Erica Synths is one of those companies we really admire. Not only they make great, solid products, but over the years they kept growing keeping a healthy balance between production, sustainability and work ethos (see our recent post about FENESTRA).
Last but not least, they don’t rely on rumours or other annoying marketing strategies to sell their products. In most cases, they announce their new modules and instruments only when they are about to ship, and when they announce something in advance, you can make sure it’s A) something REALLY worth announcing and B) it’s not going to take years to develop or worse, be vaporware.
In September 2019 Erica Synths announced SYNTRX, a self-contained EMS Synthi AKS-inspired analogue synth with digitally controlled patch matrix, created with the collaboration of engineers from the Riga Technical University (according to Erica, no part of schematics is cloned from Synthi AKS). Here are the main features of the instrument:
- 3 highly accurate VCOs that track great over 8 octaves
- Noise generator with “color” filter
- Resonant VCF
- Ring modulator
- Spring reverb
- ASR/AD looping envelope generator
- Joystick controller
- Input amplifier with adjustable gain
- 3 VCAs
- Sample & Hold circuit with an individual clock
- Output signal filter
- Mechanical CV/audio signal level indicator
- MIDI In and MIDI Thru
- Built-in speakers
The Time Is Now
SYNTRX was supposed to be available within Q1 2020, but COVID-19 forced the Latvian company to postpone the release until… now!
The good news is that SYNTRX is now available worldwide & ships with no back-logs, available both directly through Erica Synths and their global retail partners.
Here’s an extensive demo of the instrument’s capabilities:
And here’s Hainbach going over the features of SYNTRX:
Pricing
As you can hear in the above videos, SYNTRX (like the original Synthi) is definitely a peculiar instrument, ideal for sonic travellers – it also comes with built-in speakers!
You can get one of these lovely instruments for €2500 + VAT. Learn more about it on the Erica Synths website.
FYI: if you would rather invest your money in an actual EMS synth – and don’t mind paying approx. double the price of SYNTRX and possibly waiting a few years to get one – the British company is still alive and kicking (albeit run by different people).
Check out the EMS website and contact them for pricing and waiting lists.
