Plankton Electronics has released a new mini modular synth on Kickstarter called Ants!
The small desktop analogue instrument looks not too dissimilar to the Make Noise 0-Coast thanks to its diminutive form-factor and, judging by the video on the Kickstarter page, it could be a just as immersive and fun.
Ants!' retail price will be €480, which is just a fraction of the cost of a basic Eurorack modular system. The unit is 100%-compatible with the EurorackV/Oct voltage system and 3.5mm patching cords, so can be expanded with most of the Eurorack modules available in the market.
You can pledge for Ants! now on the Planktron Electronics Kickstarter page, with super early-bird prices starting at €419.
Ants! features
- 4 Oscillators: yes, 4! V/Oct triangle-core oscillators. 2 of them switchable to LFO. Combining sinusoidal, triangle, saw, square and pulse with PWM. Play chords, detuned basses, octaved leads, drums, and frequency modulated sounds.
- 2 LFOs: 2 low frequency oscillators with triangle, square and pulse outputs.
- VCF: switchable analog 12dB low-pass / 6db high-pass filter with resonance. At high input volumes it distort the signal. Self oscillating. It can sound crystal clear or really dirty.
- 2 A/R envelopes: 2 attack - release envelopes with manual and external controls. Working at different times.
- Mixer: 3 input mixer. Mix oscillators, envelopes, noise or any other AC or DC signal.
- 2 VCAs: control the level of the signals with 2 analog VCAs.
- Noise: a white noise source!
- Sample and Hold: create random voltages, stepped sequences or dither your sounds or even your own voice.
- AND gate: logic AND gate. Combine oscillators to create new waves, combine LFOs to create different patterns or mix your control signals to create complex modulations.
- MIDI to CV: connect any MIDI keyboard, sequencer or computer and transform the digital signal to analog voltages for controlling the synth.
- 49 patch points, 28 potentiometers, 5 switches and 8 leds.
- Normalised: Some connections are already made between some functions. Just connect your Midi or CV controller and play the synth without patching it. You can break any connection by plugging a patch cord to the normalised input.
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