Midweek Modular: Waiting for the drop and the return of Hades
4,2 / 5,0 | 
Voltage Vibes has us building up and then hanging on that drop while Dreadbox heralds the return of dead synths, and Volt-a-tone does simple things well.
The big news of the week was the Isenin Voice from Black Corporation. It’s a beautifully rendered single Eurorack voice from their tribute to the Roland Jupiter-8. Similar in scope to the Deckard’s Voice but oozing Roland cream rather than CS-80 honey. If it looks like it lacks CV control, that’s because you’ll get all that on an expander module. No price yet, but you can read all about it here.
AMSynths have got all the modules together for their clone of the Roland SH-101. The AM8110 SN-101 VCO completes the set for a fully modular classic synthesizer. Read more about it here.
Midweek Modular
Here are some of the other modular bits and pieces that caught my eye this week.
Voltage Vibes Buildup & Drop Control Unit
The Buildup & Drop (BUD) is an intriguing module. The long fader and big arcade button definitely jump out at you, screaming “this is going to be EPIC!” I’m sure it is. The fader pulls CV from 0 to 10V, and then the button definitely does something; it interrupts the build. There’s something about logical inversions, amounts and offsets, and it feels like this module needs to be seen in action rather than described.
But essentially, you’ve got a button that kills things and a fader that pulls it back up. This is going to be a lot of fun. There’s more to it than that, but I think you get the idea. Also, this is the beginning of a series of modules. This is the Control Unit, and there will be more things that can hang off it waiting for the drop.
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BUD is available as a kit or fully built for €216.59 or €240.79, respectively and you have some choice over the fader cap and knob colours.
Dreadbox Erebus and Hades DIY Eurorack modules
We saw these at Superbooth and at Synthfest, but now we have a firm date for their arrival. This is the resurrection of Dreadbox’s most popular synths in a smarter, Eurorack-compatible form. The Erebus and the Hades are super little synths with tons of character. Erebus leans towards lead and synth sounds with that fabulous built-in delay, whereas the Hades takes on the bass.
Apparently, the marketing is referring to the fully built versions being available on the 15th of November. But if you check through the comments, you’ll discover that the DIY versions with be available on the 8th. DIY, as far as I know, means more like the Moog Mavis, where you screw the thing together, rather than the Dysmetria, where soldering is involved. So, quick and easy DIY – excellent. There are going to be great.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkXsbG_Ai8y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Volt-a-tone Analog Delay and Techdrum
I am loving the knobs on these modules; they are very smart indeed. Two new modules from Volt-a-tone, one is an analogue delay, the other an analogue drum module.
Analog Delay is a Bucket Brigade delay that can normally handle between 20ms and 208ms. But you can also push it with the Tap Tempo and Sync features to around 4 seconds which will plunge it into some seriously lo-fi grit. It has an interesting feedback loop built in for sending out to other effects modules, or you can use it as a wet-signal output. Very smart for $129. I’d quite like to see a kit version.
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TechDrum is 100% analogue drum synth module based (loosely) on a bit of early 80s technology. It has triangle and square waveforms that you can blend between, some bend and a simple envelope. Sounds very effective, with a good bit of snap and Decay of up to 3 seconds. It’s pitchable and FM-able for melodic sounds and modulation. Looks very versatile for $149.
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- Volt-a-tone website.
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