KOMA Elektronik Field Kit Electroacoustic Workstation Kickstarter Blows Past Funding Goal

KOMA Elektronik’s Field Kit Kickstarter project has blown past its fundraising goals, raising nearly 15 times its $21,216 goal, with several days left to go.

The Field Kit is a Eurorack-compatible toolkit for experimenting with electroacoustic sound. It is optimized to process signals from microphones, contact microphones, electromagnetic pickups and is also able to run DC motors and solenoids. On top of that, it can receive radio signals and convert signals from switches and sensors into control voltages.

Here’s the official video intro:

The Field Kit has 7 separate functional blocks, focussed on receiving or generating all types of signals:

  • Four Channel Mixer
  • Envelope Follower
  • DC Interface
  • Analog Switch Interface
  • Analog Sensor Interface
  • AM/FM/SW Radio
  • Low Frequency Oscillator

These sections can be used together as a coherent electroacoustic workstation or alternatively with with CV-compatible music gear. You can easily interface the Field Kit with a Eurorack modular system. At the backside of the PCB you will find a power connector you can use to power the unit from your system.

The Field Kit is available as a finished unit or DIY.

Audio Demos:

KOMA has also created an Expansion Pack, with a bunch of different sources that you can use with the Field Kit:

  • 2 x Contact Microphones – Use these contact microphones to pick up vibration or sound, they are an amazing versatile input source.
  • 1 x Electro-Magnetic Pickup – good for picking up changes in magnetic fields, you can use it to amplify a string like a guitar pickup or amplify a spinning motor.
  • 1 x Solenoid push-pull motor – Use the solenoid to hit things, together with the DC Interface the solenoid can make anything rhythmical and percussive.
  • 1 x DC motor – The Motor can be used to rotate things or as a noisy oscillator together with the Electro-Magnetic Pickup.
  • 1 x small speaker – Use the speaker to listen to the main mix or as a sound source and to feedback sounds.
  • 3 x patch cables

The Expansion Pack can be ordered with the Field Kit or ordered separately:

Each Field Kit will be shipped with a booklet called 50 Ways To Use The Field Kit, which, besides being the official user manual, is a small book with examples of 50 different setups with the Field Kit to spark your imagination. For example, you can experiment with how to make a spring reverb, do radio feedbacking, sense heat, water and light, make it trigger a sequence of sound and so more. It also includes a few ideas and schematics to make your own add-ons.

Pricing and Availability

The Field Kit is available to Kickstarter project backers, through January 13th, for an introductory price of EUR 199 (MRSP: EUR 229). A DIY version is also available. The Expansion Packs are available for EUR 49.

8 thoughts on “KOMA Elektronik Field Kit Electroacoustic Workstation Kickstarter Blows Past Funding Goal

  1. These look really nice. My one concern is the piezo pickups. No matter how careful you are, those bare wires as pictured will last a couple weeks at best without any form of strain relief. I *really* hope they figure out a way to reliably secure the cable, or else they’ll end up with a lot of unhappy customers just weeks after shipping them.

    Otherwise, excellent device and I’m happy to see this be a huge success for them.

    1. Thanks JR. The piezo’s will be covered with an epoxy layer, which protects the cable ends and makes them long lasting. These ones you see on the photo were our proto piezo’s 🙂

    2. Yeah, I also hope these are just prototypes… considering the expansion is about 50€ and we know what piezos, DC motors and stuff like that cost (but don’t get me wrong, the solenoid and the electromagnetic pickup make it worth it!). On the other hand, Koma has proven to do things the right way in many occasions and they seem to also listen to their user base, so I’m confident it will work out fine!

Leave a Reply to Phil Durrant Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *