Behringer is already knocking out new hardware synthesizers at a pretty astonishing rate, but it now transpires that new technology developed by its sister company Coolaudio could make it even easier for it to create compact analogue polysynths, presumably at pretty affordable prices.
We’re talking specifically about the V3397, which is billed as ‘an analogue synthesizer on a chip’. A data sheet posted on Facebook describes this as “a complete system for the generation and processing of audio waveforms in electronic musical instruments.”
The chip provides two independent waveform oscillators, a voltage-controller mixer, and a four-pole voltage-controlled filter with voltage-controllable resonance. There are also four VCAs.
Each oscillator can access multiple waveforms and offers continuously variable waveshaping and pulse width modulation. The new chip is an evolution of the Curtis CEM3396 chip, which was used in some of Oberheim’s Matrix synths.
In response to a question, Behringer says that, as well as appearing in its own products, the chip will be made available for sale on the Coolaudio website.
How long we’ll have to wait for the first V3397 synths remains to be seen, but Behringer is telling us to “stay tuned”...
