Hyve promises new levels of hands-on expression

Hyve is a new analogue synth with an expressive touch interface that’s recently crossed the Kickstarter finish line and is now heading into production. 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, notes are sensitive to pressure and horizontal position.

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.