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Cantosynthesizer

Cantonese is a language rich in musicality.  Its complex tonal system gives it a unique melodic contour. This is reflected not only in Classical Chinese poetry and Cantonese opera but has also led to countless Cantonese pop music works which have been popular beyond native Cantonese speakers.

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The "Cantosynthesizer" project aims to explore the sound system of Cantonese and investigate its various potentials in music performance and sound design. The team is dedicated to developing a groundbreaking instrument based on Cantonese, presented in both open-source software and physical forms. Through this synthesizer, we strive to present the musicality inherent in Cantonese, even in everyday speech, in a multi-dimensional way.

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With this synthesizer, performers can instantly manipulate not just pitch and rhythm but also parameters related to linguistics or phonetics, such as initials, finals, radicals, strokes, and parts of speech. The instrument is designed from a sound perspective, allowing it to even play characters that do not exist in dictionaries. For instance, a performer can play a piece in E major composed of phrases made up of characters with the water radical and an initial "s."

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This instrument not only highlights the artistic value of Cantonese as a cultural heritage but also provides music creators with a new tool and method for creation. The team hopes to promote innovative applications of Cantonese in music, allowing the public to participate in experiments from different angles, re-evaluating language and reflecting on music.