Prototype Jam! TINRS Fenix IV, mmalex Plinky and Faust on Teensy 4.0

video by Making Sound Machines

"Here's a little prototype jam, using all the lovely modular gear and hardware we've been testing these last weeks! The granular glockenspiel is made with This is Not Rocket Science's Fenix IV Eurorack compatible system-in-a-box - this is a beta machine but production hardware is actually done! TiNRS’ Stijn and Lauri built in an awesome way to load sample banks into the digital oscillator in wavetable mode, so we were able to use a recording of my childhood glockenspiel as grains in this synth sequence, with beautiful warbles from the onboard delay! TiNRS Fenix' sequencer allows for each of its four channels to have its own rhythm subdivisions and to be transposed via MIDI - this is exactly what's happening here using the Arturia keystep pro. Fenix' extra seq channels are triggering a kick from GHzTomash Callisto teensy arduino DIY drum module, and gating some noise percussion using the Fenix' VCA. The lush swell of reverb at the end is coming from a combination of Fenix built-in verb and using our beta unit mmalex Plinky as an FX processor - DIY kits and the expander will soon be available again from Thonk.

The stereo organ pad is made on a Teensy 4.0 arduino, running an additive synth patch made with Faust DSP and the teensy audio library, controlled via MIDI with the Arturia Keystep Pro and patched into the Eurorack with our own Multiplikand module. It's rhythmically chopped using This is Not Rocket Science's Wobbler complex LFO into Mutable Instruments Streams dual dynamics gate, using the TiNRS Fenix' sequencer to reset the LFO in time with the sequence. The bass is Moogs DIY voice Werkstatt 01, a CV-controlled voice with a ladder filter and that lovely Moog sub.

The beats in the ending come from our circuit bent e-licktronic NAVA TR909 clone, sequenced using the Roland Aria TR-8 drum machine. While the NAVA is an exact copy of the famous TR909 circuits, hacked by us with 34 mods to vastly expand the sonic palette of the instrument, the TR-8 is a digital emulation of the same synth and somewhat shunned for its color scheme. If you look beyond that, it's a very practical and lovely machine.

❤️ Huge thank you to everyone sending us stuff to test and build! This is extremely fun!"

TINRS Fenix IV + Gameboy + Circuit bent NAVA = ❤

Making Sound Machines

"TINRS Fenix IV + Nintendo Gameboy + Circuit bent NAVA = ❤️ This patch brings together so many things we love: our original UGB Nintendo Gameboy running 8bit bleeps with nanoloop, our circuit bent elicktronic NAVA TR909 clone and the insane bag of tricknology that is This is Not Rocket Science's Fenix IV modular synth in-a-box! The NAVA is an exact copy of the famous Roland TR909 circuits, hacked by us with 34 mods to vastly expand the sonic palette of the instrument, and processed through our Eurorack using the serge wave multiplier on kick and the cre8audio chipz on claps for more oomph. The bassline is the lovely FM mode of the TINRS Fenix' digital oscillator, run through the stereo digital filter (honestly the best I've ever heard - Stijn, Lauri, you need to make this a module) and modulated with the wobbler complex LFO. The nintendo Gameboy is clocking the Fenix sequencer, processed through two VCAs and then mangled through the Fenix' stereo delay - a lot of the lovely pitch sweeps and groovy sixteenth note runs spring into existence in this awesome submodule. Finally, big thank you klanggenerator for selling us the NAVA case! We had to drill some extra holes in it :)"

TINRS Fenix IV - Gnarly Beat with patch breakdown

Making Sound Machines

"A gnarly bass and an uptempo breakbeat on the TiNRS Fenix - while our friends Stijn, Priscilla and Lauri at This is Not Rocket Science are polishing the firmware and adding small tweaks to the Fenix' PCBs, we keep patching all possible (and impossible) patches on this awesome, full-fledged Eurorack compatible system-in-a-box hardware modular synth! All sounds coming straight from this machine.

The bass line in this patch is a sawtooth from the analog chord oscillator patched into the Fenix' logic switch, with a DC offset from the CV mixer going into one of its inputs, resulting in a dirty square waveform. This is shaped with the wobbler complex LFO going to the cutoff of the spectacular digital stereo filter (loving it ❤️ !) and the AHDSR/D envelope controlling a VCA. There's a little bit of the wavemultiplier added in parallel for added grit.

