Reading the description of Brinta, the new Eurorack granular sampler collaboration from Error Instruments and This Is Not Rocket Science, makes us feel good with the world.
"Samples one moment, cuts it into thousands of pieces. Little grains of sound. Makes the white dot spawn little golden play heads"
"Samples one moment, cuts it into thousands of pieces. Little grains of sound. Makes the white dot spawn little golden play heads." Yeah we love it already.
Brinta is a Eurorack granular sampler which Error Instruments describes more as an effect. The design and sampling process of Brinta are its standout features, and it's as much about how the visuals interact with what you are doing and the sound itself as it is the end result.
When you sample audio into Brinta, a dot circles for up to a maximum of three and a half seconds recording time. The sample then 'becomes the circle' with different colours representing different parts of the frequency spectrum: blue for high, green for mid and red for low. When they all come together that makes white-light and white-noise.
"Once your sample is recorded the white dot can run around the circle, spawning little golden heads playing your sample. The size of the grain is how long your play head exists."
Come on, you want one, don't you?
Brinta has several different function options that make it even more enticing to use.
The first is Cloud which 'fluffs out' the golden play heads around the white dot to make the cloud thin, long or thick. We're not quite sure what this effect has – it's probably more a broadening of the granular effect and making it less focussed but, either way, it has no effect on pitch.
Chord allows you to create up to six notes in a major scale (by turning the X control left) and minor scale (by turning it right). Kid B is a harmonic setting in honour of Dutch electronic and tape music pioneer Kid Baltan. Turn the X knob right and you get an increased probability of pitch doubling, tripling, quadrupling and higher for more shimmering harmonic overtones.
Among other functions are a speed control to increase the playback of the white circle playing your sample, and Pitch which has a +/- 2 octave range.
Watch the video above for how Brinta works and enjoy the enthusiasm of two of its developers as they mess with some piano sounds. It really is quite mesmerising, and you might end up staring it for hours as we have all morning.
The best part is, as with many other Error Instruments modules, it doesn't cost a fortune. Brinta is just €250 plus tax, which we think is worth it just for the light show alone.
Oh, and before you ask, Brinta is a Dutch breakfast cereal. Grains? See? Even the name is clever.
More from the Error Instruments website.
