Ahead of Superbooth 2023, being held in Berlin May 11-13, Neuzeit Instruments has introduced Warp, a Eurorack synth voice that they say combines the best of additive and wavetable synthesis.

Warp is a monophonic four-voice synth voice that can also be used as an oscillator. With an expander module, it will also be possible to play Warp four-voice polyphonic via MIDI and CV/Gate in the future.

In the center of Warp’s control panel is a colorful XY LED matrix that represents the sound space from which Warp draws its sounds. This XY sound space consists of 32×16 frequency spectra.

Each of Warp’s four voices can move freely and independently across the XY space. It always uses the surrounding frequency spectra to calculate a wavetable based on 512 sine waves in real time using additive synthesis.

With Warp’s SPEC effects, the frequency spectrum can be filtered and deformed in realtime before a wavetable is calculated. The wavetable can then be modified with WARP effects like wavefolder, PWM bend, overdrive and redux. The resulting wavetable serves as source for two oscillators per voice, which can be detuned and also synchronized to each other. Each voice is followed by a 12/24dB/octave high pass and low pass filter.

Warp offers an integrated editor, with which you can draw and modify your own frequency spectra. The XY-Sound Space is seen as a canvas on which you can draw your own frequency peaks. Several drawing algorithms are available as tools to edit single or a group of harmonics in a musically meaningful way. There is also the possibility to derive frequency spectra from audio samples from the SD card or to put whole wavetable audio files into the XY sound space.

The XY sound space can be exported to the SD card as a wavetable audio file of any length and bit depth, so Warp can also be used as a wavetable generator for other synthesizers.

Warp also features two internal ADSR envelopes and two LFOs, which can be routed to a variety of internal destinations using a modulation matrix. All modulations are color-coded and are additionally visualized by pulsating LEDs in the modulation matrix view.

Navigation through the menu is done via a push-encoder and a back button. The display always shows which function the four surrounding aluminum encoders currently have, and colored LEDs next to the encoders provide visual assistance.

Features:

• 4 Voices with 2 oscillators using a hybrid additive-wavetable synth engine
• Big knobs act as macro controls for underlying parameters
• Polyphonic with expander, monophonic as standalone unit
• Usable as a full synth voice or as an oscillator module
• Additive synthesis with 512 sine waves per oscillator = 4096 sine waves in total
• XY sound space as a collection of 32×16 frequency spectra
• Each voice travels independently across the XY space and uses the underlying spectra to synthesize a wavetable in real-time
• Spectral FX are applied on the spectrum before a wavetable is generated
• Wavetable FX are applied once the wavetable is generated, e.g. Wavefolder, PWM-Bend, Redux, Overdrive
• Two Post-Filters per voice: 12/24dB Lowpass and Highpass with resonance control
• Independent oscillator settings per voice, e.g. volume, pitch, stereo pan, detune, sync, X/Y position
• Integrated modulation by 2x ADSR, 2x LFO with many waveforms
• Modulation matrix view to see everything that is going on at once
• Integrated editor for playful drawing of own frequency spectra
• Algorithms for musically meaningful drawing of harmonics
• Generation of frequency spectra from audio grains of audio files on the SD card
• Import and export of wavetables as audio files from or for other synthesizers
• Saving and recalling presets
• Stereo out, 24 bit audio out, 32 bit internally
• V/Oct and VCA inputs operate in audio range for AM/FM modulation

Pricing and Availability:

See the Neuzeit site for details.