Gliss: Ribbon Synth

Gliss is a touch instrument that sings.

Two lines of light run across the screen. Slide a finger along one and the pitch follows continuously, like a voice or a bow, never stepping from key to key. Press lower on the line and the note swells; lift toward it and it fades to a breath.

GRAVITY
Each note of the scale is a well. Turn gravity down and the lines are fretless: every pitch in between is yours. Turn it up and your finger is gently pulled into tune: slide freely, land exactly. All the way up, it locks.

FLEX
The pitch follows your finger on an elastic. Loose, and it lags behind with a slow, singing portamento. Tight, and it snaps.

SOUNDS
24 sounds built around a singing core: strings, voices, winds, leads, basses, pads, plucks and a few oddities, like a cello that sings, a choir, a horn in the fog. A slow orbital vibrato settles in once the note has been held, the way a singer's does. Shape any sound with tone, texture, subharmonic mixture, formant, filter and envelope.

28 TUNINGS
Western modes, blues, Arabic maqam with true quarter tones, Turkish makam, Persian dastgah, klezmer, Southeast Asian scales, just intonation, 19 and 31 equal temperaments. Neutral intervals can be shaded from Egypt to Syria.

MORE THAN TWO FINGERS
• Chords: one finger can play a fifth, a triad, a seventh or an octave, always inside the scale
• Arpeggiator: up, down, up and back, random, locked to tempo
• Looper: record, overdub, loop, clear
• Lanes: give each line its own sound, chord and octave
• Tilt the device to bend and open the filter
• Flick a note and it slides away, bounces and fades. Touch it to catch it

FREE, THEN PRO
Gliss is free to play: the whole gesture, three sounds (VOIX, PLUIE NOIRE, KOTO LUNE) and three tunings (major, minor and maqam Rast). GLISS PRO, a one-time in-app purchase, unlocks all 24 sounds and their settings, all 28 tunings, chords, the arpeggiator, the looper, lanes, tilt and effects. No subscription.

Designed for iPhone and iPad, in landscape, dark, with nothing on screen that is not sound.

No account. No ads. No tracking. Gliss collects nothing; your settings stay on your device.