Superbooth is just around the corner and we’ve got a few early previews and a bunch from the recent SynthFest France, but before Superbooth overwhelms us, here are a handful of gems that are worth your consideration from April.
Events:
2nd May – Synth Picnic – https://synthpicnic.com/
3rd May – CV Freqs – https://cv-freqs.com/
7th May – Norwich EMOM –https://www.facebook.com/electronicopenmicnorfolk/
9th May – Patch & Mix featuring Synth Picnic. https://www.instagram.com/cambridgeelectronicmusic/
16th May – Eurovision final https://www.eurovision.com/eurovision-song-contest/vienna-2026/
16th May Kentronica – https://thegulbenkian.co.uk/festivals/kentronica-a-celebration-of-electronic-music/
25th May – Zero BPM Norwich Drone Music Festival. https://zerobpm.live/
Kaona Fractaos – Kaona make interesting looking modules and the latest is no exception. Fractaos sounds a bit like Battlestar Galactica dubbed in French but is actually a 4-voice polyphonic 8-oscillator voice that can be accessed via MIDI or CV – that means it has 4 sets of CV/Gate inputs. The sound source is built around fractals – there’s a main fractal shape and another that can modulate it like a complex oscillator would. It can drift, bend, morph, detune and fall into chaos. The circular screen is fabulous, displaying the two waveforms or other information. The sounds are digital, glassy and fractious – very interesting indeed.
https://www.kaona.fr/index.php/en/produits-3/fractaos
https://youtu.be/XyM8AO_Qpt0
Buy from Perfect Circuit – https://moltenmt.com/perfect-fractaos
Auxy is a bit of a mystery so far. It’s a new synth being worked on by Cuckoo and it’s all about removing friction from music creation. It’s piano based, has wooden cheeks, a few knobs and sounds electronic but also seems to have piano with some mechanical sounds and then sample-like drums. It sequences or loop-records. Intriguing – I imagine we’ll see it at Superbooth.
https://youtu.be/9V3hxwgMSRg
https://auxy.co/
Zlosynth Arplus – More karplus strong than you can shake a stick at. Arplus is a 6-voice string synth with everything you’d usually reach for already built in. It has a quantizer and an arpeggiator so it can essentially play beautiful tunes all by itself. It comes with 31 scales including many non-western and microtonal scales and the ARP patterns are CV controllable. It feels more raw than other posh karplus strong modules. We have control over the all the parts of the synthesis from the noise level and filter conditions to contour of the sound. The attack is particularly stunning, to the point that this is where you want to play – I’ve never said that about any other karplus module. The ARP is also super interesting with many shapes and some nice variation. It also kicks out a copy of the quantized CV to run other voices. I don’t think you can play it…. I think it’s ARP-only and the polyphony is about overlap rather than playing a chord all at once, but it’s certainly an interesting approach and very very musical.
https://youtu.be/faYGyKcLMkU
https://zlosynth.com/arplus/
Buy from Signal Sounds – https://moltenmt.com/signal-zlosynth-arplus
Buy from Perfect Circuit – https://moltenmt.com/perfect-zlosynth-arplus
Temecula DSP Deep/4 is a plugin based on the Ensoniq DP/4 multi-effects processor. It has four effects engines and 43 algorithms based on the old box. You can rewire the routing for series or parallel and feedback processing and large stacks of effects. It comes with hundreds of presets for some authentic 1990s processing sound.
https://youtu.be/kx0UeUOc0UI
https://www.temeculadsp.com/
Augmatic Audio Augmatic GRE – algorithmic drum machine plugin based around Mutable Instruments Grids. Artur the developer tells me it was 100% vibe-coded, which I think means it was built through AI. He’s made the code available on github for anyone who wants to comb through it. What that means exactly is hard to say but it’s probably going on all around us behind the scene of all sorts of developments. Does that matter? Probably not but I would welcome your thoughts in the comments. As for the plugin it has 6 channels which its own rhythms that can be dialled through the Grids patterns. It also has Euclidean rhythms that you can blend into, and you can choke sounds against each other. As with Grids things get fairly crazy very quickly.
https://augmaticaudio.com/
https://youtu.be/8XRnMRN4nI4
Tangible Waves WAEVE82 – From the alternative reality that is AE Modular we have an 8-voice polyphonic wavetable synthesizer. Inspired by the PPG Wave 2 but with its own audio engine, modulation and randomisation options. It has two oscillators per voice, 64 wavetables and you can load more from the SD slot, 3 envelopes and 4 LFOs. It’s MIDI controlled for the polyphony but, I think also has CV control for monophonic playing or chord triggering. It includes something called IMDI which is a reworking of MIDI to become Inter Module Digital Interface – the idea being you can have digital connectivity between modules with a single cable – MIDI for modular basically but with seamless CV interaction. Is it cool? Possibly, but needs much wider adoption – you have to start somewhere. I wonder if there’s been any take up of Tiptop Audio’s ART system… or Make Noises Universal Synth thing…. These things seem to rarely catch on.
