Soundplane A

The Soundplane A is a computer music controller with the sensitivity and feel of an acoustic instrument. It detects a wide range of touches on its walnut playing surface, from a light tickle to a very firm press. The Soundplane A can be configured as either a 150-note keyboard with position and pressure sensing on each key, or as one continuous surface.

The playing surface is a material custom developed for us, an articulated sheet of walnut veneer bonded to a fiber backing for strength. The case is milled out of alder, a sustainably harvested Northwest hardwood. We have sourced all of the construction locally and test and assemble Soundplanes by hand here in Seattle. The entire instrument is about 28 inches wide by 8 inches deep by 1 inch thick.

Included with the Soundplane is Aalto for Soundplane, a custom, signal-driven version of our patchable software synthesizer. The Soundplane client software can send MIDI and OSC messages to control other software and hardware.

See this Soundplane onesheet PDF for specifications: [3 Mb PDF]

The Soundplane's continuous capacitive sensing technology is patent pending. It is also described in Randy Jones' NIME paper from 2009 [pdf] so that you can make your own. We encourage and support related DIY experiments via our forum.

Ordering

We are now taking preorders for 30 Soundplane A instruments at a special introductory price of $1,695.

This price is valid only for the first run of 30 Soundplanes. The lower cost now is a thanks for your prepayment, which is allowing the Soundplane to get off the ground.

We have established turnaround times with all the suppliers for the Soundplane's components. We anticipate that production will take 8-10 weeks.

Details
Clicking the "Buy Now" button below will take you to Paypal's site where you can confirm your purchase. Paypal creates a receipt and a secure record of the transaction. Once the 30 orders are collected, we will remove the order option here. If we exceed 30 orders too quickly to respond, we will refund your entire payment.

If circumstances force you to cancel your order once placed, we will return your payment minus a cancellation fee of 10%. If something goes wrong on our end, and we are unable to ship you a Soundplane 16 weeks after the close of preordering, we will refund your entire amount on request.

The first 30 Soundplanes are available only for shipping to addresses in North America (USA, Canada, Mexico). We apologize if you are elsewhere in the world and have to wait. We need the extra time to sort out the customs issues and regulations we will face in getting Soundplanes to other countries.

Orders from addresses in Washington State, USA pay 9.50% sales tax. Shipping costs will be reasonable. You can get a good estimate using the Soundplane weight (5 lbs.) and dimensions on the spec sheet.

After the introductory offer the price will raise, but not to more than $2000.

We will offer a one year warranty covering any replacement parts needed, and a ninety day warranty covering labor, including shipping.

If you have any questions, please contact support@madronalabs.com.

Soundplane A FAQ

Why?
"Musical ideas are prisoners, more than one might believe, of musical devices."
- Pierre Schaeffer

Does it have MIDI / OSC outputs?
The Soundplane A sends its data via USB. Currently, you need a computer to run our translator program that generates MIDI and OSC data from the raw USB stream. You can send these messages out a MIDI interface or, in the case of OSC, Ethernet and other kinds of connections as well.

Can I connect it to my modular?
We definitely understand the appeal of connecting the Soundplane directly to MIDI and CV/Gate devices, so a product that would allow that is definitely something we are thinking about. In the meantime, we recommend the use of a computer with CV generating software such as Silent Way from Expert Sleepers.

Can I use my favorite OS?
We have written the Soundplane software with the help of JUCE, a cross-platform framework that supports Mac OS, Windows and Linux. The custom driver development that supports the Soundplane USB protocol is only ready for Mac OS at this point. We look forward to working on Windows and Linux versions soon.

In addition, the client software is open source, so if you want to contribute, get in touch!