Description

Plinky+ contains all the elements that made the original Plinky synth so special, now in a significantly larger form factor, upgraded in a collaboration between Making Sound Machines and original designer mmalex.

Plinky+ is an 8 voice expressive polyphonic touch synthesizer that specializes in fragile, melancholic sounds. Think of it as an 8 stringed instrument, played by touching the 64 main pads, which are arranged in 8 vertical monophonic strips or strings.

Each of the 8 strings has:

• Up to 4 oscillators (pulse, supersaw or wavetable) or sampler grains, detuned by the movements of your finger.
• A white noise generator
• Two ADSR envelopes
• A resonant 2-pole low-pass gate.
• Distortion / saturation

The 8 shift keys (blue LEDs) are used in conjunction with the main pads to select parameters, presets, sequencer patterns, and samples.

Plinky supports 4 external CV modulation sources, called A B X Y, each with its own LFO. A and B also have dedicated physical offset knobs, located to the left of the screen. When changing parameters you can use the endless encoder to the right of the screen to fine tune the parameter settings. Clicking the encoder also resets the current parameter.

Plinky also has global Delay, Reverb, High Pass Filter, Limiter and Saturation units along with a simple Mixer (for audio inputs), Arpeggiator, Sequencer and Sampler.

Plinky+ is firmware-compatible with the original Plinky, sharing the same audio engine and beautiful sound that make it a favorite among its users. Its hardware though has been greatly improved.

Plus-sized play surface

Relegating all jacks and connectivity to the back allows for a 22 mm spacing per touch strip, similar to the spacing of a keyboard.
This makes playing chords on the touch surface easier, and playing pitch and pressure more accurate.
The Shift row has been rearranged from the bottom to the left, allowing for a length of 16 cm per strip.
Dimensions are: 21 x 22 cm (8.23 x 8.66 inches)

Bigger Display

Plinky+ has been upgraded with a much larger OLED display in crisp white on black, making it easier to read from a distance.

Rugged Enclosure

Plinky+ comes in a rugged black powder-coated metal enclosure.
The instrument weighs just under 1kg, sitting on your desktop without moving around while playing.

PET-G clear dust cover

Plinky+ comes with a clear PET-G lid to fend off the dust.

All the I/O

Plinky+ has all the connectivity of its little sibling,  with the additional A B X Y CV-outputs from the Expander built in.
All input and output jacks have been moved to the back.

Better sound 

The analogue output stage for Line, Euro and Headphone stereo outputs have all been reworked to deliver a better sound.
The new volume knob lets you set the volume directly from the front panel.
The main out has been upgraded to symmetric 6.35mm jacks to make the connection with your other audio gear more robust.

Battery-operated (optional)

While Plinky+ does not come with a built-in battery, it has the circuitry and a connector that lets users retrofit a battery pack.

Documentation:

Build Guide: https://plinkysynth.com/docs/build-guide-plus/

Online Manual: https://plinkysynth.com/docs/manual