Hyve is a “fun and expressive” portable synth that can be played on a touch interface

Hyve is a new analogue synth with an expressive touch interface that’s designed to enable anyone to make music.

The synth engine is 60-voice polyphonic and can respond to pressure and horizontal/vertical movements. It’s said that even the smallest finger wiggle can have an effect.

There are two parts to the interface. The bottom half is laid out like a standard musical keyboard; moving vertically enables you to sweep through octaves, while going left and right adjusts the panning. There’s also a bottom row for making pressure-controlled pitch bends.

Up top there’s a hexagonal interface based on the harmonic table (every adjacent note is harmonically related) and, again, each note is sensitive to pressure and horizontal positioning.

The Hyve will be available in a variety of configurations. A $79 pledge will get you the bare circuit board with touch interface, or you can pledge $149 for a Synth Maker kit that can be built at home without the need for any soldering. $299 gets you the Premium model, which comes with a wooden back.

Find out more on the Hyve Kickstarter page.   

Ben Rogerson

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it. 

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