Guides

Long reads from rumcake.

The science behind the instruments, a plain-English tour of physical modeling synthesis, and practical tutorials for the Korg Kronos 3.

Physics and synthesis

The big one

What is physical modeling synthesis?

How physical modeling synthesis works, how it differs from samples and subtractive synths, a short history from Karplus-Strong to full simulation, and why modeled instruments sound alive.

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The science behind CymaticPlate

Cymatics: why sand on a vibrating plate draws patterns

Chladni figures, nodal lines, and the plate physics behind cymatics, and how CymaticPlate turns a simulated Kirchhoff plate into a playable macOS instrument.

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The science behind Ferro

The Rosensweig instability: how a ferrofluid writes a techno riff

What a ferrofluid is, why it erupts into a hexagonal lattice of spikes above a critical magnetic field, and how Ferro turns that instability into a looping riff generator.

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The science behind Bloom

Reaction-diffusion: the chemistry that plays Bloom

Turing patterns, the Gray-Scott model, and spiral waves in excitable media, and how Bloom maps a living chemical pattern onto a self-playing ambient pad.

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Kronos 3 tutorials

Kronos 3 tutorial

Set lists on the Kronos 3: a live performance workflow

A gig-ready workflow for Korg Kronos 3 set lists: planning the running order, colour coding, comments as cue cards, live EQ and transpose, and writing it all back safely.

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Kronos 3 tutorial

Backing up a Kronos 3: a sane library strategy

How to get your Korg Kronos 3 sounds off the hardware and into a searchable, versioned library of .syx files, and the checklist to run before any OS update.

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Kronos 3 tutorial

Editing Kronos 3 effects without the touchscreen

A worked example of building a program effect chain on the Korg Kronos 3, across its 12 insert, 2 master, and 2 total effect slots, from a Mac instead of the hardware menus.

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