BVR Instruments Hi-Hats, dual analog percussive module for hi-hats and snares

May 1, 2025 Synth Anatomy Eurorack, Hardware, News 0

SynthFest France 2025: BVR Instruments Hi-Hats is a new Roland CR-78-based dual analog hi-hats voice module for Eurorack.

I met Bruno from BVR Instruments for the third time at SynthFest France. It all started in 2023 with his powerful TS-1 multi-track sequencer that offers eight tracks for triggers and drums, and four for notes.

Then, in 2024, he showed me the new Bass Drum module inspired by the legendary Roland 808 and 909 drum machines. This year at SynthFest France 2025, BVR Instruments unveiled the Hi-Hats module, a new Roland CR-78-based hi-hats module that can also be a snare module.

BVR Instruments Hi-Hats

Hi-Hats is a new, versatile, full-analog dual percussive voice for Eurorack. The BVR Instruments Hi-Hats is based on the legendary Roland CR-78 circuit (In The Air Tonight… and is primarily designed for creating hi-hats and closed hi-hats.

During development, however, Bruno modified the circuit and added functions that allow it to produce snare-like, clap drums, and shakers.

Hi-Hats features three sound sources, each with independent volume control. Classic circuit designs inspire the metallic source and mix different square waves shaped by a tone control. It gives you the classic rich, metallic timbres.

Then, the noise source uses a discrete transistor-based white noise generator. Nice, there is also an external input, allowing you to route any sound source (synths, LFOs, drones…) and blend them into your hi-hats.

Part of the BVR Instruments circuit is also a band-pass filter. It has a tone and contour knob for shaping the resonance before feeding into the two VCA. There is one for the open hi-hat and one for the closed hi-hat.

For each voice, you have also independent decay and volume controls. On the connectivity side, each voice has a trigger input and a sound output. There are no CVs for animating the parameters.

Thanks to this circuit, the new BVR Instruments Hi-Hats module is capable of creating hi-hats, as well as snare, claps, or shakers. Here is a demo from SynthFest France 2025.