The Synth Programmer will be offered in 6 Editions, each carefully designed and programmed to get the most of the targeted synthesizer. It is NOT possible to swap the editions directly on the programmer. This would not make any sense – the faceplate would not match anymore. The Matrix does not have any Wave Envelope and the Microwaves Oscillators have no Crossmodulation e.g. But you can dump any edition into the programmer, so you can safely try out all the others. We also will offer faceplates separately. If you decide to permanently swap to another edition – no problem.
The Edition for Matrix is dedicated to the Oberheim Matrix 1000/6 and 6R with all available firmwares from Oberheim, Gligli or Rob Grieb. You can set your target synth (M1000 or 6) and the firmware you are running in the PREFS of the Synth Programmer – the Programmer’s firmware was explicitly optimized for each synth/firmware combination. Of course the modulations matrix can be edited without restrictions and is quickly accessable with the 4 Encoders – one for Slot, Source, Target and Amount. There are some nifty features here: temporarily disable the currently displayed (or all) modulations. Or change the currently displayed modulation value very quick with the dedicated ‘VALUE’ or ‘ZERO’ pots. Besides the powerful Chord Memory the Edition for Matrix also offers a parametrized Randomizer.
The edition for Waldorf Microwave offers full access to all of the 165 Single parameters. To easily manage the fixed modulations we developed a clever system: press the MOD button, turn the pot with the modulation parameter you want to change (printed in blue) and you got all the “Mod Src/Mod Ctrl/Mod Amnt” parameters on screen, directly accessable thru the 4 encoders. There is also a decent MULTI mode: assign any of the Microwave’s Multi-Instrument parameters to one of the 4 pot-rows on the right programmer’s side, e.g. Detune, Transpose, Pan and Volume. The pots now offer direct editing for the first 6 instruments. For the 3 rows to the left you can choose any CC# to be sent on the Midichannel of these first 6 instruments. Selecting Sound Programs making use of these CC# as modulation sources turns the Microwave in combination with the Synth Programmer into a real modulation monster.
The edition for the Roland MKS-80 is the brandnew alternative to overprized and battered MPG-80s from the bay. From what we heard, the original MPG-80 should behave somewhat sluggy in combination with the MKS-80. Not so the Synth Programmer: all parameter-changes happen immediately and smooth as a hot knive running through butter. In addition you can remote the most important parameters by ordinary midi CC messages. All possibilites of the MPG-80 are supported – we did not forget the blue parameters like e.g. BALANCE or OCTAVE SHIFT. They also got blue knob caps :-)
The edition for Waldorf Pulse 1 will offer a dedicated knob for each parameter, except Triggermode ENV 1 & 2 which have to share one. Although the count of knobs and parameters would have fitted exactly we prefered having a DRIVE knob instead of wasting the last one for Env 2 Triggermode. DRIVE allows to raise or lower the level of all 3 Oscillators together without changing their level’s relation. Very helpful for tuning the filter overdrive of the Pulse. The edition also supplies Octave + and – buttons, a paraphonic mode, saving 25 additional patches (with names) and much more to make things easier with the Pulse 1. With firmware 1.6 the Programmer supports all features of the “Selector” from Virtual Music.
The Edition for Rhodes Chroma finally gives the Chroma-Fans direct access to the sound of this impressively beautiful sounding flagship. The programmer easily syncs itself on selecting a program on the Chroma and displays all the values for algorythms or modulation sources on it’s 16×2 OLED character display. A Chroma program has 50 parameters (95 if you count A and B separately), the Programmer just offers 45 knobs. Some parameters therefore have to share a dial, the function can easily be switched with encoder 1 (‘Para Swap’). The buttons ‘Edit A’ and ‘Edit B’ got the same functionality as the buttons on the Chroma itself, they also can be switched on alltogether for setting paras of A & B to the same value in one step. The Programmer’s ‘Relative’ feature goes beyond: time and tuning-relevant parameters are just shifted then, remaining the parameter offset between A and B. The Programmer for Chroma only works if you got the CC+ interface.
Due to popular demand the edition for Sequential Prophet VS was following in january 2019. The endless pressing of knobs to adjust all the point’s levels and rates has come to an end. The workflow is as easy as it is on the Chroma’s edition: just select any PROGRAM on your VS and the Programmer gets the suitable parameter data automatically – the Program’s original values will be displayed when you start to turn the knobs. You will get a much easier access to the Prophet’s powerful arpeggiator as well as the modulation matrix’s switches and depths. The Programmer offers many practical features, e.g. the oscillator’s waveforms are only selected and brought to screeen when touching their knobs to avoid unwanted drastical sound changes. They can be changed then with the encoders.
