Our last official update was in July of 2023, announcing that MIDI BLASTERs would finally start shipping.
The last two years have been a doozy - grinding away on product manufacturing, settling into a new HQ, and going to conventions all across North America to show off our products.
Fast forward to last month, we announced Gamma… a project we’ve been working on in the background for a long time. Gamma is our take on a mini synth, with a design that focuses on instant creativity and having fun while making music.
We feel that Gamma is our best product yet - a fun and quirky culmination of what we’ve learned over the last few years - worthy of resurrecting what was thought to be our long dead blog.
What is Gamma?
In case you missed the announcement last month, let’s get you up to speed.
Notes and Chords
The core of what Gamma is lies in its unique layout - splitting a diatonic scale into its 7 notes on one side, and its related 7 chords on the other. This allows you to play a chord with one hand and layer a melody on top with the other, all while staying in key.
The really cool thing about Gamma is that the notes and chords each have their own independent voices (2 oscillators for the notes, 6 for the chords), which means you can have the two sound exactly the same or entirely different!
Thumbsticks
To add dynamics we threw in two thumbsticks: one for controlling note effects and another for controlling chord effects/manipulations.
Check out some of the thumbsticks capabilities:
Note Thumbstick:
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Octave Up/Down/Difference
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Chorus
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Filter
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Tremolo
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Vibrato
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Reverb
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Delay
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Pitch Up/Down
Chord Thumbstick:
All of the above effects, plus chord manipulations:
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Sus
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7th
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9th
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Parallel Chord
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1st & 2nd Inversions
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Remove Root, Third, or Fifth
We’re still fleshing out all of the thumbstick utilities so more may be added.
Screen… plus?
Separating the notes and chords is the 1.3 inch OLED screen. The screen is used for basic functions, like navigating the menus and changing the key (via the encoder).
But that’s not all...
This is one of our favourite features: GAMMA GOTCHI!
Similar to other aptly named gadgets of the 90’s and 2000’s, Gamma Gotchi is a virtual pet that evolves as you play.
We included this partially because we wanted a fun animation on-screen while you're playing (and what’s more fun than a tiny pixel-pet floating through space??) and also as a little extra incentive to create with Gamma and watch your new-found friend evolve faster.
Gamma Development
We’ve been working on the second iteration of Gamma’s prototype for the last couple of months. Things are progressing really fast and we’re loving how the hardware is looking/feeling so far!
After deciding we wanted Gamma’s enclosure to be aluminum we then had to decide on surface finish. Right now we’re thinking of using a combination of anodized matte black aluminum for the outer casing and a powder coated matte black aluminum for the bottom plate.
Software development always takes the longest when developing new products. I've been working on this daily ☕😪
AJ has been tasked with designing the Gamma Gotchi characters. Each one has a unique look and animation associated with it. Right now the evolution pattern goes from Egg > Child > Teen > Adult (MAX) > Death*.
*Maybe… or some other reset cycle that’s less dark 🙃🪦
Other TIN News
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We have our first ever product collaboration with Boomlights coming soon! We’re helping them bring the LC-1X+ to market (a super cool MIDI controlled lighting solution). You can sign up for updates on that here.
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New stock is arriving for NM2 and NMSVE. The biggest way you can help support us is to pick up one of these products or refer us to a friend 🫶
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We will be attending the Toronto Pedal & Synth Expo May 3rd-4th 2025. Come say hi if you’re in the area and want to check out our products irl.
TIN fun fact (the more you know 🌈🌠)
Gamma's project codename was Morbius.
This was Schuyler's idea... he really wanted the final product name to be Morbius... I vetoed it 😂❌ (You're welcome)
