Erica Synths SYNTRX

I got to play around with one at middle school in West London some time in the late 1970s, but have yet to encounter another, sadly.

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I doubt it.

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Well, as they said, it’s not a Synthi or Synthi clone - it’s a new design inspired by Synthi.

Looks like you use 2 knobs to select a pin connection in the matrix, like the Etch a Sketch toy popular in the US. One is marked with horizontal arrows, the other vertical. Those who have an OP-1 can try the Sketch sequencer as it’s a similar idea.

I’d have to try it in person to see how usable it actually is.

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Yea that’s a big bummer! Getting across the matrix will be a pain if it’s done by just those two knobs. Takes a lot of the performance aspect away.

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Scrolling trough the pach points isn’t as fun as sticking pins in the holes, bit it isn’t much slower, and you get saving pach points as a bonus. Which leads me to a question, is it just patch points saving or is it the whole patch ?

I wonder if every nun needs this?

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Good question. I don’t see mention of saving of the entire configuration (osc. shape, S&H rate, etc.) or just the patch points.

I have not yet seen anyone who owns a real Synthi or at least uses iVCS3 on iPad a lot confirming that frequent changes to the pin matrix during live performance is a typical situation.

I’ve seen several concerts featuring a modular/semi-modular played live, but I’ve only seen one performer frequently re-patching a modular throughout a song - as in actually unplugging and re-plugging patch cables - and that was Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. She was doing that while singing at the same time too, which was impressive - at least to me. In most shows I’ve seen featuring a modular, the performer moves a patch cable maybe like 3 times in a 10 minute span.

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That makes sense if the matrix is small. Still seems like a bottleneck/pain-point in the workflow, though probably faster than patch cables? I won’t knock it until I try it.

Looks nice if a touch pointless, by that I mean the whole thing with a VCS3/Synthi is the classic sound, the circuits are not particularly complicated, quite the opposite in fact. So I don’t see why it needs to take visual design cues from the EMS, I feel the same way about the AS Synthi100 lookalike, it doesn’t replicate the original circuitry either.

If either if them licensed the EMS circuits I’d be interested more.

Well, it’s not a VCS3/Synthi circuit, as has been mentioned several times now.

Synthanatomy’s report (with a bit of speculation mixed in) from Dutch Modular - photos are from different angles/distances than the ones in the other articles. One of the pics shows the back panel - only one CV In and one Gate In.

Stick pins in me!

Only $16,000 US on ebay. A steal, I’m sure

https://www.ebay.com/i/283309964128?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=283309964128&targetid=475515166781&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9008182&poi=&campaignid=6470048288&mkgroupid=79220201682&rlsatarget=aud-298628318826:pla-475515166781&abcId=1141186&merchantid=6296724&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrMHsBRCIARIsAFgSeI17-d_-F73nCyS66vRZtgcuIWzlR8p7BCyCMOtRapY96gmExbCIOB4aAih2EALw_wcB

Cant believe people are wiling to pay so much money for that (sound).

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For me and I really don’t want to admit to myself. I do not like the synthi sound that much. However I think it is fantastic as a sound effect box. I also love the UI. So something like the syntrx is ideal for me. Unfortunately I’m all out of $$

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She is a synth demon live. Much respect for her.

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Video from Dutch Modular. Aside from hearing the sound, you can see him changing “pin” configurations by pressing the buttons between the matrix knobs.

I thought at least one person here owns a real VCS3. If you’re still here, how often do you move those pins around? Once a minute? Every five minutes? Just curious.

It’d be interesting to see how many peeps would have automation of the pin connections vs. physical pins with no automation. Seems like you can only have one choice between the two.

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Good thoughts GovernorSilver.

I like this. There is definitely an advantage to having the patch matrix digital and virtual, especially being able to recall patches. Moving pins around on the original or the potential Behringer product would be slow work to change patches. (The pins in the original did have resistors, that had different color based on resistance.) Also analogous to this is the Arturia Matrixbrute, with the attenuator set with the dial, and immediate access to the matrix points with one touch of a button. (The Matrixbrute made multiple uses of the matrix of course.)

I think the original thought on the Matrixbrute was to have physical patch cables that indicated the connections, but were digitally remembered, but that design was scrapped as too impractical.

Also analogous in a sense is the Erica Synth’s Pico System III in that you have a matrix of connections possible on the plug-in card, and by having multiple cards you can have physical connections remembered, and quickly swap them out. (It’s a lot less expensive, but it’s got those tiny pots.)

The Etch-A-Sketch mode of operation on this looks a little tweaky, like the original E-A-S, but i expect this will get easier as they improve on this design.

I wonder about how a color touch screen might work with this. Is there a Synthi iOS app? – there must be. Or how small could you make (color) LED backed buttons?

It looks like Erica Synths could use some time developing this idea, but they may not have that much if Behringer is really breathing down their necks.

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I think the more I think about it , the more I am lusting for this. Using this for drones and fx live would be amazing.

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https://www.instagram.com/p/B7lwpa3HFN0/?igshid=1sd6370nuwykx

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