The Stereo Field, by Brooklyn’s one-man builder Landscape, is no ordinary musical device. It’s three instruments in one. And as you can undoubtedly tell from its inviting geometric faceplate, there’s a lot of intriguing stuff going on here.
Used as an audio processor, Stereo Field is a hands-on way to create a range of subtle and extreme effects—including distortion, filtering, modulation and much more—for your guitar or any other instrument or audio signal you feed it.
But it’s also a noise synthesizer you can play on its own, as well as a control voltage (CV) device that can interact with other instruments, such as modular synthesizers.
Most intriguingly, it can be all three of these things separately or in combination with one another.
And despite its name, Stereo Field operates in both stereo and quad configurations.
Clearly, Landscape has given players a lot of user control with this box. Based in Brooklyn, New York, the company creates audio devices—like the Human Controlled Tape Transport—that let you get your hands and fingers deep into the action.
Stereo Field is a perfect example of this. The unit’s top has touch plates arranged in two overlapping circular shapes—one for the left audio path, and another for the right. The plates are linked to nearly every connection point in the Stereo Field’s circuitry and use skin conductivity to create new circuits that are formed when you place your fingers on them. The more fingers you use, the more complex the sound. In addition, the lower portion of each circle provides milder effects, like filtering and volume, while the upper portion takes you into the complex realms of wave folding, white noise and frequency modulation.
In addition, the left and right sides each have two additional inputs and outputs with corresponding touch plates. These can be used for quad processing, in which case each of the two circuits becomes a stereo processor.
You can get the full details by visiting Landscape’s website. But if you’re wondering about the sound and how Stereo Field is in use, check out this video courtesy of Knobs. For more information, visit Landscape.fm.
