Synth Project FM Mutant Synth, a new FM Synthesizer with built-in sequencer and mysterious mutation/popluation functions.
Mario Jurisch is a person known to many in the German-speaking synth community as Synth Project. He regularly creates exciting MIDI controllers that are strongly based on hardware or software synth interfaces.
For example, the photos of his fabulous MIDI controllers for the Animoog, U-he Diva, or iVCS3 often wander through the net. Unfortunately, no commercial products but individual pieces are sold every now and then. His latest project is a digital Synthesizer called FM Mutant. A small synth box that can do a lot and looks like a lot of fun.
Synth Project FM Mutant Synth
Hardware side, the FM Mutant Synth is based on an 8-bit Arduino project by Meeblip. On top of that sits another controller unit board for the eight knobs, buttons, and the very intriguing dot matrix on the left.
FM Mutant Synth’s core offers two operators with their own waveforms, algorithms, and a simple AD (attack/decay) envelope. There is also an LFO for additional modulation. You can control the engine using the eight buttons: mutation – wobble/LFO rate – population – livespan – attack, decay – ratio, and depth.
What exactly the parameters control is not clear. But it’s probably the FM synthesis, the AD envelope, the LFO, and other parameters. It is also not clear whether this is a simple 2-operator FM synthesis with algorithms or whether it is a new form of it.
The matrix on the left is more exciting here. It looks like the hub for the built-in sequencer. There are buttons for rec, start, and tempo which suggests that you can use these to program it. Whether you can automate parameters with it is not clear. But it would be nice.
Just as mysterious are the functions with the labels mutation, population and livespan. There are no details about this one but one can speculate. The parameter names suggest something organic that continues over time.
Perhaps it is inspired by the cycle of life which involves birth, procreation and death. I can imagine that you can manipulate the FM algorithm with generative approaches with an organic touch.
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Much is still unclear what exactly the FM Mutant Synth from Synth Project can do. But it looks like an exciting synth with a different concept. A release (commercial or open-source) and price is TBA.
More information here: Synth Project (Instagram)
the headline is very obtuse at first!