8-voice poly (with poly aftertouch), 3 OSC wavetable synth with 5 LFOs, 5 EGs and 32-mod slots. A collection of interesting filters (serial or parallel + routing) and 2 of the oscillators come with all the dressings and more:
FM, multiple PWM modes (on any shape), wavescan, sync modes, wave stacking (detune per oscillator — does not use up voices.) Ring mod on oscillator 3.
Built in FX, full band audio-rate CV input and (mod source can also be routed through filters + FX), macros and all kinds of stuff.
Desktop model is $800USD, I think the keyboard version is something like twice that.
It’s digital, but there’s no escaping that with a wavetable synth. The only thing I can think to complain about is it being mono-timbral.
Looks extremely powerful in terms of sound crafting and (unlike some powerful keyboards) it also looks very well-designed and straightforward to use. Having mega-ribbon and polyphonic aftertouch will def make the keyboard version stand out as an actual instrument.
That said, a single timbre on a device like this is a bit like driving a Ferrari on 25MPH road.
It is kind of annoying when you think about something like Elektron workflow. Of course they’re thinking you’re gonna get the keyboard and play monster pads on it, but yeah, I wanna hook up my beatstep pro and build a whole track on it.
Still, the sound designer in me is over the moon.
IDK about “mega” but there’s a ribbon controller on the keyboard version. A touch sensitive stripe above the keyboard that you can use for bends or as a theramin which plays independent of the keys.
I wasn’t interested until I saw the Sonic State review, but that desktop unit looks and sounds really nice. Some cool functionality there like the pads to play on for those of us who don’t want keys.
