Strophonion

The Strophonion is a sensor controller devised by Alex Nowitz for manipulating his voice in live-electronic contexts. It was initially developed at STEIM, using their expertise in hardware design as well as their software offerings, in particular LiSa and Junxion.

I got involved starting in 2014, when I helped building the next revision of this controller:

stroph

The electronics are largely the same as in the previous version, however we added an option to connect the controllers thru a cable in case the wireless system breaks down. The basestation though is a completeley new design.

Most notable are the 3D-printed shells which were designed and built by chihauccisoilconte. Here’s the new and old designs side by side:

stroph-compare

In the following years, Alex and I embarked on a long journey to also update the other half of the instrument design, i.e. the software. The aim was to implement the signal processing in a more open, flexible, and expandable environment, so the complete functionality was transfered to MaxMSP. This process take longer than expected, but in late 2018 Alex was able to present the new version of the Strophonion in a concert as part of his PhD project.

 

 

30 years of custom technology for musicians and artists