https://www.tangiblewaves.com/store/p235/WAEVE82.html
Kodamo MASK1EX MK2 – A new version of the bitmask synthesizer from Kodamo is nicely compact with weird sunken buttons. The bitmask synthesis generates up to 512 waveforms, can handle 14-voice polyphony with two oscillators per voice and 2 part multitimbrality. It’s finished off with stereo effects. It’s going to be very screen and data wheel heavy but there is a dedicated filter knob and the layout is very clear and it’s giving off some welcoming vibes and is really keenly priced. I don’t know who Jade Vine is either.
https://youtu.be/uHCP6Z-ryw8
https://kodamo.org/mask1exmk2
Buy from Thomann – https://thmn.to/thoprod/642306?offid=1&affid=1460
Buy from Perfect Circuit – https://moltenmt.com/perfect-kodamo-mask1exmk2
Analog Sweden SWEN2 – Oh I remember this, something about the swEnigiser, a clone of the Orgon Systems Enigiser rave machine from 1995. SWEN2 is an evolved version that adds a second oscillator, a sub-oscillator and octave switches and a tarted up filter. There are new envelope modes, LFOs and basically Analog Sweden have taken an interesting but basic synth and built it out into something more modern and modulatable. Check it out at Superbooth.
https://analogsweden.com/
AnalogFX Larynx – A solid looking mono-synth that’s an expansion of the SER-2020 which is inspired by the Synton Syrinx – so lots of things to think about. It’s a semi-modular analog synth with a pair of classic CEM3340 oscillators, ring modulation, noise, sample & hold, 2 envelopes and 2 LFOs, arp, sequencer and a stereo delay. What’s interesting is the three filter architecture for building formant sounds – there are 16 pre-programmed formant settings for you to play with. The patch points make it very versatile in terms of routing and modulation and the keyboard has aftertouch and the synth supports MPE.
https://www.analogfx.com/product/larynx/?v=7885444af42e
Fred’s Lab Angler – Another weird box from Fred’s Lab, this time it’s an analog mono-synth built into a Maplin electronics box. It has two linear relaxations VCOs which is an awesome description, and Fred’s own 2-poler filter. It has a bunch of cool effects based on wonderfully lo-fi PT2399 delay lines. Somewhere in there is a 96-step sequencer and what looks like three pattern buttons. There’s some waveform shaping, a bit of inter-oscillator FMIt’s all MIDI which is a shame but it’s also available as a simple kit which is cool. It actually looks like a lot of fun.
https://youtu.be/ueGEWXGCQh8
https://fredslab.net/en/angler-module.php
NRSynth Quatuor – There’s something about the Oberheim SEM that stays with you. And we’ve experienced all sorts of configurations through the emulations of Gforce software and the like as SEMS are stitched together into 2-voices, 4-voices, 8 voices, all of them as fat as a basking sealion. Well, last year NR Synth made a little SEM desktop synth, this year they’ve baked four together into the massive Quatuor synth. The idea with the Oberheim synths is that you have essentially a number of SEM monosynths which you can link together to produce massive mono and unison sounds or 4-voice polyphony. You can program each voice separately or link them together to act more as whole. NR Synth have added MIDI, global tuning, a global cutoff knob, LFO, digital sequencer and arpeggiator. The keyboard has velocity and aftertouch. They’ve also added sub oscillators, noise, snappy envelopes and stuff to each voice. It’s all made with traditional circuits and apparently they have enough parts to make four and will cost €5000. It some ways it seems a bit pointless but heck this is truly a synth of the gods.
https://nrsynth.fr/
https://youtu.be/3Hk5Em3828Q
Cre8audio Programm – Fresh from Cre8audio is a very cool, 12-channel sequencer built into their familiar form factor and packed with possibilities. It has 8 drum tracks, four sequence tracks, two of which are CV/Gate, the rest is MIDI. It’s based around a 32-step matrix of buttons which also doubles as an almost readable display. It can go up to 64 steps, has live or step modes, has six knobs of control per step and can very quickly turn basic patterns into varied and generative experiments. It’s fun – I did a full review that’s in the channel. It has a few bugs in the ARP and chord modes and something I didn’t get quite right in the review is that it’s not currently polyphonic other than the chord mode. It’s pretty groovy now but I think it will only get better with a couple of updates.
https://youtu.be/Pwg13oaiaVc
https://www.cre8audio.com/
Buy from Perfect Circuit – https://moltenmt.com/perfect-programm
Buy from Thomann – https://thmn.to/thoprod/643013?offid=1&affid=1460
Buy from Gear4music – https://tidd.ly/4twAKDi
Knobula Drum Farm – If you want all the drum sounds then maybe Knobula’s Drum Farm is the place for you. It combines samples, synthesis and effects in one alarmingly wide module. It has three playable voices plus a sample trigger, real-time drum synthesis, sampler and up to three effects. The synth has 16 virtual analog and physcially modelled drum sounds, 16 different effect types and a sampler that records what you do into 16 slots. The idea is that you can generate entirely new hits by sampling a bunch and layering them up. This could get very interesting. Is three channels enough? I think they should release the sampler as a separate or expander module that you could use for more drum voices.
