Erica Synths Fusion Drone System Preview: The First Two Modules

If you’re into drones, esoteric soundscapes and steampunk aesthetic you should keep an eye on the upcoming Erica Synths Fusion Drone System, a new tube-based eurorack modular synth system.

I recently had great fun with their Polivoks-inspired Acid Box ii and it looks like the Fusion Drone System will be another unique hit from the Latvian company.

The first two modules announced are Fusion VCO and Fusion Delay/Flanger/Vintage Ensemble.

Fusion VCO
According to the company, Fusion VCO “fuses good tuning of digital VCO with warm, unique sound of vacuum tubes that work in suboscillator circuit. Two double triodes in bistable latch connection act as suboscillators: -1 and -2 octaves with plenty of mixing opportunities for amazing sonic results. External audio signal can replace internal VCO.”

Main features:

• 3 basic waveforms (sine, triangle and pulse) with VC morphing, for example,
• triangle morphs from sawtooth to ramp
• 1V/oct tuning for 8 octaves
• Vacuum tube based suboscillators -1 and -2 oct
• Manual and CV controlled -1/-2 oct mixing
• Adjustable suboscillator waveshape
• Dry/Wet (VCO/suboscillators) mixing
• Passive Lowpass filter for extreme subbass sound
• Audio input

Read more here

Price: 425€ (ex. VAT)

Fusion Delay/Flanger/Vintage Ensemble
This is a multifunctional analogue effects module that combines BBD chip based effects with an adjustable tube overdrive in the delay output and feedback path for extra thickness of sound. For more flexibility, lowpass filtering is fully adjustable from none to extreme.

A special feature, not usually found in eurorack modules, is the Vintage Stereo Ensemble effect, common on vintage synthesizers to create moving and thick spatial sound from a monaural tone generator, be it VCO, FM, DCO or any other kind. Such spatial effect is achieved by mixing dry source with delayed and lowpass filtered out of phase signal.

Main features:

• 2 BBD chips (1024 and 4096 stages)
• Delay and Flanger effects
• Vintage Ensemble Stereo effect
• Tube overdrive in the delay output and feedback path
• Dry/Wet mixing
• Passive Lowpass filter for extreme subbass sound

Read more here.

Price: 375€ (ex. VAT)

Availability
Almost all modules including two key modules – Fusion VCO and Fusion Delay/Flanger/Vintage Ensemble – of the Fusion Drone System are already available and will be shipped after August 22nd.
Available from www.ericasynths.lv and leading retailers worldwide.