Haloplane

An electromagnetic touchless synthesizer

The Haloplane is the new instrument creation by Passepartout Duo, the music group of Nicoletta Favari and Christopher Salvito. This is the third prototype for an electromagnetic digital synthesizer, to be unveiled for the first time in May 2026 at Superbooth (Berlin) in collaboration with KOMA Elektronik. The design and user interface of the instrument build on the Chromaplane, an analog synthesizer created by the duo in 2021, and recently released as a commercial product.

The instrument creates seven electromagnetic fields, equally spaced on the surface, which the player interacts with using multiple pickups - navigating through 3D space above the instrument, the user is invited to listen for these fields in an intuitive and playful manner.

Each field can host its own voice: either a recorded sound (up to 4 seconds) or a synthesized waveform. Sounds can be captured in different ways: directly through the built-in microphone, fed in through a line input, or imported through the companion app. Once a recording is loaded, the instrument automatically analyzes it into slices. The “position” control glides smoothly between these slices, blending them into a fluid, shifting stream. As the slices get smaller, the sound moves from recognizable playback into textures.

The “length” control determines how much of each slice loops. Pressing it reverses playback, turning motion inside out. A low-frequency oscillator can animate position or length, creating movement. Each field’s pitch can also be freely tuned or modulated, leaving space for harmonies, noise, and expressive bends. In short: it’s a system that transforms recordings into living, sculptable sound.

When a sound becomes extremely short, the instrument treats it as a wavetable, a compact set of repeating wave shapes. Wavetables can be designed in the companion app and sent directly to the instrument. Each wavetable contains six distinct waveforms. The “position” control morphs seamlessly between them, blending one shape into the next. The “length” control reshapes the waveform itself, altering its pulse width or skew. 

The most important aspect of the instrument interface though is the possibility of playing these complex sounds through the pickups in 3D space, making it possible to experience an immediate and expressive interaction.

Side controls on the instrument will allow you to shape the sound further with a patchable modulation source and digital filter, and a series of selectable effects (delay, reverb, flanger, chorus, bit crusher).

The design of the instrument is minimal and efficient, while the choice of the materials impacts the sound as well: in fact, the aluminum plate that constitutes the top surface acts as a physical filter for the higher frequencies of the electromagnetic and sonic spectrum.

A companion app gets connected to each device through a local network created by the instrument itself, and it allows the user to change parameters, shape wavetables, save and load presets at a distance.

Finally, as time passes the app develops a digital patina, a visible virtual wear that evolves alongside the physical instrument, suggesting a shared materiality between code and object.