Metasonix the infamous and overdrived manufacturer of weird tube effects for synths and guitars is currently finishing the last jobs on an all tube synth based on his own designs. It's not the first time Eric Barbour is going along the synthesizer way but it's his largest to date : 2 all tubes VCO, a waveshaper, a multimode VCF (Low Pass, treble/mid bandpass, and bass bandpass) all tubes (there must be somme idea behind that), 2 enveloppes A(S)R and AR, which can be combined as ADSR, a VCA featuring a Pentode, 2 LFO, and 2 modulation busses, a joystick and multiple patch points as the S-1000 is half-modular.
Note that the VCO are tracking over a Hz/V mode and that 6AL7 "magic eye" tubes give you indications on the envelopes and LFOs CVs. In all, 11 tubes are in this beast. It's pure future-retro synth in a 20 pounds fashion (mains are supplied thru an AC external adapter). My only concern is that in the available pic of the prototype, some controls are near the tubes which may end into some hot fingers… ;)
The S-1000 is a 6U, 3 inches deep beast, and should ship by mid 2006 for an expected price of $2500, an optional MIDI2CV internal interface will be available for $300.
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