The Steampipe is a true physical modeling synthesizer developed in close collaboration between Erica Synths and the Dutch company 112dB.
The Steampipe is an 8-voice polyphonic synthesizer, but it has no conventional oscillators. Instead, it mimics the way sound is created in wind and string instruments and it is fine-tuned to create a wide range of sounds. The Steampipe is optimized for performance with wind MIDI controllers and it works great with any MIDI keyboard. The overtones the Steampipe produces are very organic and rich. It also comes with great-sounding presets.
The Steampipe is quite versatile and allows for nuanced sonic exploration, conjuring sonic imagery ranging from from wisps of cloud to fairground band organs, then to industrial horns of the railroad and finally, to massive, otherworldly ambiences. Due to detailed controls over multiple physical modeling parameters, the Steampipe is capable of generating very organic emulations of real instruments, but it goes well beyond the conventional pitch and dynamic ranges they can produce – imagine how a flute or clarinet would sound in C1 or C7!