The beat is showing off the lovely analog noise coming in pink, brown, blue and purple color. Kick and toms are made using the digital oscillator in wavetable mode, with a bank of drum samples loaded. We're super happy to be part of this beta test, and are having tons of fun making music with this instrument! Full patch breakdown soon on our YouTube channel.

#TiNRS #Fenix #ThisIsNotRocketScience"

TINRS Fenix IV Update

An update via This Is Not Rocket Science:

"Fenix IV assembling parts
Six more weeks until Superbooth…

We are working hard on the first Fenix IV prototype and alternate between 'this is madness' and 'this is awesome'. Probably both are true.

All the parts has been tried and tested in Experiment Boards 1, 2 and 3. Everything works and we are happy with our sounds and effects. Now these parts have to make a mythical beast. The CPU plug-in boards and filter voice boards are in the mail. Chips are being ordered. Power, midi and plug board are in-house and partially assembled. The tiny headphone board is ready. Our interconnect board – connecting the modules to the jacks and replaces the wiring harness – will be ordered together with big board. Flying in from all over the world, all the pieces are coming together.

CLICK FOR MORE »

TINRS Fenix MONSTER Modular Synthesizer First Look | Superbooth 2019

Published on May 9, 2019 SYNTH ANATOMY

"At Superbooth 2019, This Is Not Rocket Science presented Fenix, a new modular Synthesizer with analog and digital technology. To be honest: this is a monster synth but not cheap. Here is my first look.

#tinrs #fenix #superbooth2019"

https://www.patreon.com/synthanatomy

TINRS Fenix IV

TINRS Introduces New Fenix IV Modular Synthesizer

You might remember the interview with Synton's Felix Visser and This is not Rocket Science's Stijn Haring-Kuipers at Soundmit 2018 on the upcoming new Fenix system. Well, it is here. Update: Priced at 5000 Euros (would be ~ $5600 at todays rate plus any shipping and import fees) - see here on how to get one.

via This is Not Rocket Science

"All you need to play.

An intriguing set of modular building blocks

We think Fenixes are true synthesizer-instruments: they give you all the options you need to explore a very wide range of sonic possibilities. You can learn to play a Fenix quickly and you can still be developing your interaction with it in ten years’ time. The first Fenix was born and bred to satisfy one artist’ wishes for an all in-one system. Our Fenix IV is also born out of this desire with ourselves as the artists.

The density of Fenix I,II and III meant it provided loads of sound in one box. Before eurorack boomed, most modular synthesizers required half a wall of space. Fenix provided all your options in a relatively small container. When Fenix II was released, it packed the most punch for its size anywhere on the market. With Fenix IV we think we continue this tradition. We’ve extended the sounds by adding our best from the digital world. The intention is to provide a toolbox for you to make sound with, and not put too much of our flavour in the sounds themselves. Choices are made for maximum sonic variety. For example: we’ve upgraded the delay line from Fenix II with a musical element. In Fenix IV we are now providing a tuneable version so you can use it as a physical model of a string.

There is a flow to every Fenix. All the modules have the same direction for inputs and outputs: roughly left to right and top to bottom. This is the same in educational diagrams that talk about synthesizer structure. We managed to consistently apply this giant swipe from up left to down right across our Fenix too. You can distinguish types of signals on a Fenix by the colour coding – we’ve taken this helpful visual aid and extended it to giving the modules a coloured grouping that corresponds between the knobs and the jacks. Another feature of the Fenix family is the waterline that divides the knobs from the jacks. Keeping the knobs up top means your patching never gets in the way of your twiddling. This division also helps to maintain a sense of overview with lots of cables patched in.

We see the Fenix family as having a “Yes, and” mentality. The usual divide of tonal versus experimental or additive versus subtractive synthesis does not exist in a Fenix. You can have everything at the same time and you can have multiple TYPES of oscillators, filters, lfo’s, envelopes and effects to do your patching with. We have added the usual analog versus digital divide to this “Yes, and“ mentality. There is no need to choose, you can have it all.

All the modules in our Fenix IV – listed by colour grouping:

YELLOW – Oscillators and sound sources

Input
Interface to external sound sources – has an envelope tracker and a gate and trigger threshold.

CLICK FOR MORE »

TINRS Fenix IV - First Patch! with patch breakdown

Making Sound Machines

"TiNRS Fenix beta - first patch! Our friends Stijn, Priscilla and Lauri at This is Not Rocket Science have been working day and night to get this awesome, full-fledged Eurorack compatible system-in-a-box modular synth polished for launch, and the first five beta instruments are finally in orbit! Little tweaks are still being made, but we couldn't wait to share our love for this instrument! ❤️ All sounds coming straight from this machine.

