I’m a big fan of sound design and unique instrumentation, and I’m always on the lookout for new ways of creating and manipulating sound. I reveled in the chance to create an ambient introduction for our version of ICO‘s “You Were There”, and I’ve performed using an iPad and a Rock Band 3 keyboard. I keep a watchful eye out for new instruments on the cheap on Craigslist and eBay, but there’s one thing I know won’t be popping up on either of those sites any time soon due to its newfound popularity: the Swarmatron.
I was introduced to the Swarmatron early last year via teaser videos for How To Destroy Angels, a new band featuring Nine Inch Nails’ frontman Trent Reznor, his wife Mariqueen, and NIN co-conspirator Atticus Ross. In the first one, Mariqueen is playing this strange, custom-made instrument:
The first thing that hit me was the sound of it, followed by the fact that it’s completely controlled by touch. No keys, just switches, knobs, and two ribbons. Performance-wise, that makes for something really interesting. Once I found out that it was called a “Swarmatron,” I tried looking for information about it… with very few leads. The design appeared custom-made, so I figured that perhaps Reznor got it personally commissioned. Further digging revealed that it’s exclusively sold in Los Angeles at a very cool shop called Big City Music, and that it was created by two brothers: Brian and Leon Dewan. They build unique analog instruments and perform with them (a look at their splash page shows all kinds of retro-designed creations).
The Swarmatron is hand-built and the brothers Dewan take roughly two weeks to make one from scratch. It consists of eight oscillators linked to a control knob that collectively changes the pitches of each one; by adjusting the knob, you can turn a focused harmony of tones into a beautifully warbling, pulsating drone… akin to a musical bee swarm (hence the name). It looks and sounds straight out of a sci-fi film. While the How To Destroy Angels video garnered a significant amount of attention due to everyone wondering what the hell the instrument was, the Swarmatron hit widespread appeal when Reznor and Ross used it to compose most of the Oscar-winning score for The Social Network. In the video below, Trent showcases the Swarmatron and gives some examples of its place in the soundtrack.
Outside of the fact that my favorite musician uses this instrument, I absolutely love the sound of the Swarmatron. The drone made at :40 in the above video is so damn cool to me. The fact that it can be gentle and serene one minute and fierce and deep the next makes it an extremely versatile sound design tool. Seeing as it’s a custom made instrument carrying a $3,000+ pricetag, I don’t think I’m getting one anytime soon. However, some Google searching actually led me to reFuse Software, who created a free standalone software version based on the Swarmatron called “The Swarm” (which you can download here).
The Swarm
So now anyone can download this Mac and PC software and get the general Swarmatron experience. I’d love to find a use for this in Hideo at some point… but for now, I’m content sitting here listening to my own droning swarms and using them for my own nefarious purposes. Try it out and bask in the beautiful drones!
