Tasty Chips Electronics has announced that their new Saw Bench Synthesizer is being made available via a Kickstarter project.
The Saw Bench Synthesizer is a highly portable and affordable monosynth, with a 100% analog signal path.
Here’s a demo of the Saw Bench Synthesizer in action:
Features:
- Small and portable, yet ergonomic. Focus on hands-on controls with good grouping and spacing.
- A four-pole diode ladder VCF, with high resonance and even self-oscillation
- Separate ADSR envelopes for VCA and VCF
- LFO with 3 waveforms, plus a Sample & Hold, for VCF
- Frequency Modulation for deep growling bass sounds
- Manual controls such for Env and LFO enable, waveform selection, ADSR mode / LFO switching
- MIDI controls of all digital features (envelopes, VCF cutoff, LFO, etc)
- Sturdy metal casing.
The Saw Bench Synthesizer is being made available to backers for 100 Euro, including shipping to anywhere in the world. See the project site for details.
I love diode ladder filters (think SH-101) and this thing sounds pretty big for a 1 OSC synth.
Intro with dubstep tune: check
Diode ladder was made to get by MOOG’s patent on the transistor ladder. TB-303 is a diode ladder since the transistor is wired as a diode. Superb sounds!
Hope for another case, some friendly design.
Is this a kit?
for 100 bucks that FM sounds nice enough 😛 along with the rest
diode ladder filter is very appealing! Not enough modern options with that. I think the Bass Station 2, Macbeth Elements and some modular is it
Sounds awfully good and bordering on amazing for that price. I didn’t actually hear any self oscillation on the filter though and the resonance looked like it was cranked.
Two small layout tweaks would, to me anyway, make this way more playable. 1) The state lights should be lined up with the rows to make happy brains; seems just kinda silly as is. 2) Not that it’s in the Bible or anything but resonance before cutoff is backwards from every other synth I own (or have owned).
Tiny things but the sorts of things that make you think for a second instead of just playing.
It’s insane the sort of magic that is going on in the under $150 range. This, a Meeblip, a Volca Sampler (drums), a cheap Craigslist midi controller and a Beatstep 2 and the kids will be making magic for what, 700-800 bucks. Crazy talk.
The pictures of the back of the box really confuse me. What are all the extra ports for? Is there an audio input? That would seem an important feature, but it’s nowhere mentioned in the specs or anywhere else on the kickstarter page. If not, what does the FM operate on since there’s only one oscillator? What’s the other big port next to MIDI, and the little hole below that?
Exactly why isn’t that a midi through? Shouldn’t an arduino be able to do midi through? Oh well I kickstarted it anyway. Take my money.