Performance first
The box should invite playing, touching, changing, and reacting. It should feel like a performance tool, not a background generator.
Synthux Residency 2026 application companion
A small ambient groovebox where modulation is the instrument.
I want to build a compact, playable hardware instrument for evolving chords, semi-random modulation, samples, feedback textures, and calm long-form performance.
One musical image behind the project is a single beautiful sound, for example a minor 9 chord, that modulates so gently that after a minute you stop noticing it, and after an hour you realize it has been there the whole time.
Not a static drone, but a living state that creates a deep sense of calm.
A 90-second sketch of that chord space, recorded on my Eurorack system — the sound world this instrument is aiming for.
The residency project
Focused, playable, alive.
The core idea is a small standalone ambient instrument, sized to be picked up and played, designed for the residency platform. Its central feature is a deep modulation system that brings simple lines to life — synthesis and samples are the material, modulation is the instrument.
The question I'm chasing: how little change does a sound need to stay alive for an hour? Not pure randomness — controlled, polyrhythmic variation. I imagine classic LFOs next to stepped semi-random modulation inspired by Mutable Instruments Marbles: stable when needed, drifting when desired.
Generative voice
Deep modulation
Performance controls
Stereo out
Example: a 16-step sequence against a 12-step modulation pattern. The modulation can stay stable, slowly evolve, or generate controlled variations.
Experimental synth side
I am especially interested in feedback as musical material: sounds that feel alive, unstable, and responsive while still being playable.
A small core, on purpose
Version one is one generative voice, the modulation system, and a handful of performance controls — that alone is the instrument. Additional tracks, sampling, and a master section are stretch goals, in that order.
Prior work
Prototypes that shaped the idea.
01 / Hybrid groovebox
Where a solo project breaks.
My most ambitious prototype combined analog and digital sound generation: Electrosmith Daisy Patch, MAX11300 expansion, two analog VCOs, analog filtering, and many 3.5 mm patch points for control voltage in and out.
The larger version used three MAX11300 chips to expose enough 12-bit I/O for the parameter-heavy idea. It reached proof-of-concept stage, but the scope was too large: analog hardware, embedded programming, UI, DSP, enclosure and musical concept all at once. It didn't break at the code — it broke where every design decision landed on one person working alone. That's the gap this residency closes.
02 / Chords
Small, finished, public.
In the opposite direction, I built a small Daisy Seed ambient experiment: microphone input, a small amp, speakers, 5 V power, and firmware for slowly evolving chord textures. The intended object is simple: a small wooden box with a battery that produces soft ambient sound.
The firmware is public, documented, and MIT-licensed: C++17 on Daisy Seed, generative chord scenes, crossfading polyphonic voices, reverb, chorus, clocked sequencing, optional percussion, and optional microphone sampling — with standalone test builds, a central config, and full third-party license attribution.
github.com/mcbronkowitch/chords
Why this residency
I've shipped the firmware. Now I want to ship the instrument.
This started in the 90s, when I rebuilt the family computer into an aluminium flight case so I could carry ReBirth and my samples to friends' places. I've been converting technology into instruments ever since. Professionally I work as a programmer; C++, embedded tooling, and the microcontroller workflow are familiar ground, and the Daisy platform is what I already build on.
My ambient firmware is public, tested, and documented. The last mile I haven't walked alone is the one from working firmware to a physical instrument people can pick up and play: DSP depth, hardware decisions beyond the breadboard, enclosure, finish. That mile is exactly what this residency is built around.
Phase 1 appeals to me as much as the custom build. I'd love to prototype the first version of my modulation ideas on Spotykach: a dual-deck looper is a natural host for stepped, polyrhythmic modulation, and writing firmware for an instrument with real players is the fastest feedback loop I could ask for. I don't own a Spotykach yet — I'll order one the day I'm accepted. Everything I build in the residency will be open source; my current firmware already is. And the fixed timeframe matters: a real date at Superbooth creates exactly the productive pressure needed to make decisions.
Commitment
I have the time, and I'll show up.
I deliberately work a 30-hour week, so the biweekly sessions and 4–5 development hours fit into my normal rhythm, not on top of it. I'm based in Germany, in the same timezone — and I'm ready to build this in the open and stand at Superbooth 2027 with an instrument people can play.
Email Bastian Tonk