Modal Electronics has produced some big and expensive analogue synths, but its latest project is a small and affordable digital one. Or should we say your project, for the CRAFTsynth is something that you need to build yourself.
This is a monophonic eight-knob instrument that we're told can be put together without the need to solder in less than 10 minutes. There are two oscillators per voice, though the unison/spread mode enables you to split each oscillator into four separate detunable sub oscillators, effectively giving you eight (got that?).
There's also an LFO with six destinations, a resonant low-pass filter and delay and distortion effects. The instrument can be played from a five-note touch panel, though the CRAFTsynth can also send and receive MIDI over USB. There's a CRAFTapp app in the offing, too, which will enable you to change the state of the filter and get "in-depth" with your synthesis.
The CRAFTsynth can be powered by USB or batteries and sports headphone and line outputs. It's available exclusively from Gear4music and can be pre-ordered now for £79, with delivery expected to be on 14 December.
Modal Electronics CRAFTsynth features
- Monophonic DSP based self assembly synthesiser, requires no soldering or electronics skills, tools or knowledge
- 2 oscillators per voice
- Mixer stage for osc levels
- Unison / spread mode that splits the oscillators into four separate sub oscillators per oscillator giving you a total of eight oscillators, de-tunable for a huge sound
- LFO with six destinations (VCA amplitude, filter cutoff, FM amount, OSC mix, PWM amount, pitch/frequency
- Four LFO wave forms (each invertible)
- LFO auto syncs to MIDI clock if present
- Resonant low pass filter (if using the CRAFTapp, state variable BP & LP also possible)
- 16 recallable EG presets for ease of use
- 16 patch storage locations
- Playable touch panel interface with five note keys plus controls for scale and glide time
- Delay and distortion (wavehsaping overdrive, not bitcrushing) effects
- Class compliant MIDI provided over USB connection to host computer or tablet
- Headphone and line output
- Power by USB or optional AA battery pack (Adafruit 727, 3 x AAA pack)
