DecadeBridge has introduced Albers, a new all-black patchable 4-oscillator analog drone Synthesizer with an experimental soul.
Over the past two years, I have reported several times about synthesizers from the British boutique manufacturer DescadeBridge. The developer specializes in exciting drone synths. Among other things, the Bora is a drone synth with six rich-sounding oscillators powered by a matrix modulation.
For the final two months of the year, Decade has yet another fascinating new drone synth in the pipeline.
DecadeBridge Albers
Albers is a new desktop analog drone Synthesizer in black clothes housed in a light brown wood case—a beautiful, classic design.
The core, however, is less classic but more experimental. Albers features four oscillators designed for rich drone sounds.
Each oscillator offers dedicated pitch and level pots. You can control it manually or with CV via the CV/gate and VCA CV inputs on each oscillator. This opens the oscillators to more melodic content. The range switch changes the overall pitch of the oscillator.
Then, you can route in modulation via the four LFOs. Yes, each oscillator has its own independent LFO to modulate the pitch. Three switchable waveforms, ramp up, ramp down, and triangle (half speed) are available. Plus, you get rate and depth control per LFO. There is also an LFO reset input to retrieve the LFO using a trigger/gate signal.
A special feature is the built-in LDR (photoresistor), allowing you to control each oscillator with a light source.
Once set, all four oscillators are summed together and sent through a lowpass filter with cutoff and peak (resonance) controls. Both parameters can be controlled via CV as well.
Further, it ships with a simple two-channel preamp. It’s not built into the synth but comes as a separate tool called Boost. It’s made for boosting low-levels signals to feed into the oscillator’s pitch input.
According to the developer, you can input synths, instruments, or contact mics, route it to Albers, and affect its oscillator pitch. This sounds like a fun and experimental feature.
First Impression
Drone synthesizers have their own charm. They are great for creating crazy soundscapes and textures. DecadeBridge captures this experimental vibe impressively in its instruments.
Also, the new Albers. The extra CV/Gate inputs for more versatile sounds are neat and the LDR brings a performance aspect to the drone synth.
DecadeBridge Albers is available now for pre-order for a special intro price of 270,60€ instead of 360,79€ (25% OFF).
More information here: DecadeBridge (Etsy)
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