This patch shows off the flexibility of the Fenix' sequencer, with trigger outs for every step - syncing the wobbler complex LFO with the beat and adding the choppy stutter to the analog chord oscillator. There's both both per-step CV in - the lovely squeak on step 6 made with an LFO - and overall CV offset - allowing the 8 bar progression from the Arturia Beatstep Pro to pitch the whole sequence.

The beat is made using the Digital Oscillator in wavetable mode, with a bank of drum samples loaded on output 1 and just claps on output 2 - with the Fenix logic modules doing an incredibly funky job of mixing the drum triggers. We're super happy to be part of this test run, and are having tons of fun making music with it!"

New Synton Fenix IV Progress Update via TiNRS

via This is Not Rocket Science:

"Fenix Experiment board no 3

This is a lots-of-DSP board. Most of the things on this Experiment board are a shell for DSP. We have developed a plugin board with sufficient processing power and memory to drive all the things. Currently, we have one of these MCU-boards working and connected to Experiment board no 3.

CLICK FOR MORE »

TINRS Fenix IV - Case Microphone Patch explained

Making Sound Machines

"This patch we made last night uses the tiny microphone built into This is Not Rocket Science's Fenix IV to play the brilliant digital oscillator, resulting in this chill kalimba soundscape.

The case mic is routed to the Fenix' external input module, which allows you to extract a gate and an envelope from the audio. This gate clocks the Fenix' sequencer and advances the sequence by one step each time Enrica taps the case - sending new pitch CV to the digital oscillator in FM mode, and triggering two ADSR controlling two VCA.

The result is mixed with the case mic's original signal - not only do the bamboo end cheeks look and feel absolutely great, they also make a lovely sound - and fed into the stereo digital delay. We absolutely love this sound, somewhere between Stockhausen Kontakte, our own experiments with Mutable Instruments Ears and Music Thing Modular's Mikrohonie piezo eurorack modules, chimes, tonguedrum and glockenspiel, and the lovely skits on Danny Breaks records.

Thank you Stijn, Priscilla and Lauri at TiNRS for the lovely surprises you built into this machine! ❤️ So much to discover!"

TINRS Fenix IV Modular Synthesizer

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"This extremely rare TINRS Fenix IV is in immaculate shape, the cable bag was just opened recently. It comes with bamboo legs, a ton of 1/8" TINRS cables, cool padded bag, OG power supply and hours upon hours of exploration."

CLICK FOR MORE »

TINRS Fenix 4 Semi-Modular Synthesizer Sounds SuperBooth 2019

Published on May 9, 2019 Perfect Circuit

"TINRS in collaboration with some of the designers of the first three Synton Fenixes has designed this Fenix 4. It is a massive semi-modular synthesizer with a color coded layout where they knobs and jacks are separate so it is easy to turn the knobs while there are tons of patch cables.

TINRS modules available here: https://www.perfectcircuit.com/tinrs?..."

---
Supporters of MATRIXSYNTH get %10 off at Perfect Circuit! See the support page for details.

TINRS / Synton Fenix IV

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Up for grabs is a Fenix IV. This was a limited run of 100 with a waiting list of nearly 5 years. The Fenix will arrive in it’s original packaging as it would brand new with the addition of the custom Fenix travel bag and Fenix bamboo stand."

Update: via TINRS

"We do still have a few Fenixes available for the orginal price of 5000 euro #overpriced"

CLICK FOR MORE »

TINRS Synton Fenix IV Modular Synth SN 100

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Includes all optional extras:
Rack ears - We’ve had brackets made that allow you to screw your Fenix IV into your 19” studio rack. Solid steel with the same powder coating as the case

Bamboo stand - A beautiful way to stand up the Fenix facing you. Made out of the same bamboo as the sides. Comes apart and folds away flat to come with you everywhere. Made by Gould Cases who also made our sides.

Banana box - A little adapter between the old and the new Fenixes. With this you can patch 8 bananajacks (plus one extra for ground) to convert into 8 minijacks. Bamboo box with our familiar colourful anodized aluminium front.

