Hg80
HG ATELIERMercurial World / Synthesis Chamber
field dormantplayable synthesis laboratory
Hg Atelier / Mercurial Synthesis Chamber

Learn the machine.
Then let it become impossible.

A legible modular-synthesis teaching instrument that begins with one oscillator and progressively reveals envelopes, filtering, control voltage, sequencing, subharmonics, generative behavior, and the architecture behind the Mother-32, DFAM, Subharmonicon, and Labyrinth. The scientific and fictional layers remain deliberately distinct.

13 guided discoveries
02 primary oscillators
32 pitch + gate + velocity steps
01 bounded Harmonic bridge
Mercurial Synthesis Chamber instrument preview showing oscillators, mixer, filter, modulation, and sequencer in a dark sculptural laboratory frame.
Playable synthesis instrumentblack ceramic / graphite / titanium / smoked glass
INSTRUMENT PREVIEW
Foundational distinction

Frequency has three jobs here.

The same word appears on several parts of a synthesizer, but it describes different jobs. These three cards are a teaching doorway, not a claim that frequency is the whole machine.

Synthesis compass

The three frequency cards solve one vocabulary problem. The full instrument asks seven broader questions.

Instrument 02 / progressive architecture

The panel stays readable while the system gets deeper.

The core is a two-oscillator signal path. Teaching overlays, a visible envelope, a 32-step pitch/gate/velocity sequencer with MIDI import, warmer nonlinear behavior, and advanced bays appear only as you need them.

Mercurial synthesis chamber // subtractive core + bounded extensions
audio engine offline
FULL INSTRUMENTWarm analog-style character is the default. Lessons focus attention on this same instrument; they do not replace it.
INSTRUMENT MODE // direct control; lessons are optional
Audio engineOFFLINE
Audible stateSILENT / VCA CLOSED

Walk-up play: start audio, then Trigger, Hold / Drone, or Run Sequence. The oscillators can be running while the VCA is silent.

Performance stripA S D F G H J K // press or hold
Audio signal path
OSC IOSC II→MIXER / DRIVE→FILTER→VCA→OUTPUT
Control / modulation path
GATE→ENVELOPE→VCALFO→DESTINATIONSEQUENCER→PITCH / GATE

Oscillator I

source / anchor
110 Hz
64%

Oscillator II

relation / interference
165 Hz
42%

Mixer / Character

sum / saturation / imperfection
18%
5%
12%
22%

Filter

selection / resonance
1.70 kHz
3.2 Q
18%
30%

Shape / Control

articulation / modulation
35 ms
0.68 s
0.60 Hz
18%
envelope / amplitude over time
Advanced relationship bay

Derived subharmonics

Two parent oscillators can generate lower related tones by integer division. This is a teaching model of the relationship, not a reproduction of a branded circuit.

Listen for family resemblance: the subharmonics move when their parent oscillator moves because the relationship is defined by division.

Generative / nonlinear tools

These browser tools teach the concepts behind ring modulation, wavefolding, noise, and bounded mutation. They are deliberately not a panel clone or circuit-identical model.

0%
0%
0%
36%
Approximation boundary: the fold control uses browser waveshaping to demonstrate added harmonic complexity. It is not a component-level model of a Moog wavefolder.

Patch bay // control relationships

LFO
filter cutoff
LFO
osc pitch
envelope
filter cutoff
Teaching rule: separate the audible signal path from the control path. A cable can carry sound or control; what matters is the destination.
audio backbone control route
LIVE ROUTING FIELDCyan pulses show active control relationships. Gold marks the audible signal backbone.

Thirty-two-step sequencer // pitch + gate + velocity

Direct instrument tool. Import MIDI or native Sequence State, loop a region, transpose, or hand-edit individual events.

MONOPHONIC CORE // POLYPHONIC MIDI USES AN EXPLICIT REDUCTION POLICY
96 BPM
0 st
68%
Mercurial Variations / protected-source engine
Let the phrase wander without losing home.

Generate a new working variation from the captured source. The source remains recoverable; Mercurial Sequence 01 remains separately protected.

