Clank Uranograph: What in the World Is This Amazing-Sounding Machine?
Once you hear it you're definitely going to want it.
5,0 / 5,0 | 
Part classical instrument, part envelope-pushing synthesizer, part effects processor, the Clank Uranograph is a weird, wild and wonderful machine.
Clank Uranograph
I admit it: I dropped the ball. I’ve been seeing the Clank Uranograph pop up on Instagram and the occasional YouTube video, but with all of the other Superbooth things happening, I let it slip past me. Today, I finally had a chance to check it out, and whoah, this thing looks amazing. No wonder Sonic State awarded it best in show at this year’s Superbooth.
Clank Uranograph: A Modern Classical Instrument
The first thing you’ll notice with the Clank Uranograph is its unusual shape. That’s because the Clank team designed it to be as much of an instrument in and of itself as a synthesizer, though it is very much that too. But more on that later. First, let’s look at it as a performance instrument.
The five-voice Uranograph features dual pressure-sensitive keyboards, each with six ‘keys.’ They’re equipped with velocity and aftertouch, though not MPE, it appears, though the website does that it’s “MPE-inspired.” Each press gives you a continuous and organic sound variation, making it possible to shape phrases “naturally, much like on stringed or wind instruments,” according to Clank. Default pressure is routed to the VCA/filter while the envelope sustains volume – though you can set up other routings as well.
The keyboard on the Clank Uranograph supports non-standard tunings, with 50-plus keyboard layouts ranging from ethnic scales to microtonal divisions pre-loaded. You can also customize your own by setting each key to a unique frequency.
Clank Uranograph: Control Keyboard
The Uranograph also offers a control keyboard for dynamic sound modulation. This is instead of traditional controls like modulation wheels. It’s divided into three sections: Articulation, which allows for glissandi, staccato and other note performance changes; Octave Shift for transposition and pitch bends; and ModKeys, which act like macro controls for affecting multiple destinations at the same time.
Clank Uranograph: Synthesis
Uranograph is, at its heart, a five-oscillator synthesizer, with a synthesis engine that combines additive and phase morphing synthesis derived from sine waves. You can affect the sines in terms of their size with phase warping and spectral expansion, tilt for Casio CZ-style phase distortion, and via wave folding. Additionally, you can multiply the core oscillator into three voices to make chord shapes.
Uranograph also features a sub-oscillator, a dedicated modulation oscillator capable of going into audio rate as a fifth voice, and a VCA/low pass gate filter hybrid with self oscillation.
You can save presets, with eight banks of 12 presets each for a total of 96.
Clank Uranograph: Effects and Looping
The instrument also features DSP-based effects, with each designed to incorporate into the sound and playability of the instrument. The delay changes from Karplus-Strong-style resonances at low values to a BPM-synced delay at higher ones. The reverb also transforms as you increase intensity, from room-like responses to massive cloud-like textures.
The last piece of the puzzle is a dual looper for live performances. You can run these one at a time, together or independently at different beat divisions. There’s also a metronome routed to the headphones to stay in time when performing.
Conveniently, there’s an audio-in jack, allowing you to process external audio through the delay, reverb and twin loopers.
Clank Uranograph: Price and Availability
Clank Uranograph looks like a fantastic and forward-thinking instrument. It also sounds just incredible, sometimes like a traditional synthesizer but often very much not like one. Check it out in the demo videos to hear it in action.
Clank is currently taking pre-orders for the first batch, which it hopes to ship by the end of the summer. The usual price is €2240, but if you pre-order no,w you can get one at a discount price of €1552.
More Information
This might also interest you
