ChungusCello_
a physically-modelled cello — bow it, pluck it, chug it, loop it, sing into it
(browsers block audio until you interact once — one tap and it's live)
iPhone / iPad: if you hear nothing, check the silent switch · headphones recommended for the mic features
touch a string to bow it · slide along for pitch · wiggle for vibrato · move across the string to shift the bow toward the bridge · two fingers = double stop
computer keys A W S E D F T G Y H U J K O L P ; ' · Z / X octave · drag across keys to glide in mono mode
bow
loop station — Space rec / overdub · Enter stop / play · Backspace undo · page-turner pedals work too
Soundstrings, bow, body, players, the Chungus amp and effects
Strings & key
Bow
Body & resonance
Players
Chungus amp — the Chug articulation turns it up to at least 55%
EQ & space
Voice & mictuner, sing-to-play and the Chungus sampler
The mic is only opened when you press one of these, and nothing leaves your device. Use headphones so the cello doesn't feed back into the mic.
Tuner — tune a real cello (or anything)
Sing to play — your voice bows the cello
Chungus sampler — any sound becomes a playable instrument, like MeowSynth
Record or load a sound (sing a steady note, hum, "chug", play a real cello note…), then set Sound source to sampler or both. Pitch is detected automatically; the loop point is found and crossfaded so held notes sustain. Recordings stay in this browser.
PhrasesBach, Pachelbel, Beethoven and some Chungus originals — play, loop, learn
⟳ into looper sets the loop length to the phrase, counts nothing in, and records one pass as a layer — then you play over it.
Record & exportrecord what you play to WAV + MIDI, export loops as stems and a Reaper project
Performance recorder — everything you hear (R)
Loop exports
Stems are each loop layer as its own WAV, all the same length from zero, plus the mix and a .RPP that opens in Reaper with every layer on its own track. Other DAWs: drag the WAVs in at bar 1 and set the tempo from info.txt.
MIDIkeyboards, MPE controllers, breath controllers, pedals — in and out
Velocity → bow speed · pitch bend slides · mod wheel adds vibrato · breath (CC2) / expression (CC11) → dynamics, live, like a crescendo on the bow · CC74 → bow position · aftertouch → bow pressure · sustain pedal holds · program change picks a sound. Out: whatever you play here is sent to the output port (GM program 43, Cello).
VR & 3Dplay a cello in your room on Meta Quest 2 / 3, or look at it in 3D
In the headset: a cello stands in front of you. Your left hand stops the strings: hold the left trigger (or pinch) with your hand on the neck — higher up the neck is higher pitch, like the real thing. Your right hand holds the bow: draw it across the strings near the bridge. Bow speed is loudness, the right trigger adds weight, and tilting the bow picks the string.
Easy mode (default on): the bow sounds whenever the right trigger is held and you move your hand, so you don't need to hit the strings exactly. A = next articulation, B = loop rec/overdub, X = drone, Y = recenter the cello, thumbstick = dynamics. Hand tracking works too: pinch to press.
Presets & sharesounds, your own saves, share links
Your sounds
Share
Share links carry the whole sound (not recordings or loops). Everything else autosaves in this browser.
Learnten short lessons: how a cello works and how to play this one
Each lesson has a Try it button that sets things up. Read, try, change one thing, listen again.
1 · Four strings in fifths
A cello's strings are tuned C2 G2 D3 A3 — each a perfect fifth (seven semitones) above the last, an octave below a viola. The fingerboard shows them left to right (bottom to top in landscape), lowest first, with the nut at the top/left. The open-string names sit by the nut.
This isn't a recording. Each note is a digital waveguide: a simulation of waves running up and down a string, with a bow that grips and slips (the “stick–slip” or Helmholtz motion) — once per cycle, 65 times a second on the open C.
2 · The bow: speed, weight and where it sits
Three things shape a bowed note: bow speed (mostly loudness — the Dynamics slider, or velocity), bow pressure (how hard it presses: too little and the tone goes airy, too much and it crunches) and the contact point. Near the bridge (sul ponticello) the tone is bright and glassy; over the fingerboard (sul tasto) it's soft and flutey.
