Superbooth 22: Dreadbox Erebus and Hades make a comeback as affordable DIY kits

May 13, 2022 Synth Anatomy DIY, Eurorack, Hardware, News 0

Superbooth 22: Dreadbox brings the Erebus and Hades semi-modular analog Synthesizer back to the market as affordable beginner-friendly DIY kits.

At the last Superbooth, Dreadbox announced that it was discontinuing its popular semi-modular analog synthesizers Erebus and Nyx due to chip shortage. But now there is good news. The Erebus is coming back this summer as a desktop/Eurorack module as a DIY kit.

And the Hades analog synth is also making a comeback in the same do-it-yourself format.

Dreadbox Hades DIY

Starting with the smallest, the Hades. It uses the same great-sounding circuit but is made this time in SMD and with a small update in the modulation.

Hades is an analog semi-modular bass Synthesizer with a single VCO with PWM, glide options, and two sub-octaves. It offers a 3-pole 18dB/oct Roland SH-style resonating lowpass filter, OTA-based distortion circuit, and VCA. On the modulation side, it now features two digital envelopes, a super snappy ADR, and an AR on the VCA.

The analog envelopes of the first version were very slow so they decide to use digital ones which are faster. There is a triangle wave LFO and it’s patchable via an 8-point matrix that is fully Eurorack compatible. It can be played either via CV/Gate or via MIDI.

Dreadbox Erebus DIY

The second in the comeback bunch is Erebus semi-modular 2-voice paraphonic analog synth. It uses also the same great-sounding circuit but now in SMD and with a small but good update in the modulation.

Erebus DIY gives you two VCOs with separate glide controls, a 2pole (12dB/oct) resonating lowpass filter, two digital envelopes (ADSR, AR), and single LFO with additional CV depth control. Further, it comes with the same delay/echo unit that is loved by many.

On the right side, you can find a feature-rich patch matrix with 15 patch points including:

CV Inputs: Osc1, Osc2, Echo time, VCF, CV, GATE, LFO rate, PW , VCA
CV Outputs: LFO, Envelope (attenuated), Modulation Wheel (attenuated), Gate, Osc1 pitch (1V/oct), Osc2 pitch (1V/oct)

DIY

Like the new Dysmetria, the new Erebus and Hades will only be available as a beginner-friendly DIY. But if the kits are selling well, Yannis and his team will consider making assembled versions. Glad to see both synthesizers making a comeback in their old form. Especially Hades because it’s a great bass synthesizer with a lot of depth and character.