Knobula Monumatic puts an 8-voice multi-synthesis MPE polysynth into a Eurorack module

April 15, 2025 Synth Anatomy Eurorack, Hardware, News 2

Superbooth 25: Knobula Monumatic puts an 8-voice multi-synthesis polyphonic Synthesizer into a new 12HP Eurorack module.

The British company Knobula packs a lot of functionality into its digital Eurorack modules without losing the hands-on factor of modular synthesis. For example, the Echo Cinematic, announced last Superbooth, is a stereo effects processor, and the Pianophonic is a unique hybrid polyphonic wavetable Synthesizer and piano voice.

Superbooth 25 is in less than a month; the news is already out today. Knobula has unveiled the Monumatic, a new polyphonic synth for Eurorack.

Knobula Monumatic

Monumatic follows the previous Knobula modules’ no-screen and preset design philosophy. They pack an 8-voice polyphonic stereo Synthesizer into the 12HP Monumatic module with plenty of synthesis options. According to the developer, it’s the successor of the now-discontinued Poly Cinematic module.

The heart of the module is a multi-synthesis oscillator featuring 16 selectable modes: Casio-style phase distortion (CZ), Solina-style string synth (Ens), ‘noisy cassette’ strings (Noise), percussive drawbar organs (Perc), and pulse width modulation (PW).

Plus, you can find Roland-style SuperSaw (Super 7), Polymoog-style Vox Humana (Vox), and some gnarly-sounding asymmetric sync oscillators. No samples were harmed in this development. Every mode is detunable and is based on modeling and synthesis.

The Monumatic oscillators also feature an advanced micro-tuning system that can replicate the organic drift of vintage analogue oscillators or apply real-time tuning temperaments to enhance harmonic authenticity using adaptive ‘just’ intonation. This is assignable to CV control.

Colorful Filtering

The signal then goes into a powerful multimode filter with six distinctive filter types: a four-stage all-pass filter (phase), 12dB/oct filters (highpass, lowpass, dual-peak notch), 24 dB/Oct Butterworth low-pass filter, and a vowel filter. You can tweak them with cutoff and resonance, and the drive setting can overdrive each mode.

Knobula Monumatic also has a routable ADSR envelope with a shared decay/sustain knob onboard. Plus, you can fine-tune your sounds with the built-in reverb effect. Additionally, it hosts eight customizable chord presets.

On the connection side, it has full analog control over every parameter using two assignable CV inputs (CV A and CV B), CV filter control, classic V/oct, and gate inputs for monophonic play or chord presets.

For 8-voice polyphonic patches, you can use Knobula Monumatic’s TRS MIDI input with full MIDI CC and MPE support.

Using a single CV/Gate input, the eight built-in chord presets can be custom programmed to provide polyphonic stabs and pads, while CV/Gate arpeggios can also be layered polyphonically or ‘plucked’ using long release times since Monumatic distributes extra voices where necessary.

First Impression

Creating polyphony in Eurorack is always challenging. Modules like the Monumatic, which combine everything in one plus MIDI, are beneficial.

The first demos sound very good, and the module offers a lot. This module could be exciting if you want to add polyphonic sounds to your modular system.

Knobula Monumatic is available now for £345.00 GBP (excluding VAT)

More information here: Knobula

Eurorack News

jds says:

April 15, 2025 at 9:34 pm

Eurorack and MIDI don’t mix!

Reply
- wade says:
  
  April 15, 2025 at 10:57 pm
  
  they do 🙂
  
  Reply