New developer company HEX HAUS published HEX cor, a touch polysynth and HEX lag a characterful effects processor.
I like to report on synthesizers, effects, and other products that come from small Boutique manufacturers coming up with ideas that are different from those of the big players. The Slovenian media artists Anže Sekelj and Staš Vrenko have founded the company and “institute for development of new technologies” HEX HAUS or short HEX.
The first two developments, HEX cor, and HEX lag are small, portable fascinating music-making devices with interesting features.
HEX cor
Let’s start with the HEX cor. It’s a digital polyphonic Synthesizer with a capacitive keyboard. It consists of a back panel and a PCB. This gives it a very strong DIY look. The black PCB makes the whole thing look very appealing. On this, you have nine capacitive keys, a button, and five potentiometers.
There is also a switchable audio output. You can use it either as a dual mono output or in sync (R) + mono (L) mode. This allows you to sync it to other external gear.
The digital sound engine can be tweaked using three of the five knobs. You can change the octave, decay, and waveform. Two scales (C major/ C minor) can be unlocked using the octave knob and chosen using the waveform potentiometer. According to the developers, it is capable to generate thick drones, bass stabs, and 8-bit bleeps to techno hi-hats.
HEX cor also features an easy-to-use looper with a total length of 256 steps. With the length knob, you can adjust the desired length (8-256 steps), while the second sets the speed of the loop. Melodies can be captured very quickly in this way.
It gets power through the USB-C socket and thus you can use regular USB power adapters or power banks, perfect for mobile setups.
The synth can be played directly via the capacitive keyboard. You can interact with it like a Korg Monotron by sliding/shredding across the keys or play it polyphonically by touching multiple keys at once.
HEX lag
In addition to the Hex cor, the developers have also pulled a multi-effects processor out of the hat. HEX lag is a real-time digital sound processor. Visually, it goes the same way as cor. Also consists of a back panel and a black PCB. I also really like this design.
Four potentiometers for sound manipulation (gain, spread, feed, rate), golden touch pads, as well as an input and output socket are mounted directly on the black PCB. Like on core, it is powered by a USB-C port.
The digital engine simulates the character and behavior of classic analog bucket brigade delay chips. So it adds chorus, flanger, and Karplus-strong style effects to your sounds. Plus, it has pitch-shifting, downsampling, and other capabilities.
The signal starts on the left jack input and goes through a gain stage (gain pot) and is fed into a circular buffer delay line. RATE controls the sampling speed and overall delay time, while SPREAD adjusts the separation between the read & write “tape heads” within the circular buffer.
Then, the FEED pot sets the feedback amount and can push the effect in self-oscillation mode. Thus, you can turn it into a standalone sound box.
Not to forget the intriguing golden touch pads allow you to manipulate the delay and spread parameters for expressive sound design. There is also a push-button for freeze/stutter effects.
A secondary mode turns the HEX lag into a pitch-shifter processor. In this, the rate knob controls the sampling speed, spread the frequency, and feed the feedback. You can achieve here granular-like pitch-shifted swells. Further, the processor can interface with external control voltages via a triple header row.
Finally, the signal is output at the stereo jack consisting of two versions, 50%, and 100% wet.
Two exciting unique first products from HEX Haus. Especially the effect processor looks great as it gives you very hands-on effects.
Both HEX cor Synthesizer and Hex lag effects are available now as an assembled version for 159€ each. DIY versions are out now for 99€.
More information here: Hex Haus
FYI I got my hex 1.0 in 2020 it’s just the lag that’s new. And perhaps the core got new firmware. They really flew under the radar! Very nice kits and the design is amazing, I like to give them for my friends Kids birthdays. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sTF87UDkbfc
to be highlight on the site, it don’t must be new new, for me it was new at least 🙂