At the 2018 NAMM Show, Sonicware introduced the ELZ_1 synthesizer.
We talked with the Sonicware team, who gave us an overview and demo of the new mobile synth.
The Sonicware ELZ_1 synthesizer offers multiple sound engines:
- FM SYNTH (4 operators with feedback and detuning)
- 8BIT WAVE MEMORY SYNTH (waveform editing and morphing with FM mode)
- DNA EXPLORER (extract and generate waveforms from audio)
- SiGRINDER (granular synthesizer engine)
- STANDARD OSC (sin, square, triangle and saw waves)
- LOW-BIT OSC (sin, square, triangle and saw waves)
For more information, see the Sonicware site.
whoa awesome $499…. I am going to save my pennies- .
Get the hell out of here. That must be a typo!
What “typo”?
wow!! thats a lot cheaper than the OverPriced-1
In my experience, these comments generally come from people who have never played the OP-1.
sir, you are incorrect.
Lol. Cheaper yes. Similar? It’s not much like the op1. They are both digital synths. This one has no four track, no sequencers, I don’t think there’s a drum synth, no effects and no sampling or resampling either unless I missed something. Love using the OP1 for these features and its crazy sound.
it has a sampler – that is one of the things that is super cool about it – you can sample and use them for granular and fm (not sure if you can use it on the wavetable)- the sounds out of this are super cool
I sure wish it had a multitrack sequencer in it. I LOVE my OP-1 but wish it had a three octave keyboard, four more tracks, and a 40 min recording time. The Sonicware hits one out of the three …
also btw i read that it does have effects – rev/delay/chorus/overdrive/distortion – so essentially just no drumsynth or sequencer as of now
A much better deal than the Digitone. Look foward to seeing full reviews and demos of this.
This is great and a great price. One of the few synths ide pay full price for new.
Just to clarify, the ELZ_1 was designed as a synth, not a workstation like the OP-1.
The AUX IN jack can be used to sample for the DNA EXPLORER and SiGRINDER engines. At the time of the show, those samples were not usable in the 8BIT WAVE MEMORY SYNTH morphing mode (“wavetable”). This is one of several features along with a sequencer and more modulation options that might be considered for the release version.
The ELZ_1 has 6-voice polyphony but is not multitimbral.
If you are interested in the further development of the ELZ_1 as it approaches release, I encourage you to visit a new forum where you can directly ask questions and provide feedback.
https://www.sonicware.jp/forum/elz-1-forum
Dr. Yu Endo’s goal has been a synth that is both easy to understand and can quickly produces unusual sounds. He is also interested in the ideas and opinions of potential users and his development process continues to be comparatively open.
I helped present the synth at NAMM, but am not part of the development team, so please direct questions to the above forum!