Wait, So There Is A New Synthex?

There's been a deal of confusion surrounding the re-issue or not of the Elka Synthex - the Finnish businessman Jukka Kulmala who bought the remains of General Music, was going to re-boot the original, but the Indiegogo campaign was botched and did not reach funding goals. We also heard the original designer Mario Maggi was considering taking his designs of the original (which he claimed were still owned by him) and building something new.

This appears now to be the case, although we are still in the pre-orders phase - eg: nothing actually exists yet. Mario has created the Synthex 2 - not the original but a "totally new design using the latest technologies".

Which it seems he is doing. Via the website Synthex.it - plans are afoot to create a completely new Synthex in keyboard, desktop, rack and expander versions. Sign up to register your interest and be on the pre-order list. Prices and timings are yet to be made public.

Thanks to SynthJam for the spot

Preliminary and partial specifications

Polyphony

• 16 Voices

Versions

• 61-note-keyboard
• Keyboard-less tabletop
• 1 Rack Unit expander
• Portable expander

Keyboard

• 61-note-keyboard FATAR TP-8 weighted with Key Velocity and Channel Aftertouch

Joystick

• Freely assignable bipolar XY axis

LCD Display

• 854 x 480 pixels – 5 inch LCD color display for advanced editing of control panel and additional parameters

Voice Layering

• Whole Mode with 16 voice polyphony
• Split Mode with Upper and Lower parts, 8 voices each
• Double Mode with Upper and Lower parts, 8 voices each
• Unison Mode with variable voice number

Oscillators

• 2 Oscillators per voice
• Extended cross modulation between oscillators
• High number of available waveforms

Filter

• Multi-mode filter with extended filtering modes

Waveshapers

• PRE Filter Waveshaper
• POST Filter Waveshaper

Chorus

• Full set of editable parameters

Envelope Generators

• 8 EGs per voice
• 8 segments per each EG
• Each segment is freely assignable to Note On or Note Off events
• Each EG can be used for LFO level shaping

Wide range LFOs

• 8 LFOs per voice
• Each LFO output can be shaped with EG

Sequencer

• LCD based quick programming/editing
• 4 polyphonic tracks
• Step by step or real time recording mode
• Internal TTL Sync Output
• External TTL Sync Input
• MIDI Sync

Arpeggiators

• Independent Arpeggiators for Lower and Upper parts
• Arpeggiators can be used in combination with the internal Sequencer

Rear Panel

• On/Off Switch
• 18V DC IN for external PSU
• USB-B connection for a PC editor
• RJ45 for external expansion box (CV/Trigger/Gate)
• MIDI In
• Midi Out
• Sync In TTL
• Sync Out TTL
• CV1 In
• CV2 In
• Expression Pedal 1
• Expression Pedal 2
• Upper Left Audio Out
• Upper Right Audio Out
• Lower Left Audio Out
• Lower Right Audio Out
More Information

• synthex.it