https://youtu.be/IOaXH50jblM
https://www.knobula.com/product-page/drum-farm
Buy from Perfect Circuit – https://moltenmt.com/perfect-knobula-drumfarm
Making Sound Machines Plinky 12 – Good lord look at this thing. The plinky is a very cool and very weird device of multiple functions that’s totally baffling to look at and I keep on meaning to get to grips with. The Plinky 12 appears to remove the chaos and expands the idea into this beautiful surface of 16×12 colourful circles. Plinky 12 is actually three different flavours of synth based around the same polyphonic engine but looking very different. Plinky 12 Chords is about harmonic distribution, Plinky 12 Toadstep is a 4-track step sequencer, and Plinky 12 Blocks is a bit more experimental and monome-like. Apparently the panels are swappable to you can enjoy all three modes in the one device, and you can potentially design your own. They all look completely amazing and I have no idea what’s going on – but wow, so lovely.
https://youtu.be/Cn_PYCsgsI0
https://plinky12.com/
Buy from Perfect Circuit – https://moltenmt.com/perfect-plinky
Bob Moog Tribute Edition Minimoog – Moog are doing a limited edition run of the classic Minimoog Model D. They are making 500, hand built by a small team, with the only difference being a new sticker on the back and a nifty travel case. $500 from each sale goes to the Bob Moog Foundation which is awesome. Hmmm this or the NR Synth Quatuor? Same price (I think).
https://www.moogmusic.com/synthesizers/bob-moog-tribute-edition-minimoog-model-d/
https://youtu.be/A0NwoOAWz0w
Buy from Thomann – https://thmn.to/thoprod/640338?offid=1&affid=1460
Buy from Perfect Circuit – https://moltenmt.com/perfect-bobmoog-minimoog
Buy from Gear4music – https://tidd.ly/4uc0Smx
Liquid Sky Smudgetizer Pro – More crazy stuff from Liquid Sky. This time it’s a stereo 2bit-bitcrusher with lots of modulation designed as a pedal with eurorack audio and modulation connections. They call them sonic troublemakers for bad-ass artists. It’s beautifully destructive, has built in LFOs and will seriously mess with your audio. Far too many controls for bit crushing – this should be immensely fun!
https://liquidskyeurope.com/products/liquid-sky-d-vices-smudgetizer-pro-pedal
Reason 14 – I love the way Reason continues to evolve while clinging to its original rack-based workflow. It’s what makes it unique and fabulous. In version 14 you now get a whole rack for each track, if you want, rather than getting lost in the never ending rack scrolling looking for the bit you want. And it’s all accessible in the one window and doesn’t make you switch. You get looped and linked clips for quick editing and fleshing out, tempo detection, something about velocity handles that should have been there since 2005. There’s a lovely new reverb and some nice layout choices. I think Reason is awesome and I never spend enough time there.
https://youtu.be/1eZ1YdEcTp0
https://www.reasonstudios.com/new-in-14
Cherry Audio Crumar DS-2 – Every month another old synth. This time it’s the Crumar DS-2 from 1978. It looks like a proper old synth that combines an analog monosynth with a paraphonic companion section. It used digitally controlled oscillators that produced gritty stepped waveforms with harmonic complexity. Of course Cherry Audio has polyphonked it all, added effects, more modulation and stuff, but it is still essentially the same weird old synth.
https://youtu.be/rSFCR7FDzHQ
https://cherryaudio.com/products/ds-2-synthesizer
Blukac Fractalist – I was totally obsessed with the Blukac Endless Processor a couple of years ago and it’s great to see them back with something new. This is fractalist, an oscillator based on fractal interpolation. It has two cores that provide the seed from with the fractal waveform grows, self-replicating and growing more complex. This can result in unexpected textures that are kept under control in the module. At low frequencies the harmonic content can give it a rhythmic element as it bends and twists into the audio range. All in all it sounds wonderfully and disturbingly odd.
https://www.blukac.com/fractalist.html
https://youtu.be/yxQF59iDwGc
Buy from Perfect Circuit – https://moltenmt.com/perfect-fractalist
Bjooks Beat Gems – And finally Bjooks has a new book coming out by our friend Oli Freke which delves into the rhythmic musings of the drum machine. Beat Gems covers over 60 drum machines and follows the history and culture of how these boxes shaped and reshaped music. It’s going to be released as a kickstarter at Superbooth.
https://bjooks.com/
Coming Up
Don’t forget Synth Picnic and CV Freqs this weekend. And because I’ll be in London on Sunday we won’t have a live stream. Instead we’ll pivot over to Sunday the 10th May to talk about Superbooth – sounds like a good idea.
In the meantime I really want to build one of the larger DIY projects I’ve had knocking around for ages. I have the Befaco Oneirol, the Voxmachina Leo Leo Matrix, The Klee, or the Kosmo synth voice. Let me know in the comments which one I should tackle.