Thinkspark studio · Boarding pass · TS·02 · 2026

Rubberband

The elastic instrument, tuned to the world’s scales.

MediumInteraction
FPS120
TuningsWorld
Gravity control1
Rubberband Play screen: string lines from A2 to A5, octave selector, A major pentatonic scale and the GRAVITY slider Rubberband Sound screen: rubber-to-string material, pluck, bell, bow and grain engines and character sliders Rubberband scale screen: choosing the tonic and scale, from major pentatonic to Arabic maqam modes

01 What it is

Rubberband is a string instrument that lives on a screen. Pull a string off pitch and let go: it swings back like a real string, and the note bends with it.

02 The gravity control

One value does the tuning. GRAVITY bends free, fretless pitch toward the chosen scale: at 0 you glide between notes, at 1 every note lands in tune. Maqam, just blues, xenharmonic scales and true quarter tones all sit under the same thumb.

03 What we built

A Karplus-Strong string engine, the GRAVITY tuning model, octave bands and a live looper, adjusted note by note until the gestures read clearly.

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