We talk to Tom Cosm, the technical director of Kevin Parker’s Telepathic Instruments, about how they made their uber-popular Orchid synthesizer.
Few recent synthesizers have had the success of Orchid, the debut release from Telepathic Instruments. It probably doesn’t hurt that the chord machine came from the mind of Kevin Parker of Tame Impala. It’s ended up in the hands of producers like Fred again.., Sara Landry, and Joy Anonymous, among many others, and after a few limited-edition drops, it’s now widely available.
We spoke with Tom Cosm, the technical director for Telepathic Instruments, about how the Orchid went from an idea in the mind of Kevin Parker to a world-conquering physical instrument, and why it’s not just for indie musicians.
Attack: You actually have a techno background.
TC: I do. Techno is what I would tell the older generation when they asked me what kind of music I play. It’s kind of like techno trance. Usually, it's four-to-the-floor stuff, but I pivot a lot with my genre choice.
What's your coding and electronics background?
I've always been a self-taught computer person. I was into tracker stuff as an early teenager, and when I got my laptop, I moved on to BuzzTracker, and that's when my life changed, because I started instantly making ambient chill out stuff. I got yoinked away from becoming a traditional jazz musician just because I love computers. Starting in tracking software is a really good precursor to doing anything with code or computer engineering with sound, because you learn how to think in hexadecimal.
Max for Live was a really good path, which allows you to use JavaScript. I realized I could get really deep and not just use objects and link them together, but I could actually do some code. So no formal training. I've just managed to grab what I can to put together a package that seems to be working.
Techno is what I would tell the older generation when they asked me what kind of music I play. It’s kind of like techno trance. Usually, it's four-to-the-floor stuff, but I pivot a lot with my genre choice.
As the technical director for Telepathic Instruments, how hands-on are you? Are you writing the code?
Originally, when the first prototype was made, that was 100 percent me, from circuitry through to the code through to some really shoddy mechanical engineering. I hadn't touched a soldering iron much before then, but I think throughout a couple of years building that prototype, I severely advanced my skills in any sort of electrical engineering.
It wasn't even a prototype. It was a one-off contract for Kevin because this is what he wanted as a personal thing. But then he came back and said, I would like to make thousands of these things. That's the point where I started reaching out and finding developers who are very, very excellent at C++ or electrical engineering or product management.
You've done data sonification projects as well. Did any of that filter into Orchid?
Data sonification is a huge passion of mine. That opened up an avenue for me. I got quite a surprising amount of work through that. That's ultimately how Kevin found me because I put a lot of what I was doing online.