05/16/2026
What do you do with your Etches once it arrives?
We created a quick tutorial series covering all of Etches’s essential functions. See the full playlist on our YouTube channel
The first video in the Etches tutorial series. Covers power, output, and the fundamentals of how the instrument responds to touch.
Etches runs on a standard 9V center-negative supply and outputs stereo over a 1/8” TRS jack — break it out with a Y-adapter or insert cable for two discrete channels. The note array along the bottom of the instrument doesn’t produce sound on its own; the SWELL pad is the volume control, and you’ll have a finger on it whenever you’re playing.
The articulation pads are touch-resistive, responding to surface area of contact rather than mechanical pressure. Rocking a finger across a pad changes the response as more or less of the fingertip rolls onto the surface.
The SENS k**b calibrates pad sensitivity to your environment. Set too low, pads will trigger false notes and double-hits. Set too high, light touches won’t register. The sweet spot drifts with humidity, skin condition, and the surface Etches is resting on — most situations land between 1 and 2 o’clock.
Covered in this video:
• Power and stereo output
• How the touch-resistive pads respond
• SWELL as volume control
• Calibrating SENS
Next: the remaining articulation pads — STAC, DRIVE, and INVERSE.
