marionette

a resonance instrument — for any sound source, any voice

how to play

touch Tap a string to pluck it. Each string rings at its tuned pitch through a physical model.
mic Enable the mic and play an instrument, sing, or speak nearby. Strings that match your pitch will vibrate sympathetically.
tuning Default is 12-string guitar on ghost mode. Tap "custom" to set up to 12 strings at any pitch, or pick a factory preset.
mic gain Amplifies mic input for sympathetic detection. Crank it up if strings aren't responding to your playing.
wta Winner-takes-all. When on, only the string with the strongest mic match triggers — prevents bleed across strings.
presets Save and recall your complete setup: mode, tuning, gain, effects, thresholds.
settings ⚙ Detection engine, confidence gate, focus, buffer sizes, polyphony cap, and pedal mapping for foot controllers.
threshold Per-string sensitivity for mic excitation. Lower = more responsive.

modes

basic
Clean modal pluck with string-like harmonic partials.
ambient
Warm pad with extended ring. Octave layers above, below, or ±2 octaves.
swell
Continuously excited resonance that breathes in and out. Slow swell attack and release.
harmonic
Singing bowl one octave above. Inharmonic partials with long ring. Choose an interval (2nd–10th) to color the resonance.
grain
Stochastic cloud of micro-plucks scattered across octaves. Mic input controls density — louder playing means more grains, faster.
ghost
Pitched up one octave, quiet, heavy reverb. Like resonance drifting from another room.
designed & built by J. Alegant
synthesis: Csound 7 WASM · modal · stochastic grain
with thanks to Dr. Richard Boulanger & Dr. Nora Willauer
for their help and inspiration
v2.4 experimental · 2026

marionette

basic
ambient
swell
harmonic
grain
ghost
volume 0.80
mic gain 10
reverb 0.88
shimmer 0.20
preset
thresholds

custom tuning

settings

Larger buffers reduce clicks/pops but add latency.
Try "bluetooth" settings if using wireless audio.
Changes require engine restart.
Echo cancellation, noise suppression and auto gain are switched off — they fight a resonance instrument. If your input still sounds processed, check the setting at the operating system level.
Narrow focus is more selective but slower to respond; wide focus reacts faster and captures vibrato, at the cost of bleeding into neighbouring pitches. Bowed and sung sources usually want wider.

pedal mapping

← → arrow keys cycle through presets by default.
Add custom mappings below to jump directly to a preset.

preset order

Reorder presets for arrow-key cycling and dropdown display.

backup & restore

Save all presets, pedal mappings, and order to a file. Restore from a previous backup.

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