Intereactor

Photo of Intereactor

Intereactor by Arius Blaze.

Release date: 12-16-2004

The Intereactor is capable of many strange and wonderful insect sounds that no other synth is likely to make - all playable in interactive ways...It's a drone machine - Endless beautiful deep droning sounds...Also a glitch box and photo theremin style device amongst other things...It was a difficult build. The Intereactor was made with the idea of revealing the circuitry and working to bring everything to the surface, like nerve endings travelling to touch sensitive spots or light stimulus -all made visible...Like a creature feeling you back and making sounds about it...

The dual control panels were meant to reflect some abstract form of circuitry...The 2 keypad circuits are actually wired into the panel from the top - then the wires travel up into the upper section...the 2 cylinders look as though they're wired from inside the resin and eminating from the light sensitive optic eye - both cylinders glow the same flesh tone as the rest of the panel but with a reddish color. The Design is a leap from the original moon unit and New Moon...The Moon Unit was originally meant to be an exploration of the photo theremin idea and a simple effects processor...There were 8 main sounds to be played and effected in various ways with 2 playable optic eyes to control pitch and another effect. There were 5 Moon Units made and I vowed to make no more... Further exploration revealed the New Moon...

Adding a couple more controls, but most importantly a 1/4" trigger jack to allow the internal synth to synch with an external sound source. The Intereactor encomposes everything the New Moon and Moon Units were capable of and redefines and amplifies it's capabilities. It is the revision of the older works and the next step in my own instrumental artistic development. I used almost all vintage parts in the creation of this piece - right down to the wire that's climbing out of the box. A digital synth with analog style and controls encased in a fine vintage faux alligator skin box. :details: - Joystick:: controls total of 4 intermixing parameters - Optic Eyes (2)-(with switches):: play pitch and cutoff - Switches (6):: Introduce global changes in the sound (distortion, resonance, feedback, Main Pitch, low battery sim. etc.) - combos will have very different effects is some cases - Touch Sensors (6):: To be played in any combination to act as human contacts (makes the player the resistor) - body temperature, moisture level heat and pressure all determine the ammount of resistance for the effect being played. Each combo works like a knob to introduce a number of odd effects from pitch and resonance to distortion and wierd glitches...

Given the number of combos, it totals what would be about 15-20 knobs. - Keypad Circuit (2):: Each has four metal contacts that are buttons - pressed to activate any of the 8 main sounds - Pitch Shift Switches (2):: Momentary Switches centered in the Keypad to shift the pitch of the incoming sound 3 steps in either direction - and audio through in the middle (total=7 steps) - Phono Ins and Outs (4):: Stereo Input, Stereo Output - Knobs (5):: Mix, Effect select, Audio In Level, Main Pitch, Main Volume (may be bypassed) - 1/4" Trigger In (1):: Synchronizes internal synth to any beat sound source without actually sending audio in - Runs on a single 9volt battery for several hours of play: