Superbooth 21: Erica Synths PERKONS HD-01, 3-in-1 hybrid Synthesizer instrument first look

September 25, 2021 Synth Anatomy Drum Machines, Hardware, News, Superbooth 2021, Synthesizers 0

Superbooth 21: Erica Synths unpacked the thunder with the PERKONS HD-01, a fabulous-looking super versatile hybrid Synthesizer with beefy sound.

Erica Synths is known to release numerous new Eurorack modules on every Superbooth. This year they went new ways. For the first time, they announced a big hardware instrument. They teamed up with the mighty thunder for a big new hardware drum Synthesizer.

Okay, it’s not just a hybrid drum synth, it’s also a drum machine and a drone synth in one device.

PĒRKONS (THUNDER) – a drum machine and synthesizer that will change your approach to electronic rhythm synthesis – an instrument which bears the weight of a storm beneath its sturdy casing.

Erica Synths Perkons HD-01

PĒRKONS HD-01 is a 3-in-1 Synthesizer instrument thanks to its flexible engine. PĒRKONS features four rich-sounding hybrid voices. Each with different digital sound engines (algorithms) paired with an analog multimode filter (HP/BP/LP) with overdrive and FX send. 8 hands-on parameters give you full control over the engine.

All voice parameters can be saved as kits in the unit. The internal memory has space for 64 kits and 64 patterns. Additional memory is available via an SD card on the backside.

Then, each voice also has a velocity-sensitive trigger input, individual output and effects send/return on grown-up jacks. To beef up the sound, it also offers an internal all-analog bucket-brigade delay (BBD) and an optical compressor. To add dynamics to the performance, there is also multi-wave LFO that can be assigned to all parameters.

Sounds can be triggered directly via the four buttons or played with the built-in sequencer. And this one is very straightforward. It offers 4 sequencer lanes that give you simultaneous control over all 4 voices. No switching is necessary here, you can see all four at a glance. There are 4 tracks with 4 time divisions/multiplications per track. Plus, each step can have rachets, probability, and 4 shuffle algorithms.

Parameter automation is also on board. You can easily record parameters movements on the steps. With this, you can achieve more than 4 sounds.

Backside

On the backside, you get a main output, headphones, main FX send/return, MIDI in/out with full MIDI CC implementation, and individual trigger in, output, FX send/return for each voice. Plus, you have analog clock input/output.

Erica Synths PĒRKONS HD-01 First Look

I talked to Girts from Erica Synths on Superbooth 21. At first look a very exciting, rich-sounding drum Synthesizer with a very hands-on design. I like that nearly everything has dedicated knobs/buttons and so you don’t end up in a big menu structure. The feel is also a highlight for me. Nice buttons and thick knobs are really fun to work with.