Paulius Šaparnis

Pipe Synthesizer

Sound sculpture. Laisvės Square, Panevėžys, July 2024. IŠKROVOS festival, 2025. Original title: Vamzdis-sintezatorius

An industrial pipe that anyone passing could play.

Knobs are built into the pipe. A passer-by turns them, listens, and after a few minutes has a composition of their own, never recorded or repeated.

Start a project like this
The Pipe Synthesizer, a metal pipe with knobs on a square base, standing on a paved city square with fountains behind itAI-enhanced
Laisvės Square, Panevėžys, 2024.
The Pipe Synthesizer, a tall metal pipe on a square base, standing in red light in a dark room
IŠKROVOS festival, 2025.

Turning the knobs, Laisvės Square, 2024. No sound.

How it works

The pipe is a single synthesizer. Every knob on it is a potentiometer, and all of them can be turned: together they shape one sound.

There is no keyboard and there are no notes, only a metal surface to learn by touch. Turn one knob, listen, turn another. Each combination gives a sound of its own.

Where it played

In Laisvės Square it stood by the fountain, open to anyone passing. At IŠKROVOS, the festival I direct, it played in the dark under red light.

An instrument for your site

Your square, festival or stand could have an instrument of its own, built for the people who pass by. Start a project like this