LA Circuits is expanding its young Eurorack range by five additional modules including the Bauhaus VCO, Technicolor reverb/echo & more
At the beginning of the year, I wrote about the new Eurorack company LA Circuits. The modules are inspired by Buchla products but have almost nothing to do with them. The creatively named modules (Bauhaus, Après Dix, Sunless City… are only reminiscent of Don Buchla’s iconic works through their striking interfaces: silver with colorful knobs.
Apparently, the news from January was just a little appetizer of this young company. Now, they have added five other, exciting modules to their portfolio.
LA Circuits Bauhaus
The beginning makes the EM-105 Bauhaus, a new variable waveshape oscillator. It’s an analog oscillator with two morphing waveshapes. Either different pulse width shapes of the square wave or morphing from ramp to triangle to sine and back again. For both settings, there is a CV-controllable knob with which the waveforms can be morphed. They both get their own outputs plus a separate output for a pure sine wave.
It offers 6-octaves of accurate 1v/oct scaling, tuning via a big VCS3 like a knob, and variable FM & sync inputs for more complex timbres.
Sunless City
Sunless City (12HP) is a transistor ladder filter with switchable control for both 4-pole / 24 dB/oct and 3-pole 18dB/oct ranges. The module provides two signal inputs, as well as fixed and variable exponential CV inputs. The frequency can be adjusted with the large, eye-catching blue cutoff knob. Then, you have a response control knob that varies the shape of the filter’s resonance from pure low-pass to uninhibited self-oscillation. With the CV input, you can also control it with control voltage.
Après Dix Multimode Filter
EM-401 Après Dix (french for after ten) is a quadruple parallel filter module that features two inputs and four simultaneous filter outputs. It includes 24dB/oct lowpass, 24dB/oct highpass, 12dB/oct bandpass, and 12dB/oct notch. The CV possibilities are neat: frequency modulation with a dedicated FM depth knob up to self-oscillator including a 1v/oct input as well as full control over the resonance. Thanks to the 1v/oct input, you can use the filter in self-oscillation as a sine oscillator. According to the developer, a unique feature of the Après Dix is its ability to take it up a notch.. it goes up to 11.
Suprematist
The EM-121 Suprematist is a voltage-controlled LFO that can act as an audio frequency modulator, LFO, or as a supplementary sound source. The module has four individual waveform outputs (sine, triangle, square ramp, saw, and a unique Tsunami waveform). The three-position switch selects the coarse range, and the frequency knob for the oscillator tuning. Further, you have a PWM knob that controls the pulse-width modulation.
The Linear CV input is used to externally control the low-frequency oscillator’s rate, and can be attenuated and inverted with the dedicated attenuverter. Plus, you get a sync-in function that functions as a reset input, which creates a wide range of triggering effects depending on the applied secondary waveform.
Technicolor
Last but not least, we have the EM-601 Technicolor, a solid-state reverb and echo based on the 3328-stage 6-tap bucket-brigade chip. The module has two operation modes. In Concurrent mode, the signal runs through a 6 terminal tap network. This capable of creating a natural-sounding reverb. In Discrete mode, it goes through the 3328-stage tap creating a warm delay line with a time range from 20ms to 250ms.
Technicolor has a built-in clock that uses a newly-designed filter circuit that prevents the common clock-noise problem.
At first look, five exciting new modules from LA Circuits that catch your eye primarily through their lovely interface. Unfortunately, the developers don’t offer detailed sound demos, which is a shame.
The LA Circuits modules are available now: Bauhaus VCO ($330), Suprematist ($295), Après Dix ($355), Sunless City ($295) & Technicolor ($415)
More information here: LA Circuits
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