Even more patch cables - Your Fenix IV already comes with a bag of 43 patch cables in various lengths and various plug colours that match the Fenix IV colour scheme for different signals. If you think 43 cables will not be enough for you, you can order an extra set."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Soundmit 2018 - Interview: Felix Visser and Stijn Haring-Kuipers about the new Fenix

Soundmit 2018 - 3/4 Nov 2018
www.soundmit.com

INTERVIEW - FELIX VISSER (Synton) and STIJN HARING-KUIPERS (TiNRS)

We had the pleasure of hosting a great character from the world of synthesizers.

On the occasion of the active collaboration with the guys from This Is Not Rocket Science, Felix Visser, founder of SYNTON, the Dutch company famous for Syrinx and Fenix synthesizers (I, II and III), came to visit us from the Netherlands.

He told us how the Fenix synth was born and how the collaboration with TiNRS is leading to the creation of a new version of the Fenix, revisited in a modern way.

Soundmit 2018 - Overview
www.soundmit.com/en/s2018
www.soundmit.com/it/s2018

Exhibit at Soundmit 2019!
Contact us at info@soundmit.com

Like our Facebook page www.soundmit.com/soundmit
Join our community www.soundmit.com/soundmitters
Subscribe our Instagram www.instagram.com/soundmit
and Twitter www.twitter.com/soundmitfair

Interview and shooting: Silvio Scardino LWTV
Editing: Francesco Mulassano
Music: Urbanspaceman

Designing the Fenix! // This is Not Rocket Science, Stijn Kuipers // Synth Design Podcast

video upload by Synthux Academy

"Synth Design Podcast face to face with This is Not Rocket Science in Amsterdam! This is a super special edition, after a long break (and lots of learnings on my end!).

Join me as I go into Stijn and Priscilla's home in Amsterdam, where they brought the Fenix IV to life. Sunday 5th, at 19:30 CET (Amsterdam time), we'll premiere this episode with live chat with the TiNRS team. See you there!

CHAPTERS:
02:58 - Workshop tour
15:09 - The Story Behind The Fenix Synthesizer
25:30 - Studying Acoustic Instruments
33:17 - Building Tools For Synth Building
34:46 - Making the Fenix
54:22 - Where Ideas Come From
01:00:38 - Stijn's Background
01:02:40 - Early Works
01:08:00 - Design Philosophy
01:22:40 - Synthesizer Design Process
01:25:23 - sDFM (Synth Design for Manufacturing)
01:28:56 - Streamlining Product Testing
01:32:52 - Synthesizer Interface Design
01:35:51 - Synthesizer Visual Design
01:41:00 - Answering Community Questions
01:54:03 - Budgeting and Pricing Synthesizers

---
Ending music by Teunis Marseille. Check out his work here: www.instagram.com/teueunis"

This Is Not RocketScience | Fenix IV Jam | Wobbler2 First Patch

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Stijn & Priscilla from TiNRS. They hide their company secrets in plain sight, so they're not easy to find between all modules made by Stijn for personal use. The Wobbler2 was on the verge of release, there's a collab between TiNRS and Making Sound Machines (a Looper) and a collab with Error Instruments (White Rabbit). There's also a reverb on the way and I hope they follow my suggestion to have a reverse reverb on it. But that seems to be true rocketscience...
I had a lot of fun making this video.

The Fenix IV is better than I could ever guess, but unfortunately it's sold out forever. Let's hope some of its 31+ components make it to eurorack. The Wobbler2 is a good start!

00:00 Introduction
01:33 Fenix IV jam with Stijn (and me)
03:07 Spy-cam revelations
06:03 Wobbler2 Advanced LFO
10:04 Wobbler2 Drum Synthesizer

This video is sponsored by the Cinematic Laboratory and not the other way around."

Fenix IV sequenced by an SND Sam-16

video upload by splitradix

"TINRS Fenix IV sequenced by an SND Sam-16. Some compression from an API 2500."

The TINRS Fenix IV Modular Synthesizer audio and video demo

Published on Sep 29, 2019 BAMTV

"Stijn Haring-Kuipers of This Is Not Rocket Science from the Netherlands gives a detailed explanation of the Fenix IV Modular Synthesizer made by him, and he also gives an extensive demonstration of the sound of this synthesizer"

At the Dutch Modular Fest 2019.

Superbooth 2019: This Is Not Rocket Science Synton Fenix IV

Published on May 14, 2019 Future Music Magazine

Superbooth 2019: Building a patch from scratch on the TINRS Fenix IV

TINRS Fenix IV Modular Synth w/ Custom Bamboo Stand

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

CLICK FOR MORE »