00Quick Start

SynthMate sits in the MIDI cable between your keyboard and your synth. Everything you play passes straight through, and SynthMate adds a looper, an arpeggiator, a knob recorder, a modulation router and an always-on phrase recorder on top — with one encoder, three buttons and no screen.

1. Plug the MIDI cable adaptor into SynthMate's USB-C and connect IN1 → your keyboard's MIDI OUT and OUT1 → your synth's MIDI IN (OUT2 feeds a second instrument). SynthMate is powered by the keyboard's MIDI OUT: no other power is needed.
2. Play. You are in the DEFAULT module: notes go through untouched, and SynthMate is already recording what you play in the background.
3. Hold REC + PLAY for about a second. You are in SKIPBACK. Press keys between C3 and C6: each one replays your recent playing from a different point in the past.
4. Hold ENC  for a moment, then let go, to go back to DEFAULT. Holding the encoder always takes you home; a quick tap does the module's own job.

SynthMate has no screen, so it answers with short notes through your synth: two rising notes when you enter a module, two falling when you go back, a pair of low notes when something is refused. See Beeps.

01Your SynthMate

Controls

The five modules

SynthMate has five modules, one active at a time. ARP and EXTRA each hold several modes: ways the module plays, picked with a button and a key.

Recorded knob movements and controller routings from DEFAULT keep working in every module. Loops play only in LOOPER: leaving it stops them, and coming back starts them from the top.

Connections

SynthMate has one USB-C port, and it works one of two ways, never both at once:

• MIDI, through the MIDI cable adaptor (USB-C to three DIN plugs): IN1 from your keyboard's MIDI OUT, OUT1 to your synth's MIDI IN, and OUT2, the second output (MIDI2), for a second instrument: the split zone and some EXTRA modes use it. SynthMate is powered by the keyboard's MIDI OUT through IN1.
• USB, plugged straight into a computer: SynthMate is a USB MIDI device for the web tool and firmware updates, powered by the computer. The DIN plugs are not used then.

02Switching Modules

The switch happens when you release, and answers with two rising notes (two falling for DEFAULT).

03DEFAULT: Automation & ModLink

Record a knob (Automation)

Hold REC and move any knob or fader on your keyboard. The first movement starts the recording and the last note you played sounds so you can hear the sweep. Release REC : the movement now repeats in a loop on that controller. Up to 16 knobs can loop at once.

Try this: hold REC , sweep your filter cutoff once, release, then turn ENC  to make the sweep faster or slower.

Route one control to another (ModLink)

Hold PLAY , move a source, then move a destination knob across the range you want, and release. From then on the source drives the destination. Eight links at once.

Try this: hold PLAY , move the modwheel, then sweep your filter cutoff across just the part you like, and let go. The modwheel now plays the filter inside that range.

Split the keyboard

Hold PLAY and play two different notes: the first is the split point, the second says which side is the zone. Notes in the zone go out MIDI2, the rest go to your synth as usual. The split stays in every module. Hold PLAY and play the same note twice to clear it.

Teach pitch bend an interval

Hold PLAY , move the pitch-bend wheel, play a root note, then the note the bend should reach, and release. Full bend now lands exactly on that interval. A third note sets the other direction separately. SHIFT + bend clears it. Assumes your synth's bend range is ±12 semitones.

Delete this preset

Hold SHIFT alone for 3 seconds and release: the stored preset for the current program is deleted (falling notes confirm). Let go earlier and nothing happens.

04LOOPER

Records what you play as MIDI and loops it: a base loop plus up to six overdubs. Loops play only here: switching to another module stops them, and coming back starts them from the top.

Record and overdub

Speed and pitch

Turn ENC  to move the whole loop like a tape machine: faster and higher, or slower and lower. The web tool's Encoder Rotation setting can make it speed only or pitch only instead. Press ENC  to go back to normal and unmute everything.

Mute and balance layers

Each layer has a white key, in any octave: C = the base loop, D E F G A B = overdubs 1–6.

Step record

Press REC to arm, then keep holding it while you play: every key enters one step. SHIFT enters a rest, PLAY ties the last note on through one more step; each tap adds a step. Release REC to finish. The loop lasts exactly as long as you took, from the first note to letting go of REC, with the steps evened out and every note held for your average key press; until you record the next layer, ENC  changes that speed and a press restores it.

Step overdub: with the loops playing, do the same — press REC and keep holding it as the first note lands. The steps you enter are spread evenly over one pass of the base loop, starting on its downbeat: five steps over an eight-step loop give five against eight. Entry ends when you let go of REC or after one pass of the base loop.

