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  • Vauxflores Eyecillator Analog Oscillator Opto-Synth

    By Chris Loeffler |

     

     

    Vauxflores Eyecillator Synth

    By Chris Loeffler

     

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    We all love gear (that’s what we’re here to talk about)… it’s what we look for in gear that we differ. While some guitar players pursue the singing, smooth lead tones associated with a $50k amp, others crave the nasty, square-wave distortion that sounds nothing like a guitar. And then there are those who go even further…

     

    The Vauxflores Eyecillator is… a synth? A toy? An inspirational tone machine to create infinite sonic soundscapes? I suppose it depends who’s behind the controls.

     

    What You Need to Know

    The Vauxflores Eyecillator is a 3-oscillator, cascaded NAND opto-synth with optic photocells set to controls the pitch and voltage sag based on how much light the “eye” receives.  The result is something between playing a Theremin and handling a video game controller.

     

    Once it’s plugged in (via 9v power supply or included 9v external battery clip) and headphones are plugged into 1/8” output jack, anything from a low hum to piercing chirps begin generating as the Eyecillator “plays” to the room environment. By placing your thumbs directly onto each eye, a blackhole like “suck” happens and the Eyecillator generates a soft drone. From there, things get wacky as you slowly raise one thumb or the other and experience the somewhat unpredictable affect of the voltage and pitch changing.

     

    Bird chirps, squealing industrial howls, robotic gurgles, and square wave UFO sounds all emerge at different points in the two controls’ interaction. While subtle manipulations of a specific setting are possible once it is landed on, immediately replicating the same tone patterns twice after leaving the original setting was beyond me.

     

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    Limitations

    The Vauxflores Eyecillator is a very simple tone generator with only two controls… the mileage you get out of it depends directly by how creative you are and how much joy you can wrestle out of the finer controls.

     

    Because it is controlled by light, the Vauxflores Eyecillator is a fairly challenging instrument to get consistent results out of, if replication is your thing.

     

    The 1/8” audio out is cool for throwing headphones on and going wild, but the inclusion of a ¼” output would make it much easier to drop into a pedal board to stir filters and delays into the sonic soup.

     

    Conclusion

    At less than $50 through Reverb, the Vauxflores Eyecillator is a fun ancillary purchase for players who like to experiment. Whether you get five minutes of enjoyment or compose a 60 minute noise symphony... that's up to you.

     

     




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