KHÔRA is a drone-based harmonic instrument for Mac, with a unique, abstract interface.
Here’s what they have to say about it:
“There are no labels – every control is a living geometric object. The ring of stars is a map of just-intonation pitches. Star size represents consonance, while color represents harmonic families. Rather than relying on theory, keyboards, or parameter lists, KHÔRA offers a new way to explore harmonic space through interaction.”
KHÔRA offers 5 built-in chord generators:
1. Genesis: Generates a new just-intonation chord, favoring simple, consonant intervals while always retaining the root.
2. Metabole: Preserves some common tones from the current chord while regenerating the remaining voices, balancing continuity and change.
3. Topos: Moves the entire chord through just-intonation space while preserving its internal structure, revealing more distant microtonal colors.
4. Skia (Hidden): Explores dark, modal harmony over a fixed drone, with spacious minor voicings that return to the home chord every fourth generation.
5. Helios (Hidden): The only mode based on 12-tone equal temperament (12-EDO), featuring modern color harmony with smooth bass motion and a return to the home chord every 4th generation.
Pricing and Availability:
KHÔRA is available now, with a ‘Name a fair price” model.
This is like what the Astroids game would look and sound like if you got to the final boss.
Since the synth industry is nearing a peak, why has electronic or synth music not dominated? Where are the “landmark” albums? Wouldn’t the availability and cheap cost result in higher quality and quantity of musical output?
While some might argue temporary chip shortages as evidence that the “sky is falling,” but the chip shortage was partially a shift to AI dependence rather than political incompetence. The catastrophists like to make excuses for dull music. The dull music is a result of dull technology to the hack synthesist.
Argue the reasons (Trump didn’t kill the synth industry, he destroyed the synthesist), but the fact is synth culture has not made its way into the mainstream. The printing press exploded new religions, literacy rates, and created science. The synth revolution resulted in nothing significant artistically.
The synthesizer was pop culture in the 70’s. Even up until the 90’s mainstream music had electronic “hits.” I’m sure music creation has increased with the cheap mass produced synth, but no one hears it. No one cares.
The synth industry is dead, but not because of some convenient excuse. The synth industry is dead because all the “artists” are too busy posturing, campaigning and peacocking instead of making music. Blame chip shortages for a culture of shunning and bullying.
Now shun and bully me for noticing that our culture sucks.
“The synth revolution resulted in nothing significant artistically.”
I disagree wholeheartedly. The synthesizer is clearly the most important new instrument of our lifetimes.
It sounds like you are disappointed that art ‘synth music’ doesn’t dominate the airwaves, though synths and electronic music processing do. This is subjective judgement, more than a statement of fact.
Also – I don’t think ‘synth music’ will ever have the prominence it had in the ’70s. People in the ’70s were stoned, so they were into spacey stuff, and electronic sounds also had novelty behind them. Think ‘Popcorn’, which is a nice little tune, but a #1 in the ’70s because of the novelty of its sounds.
A lot of electronic novelty and innovation has moved into the mainstream with genres like dance music and EDM. Check out BT if you want to hear avant garde approaches in popular music.
I listen to primarily electronic music genres, most of which would not be possible without the rise of synths and DAWs. Some of these genres are mainstream, but many will probably always fall more into the ‘art music’ category, which has never had a wide audience.
I don’t know why you think the synth industry is “nearing a peak”. It certainly has undergone a boom of advancement.
Your question about why we don’t see a proportional “boom” in the music itself is certainly valid, but that’s hard to quantify. Our culture is in a very strange time where listeners can find and see whatever they want, without gate-keepers like labels, radio stations, and concert promoters.
Big shifts in music CAN happen when there’s a new instrument: like a pianoforte, or a pipe organ, or an 808 drum machine. But there’s not likely to be any big shifts like that now, because there’s not much that would surprise-and-delight listeners. They don’t say: “wow, that must be an additive synth with 64 partials and more polyphony than usual.” AND they don’t say: “FINALLY, some music made with MPE.” Who cares. At the end of the day, it’s just more synths. Better synths, yes, but more.
I won’t bother guessing what drives the industry. Seems like Show-Biz personas like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, are a big part of that equation.
Who knows what big trends will come in the next few years?
WEIRD OBSERVATION: My comment which is first in the list, took 6 days before I could see it.
this totally looks like an iOS app from 2010 but it seems like a really cool instrument.