Modal Electronics have today announced the Skulpt synthesiser, a polyphonic virtual analogue synth based on the voice architecture of their affordable CRAFTsynth range. Being launched on Kickstarter next week (Friday 13) with a projected price of under $300, the Skulpt synthesiser is the first in a new range of products from the British synth makers.
The new synth features four voices of polyphony with eight oscillators per voice, FM, Ring Modulator and Pulse width modulation. In terms of modulation, it’s packing a serious punch, too, with eight modulation slots, with eight sources and thirty seven destinations, three envelope generators for Filter, Amp and Mod as well as two LFOs that function into audio rate and can be sync’ed via MIDI.
The filter is a two-pole (12dB/oct) resonant, morphable modelled state variable type, with low-pass, band-pass and high-pass filters all on offer.
On top of all that, there are on-board effects in the shape of a MIDI-syncable Delay section and waveshaping distortion for giving your synth parts both space and grit.
Direct note control is via a 16-key keypad, but can also be controlled with the Skulpt Synthesiser’s sequencer with realtime polyphonic note input or indeed the integral arpeggiator.
MIDI in, out and thru are catered for on 5-pin DIN connectors as well as via USB, and the audio output is available on a 3.5mm master output and dedicated headphone output.
Portability seems to be high on Modal’s priorities with power being delivered either by USB or six AA batteries. It also weighs less than 1kg with batteries — a fully charged set allegedly giving you over 12 hours of continuous play.
One of the really neat things about the new Skulpt synthesiser is its integration with the MODALapp editor which provides complete visual access and control to all of Skulpt's incredible features, along with tight integration of Modal’s CRAFT synth and CRAFTrhythm devices letting you work across your Modal instruments with one unified editing environment on the platform of choice including MacOSX, Windows or iOS & Android.
