Erica Synths Reviving the Cool 1970s DIY Modular Elektor Formant, More: Synth Journal
The best of the rest of this week’s synth news.
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Erica Synths will be recreating the 1970s DIY modular Elektor Formant system, plus more, in this week’s Synth Journal.
Synth Journal: It’s DIY Modular Time!
Erica Synths Reviving the DIY Modular Elektor Formant
The 1970s were the golden age of DIY modular kits. There were kits from companies like PAiA and Aries, with magazines also offering plans for build-it-yourself systems. One such system was the Elektor Formant, a semi-modular analog synth made available over a series of articles in Dutch magazine Elektor from 1977 to 1978.
Modern musicians looking to get into the DIY modular action are usually at a loss, as these kits were never all that robust to begin with. You may be able to find a complete one from the time, but being built by a hobbyist, there are probably going to be a lot of issues with it. Hope you’re good at synth repair.
Enter Erica Synths. It looks like the company has taken it upon itself to revive the Elektor Formant DIY modular kit, and recently held an event at Look Mum No Computer’s This Museum Is Not Obsolete. They gave themselves 24 hours to solder the whole thing, and it looks like they did it… with an extra minute at the end for good luck.
According to a post on Instagram from participant and artist Jacqnoise, Erica Synths will be officially reviving the Formant as a DIY modular kit. “The complete system will be online soon,” they say, directing interested parties to Erica Synths. Get in touch to make a reservation (link below). No word on price yet.
Other Erica Synths modules and products are available at Thomann*.
Dnipro Modular Radiant 2.0 Firmware Adds 3 New Effects
Radiant, a Eurorack effect module from Dnipro Modular and Sinevibes, has received a firmware update. Firmware 2.0 adds three new Sinevibes-powered effects algorithms to the module, bringing the effects count to 10.
If you’re unfamiliar, Radiant is a multi-effect module capable of both experimental and familiar sounds. The original release offered Dub Delay, Pole Phaser, Chord Wrapper, Feedback Shifter, Distortion, and Re-Trigger, while update 2.0 throws in Holy Reverb, Dust Delay, and Modal Resonator. It also retains the global reverb and its time-synced reverse function.
As always, Radiant allows you to morph between presets and adjust the low, mid, and high frequencies with the three-band filter.
Radiant is available for $380 from the Dnipro Modular site. The update is free for existing owners.
KOMA Elektronik Sensei
Here’s more modular news. It’s not DIY modular-related, but it does involve thinking outside the skiff. Sensei is the latest from KOMA Elektronik. You may know that KOMA offers a wide variety of sensors for its Field Kit. Sensei allows you to use these sensors – or any other generic three-pin Arduino-type sensors you may have – with your larger modular system.
“What if your music could react to the world around it? What if sound wasn’t just about oscillators and filters, but also about light, movement, and touch? Sensei turns the world into a modulator, transforming environmental changes into voltage and control signals for your Eurorack system,” according to KOMA.
To do this, it has two sensor inputs, one for continuous sensors like light and temperature, and one for switch-based triggers. Use these to control various parameters in your rig. It also works without any sensors as a re-triggerable saw envelope generator or a stable voltage source.
Sensei is available now from the KOMA Elektronik site for €169.
Gotharman’s Little deFormer zeRo
You may remember Little deFormer 3 from boutique synth designer Gotharman’s. Due to rising component prices, Gotharman’s has done a redesign on the granular groovebox, adding a number of new parameters and renaming it Little deFormer zeRo.
The instrument, which features 16 parts, eight stereo voices (with dynamic voice allocation), synthesizers, granular samplers, wavetables, a sequencer, granular effects, (optional) analog filter and CV options, now also offers a push-button keyboard with adjustable RGB LEDs, a granular sample player, and new wavetable functionality, among other things.
As with other Gotharman’s products, Little deFormer zeRo is available in a variety of prices depending on whether you want an analog or digital filter and how many sample banks are installed. Prices start at €1261 for the basic model and go up to €2122.
Alex Ball Novation Bass Station Documentary
Soundtrack composer, YouTube star, and all-around nice guy Alex Ball has done it again. This time, it’s a mini-documentary on the Novation Bass Station. Well, that’s what it says in the YouTube description, but it covers so much more than that, including lots of wonderful information on genius UK synth designer Chris Huggett and other Novation instruments.
It’s definitely worth your time to watch it.
Novation synthesizers are available at Thomann*.
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