Wiggler is an expressive monosynth that aims to bring the emotional gestures of acoustic instruments into the world of synthesizers. Think of it like a synth that evolved from a wooden flute instead of a piano. The keys can wiggler for vibrato and push for dynamics. It’s main purpose is to play melodies with emotion.
Wiggler’s design is inspired by standalone instruments like the Minimoog and Microbrute. It has just enough features to make it immediately fun, and all the outputs to take expressive control of your favorite synthesizer. All parameters live on the surface of the panel, with dedicated controls and no button combos. The expressive interface allows a simple oscillator and filter to sing.
Wiggler’s firmware was written by Infrasonic Audio
Diatonic Layout
The note layout of Wiggler is inspired by traditional instruments like Duduk, where all the notes belong to one musical scale. The 8 keys of the keybed address the typical 7 notes of a scale plus this upper octave root note. The scale can be edited with the touch sensitive piano keyboard, and there are three slots to store scales. There are also sharp/flat buttons to reach in between notes.
There are 6 octave buttons to play across a range from the lowest note of a bass guitar to the highest not of a guitar. The octave and sharp/flat buttons are copied on each side for right and left handed players
We found that the reduction in notes made it easier to play by feel instead of thinking. It also allows one hand to address all notes without moving.
Timeline and Fundraising
Wiggler is reaching a relatively mature design that we showed to the world at Superbooth 2024. Units will be shared with developers and artistic collaborators for beta testing. We are working on the final details of the interface, production ready engineering, and reliability testing. It will be ready to buy NET (no earlier than) November 2024, but the schedule could push into 2025.
As a fundraising program, we are selling a small number of beta units to people with extra funds who want to support the project. We will use the funding to pay for contracted firmware and electrical engineering, injection mold tooling, and minimum order quantities. In return, funders will receive
Beta unit (delivery late June 2024)
Free production unit with matching serial number, when ready
Feedback included in beta program to influence final design
Lifetime repair or replace warranty
Name or foundation on Wiggler product page as a thank you
If you are interested in supporting, please e-mail fundraising (at) soundwork.shop