Roomi Fields was born out of a simple desire: to explore electronic instruments that breathe, that retain something alive and organic, close to the feel of an acoustic instrument.
For some time now, I have been immersing myself in the history and evolution of music, and more recently, electronic music.
Laurent de Wilde’s book “the pioneers”, Moog’s adventure, and the poetic delicacy of Mutable Instruments are fertile sources of inspiration for me.
All of this feeds into a question that runs through Roomi Fields: how can circuits, code, and a few buttons give rise to instruments with a real presence, a sonic personality, a way of connecting with those who play them, with other musicians, and with the listener, the audience?
Approach and sensitivity
Roomi Fields is built on listening:
listening to sound material, micro-variations, evolving timbres, textures that seem to move almost on their own.
Technique serves this research. Each module idea begins with a musical intuition or sensation:
a movement of grain, a slow tension in the spectrum, a harmonic field unfolding.
The goal remains constant: to put engineering at the service of poetry, play, and connection—between the musician and the instrument, between sounds, between beings who share a moment of listening.
The sound aesthetic leans towards organic forms:
slightly unpredictable behaviors, sensitive responses to gestures, structures that make you want to stay with a sound, to let it evolve.
Modules in the making
Today, we are working on designing our first module.
The approach follows a philosophy similar to that of Mutable Instruments:
- ideas first take shape as modules for VCV Rack,
- the sources are intended to circulate freely, in an open source spirit,
- Eurorack versions come later, when a concept finds a form clear and joyful enough to inhabit a physical module.
Roomi Fields progresses through trials, prototypes, and extended listening sessions.
The workshop is still under construction, as are the modules: they are first fields of exploration, then perhaps instruments that other hands will bring to life.
A field for playing, exploring, and meeting others
The name Roomi Fields echoes both the “field” of all possible sounds, Romi’s inner field, and the Sufi poet Jalâl ad-Dîn Rûmî.
One of his verses silently accompanies the approach:
“Beyond ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. I will meet you there.”
Roomi Fields seeks this field in the realm of sound:
a space where electronic instruments support discovery, play, and encounter, and where music retains a deeply human place, despite and thanks to machines.