Try its footswitches: Speak moves on to the next word, and Bypass says good bye.
Planchette
a talking filter, on a talking board
A formant filter takes your guitar through the shapes a mouth makes, from ah to oh to oo, so it seems to talk. The board spells out what it’s saying. Every letter is a window cut in the shape of the type: the one it’s on burns brightest, and the word so far fades out behind it.
It knows ten words, and Word picks one. Yes is lit while it’s on, No while it’s off, and Good Bye glows for a moment as you switch it off. The sun lights when it speaks in time with your tap, the moon when it follows how hard you play. The lens in the planchette is its eye. The cat watches from the corner, and the candle stays lit.
Along the top
- Speed
- How fast it talks, or how quickly it follows you.
- Word
- Which of the ten words it says. Its number lights.
- Throat
- A child’s mouth to a giant’s.
- Bite
- How sharp the vowels are, and some grit.
- Mix
- Dry to all spirit.
Underfoot
- Bypass
- On and off.
- Tap
- Tap the tempo, and the sun lights. Hold it to hand over to the moon, which follows how hard you play.
- Speak
- Says the word once, in time. Hold it to keep the mouth open on the letter it’s on.
The box
A Tayda 1590XX with a circuit board for a lid: black mask, white print, solid gold, and windows of bare fibreglass lit from behind. The pot and switch nuts hold it on.
Coming soon