Protected MS01Source Mercurial Sequence 01Working unaltered
SOURCE SAFE. Variations affect only the working sequence.
A black-and-gold synthesis observatory with luminous waveforms, instrument controls and orbital harmonic diagrams.
Sequence observatorysource → variation → return
MS01 is protected // imports affect the working sequence only
READY. Use Load MIDI for performance data or Load Sequence State for native hg.atelier.sequence.draft-0.3 working sequence data. Mercurial Exchange MIDI Format 0/1 PPQ files are supported; polyphonic onsets are reduced by the selected policy and imports remain a working sequence only. Scale-assist entries are interval sketches only — not raga, makam, temperament, or performance-practice models.
harmonic relation // 3 : 2
live output / time-domain trace
live output / spectrum
Listening path / 13 discoveries

Discover by progressive revelation.

All 13 discoveries use the same large instrument. Bright means touch this now; normal visibility means useful context; gray means let it recede for this moment. Nothing here is a quiz: hear the consequence first, then open the explanation.

Discovery 01 / Source

Where sound begins.

Listen for

Transfer mapconcept map / not panel clone
The highlighted blocks are the hardware concepts that matter for this discovery. Physical panel placement varies; the architecture is the transferable skill.
Ear training / nonlinear character

Why it sounds warm — one cause at a time.

The instrument is warm by default. This optional ear-training sequence temporarily strips the character back to a clean reference and then rebuilds it so you can hear what each stage contributes.

Warm is already on. Choose a stage only when you want to study the ingredients. The whole instrument will remain visible; only the component being demonstrated is highlighted.
Normal operation: use the warm default. The clean stage is a comparison tool, not the preferred sound of the instrument.
Hg Harmonic State Bridge / transfer boundary

Let the source arrive. Then let the Chamber realize it.

Compatible harmonic-state files are validated before they can affect the instrument. The Chamber shows what maps, what is lost, and what the synthesis engine adds; working state changes only after explicit approval.

Source drives export / receiver drives realization

Preview first.
Cross second.

The source is not modified here. A Harmonic State may carry mathematical or musical structure, provenance, losses, assumptions, and an explicit mapping. The Chamber owns only the audible/playable realization after you choose Apply Import. Structural correspondence does not confer musical authority or establish physical causation.

Transfer boundary: compatible Harmonic State files are parsed, validated, previewed, and applied only after confirmation. Source data and Chamber-added synthesis remain visibly distinct.
MIDI carries musical performance data. Sequence State carries the Chamber's native 32-step working-sequence data. Chamber State carries a reproducible local instrument configuration. Harmonic Bridge State carries cross-application state plus mapping, provenance, losses/additions, assumptions, and evidence status. They may overlap; they are not interchangeable.
Harmonic-state import
NO HARMONIC STATE APPLIED // LOCAL INSTRUMENT STATE
No silent application. Import = parse -> validate -> preview -> Apply Import / Cancel.
f0 / anchor110 Hz
ratio3 : 2
source domainlocal synthesis
evidence statusinstrument state only
Active provenanceNo cross-domain import has been applied.
Receiver stateLOCAL / EDITABLE
Transfer modepreview / explicit apply
LOCAL STATENo cross-domain mapping has been applied.
SOURCE / REALIZATION BOUNDARYSource state: none. Chamber additions remain local synthesis choices.
Advanced local Chamber State / JSON serialization
Preview a machine state, load a local Chamber State, or import a separate Harmonic Bridge State through the preview boundary.
Future research interface / not therapy

Acoustic and biological effects need more than a number in hertz.

This is a design boundary for future work, not a treatment tool. It prevents popular “healing frequency” claims, calibrated therapeutic acoustics, psychoacoustics, and Mercurial fiction from being collapsed into one category.

Mercurial research instrument with luminous waveforms, resonance plots, and calibrated acoustic controls.
RESONANCE FIELDfrequency · coupling · geometry · target
Future experimental state would need: frequency + waveform + level/intensity + duration + pulse pattern/duty cycle + transducer + coupling + geometry + target + protocol + provenance. Research links are provided for orientation, not as treatment advice or endorsement.
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