Contribute to the kickstarter campaign HERE
To play the demo/proto install the mobile app and leave us a 5 STAR review.
FOR MUSICIANS
The final product will be a Real-Time audio effects suite. Novice and Expert Musicians will find interest in the introductory and novel audio effects.
FOR ARTISTS
The app will act as a Tonoscope. Meaning sound input will form awesome and unique geometrical patterns. These patterns are the focus of an area of study called Cymatics, and are often referred to as Sacred Geometries and Chladni Patterns.
FOR INVENTORS
The particle movement is random, so every run of Penelope is unique. The particle movement is based on probabilities so reproducing the similar formations is possible. We are taking this a step further and filtering the sound based on the partle formations. This filtering process is an evolution for audio effects. What do I mean? Let me take a moment of your time to walk you through the birth of this idea. It will be worth it.
In the Beginning
While working at the Musicians Friend call center. People would call in and ask abouttube amps. I couldn't figure out why people would spend thousand of dollars onoutdated tube amps when for a few hundred dollars you could buy a solid state ampwhich had audio effect to model almost any amp ever built.
I wrote it off as people trying to relive the past, get back to that vintage sound, bring back the sixties man!
But too many people were following the old path, ranting and raving about the old ways. Finally, after being convinced by enough people my curiosity was peaked. I bought my first tube amp, a cheap Pignose 30V, featuring 3-12ax7s and 2-6L6s.
I did find something different about the tube amp. It wasn't in the sound necessarily, but in the response. You could play soft and dive into rich crystal clear tube tones, or play hard and melt in creamy overdrive atop mountains of harmonic distortion, and everything in-between, at your finger tips. It is magical!
Coming from all tube amps digital effects pedals sound lifeless. Yes you can get the same sounds, but digital effects are either overdrive or clean, just a filter on top of the sound. You can use footswitches to switch between overdrive and clean, but you miss so much subtly in-between and around.
So it was a mystery to me why tube amps sound so much better. So I went off to school to learn why. Earned a BSEE from the University of Utah where I took the last class on tubes taught by an 80+ year old professor, Mr. Glover, who has since passed away. Trust me I can calculate the harmonic reflections of a microwave tube using Bessel functions, but that is not what we are doing here.
More recently I've become interested in Cymatics, the study of how sound affects matter. It is quite amazing how sound can manifest in chladni patterns, or sacred geometries, under the right conditions.
Tube amps have a feel to them like they need to be warmed up. This warmth feels hauntingly similar to the chladni patterns observed by tonoscopes and voiceboxes. Maybe filtering the sound through sacred geometries could create an effect similar to tube amps?
It might sound silly to recreate a more tube effect, but keep in mind almost all audio effects, {compression, gain, reverb}, are done to recreate what is naturally created within tubes.
Penelope is an evolution for audio effects. Finally digital effects surpass their analog counterparts. How it works is open and free for everyone. Plus it incorporates a new, if not old and mystical, way to visualize music and understand the multiverse.
Why Android?
The reality today is practice amps are being used less and less. It is simpler, easier, and more convenient to plug into a mobile device. Android is open source. There are more mobile devices in use today than desktop computers.
How it works?
Penelope's visualization is based on a Cymatic Tonoscope or Voicebox. Sound coming in the microphone resonates a simulated plate. Particles on the plate move away from anti-nodes and come to rest on nodes and nodal lines.
Penelope's visualization needs more work. Currently Penelope only resonates in four modes {1,2,4,8} (four octaves). The size of the plate scales depending on the input note. Which helps push the particles to the center and keeps the plate resonating no matter the fundamental frequency of the input audio.
What We need to do to complete this project
- package the real-time audio portion of the app in a reusable library (open source).
- package the tonoscope (visualization) portion of the app in a reusable library (open source).
- link the audio with the visualization to create amazing responsive audio effects
- add more modes of resonation to the plates (visualization)
- fix some bugs in calculating the fundamental frequency of the input audio
- work on improving the real-time latency in the system by offloading processing to the audio codec.
Depending on how successful this run is, and how the backers feel, we will knock out deliverables down the line and create some awesome open source libraries.
At the bare minimal $20k, which is a heck of a lot a money, will be used to package the real-time audio portion of the app in a reusable library within 3 months.
How the money will help the project?
The money will go toward starting a business. Getting a license, office space, minimal business expenses. $20k is the min needed to support the project for three months.
With just a-little-bit of primer in the pan, we take off like a bullet.
Once the Open Source libraries are complete the visuallization can be used for other things like, Penelope Media Player, Penelope Live Wall Paper, Penelope Media Recorder, or whatever you want.
Thanks for your time, consideration, and generosity,
The biggest hurdle for this project is time. The second biggest hurdle is support. This project is so essential, and so awesome it is hard for me to explain to people. How can you not get it? This is SOOO Awesome.
People who understand Cymatics just get it, "Yes, that would be cool." they say. We need you to show your support by backing, liking, sharing, downloading, whatever you can do,
If you haven't heard of Cymatics, check it out. It is SOOO Awesome, SOOO fundamental, and SOOO essential. You need to have Tonoscope in your pocket.