Try this: record a four-bar chord loop, overdub a bass line, then hold PLAY and tap C to drop the chords out and back in.

05ARP

Hold notes and they play one after another, in the order you pressed them. Adding a note speeds the cycle up: one pass through the held notes always takes one beat.

An incoming MIDI clock takes over the tempo automatically.

Modwheel: rests and octaves

In the middle the pattern plays straight. Push the modwheel up and it starts skipping steps and jumping octaves upward; pull it down and the jumps go downward. Further from the centre = wilder, up to three octaves.

Expression modes

Hold PLAY and tap a key to choose what your finger pressure (aftertouch) does. The key echoes back an octave higher to confirm.

Rhythmic Memory

Play notes with the rhythm you want; the pattern repeats that rhythm. After it has cycled unchanged a few times the loop length locks (after how many cycles, or never, is set under ARP Starting BPM): new notes then split the step that is playing, so the loop keeps its length. Once it is locked, or frozen with SHIFT , turning ENC  plays it faster or slower (×¼–×4); a press, or releasing every key, takes it back to the speed you played. It never follows the BPM or a MIDI clock.

Try this: hold a chord, tap REC a few times in time to set the tempo, then push the modwheel up: steps start dropping out and jumping octaves. With an aftertouch keyboard, PLAY + E picks Direction Flip: press harder and the pattern turns around.

06EXTRA

Hold SHIFT and tap a key to choose a mode. The key echoes back an octave higher to confirm.

Two modes are on no key until you put them on one in the web tool's EXTRA Mode Map: Keyboard Hold and Chord Hold.

Chord Hold

Play a chord and tap SHIFT : it keeps sounding. Each note you play now moves the whole chord so that note is its bottom note, at that note's strength; turning ENC  moves it a semitone at a time and a press puts it back. Tap SHIFT again to release it.

Try this: SHIFT + F picks Zawinul Mirror: play a tune you know and it comes out upside down. Then SHIFT + C for Keyboard Hold: play a chord and let go, and it keeps sounding until the next chord or a SHIFT tap.

07SKIPBACK

SynthMate records every note you play, all the time, in every module, with separate memory for each preset. When the memory is full the newest notes overwrite the oldest. Nothing to arm, nothing to remember.

Play it back

Hold REC + PLAY for about a second. Keys from C3 to C6 now each start playback from a different point in your recent playing: low keys further back, high keys more recent.

Chunks

Each key plays a chunk: from its point up to the next key's. Turning ENC  moves the start of the chunk you played last, one note at a time, either way: earlier takes in the end of the chunk before it, which then ends sooner; later hands that chunk more. It never passes the key before's start or the next key's. A press puts it back.

Settings (web tool)

Buffer Length keeps between 1 minute and 3 hours. Max pause shortens long silences to the length you choose, so the memory holds more music. Save after sets how much playing a program needs before its Skipback memory is kept with the preset (shorter stays in the live buffer only). The trigger key range can be moved too. The memory is only erased when you hold SHIFT 2 s in SKIPBACK.

Try this: noodle for a minute without recording anything, then hold REC + PLAY . Walk up the keys from C3 to find the bit you liked, and turn ENC  to move that chunk's start onto the note you meant.

08Presets

Every MIDI program number (1–128) is a preset. Changing program on your keyboard saves the current one and loads the next: recorded knobs, links, loops, Skipback memory, the chosen ARP and EXTRA modes, and the module you were in. It saves by itself; there is no save button.

In the web tool you can back up and restore all presets, lock a preset against changes, audition its loops, and export loops as MIDI files. When the device's memory is full a save fails with a fault beep, unless you tick Overwrite oldest presets there: the presets saved longest ago (never a locked one) then make room.

09Beeps

With no screen, SynthMate answers through your synth. The notes are always the same:

Beeps can be turned off, or shortened, in the web tool's Global settings.

10Web Tool & Updates

This page talks to SynthMate over USB MIDI in Chrome or Edge. Press Connect and it reads the device; every change is written back about a second after you make it.

• Mode maps: drag which ARP or EXTRA mode sits on which key.
• Ranges: the ARP output range and the Skipback trigger keys.
• Presets: back up, restore, lock, audition, export as MIDI.
• Update: new firmware goes over normal USB MIDI in about 4 seconds and keeps your presets.

If the device ever does not start, hold the encoder while plugging in USB and press UPDATE: it recovers over USB (on a Mac).

11Quick Reference