2007 - 2020
First Light
The initial idea for Timetosser came to Tim back in his student days when he was fiddling around with the music software package “Reason”. After developing a VST-plugin incorporating this concept, he decided to build a standalone hardware prototype for his graduation project at the HKU (Utrecht University of the Arts) in 2007. His (Dutch) thesis about the underlying principle can be found here (pdf).
Although it more or less worked, it was a very basic and crude device. Oscar, being an industrial designer and a flatmate of Tim at the time, was playing a lot with it and became enthusiastic about developing it further.
2015-2017
Years later, the idea was still very much alive between the two of us. With the advent of things like crowdfunding and 3D-printing, we realised that creating an improved and sleeker prototype was definitely something that we should do. After spending many evenings after work, we managed to produce two prototypes that were more up to date. Because we were still experimenting, one had RCA-connectors, while the other had jack-plugs and a higher quality audio chip.
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In October '17 we introduced Timetosser to the public at Amsterdam Dance Event. ADE's Sound Lab turned out to be a turning point for us, as it was our true introduction to a growing worldwide electronic music scene. Because we received so much positive response, we grew a lot more confident on Timetosser's potential. Its features were still open for discussion. Meeting people involved in the music industry proved to be a very useful resource for new ideas and further improvements.
2018-2020
After the Sound Lab event at ADE, things really picked up and alter.audio were getting official. Four pre-production prototypes traveled the world to get reviewed by several renowned DJ's and musicians, from whom we received terrific feedback. It was after our experiences during the Startup Garden at Barcelona's Sónar festival we grew more certain that launching a crowdfunding campaign was our way to go.
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With the incredible support of the alter.audio backer community we were able to share our dream: In the course of 2020 Timetosser became available for all to enjoy.