Try: hold a note, then drag around the bow pad — left/right is contact point, up/down is pressure. Then switch on Hand bow and stroke the pad back and forth while you hold a note: now you are the bow.
3 · The left hand: intonation, vibrato, slides
A cello has no frets, so the player's finger decides the exact pitch (intonation). Vibrato is the finger rocking back and forth — usually 5–7 times a second, a few cents wide. A glissando is a slide between notes.
Try: set Snap to fretless, find a note by ear, then wiggle your finger. Then set Snap back to soft: still fingers get pulled into tune, but your wiggle stays.
4 · Articulations
Arco is normal bowing. Spiccato bounces the bow for short notes. Pizzicato plucks with a finger. Tremolo moves the bow back and forth as fast as possible — the sound of suspense in film scores. Col legno hits the string with the wood of the bow. Harmonics touch the string lightly so it vibrates in halves: a pure, whistling note an octave up. Number keys 1–9 switch between them.
5 · Double stops and the section
Bowing two strings at once is a double stop. Because the strings are a fifth apart, fifths are the most natural — and a fifth is exactly a guitarist's power chord. Thirds and sixths (the “in key” options) follow the scale you pick in Sound.
Players turns one cello into a duet, a quartet or a section of eight. Each player is slightly out of tune and out of time with the others — that spread is what makes a section sound big.
6 · Chugging: the cello goes metal
Cellos have played metal for decades — Apocalyptica's debut, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, came out in 1996. The Chug articulation plays short, hard strokes locked to the tempo and pushes the string through the Chungus amp: a tightening filter before a valve-style clipper, then a speaker-cabinet filter. Hold a note and it gallops. Pick the rhythm under Sound → Chug rhythm; add a fifth double stop for power chords.
7 · Building a piece with the looper
Live looping means recording a short passage, letting it repeat, and stacking more parts on top. Cellist Zoë Keating builds whole pieces this way. A classic plan: a bass line first, then harmony, then the melody. Leave Length on free and the first loop sets the tempo; pick bars to lock it to the metronome with a count-in.
Every layer can be muted, turned down, reversed or played at half speed (an octave down, twice as long). Try: load the Pachelbel bass into the looper, then play over it.
8 · Make an instrument out of anything
This is the MeowSynth trick: record a sound, find its pitch, and play it back faster or slower to hit every other note. Open Voice & mic, record a steady “chuuug” or a hum into a slot (or borrow a meow), and set Sound source to sampler or both. The sampler finds a loop inside your sound so held notes keep going.
9 · Tuning, pitch standards and scordatura
Modern orchestras tune A4 to around 440 Hz; many baroque ensembles use 415 Hz, about a semitone lower. Scordatura means retuning strings for a piece: Bach's fifth cello suite asks for the A string to be tuned down to G, and Kodály's solo sonata lowers the bottom two strings to B and F♯. Both are in Sound → Tuning, and the sympathetic strings retune with them.
10 · Playing it for real: phones, MIDI, VR
Phones: turn the phone sideways for longer strings; use two hands — one on the fingerboard, one stroking the bow pad in Hand bow mode. Latency (the delay between touch and sound) is lowest with wired headphones; Bluetooth adds a noticeable lag, which the looper compensates for automatically. MIDI: an MPE controller gives every finger its own slide, pressure and bow position. VR: on a Quest, open the VR drawer and press Enter VR.
Keyskeyboard shortcuts
| A W S E D F T G Y H U J K O L P ; ' | play (typing-piano layout, like MeowSynth) |
| Z / X | octave down / up |
| 1–9 | articulation: arco, spiccato, pizz, tremolo, chug, harmonics, col legno, ponticello, sul tasto |
| Space | looper: record → play → overdub |
| Enter | looper stop / play |
| Backspace | undo last loop layer |
| Page Down / Page Up | looper record / undo (Bluetooth page-turner pedals) |
| R | record performance on / off |
| Q | drone on / off |
| M | metronome |
| T | tap tempo |
| C | cycle double stop |
| V | cycle players (solo / duet / quartet / section) |
| ↑ / ↓ | dynamics |
| ← / → | bow position (tasto / ponticello) |
| [ / ] | previous / next sound |
| Esc | panic — all notes off |