DropStep4
DropStep4 is an innovative synthesiser that offers the typical
Connect 4 game expanded into a step sequencer.
A study project by Philipp Bodor, Matthias Hassel, Niklas Maier-Lohmann and Justin Niestroj, 3rd semester, 2020
Supervising professors: Prof. Dr Kyrill Fischer, Prof. Thorsten Greiner and Prof. Dr Jürgen Schwab
DropStep4 is a synthesiser for children and is incredibly intuitive to use: simply insert one of the transparent chips provided and the LED will turn the chip blue. When your opponent inserts a chip, it turns red.
When you insert a chip, regardless of its colour, a ‘step’ is set, which is then played by the sequencer. The sequencer runs from the bottom left to the top right at a speed that can be adjusted using a control. Every time the sequencer reaches a slot where a ‘step’ has been set, a sound is played.
This allows you to create and modify melodies using the ‘steps’ you have set.
But it only really gets interesting when you start changing the effects and other parameters. We’ve developed two pages for this: a simple page and a difficult page.
The ‘easy page’ is responsible for the sound. Here, it doesn’t really matter whether you know exactly what all the effects actually do. Just play around with the settings until you like the sound. These effects are also global, meaning they affect all ‘steps’ that have been set or are yet to be set. The effects include delay, reverb, bitcrusher and a low-pass filter, as well as two controls that adjust the attack and release of the envelope.
The “difficult side” can adjust the volume and speed (tempo) at a global level. It is also possible to adjust the pitch and volume settings individually for each ‘step’. The pitch control allows you to set the pitch to any of the 12 notes of the diatonic scale across two octaves.
The volume control allows for precise adjustment of each set ‘step’ down to 0, so you can also mute ‘steps’ using this control. A dedicated control is used to select the ‘step’ you wish to adjust. The selected ‘step’ is shown on a display. However, this control has a dual function. Pressing it allows you to select from the four synth modes available. These are a drum sound, a plucked sound, a sawtooth wave and a triangle wave.
Our product gives children the chance to explore the basics of electronic music and synthesisers through play. They might need their parents’ help with the ‘tricky bits’ at first, or they might just start playing straight away with their siblings and friends.
In any case, this multiplayer instrument always guarantees plenty of fun and a great learning experience.