Exploring and sharing engaging ideas in sound, music, and synthesis.
We are a small group of nerds passionate about making tools artists love to use.
From Eurorack to software to pedals, however you like to make music, Noise Engineering is working hard to bring something exciting to you.
California has a rich history of musical innovation and we are thrilled to be immersed in it. It was a hotspot during the birth of the electric guitar, with luminaries such as Leo Fender, Paul Bigsby, and Les Paul trading ideas at backyard get-togethers. The 1930s and '40s saw the emergence of SoCal companies like Rickenbacker, Bigsby, Fender, and Mosrite, whose innovations and designs continue to grace concert stages and recording studios around the globe. A couple decades later, up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Don Buchla would create electronic instruments so unique that the term "West Coast synthesis" is an entire style of synthesis.
It's about giving back. We believe in doing what we can to make our community and the world a better place. Here's how we're doing that:
Our Commitment to the Environment
Our Commitment to Community
Our Commitment to our Team
Our Commitment to Conservation Efforts
Our Commitment to Education
Everybody here was someone else before. Now we're a bunch of folks passionate about music and making the products we wished existed.
Stephen and Kris met in the Daily Pint, a bar in Santa Monica, in 2007 and bonded over spreadsheets and sound. They got married four years later and in 2016 left their previous careers to make Noise Engineering their lives. When not modularing, they enjoy feeding friends, board games, spreadsheeting, and the Oxford comma.
Noise Engineering started in the office Stephen and Kris shared in a tiny condo many moons ago. Once upon a time, it was confined to just a tiny desk, a pilfered o-scope, and a Looney Toons mug.
Early prototypes were hand-built by Stephen (sometimes with some help from Shawn) and assembled with acrylic panels he milled in the garage on a tiny CNC. They never *quite* fit in cases right, but they were good enough for testing a first pass.
When we moved out of our tiny condo, Noise-E upgraded to its own room. Suddenly the hobby started to take over substantially more space and became a bit more real. Noise-E was still here when we decided to go all in, together.
In 2016, we blew up our lives, quit our previous careers, and moved into our current house to make Noise Engineering our full-time gig. Kris's 'corner' office is an upstairs bedroom of the house that's full of modules, computers, stuffed frogs, toys…and plenty of dog beds.
Stephen's office (another bedroom) is bigger than ever, and darker than ever. And also full of dog beds. From his command center, he can monitor software builds, work on firmware, jam on hardware, and pet two dogs.
Kris spends a lot of time at her computer designing schematics and making PCBs for our hardware. Multiple screens are extremely helpful for this. Careful placement means she can route a PCB and pet a dog at the same time.
If you need something, there's a good chance it's on Stephen's desk. There's also a good chance you won't be able to find it on Stephen's desk.
Today we have a small but mighty team who has a great time working to make the products you know and love.
