Introducing Plinky 12 Blocks, Chords and Toadstep

video upload by Making Sound Machines

Additional videos below.

"We are super excited to introduce 3 new instruments today! Plinky 12 is a family of expressive polyphonic touch synthesizers. The three instruments are built around a shared synth engine. Designed by mmalex, it evokes the unmistakable melancholic sounds of the original Plinky. https://plinky12.com

Each instrument is designed in collaboration with a different synth maker, lending each panel a distinct playability and unique character.

Plinky 12 Chords is a harmonic inspiration machine. It lets you improvise melodies and chords, with expressive control over voicings, progressions, and immediate musical play. Created by Making Sound Machines, Chords is the panel for finding beautiful harmonic movement quickly.

Plinky 12 Toadstep is a 4-track step sequencer built for super funky riffs, experimental self-generative melodies, and good ol' Acid. Created by Toadstool Tech, the designer behind the Ectocore Eurorack module, Toadstep is fun, immediate and easy to jam with!

Plinky 12 Blocks is an open panel built for experimentation, with monome-grid compatibility, Plinky style touch synthesis, and a browser-based coding environment just a click away. While it comes with a fully playable design out of the gate, creator mmalex invites you to build your own adventure with this panel. If you can imagine it, you can make it!

In this video, Enrica and Roland from Making Sound Machines explore the three new Plinky 12 instruments: Blocks, Chords and Toadstep from left to right.

The track builds on a repeating loop created with the built-in sequencer on Plinky 12 Toadstep. The short sequence uses rhythmic step repeats, track step length and animated synth parameters to create an ostinato that keeps sonically evolving over the length of the track.

As the piece continues, Roland plays a progression of harmonies from the rainbow chord palette on Plinky 12 Chords, before launching a sequence that reharmonizes the loop heard from Toadstep. Enrica joins in playing sparkling arpeggios with her fingertips on Plinky 12 Blocks, the surface with the sunset colour-fade print.

As the track progresses, Roland plays a melodic line on Chords, then Enrica takes over with a melody on blocks. The Plinky 12 polyphonic play surface reads both play position and pressure of the touch. It enables bends and glides on the horizontal axis, while allowing for discrete arps in the vertical direction.

They end the piece with a tempo transition showcasing the septuplet feature on the internal sequencer."

Introducing Plinky 12 Chords

video upload by Nathan Plante Synths and Making Sound Machines

"I’m so happy to introduce you to the Plinky 12 Chords by mmalex and @makingsoundmachines ! This isn’t just another hardware iteration of the original Plinky, its a brand new instrument. In this video I walk you through this synth, showing off many (but not all) of its features. Harmonic exploration has really never been easier, even if think you know nothing about harmony."

Introducing Plinky 12 // Toadstep, Chords & Blocks

video upload by DivKid

"TIMING INDEX // CHAPTERS

INTRO

00:00 Hello & previews

01:59 Introducing the Plinky 12 family

TOADSTEP

05:23 Exploring Toadstep
sequencer & sound engine

15:18 4 voice ambient Toadstep
4 voices on Toadstep synth lines with added CV gate driven analogue synth layer

CHORDS

19:55 Exploring Chords
playing notes, chords and arpeggios

28:29 Sequencing Chord progressions
sequencing chord changes, decoupled rhythm sequencing & arpeggio strums

34:21 Exploring the synth engine
Plinky sound engine exploration & FANTASTIC randomisation features

38:04 CHUFFIN ACE! Chords + MIDI Polysynth is amazing
layering the internal sound engine with a polysynth played via MIDI + a nice tape echo for bonus fun times!

PANEL & INSTRUMENT SWAPPING

42:43 How to swap panels on your Plinky 12 and change the instrument
with one Plinky 12 you can swap panels to move from Toadstep, Chords & Blocks

BLOCKS

45:08 A Quick Look at Blocks
the classic Plinky experience (like the OG or Plinky +)

46:45 A fun interface for expressive polyphonic playing
playing the Blocks instrument against modular beats

**THIS VIDEO IS SPONSORED BY MMALEX & MAKING SOUND MACHINES - they have funded the creation of this demo video"



"Blocks is the no-nonsense 'I want to play beautiful polyphonic plinky sounds live - let's go!'.

It divides the panel into large blocks: a huge 6 stringed play surface on the left, a clip launcher and xy pad on the right.

But blocks also hides a lot of depth: each clip is a full 128 step polyphonic sequence with performance oriented muting, shuffling, per-step probability and more.

The panel is also almost entirely distraction and label-free. This makes it the perfect panel to make use of Plinky 12's monome grid compatibility, as well as the forthcoming web-based coding environment.

Make your own Plinky Panel!
You will be able to prototype your own ideas for panels in the web-based Code Editor, using a simple API that gives you easy ways to use all of the hardware features, synth, fx, MIDI, CV connectivity, touch controls.
Documentation is already provided for humans and for coding agents, so that anyone can realise their idea for a Plinky 12 panel. The Code Editor and Bank Editor will be released alongside the Plinky hardware."




"Plinky 12 Chords is an expressive polyphonic touch synthesiser, built around exploring harmonies intuitively and improvising melodies on the fly. Designed in collaboration with mmalex, it is a member of the Plinky 12 family of instruments and puts its characteristic fragile, melancholic sound at the touch of your fingertips.

Some of its features include:

12 voice polyphony, split between 6 chord and 6 melody voices
13 Palettes with 45 chords each, to explore, mix, match and shape your composition
4 polyphonic melody surfaces that dynamically adjust to match the harmonies:
Free play on the chromatic surface, guided by highlights for chord and scale notes
Improvise with on-scale notes on the scale surface
Arpeggiate through a palette of chords on the chordnotes surface
Explore a whole surface of suggested harmonies on the related chords surface
Polyphonic arp with 32 x 16 step patterns that you can edit on the fly
Circle of fifths transposition
Built-in sequencer with 128 steps to sequence the shape of your chords
Individual track length, modulo, probability, pattern generator, Stolperbeats shuffle
Plinky 12 synth engine, polytimbral with different sounds for Bass, Treble and Melody
XY modulation for morphing between synth sounds
FX section with Tape delay and Reverb with Shimmer
Process sounds through the effects from the external audio in
MIDI Routing to control external synths with Plinky 12"

"The Plinky 12 Toadstep is a 4-track MIDI/CV sequencer and groovebox. It was designed in collaboration with Toadstool Tech.

Toadstep is designed specifically to be fun to play, highly interactive, and super fast to iterate with. It's heavily inspired by the RYK M185 and Metropolis/x sequencers, but with its own unique twist on the core concept.

Some of its features include:

4 tracks, two of which can be CV, and all of which can be MIDI or use the internal engine
Sophisticated step repeating and ratcheting for extending sequences past 16 steps
Big faders and a touch interface that is easy to use
Per-step slides, probability, velocity, gate length, and lots of randomization
8 patterns per track with full pattern chaining
Support for saving sound and song presets to an SD card
Extensive web editor for sounds
Plinky 12 synth engine, polytimbral with different sounds for all 4 tracks
XY modulation for morphing between synth sounds
FX section with Tape delay and Reverb with Shimmer
Process and mix sounds through the effects from the external audio in
The full documentation and info are coming in Summer 2026. Or come and try it in person at Superbooth in Berlin, May 2026."