Boards of Carrollton contains 157 presets for Synplant One might say these sounds have a "Boards of Canada" flavor?...they were certainly inspired by the BOC sound ; sometime in late 2008, Synplant was released and received much critical acclaim. There has never been a synth like it before ...or since, really. but somehow, this gem has never seemed to get the spotlight that other synths have received.
Part of that lack of recognition may be due to the unique interface? Some might be inclined to pass it off as a novelty type synth...but it is far more powerful than its seeming lack of controls might lead one to believe... Synplant does a BRILLIANT job of creating sounds from planting seed from its "grown" branches and by utilization of the cntl click on the main seed to plant randomly... But the real magic of Synplant IS belied by its elegant interface... the real magic starts once you dive into the genetic manipulation tool Although the "dna helix" layout of the genetic manipulation controls might be a little frustrating at first, one DOES get used to the layout and it begins to really feel more and more practical than static knob designs.
I'm not saying that this method would suit OTHER synths, but after the initial learning curve with the genetic manipulation structure and process, one can really get at what Synplant is capable of ;] When I started this project in October 2016, my initial intent was to put out a set of around 64 to 100 presets.
Once I got that hang of the genetic manipulation tool, that initial number was reached very quickly. And then, I discovered a way to make each preset TWO "morphable" sounds (switchable via the Modwheel...) so the project expanded and became even more intense. By Christmas, I had come up with over 400 presets (closer to 800 if you count the fact that most presets were actually TWO presets ;] ) since then, there has been the exercise of volume matching and parsing sounds to appropriate libraries, etc. While it has been a bit more work than I expected from the start, it has been a blast putting these together!
"Boards of Carrollton" Some of you know my affinity for the Boards of Canada sound? This is a tribute to that sound. perhaps its just me, but I find that Synplant truly lends itself to the many varied sounds the Boards of Canada brothers bring to their unique music. Boards of Carrollton is the first in the series of 3 volumes that comprise 'Sunlight GMO for Synplant' in following weeks, I will be releasing "1987" which is devoted to sounds more akin to Synthwave and homage to Carpenter movies, etc ;] and "elokuva" leans more toward cinematic sounds I hope to have some audio examples of those coming prior to releases as well! I do hope you enjoy this work!
