATCH / FOUR INSTRUMENTS PER RUN
ELECTROACOUSTIC HYBRID
01 / LABORATORY
The future of sound
has a physical
form.
Wood, metal, air, and electricity. We are drawn to the moment when a familiar material begins to behave in musically unfamiliar ways.
We combine the acoustic principles of traditional instruments with sensors, digital synthesis, and moving mechanisms. Every project begins with a gesture—and the question “what if?”
06instruments in the laboratory
04software systems
06engineering disciplines
02 / PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS
New forms of sound.
02 / OPTICAL TINES
GRAIN
Kalimba × optical sensing
Small batch · 5 per run
Twelve metal tines connect an acoustic pluck to an electronic texture.
Explore the design
04 / CERAMIC RESONANCE
HALO
Udu × gesture sensing
Small batch · 3 per run
The deep voice of ceramic, with an electronic tail shaped by the palm.
Explore the design03 / SOFTWARE INSTRUMENTS
The algorithm as co-composer.
Four systems for granular synthesis, resonances, musical cycles, and sensor control, each with its own role in making music.
REGOLITH
Granular instrument
Build new matter from the traces of the old.
MODEFIELD
Modal synthesizer
Shape resonances beyond the limits of a physical body.
ORBIT SCORE
Generative sequencer
A score as a system of mutual attractions.
SOMATIC
Sensor environment
Translate movement into meaningful sound.
04 / PRACTICE
From an unusual idea
to a coherent design.
Create an instrument. Design an interactive installation. Find a timbre for a film. Develop an algorithm that becomes music.
Twelve areas of practice—with a clear process, tangible outcomes at every stage, and attention to real performance conditions.
05 / RESEARCH JOURNAL
Notes in the margins of sound.
FIELD NOTES / ACOUSTICS
Can a string listen to itself?
What happens when vibration is fed back into an instrument—and where beautiful sustain reaches its limits.
Read the noteFIELD NOTES / INTERFACES
Gesture first. Sensor second.
How observing a performer’s movements helps shape an expressive controller.
Read the noteFIELD NOTES / MATERIAL AND CULTURE
Borrow the principle. Preserve the context.
How to discuss hybrid instruments without erasing the history of their acoustic predecessors.
Read the note06 / SESSION SCORES
What collaboration sounds like.
SCORE 01 / STRINGS & BREATH
Sustained Contour
A score about the moment when the pluck ends, but the string is not yet ready to fall silent.
Explore the session ↗SCORE 02 / GRAINS & AIR
Dry Tide
Ceramic collisions gather into a surf that needs no water.
Explore the session ↗SCORE 03 / WOOD & CYCLES
Diverging Cycles
TESSERA’s wooden bars hold the pulse while GRAIN’s metal tines answer between the strikes.
Explore the session ↗Each score connects an instrument’s design to musical form. The team’s story, the workshop’s structure, and the journey from prototype to small batch— inside the laboratory.