UVI has announced PX Apollo – a new software synth, based on a rare synthesizer prototype from the early ‘70s, of which only 2 are known to exist. (aka, the Moog Apollo).
UVI notes:
The PX Apollo project represents an enormous effort and commitment to quality on many levels.
Due to the components available at the time of their design, early polyphonic synthesizers were and remain particularly susceptible to failure and require continued maintenance. The unit used for PX Apollo was no exception, initially inoperable, it required a tremendous restoration effort and no expense was spared to ensure complete authenticity and original functionality.
Here’s the official intro video:
Each key was sampled in a multitude of configurations and for each, 4 round-robins were created per note. The resulting PX Apollo sound bank consists of over 4,000 samples. From this library over 150 patches were made.
The UI for PX Apollo was inspired by the aesthetics of the original hardware, while the layout and control schema were designed to provide intuitive and efficient use while maximizing flexibility. According to the developer, it’s designed for both quick edits to preset sounds and deep customization, by way of a full compliment of synthesis tools and effects. This includes: 3 oscillators, envelope generators, high-quality filters, pitch and stereo controls and per-oscillator modulation and arpeggiation.
Here are the official audio demos:
PX Apollo is available now, with an introductory price of US $49, through January 31st, 2016.
Cool idea. Strange to have a retro synth that pretty much no one has ever heard. You can’t say you’re buying it for the “classic sounds” that “everyone knows”.
Definitely grabs attention. Even the showcase tracks gives an original feeling. Hard to say they are ‘unheard’ but they are promising for new retro-experiments.
That is the sort of stuff I’d like to see more. Con Brio ADS200, ASE MCS 70 – there’s a lot of synth enigmas which many heard about but almost nobody played.
Would like to know what happened to the original.
The marketing seems to indicate that the “PX” line is new and will represent other prototype instruments. I’m far more interested in what is probably to come than this one.
Indeed !
“PX Apollo marks the first release of our PX Prototype Series, exploring the oft veiled world of unique, fringe and unreleased electronic and acoustic instruments.”
Bring me a credible emulation of a Voyetra 8 already.
Is this not a Polymoog being sampled? All the graphics indicate a Polymoog style clone. I had one for about 5 years, and it sounded great, weighed an absolute ton, and always needed a soldering iron plugged in nearby. There was a later model called the Polymoog Keyboard, which looked pretty much the same, but was more preset based, and cheaper. The presets on the original Polymoog were unplayable, requiring too much hammering to use the “velocity sensitive” facility. Appollomoog?