Making Sound Machines Plinky 12 Chords Harmonic Inspiration Machine

Plinky 12 Chords is a polyphonic desktop synthesizer built around harmonic and melodic improvisation. Part of the panel-swappable Plinky 12 series developed in collaboration with mmalex, Chords combines the 12-voice Plinky synthesis engine with a touch interface designed to make complex chord progressions, harmonised melodies and evolving arrangements immediately playable.

The 12 voices are divided equally between chordal and melodic duties, with six voices available for each. At the centre of the interface are 13 harmonic palettes containing 45 chords each, providing a large collection of voicings that can be explored directly from the touch surface. Transposition controls based around circle-of-fifths movement make it easy to shift harmonic centres and develop progressions without interrupting a performance.

Four dedicated melody surfaces provide different approaches to playing over the current harmony, including chromatic, scale-quantised, arpeggiated and suggested-harmony modes. These surfaces respond dynamically to the underlying chord progression, allowing melodic material to follow harmonic changes automatically while remaining open to hands-on improvisation.

An integrated 128-step sequencer turns these ideas into evolving compositions, with independent track lengths, modulo operations, probability, pattern generation and shuffle. Different sounds can be assigned to bass, treble and melody parts, giving Chords a genuinely polytimbral character rather than simply playing every part with the same patch.

The Plinky 12 wavetable engine provides a broad palette of evolving digital timbres, with XY modulation allowing sounds to morph between two sets of parameter settings. Tape Delay and Shimmer Reverb provide onboard spatial processing, while external audio can also be routed through the instrument for processing and mixing.

Chords can extend its harmonic and sequencing system beyond the internal synth engine, controlling modular voices through CV and Gate or sequencing external MIDI instruments. Sounds and sequences can be stored on SD card, while the web-based editor provides deeper sound design and editing.

Specifications

• Synthesis: Plinky 12 Wavetable Engine
• Polyphony: 12 Voices
• Voice Allocation: 6 Chordal Voices, 6 Melodic Voices
• Chord Library: 13 Palettes with 45 Chords Each
• Melody Surfaces: 4 Polyphonic Performance Areas
• Melodic Modes: Chromatic, Scale-Quantised, Arpeggiated and Suggested Harmonies
• Harmonic Tracking: Melody Surfaces Dynamically Follow Chord Progressions
• Sequencer: 128 Steps
• Sequencing Features: Independent Track Length, Modulo, Probability, Pattern Generation and Shuffle
• Transposition: Circle-of-Fifths Harmonic Movement
• Sound Architecture: Independent Bass, Treble and Melody Sounds
• Sound Morphing: XY Modulation Between Parameter States
• Effects: Tape Delay and Shimmer Reverb
• Sound Editing: Web-Based Plinky 12 Editor
• Storage: SD Card for Sounds and Sequences
• Audio Input: External Audio Processing and Mixing
• CV Inputs: 2
• CV Outputs: 2
• Clock: Input, Reset Input and Output with Selectable PPQN
• MIDI: TRS MIDI Input, 2 × TRS MIDI Outputs
• External Sequencing: Up to 2 CV/Gate Voices or 4 MIDI Devices
• USB: Class-Compliant Audio Output, MIDI In/Out, Serial and WebUSB
• Panel System: Swappable Panel and Firmware Architecture
• Power: USB-C, 5V / 500mA
• Dimensions: 305 × 305 × 12 mm

Video: https://youtu.be/uy84FDvCxtc

Product Specs

• Item Number: 43676
• Make: Making Sound Machines
• Model: Plinky 12 Chords
• Condition: Brand New
• Finish: Black
• Categories: keyboards-and-synths ⇒ desktop-synths
• Made In: Germany
• MPN: MSM-P12-CH