Synthesiser - Dune Scape
Dune Scape was a group project whereby we were tasked with designing, manufacturing and coding a musical synthesiser. We had to do everything from scratch. This was a really fun project I did with a friend, and we were really pleased with the outcome.
Design Brief
This project involved designing and manufacturing a fully functional synthesiser with a unique aesthetic that reflected the character and atmosphere of the sound it produced. The design process began by defining a specific sound profile, which then informed the overall visual language, form, and material choices of the product.
Our concept focused on creating a cinematic synthesiser inspired by the immersive and atmospheric soundscapes commonly found in science-fiction films, leading to the name Dune Scape. The design aimed to evoke a futuristic and industrial feel, balancing bold geometric forms with a sense of depth and mood that aligned with the synthesiser’s audio identity.
A key requirement of the brief was the incorporation of sheet metal within the design, as well as the use of sheet metal bending as a manufacturing process. This introduced an additional layer of technical consideration, requiring the design to account for fabrication methods, material behaviour, and assembly constraints.
Development
The development process involved a broad combination of technical and practical skills, requiring the integration of multiple manufacturing methods and technologies throughout the project. This included the use of 3D printing, sheet metal bending, electronic prototyping, and digital coding, all of which contributed to the refinement and functionality of the final design.
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These are some images from the process. You can see both the sheet metal bending as well as me learning how to soulder a circuit together,
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This project was quite a challenge because once again I was learning new skills I hadn't ever done before, and having to produce an output in a short time span. In this case, I had never coded a synthesiser or soldered an entire working circuit for said synthesiser and all its controls. As you can see in the image on the right, it was quite a lot of work, but despite all this, I really enjoyed the process. Music is a hobby of mine, so to be able to create my own instrument, I really enjoyed. I was also able to carry a lot of these skills into a later project that I did, which required soldering and electronic prototyping.
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This is the Max MSP code that drove the audio. This is the entire synthesiser, and although it doesn't look like much, the code took time to get right, having to work on the frequencies and crossovers of certain sounds. Max MSP is a powerful tool for music creation and coding.
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Outcome
Below are some images of the final outcome. I didn't highlight some of the other processes, but we worked on lots of different interface layouts, also using 3D printing as a major prototyping process. The outcome is a dune cinematic-inspired synthesiser.
