Welcome to our first Instrumental Places.
Säve River. Play the river.
The instrument
57°46′N, 12°18′E
A playable river
Five locations along Säveån, shaped into a single playable instrument. Recorded across seasons. Tuned by hand. Every position on the surface is a sound that exists nowhere else.
Säve River
€89,00 EUR
Sale price
€89,00 EUR
Regular price
Water Legato
Hold a note. The river keeps flowing. Press another before releasing — the sound moves without interruption, like stepping through water rather than cutting between recordings.
Unique sounds. Immediately.
Move across the surface — the sound shifts. No configuration, no learning curve. Just five locations along Säveån and the space between them, ready to play.
Built for automation
Fifteen automatable parameters. Every surface position, every amount knob, Nightly Detune. Record your movements directly into your DAW.
THE Locations
Five locations.
A thousand different rivers.
Field recordings made over a year along Säveån. Different seasons, different water levels, different light. Move the cursor across the pad — every position blends the locations into a sound that exists only where you place it.
POS 57.781114, 12.303958
Recorded 2025.08.02/2025.11.14/2026.01.18
Under the bridge
Still water beneath concrete and stone. The sound is muted, spacious — drawn from recordings that shift slowly over time, never quite the same twice.
POS 57.781114, 12.303958
Rec 2025.08.02/2025.11.14/2026.01.18
Choppy water
Gentle movement on the surface. The field recording carries the rhythm of the current, the tonal layer responds with a softer attack — unhurried, but in motion.
POS 57.788671, 12.314835
Recorded 2025.08.02/2025.11.14/2026.01.18
At the lagoon
Quiet water, barely moving. The tonal character here is organlike — slow, sustained, with a presence that builds rather than arrives.
POS 57.789277, 12.315029
Rec 2025.08.02/2025.11.14/2026.01.18
Upstream
Heavy flow, but not chaotic. The tonal sound swells and carries an echo — slightly sharper than the others, with a sense of distance built in.
POS 57.789734, 12.314900
Recorded 2025.08.02/2025.11.14/2026.01.18
White water
The loudest location. Rushing water, dense noise, a tonal layer that breaks and shifts — bright, forceful, unpredictable.
The effects
Four surfaces.
Every dimension of the sound.
This is where the sound comes alive. Submerge it in darkness, add shimmer, shift the balance between place and tone, set the pulse beneath. Every position creates something new — and no two combinations sound the same.
– Darkness & Light
Some hours along the river are heavy. Some are clear. Shape the tonal weight of the sound — then decide how much space surrounds it.
– Shimmer & Surface
Light on water doesn't hold still. Add movement to the tone — from a subtle widening to a shimmer that catches the surface.
– Water & Tone
The river is both a sound and a place. Move between them. Shape how wide it sounds.
– Flow & Pulse
Moving water doesn't move at a constant speed. It surges, eases, turns. Set the rhythm beneath the sound — from slow drift to restless pulse.
The effects
– Nightly Detune
A last touch before you're done. Add pitch instability to held notes — the natural drift of a recording made outside, in changing air. Controlled by the mod wheel in real time.
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The place
Säveån.
Western Sweden.
Säveån takes its name from the Old Norse word sæva, meaning calm or still. The river earned that name somewhere along its 130-kilometre journey from source to sea in western Sweden. But stillness is only part of its character.
We make things that work better and last longer. Our products solve real problems with clean design and honest materials.
The river begins in the highlands between Borås and Vårgårda, draining through forests, farmland, and industrial towns before reaching Gothenburg and emptying into Göta älv. It passes more people than almost any other river in Sweden. Yet along its middle stretch, where the valley narrows and the forest closes in, it retains a quality untouched by urbanisation.
Spring brings higher water and stronger currents; the rapids are loud, the flow forceful. By summer, the level drops and the riverbed emerges: stones, moss, and the sound of shallow water over rock, children playing and swimming. In autumn, the light shifts across the water and the forest comes into colour along the banks. Each season is audibly distinct.
The protected stretch is accessible on foot from both Floda and Stenkullen stations. There are no roads along the water's edge. The only way in is to walk.
The first Instrumental Place was built on this stretch of the river. Every sound in the instrument — the tuned effects, the textural beds, and the tonal layers — carries the acoustic signature of the Säve River. The granite, the water, and the particular way sound behaves in an open river valley in southern Scandinavia.