“The Super series knocks politely, but DMNO kicks the door down”: UDO’s DMNO is two synths in one – and one of a kind

British synth manufacturer UDO has announced the release of a new synthesizer: DMNO.

Joining the Super 6, Super 8 and Super Gemini in UDO’s product line-up, DMNO is a polyphonic, multitimbral and hybrid analogue/digital instrument made up of two fully independent four-voice synths, each with its own dedicated set of front-panel controls.

DMNO features a selection of eight Play Modes that determine how the synth engines interact and how the 44-note keyboard interacts with them. These range from traditional options that allow patches to be layered or split across the keys to creative configurations such as Series mode, which goes semi-modular by routing one synth’s output into the other’s oscillator, and Chaos mode, which assigns notes randomly to either synth.

Like UDO’s Super series, DMNO is a hybrid synth with FPGA-based digital oscillators and an analogue signal path and filter. Each of DMNO’s oscillators is made up of a central oscillator and six peripheral “sister” oscillators that can be dynamically dephased in the stereo field to create lush and wide timbres in the synth’s Super Mode.

Available waveshapes cover sine, saw, square, triangle and pulse, along with 3 user-assignable complex waveforms. Each synth engine is armed with two tempo-syncable LFOs with 10 waveshapes (including 2 user-assignable shapes) that can be assigned to multiple destinations via the synth’s modulation matrix. There’s cross-modulation and PWM onboard too.

As mentioned, DMNO is eight-voice polyphonic, dropping to four “super voices” when the synth’s Binaural Mode is engaged, which gives each stereo channel its own voice with independent tuning and modulation. Each of DMNO’s voices runs through a newly-designed Dynamic Multi-Core Stereo VCF with LP, HP, BP, all-pass and phase shifter modes, overdrive, keyboard tracking and multiple routing options. DMNO features a 32-bit DSP digital effects engine that covers delay, reverb, EQ, overdrive, distortion and chorus.

DMNO is equipped with a 44-key Fatar keybed with channel aftertouch and a two-axis bender, and can be programmed via its 64-step sequencer and multi-mode arpeggiator. The synth also boasts a high-contrast electroluminescent vacuum fluorescent display – a first for UDO, who opted to go screenless on their previous synths. DMNO is available in black and white editions, the latter giving off some unmistakable Oberheim Two Voice vibes.

On the connectivity front, DMNO has a ton of options: it’s outfitted with a built-in, 2-in/2-out 24-bit USB digital audio interface, and its external audio input has a variable-gain preamp that can be hooked up to an envelope follower in the synth’s modulation matrix. An auxiliary output can be assigned to either synth, USB audio from a connected host, or the effects bus. You’ve also got MIDI In, Out and Thru, two user-assignable outputs for CV and gate/clock, and jacks for footswitch, volume pedal and expression pedal.

We’ve grown accustomed to expecting great things from UDO: the Super 6, Super 8 and Super Gemini brought together sound quality, playability and innovation in lovingly-crafted instruments that left us deeply impressed. DMNO builds on the dual-synth concept UDO introduced with the Super Gemini, taking this to the next level with its creative Play Modes, flexible signal path and Dynamic Multi-Core Stereo filter. We can’t wait to get our hands on it.

“All DMNO’s features come together to form an instrument more than the sum of its parts – one that fully embodies, and elevates, the UDO ethos: ‘The Power of Play’,” reads UDO's press release. “Where the Super Series synths knock politely and enter with elegance, DMNO kicks the door down. It is unapologetically bold, deeply expressive, and (most importantly) immensely fun.”

DMNO will retail at £2,499/€2,969/$3,500 and will be available later in the year.

Find out more on UDO's website.