Naarm/Melbourne’s own Nitecaller is making dreamy sounds- and now has the home-built dreamy synth to match. Meet the T-16 semi-modular synth, recreating and expanding on the analog circuits of classic ARPs, built by Nitecaller and his brother.
Nitecaller writes CDM:
The T-16 is largely based on the analog circuits of the original ARP 2600 and ARP Odyssey, with additional modifications and modules to expand the sound palette.
The project started out at the beginning of 2023 as a simple idea to build a bespoke semi-modular instrument to include amongst my other studio gear, and of course I went straight for basing it on one of the biggest and most complex semi-modular synths around! My brother, Stefan Hambleton, and myself started collecting the original schematics and other open source circuits to begin designing our own PCBs and after a year of assembling and troubleshooting the twenty-odd circuits, I was ready to carry on the project myself to design and build the enclosure which took another year. After two full years (plus a few months of teething issues), I finally completed this instrument and I have to say, it has added so much enjoyment and life to my songwriting and sound design process.
Here it is in its early stages:
The panel work is really lovely; here are more in-progress shots:
And let’s listen to the instrument in action:
This beautiful single debuted at the end of February. I’m guessing it features some T-16 action, since he promoted it with a photo of him in front of the T-16, though obviously with some layering and embellishment.
Can’t wait to hear more.
“Wait, you said T-16? That reminds me of Star Wars for some reason,” you say. I imagine you’re thinking of the iconic Incom Corp T-16 skyhopper, first associated with Luke Skyhopper’s toy and womp rat-shooting runs. I’m not going to take the bait and get into a discussion of the difference between a T-16 and the BT-16 the Stormtroopers discuss on the Death Star in New Hope; just don’t confuse this with the T-15 mentioned in Rogue One, as those are already marked obsolete, okay? (I’m going to take a breather and process the knowledge that the Rogue One Stormtrooper’s voice sounds so familiar because it’s totally Crashdown! RIP, Alex Quartararo; you met your end heroically leading a charge and please no one ask any follow up questions and we’ve officially crossed over too many times and I have to stop. )
But yeah, T-16 is underrated. Bite me, T-4a.
Save the womp rats.
