Naada Guan for GeoShred Studio

EXTREME PITCH FLEXIBILITY AND IN-MOUTH REED DYNAMICS ON A CONTINUOUS SURFACE

Advanced physical modeling, built for real-time expression. Naada Guan places a physically modeled Chinese double-reed woodwind inside GeoShred Studio, where extreme pitch bending, in-mouth reed control, and a nasal, vocal-like timbre respond directly to pressure and gesture on the playing surface. The instrument is fully polyphonic, supporting chords and layered melodic lines simultaneously.

Works with MPE controllers, wind and breath controllers, and GeoShred Control, a free iPhone and iPad companion app that delivers a multi-touch expressive surface for live performance.

Naada Guan runs inside GeoShred Studio, placing the guanzi's exceptionally flexible pitch vocabulary on a multi-row continuous pitch surface. Slide across the grid to bend and glide with a freedom that approaches a bowed string instrument; press into the surface to shape the reed's dynamic response, growl intensity, and tonal weight in real time. The AccelMatrix Naada physical modeling engine generates each note as a continuous acoustic event, and because the instrument is polyphonic, you can sustain harmonic foundations while tracing melodic lines above them, or voice full chords across the surface. GeoShred's integrated FX rack adds EchoMT, Reverb, and AmpCab processing directly in the signal chain.

What's Inside Naada Guan:

• GeoShred's continuous pitch surface with fretless glide, extreme pitch bending, and sliding control suited to the guan's exceptionally flexible melodic vocabulary.
• Polyphonic performance: sustain harmonic foundations under melodic lines, voice chords, or layer independent phrases simultaneously.
• Direct access to guan model parameters including reed dynamics, embouchure flexibility, and tonal shaping.
• Integrated FX rack with EchoMT, Reverb, and AmpCab available as part of the performance signal chain.
• Full controller support: MPE controllers, wind and breath controllers, GeoShred Control companion app.
• AccelMatrix Naada physical modeling engine generating each note as a continuous acoustic simulation.

Two Thousand Years of Silk Road Expression

The guan (guanzi) is one of the oldest Chinese wind instruments, with a documented history of over 2,000 years stretching back along the Silk Road to Central Asia. Its short cylindrical body, typically made from jujube wood, houses a large double reed that the player places entirely inside the mouth, giving direct embouchure control over the reed's vibration with extraordinary flexibility. This in-mouth technique enables extreme pitch bending, sliding, and growling that approaches the expressive freedom of a bowed string instrument. The model captures the guan's distinctively reedy, nasal timbre and its continuous, gesture-driven pitch vocabulary.

GeoShred Studio and GeoShred Control

GeoShred Studio operates as a VST3, AU, or AUv3 plugin inside major DAWs, or as a standalone application. Its isomorphic surface is tuned in perfect fourths, providing a layout where melodic intervals repeat consistently across rows. Pressure and gesture are mapped continuously to instrument parameters, making the surface especially well matched to the guan's extreme pitch flexibility and its in-mouth reed dynamics.

GeoShred Control is a free companion app for iPhone and iPad that connects via USB, adding a second multi-touch expressive surface for live performance. MPE hardware controllers and wind or breath controllers connect directly to GeoShred Studio as well.

GeoShred Studio Required. Running Naada Guan requires GeoShred Studio ($50), a separate required purchase.

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