← Alessandro Tebon

LYMPHA

A scanned-string instrument for MPE controllers

The Lympha device in Ableton Live: four panels of dials, String, Gesture, Halo and Air, and a display showing the spectrum of the string
Lympha 1.4 in Ableton Live 12 — scrolls sideways

Lympha is a 16-voice Max for Live instrument made to be played with pressure, not just triggered. It was built around the Expressive E Osmose and tested with it. It follows the MPE standard, so other MPE controllers should work as well, and ordinary keyboards are supported too.

Each note is a virtual string seen as 32 slow modes, one per harmonic. Steady pressure gives a still, pure tone. Every fast gesture — a quick change of pressure, the initial strike, a sideways wiggle of the key — leaves ripples that keep swaying on their own, each harmonic at its own pace, and slowly die away. Release a key quickly and the string stays where it was and goes on sounding. The still part sits in the centre of the stereo image; the ripples move around it.

Download Lympha 1.4

Free. A 27 KB zip with the device, four presets and the readme. For Ableton Live 12 with Max for Live, on macOS.

Requirements

Installation

  1. Copy Lympha.amxd into your User Library, in the folder Max for Live Devices.
  2. Create the folder Presets / Instruments / Max Instrument / Lympha in your User Library and copy the four .adv files into it. The presets then appear under Lympha.amxd in Live’s browser.

The presets look for the device in Max for Live Devices inside the User Library, so the first step matters. The location of your User Library is shown in Live’s Settings, on the Library page.

Playing it

With an MPE controller, after enabling MPE for its input in Live’s MIDI settings:

Pressure
sets the level and opens the spectrum. Slow pressure is smooth; quick changes leave ripples behind.
Strike
velocity plucks the string.
Slide
CC74 — on the Osmose, the aftertouch zone — brings out the Halo: a single harmonic that travels along the series, with a little air around it. The mod wheel moves it too.
Sideways
bends the pitch and stirs the string.
Pedal
the sustain pedal holds the notes.

With an ordinary keyboard or drawn MIDI notes, a held note that carries no pressure of its own sustains at a level set by its velocity and by the Sustain control. Channel or polyphonic aftertouch pushes it higher.

The small light next to “MIDI” flashes whenever MIDI reaches the device.

Controls

String

Bright
spectral slope: darker and purer to the left, more harmonics to the right.
Flow
how fast the first harmonic sways after a gesture.
Disperse
how the swaying speed changes going up the harmonics.
Ripple
how much wave a quick change of pressure leaves behind.
Memory
how long the waves last while the key is held.
Tail
how long the waves last after the key is released.

Gesture

Strike
how much the initial hit plucks the string.
Attack
how smoothly the string follows rising pressure.
Release
how smoothly the string follows falling pressure.
Curve
response to pressure.
Dynamics
how much pressure opens the spectrum.
Wiggle
how much sideways motion stirs the string.
Sustain
level of held notes that carry no pressure of their own.

Halo

Halo
level of the harmonic brought out by slide.
Position
starting point of the halo along the harmonic series.
Focus
how tightly the halo isolates one harmonic.
From, To
first and last harmonic of the halo’s travel.
Breath
air noise around the halo harmonic.

Air

Wind
continuous random stirring of the string.
Width
stereo spread of the waves.
Phase
character of the stereo motion.
Volume
output volume.
Tune
fine tuning in cents.
Note PB
per-note pitch bend range in semitones (Live sends 48).
Global PB
pitch bend range of the wheel in semitones.

Every control has a description in Live’s Info View. All parameters can be automated, modulated and mapped; on Push they are arranged in four banks: String, Gesture, Halo and Air.

Presets

Four presets come with the device: Lympha, the sound it opens with, then Origin, Strange and Glaciers.

Notes