Another swish‑looking module from RYK Modular. Gorgeous in black with those pin‑prick LEDs and mysterious‑looking endless encoders. The Envy Machine is a four‑channel, five‑function modulation generator that fools you into thinking it’s intuitive when you might need to concentrate and learn some ropes before the enjoyment begins to flow.
The layout appears simple enough. You have a column of three patch points for each channel, and above them is a rather lovely LED strip crowned with an encoder. On the surface is a scattering of words, letters and symbols that seem straightforward, but nothing is exactly as it seems. Each channel can be an ADSR envelope, an AD envelope, an LFO, a random source or a recordable channel of custom CV. The four neat columns are actually an illusion and each channel steals the whole interface for itself. To know what you’re looking at you have to learn what the LED colour and layout means. It’s not hard as such; it just makes a casual approach more difficult.
However, once you get into it, the functionality becomes sublime. You use the blue button to swap between the channels, denoted by a red LED lighting above the corresponding patch sockets. You can then hold the blue button and tap the Opt button to cycle through the modes, which are then represented in the four LED strips. The text means nothing at this stage. Envelope modes are red, with the ADSR lighting all four strips and using all four knobs for the four stages. AD mode lights the first two strips and takes the first two knobs for attack and decay. LFO mode is slightly orange, and you get three LED strips that give rise and fall controls along with an offset. The Random mode remains orange but gets the first and third channels lit for frequency and offset. The last mode is yellow for CV recording, and you get a single strip for that.
The text comes into play when you switch to the green LEDs of Options mode. Pressing the Opt button lets you assign a destination for the selected channel modulation input and set an amount for that. You can set the shape of the LFO modes and set a bipolar or unipolar output level. It all comes together nicely once you know what you’re looking at.
The assignable CV input is a really nice feature and well implemented without having to go into levels of menus. The recordable CV channel is particularly satisfying and I can see that getting a lot of use. It also highlights what feels like a missed opportunity. When you record the knob movement, the LED strip animates up and down showing the modulation: it’s visually useful and superb. If all four channels are set to record CV, then you will see all channels animated at once. But this doesn’t happen in any other mode, and that’s a shame. The single LED above the patch sockets gamely tries to indicate what’s going on with each channel, but the strip of LEDs would be a far better place to represent the movement. It feels like it needs an overview mode so that they can all dance as brilliantly as the recorded CV.
Another thoughtful and cerebral module from RYK Modular that offers a lot of modulation versatility in a beautiful package.
Otherwise, the Envy Machine is another thoughtful and cerebral module from RYK Modular that offers a lot of modulation versatility in a beautiful package.