Sid Rockett, a new Czech-based DIY synth company, has released Alearium, Krackatone, Tumultuo, and Tempest, super affordable drone and noise synths.
Etsy, Tindie, and Reverb are online marketplaces where professionals and private people sell products. These platforms also allow small synth companies to bring their creations to the community without investing much in marketing, distribution, and more.
With Sid Rockett from the Czech Republic, another young, small synth company entered the platforms. Five interesting synth products are available at launch, and they are very affordable.
Sid Rockett Alearium, Krackatone…
Alarium is a new small analog drone Synthesizer based on the 40106 hex Schmitt trigger chip. Sid Rockett Alearium offers three tweakable oscillators that another oscillator can modulate.
The hardware offers nine knobs and a touch plate. The nine knobs give you control over the pitch of the individual oscillators and allow you to modulate each oscillator with the others. You can also use the touch plates to control their pitch.
Next to the Sid Rockett Alearium is Krackatone, a new little, lovely noise synth and FX processor. According to the developer, it’s an analog crackle box based on the 386 op-amp inspired by Nicolas Collins’s designs.
You can use it as an analog crackle/glitch Synthesizer by simply touching it. Alternatively, plug in an audio signal in the audio input socket, and you can corrupt it on the fly with the touch plates.
Tumultuor, Tempest & Touch
Then, Tumultuor is another analog experimental Synthesizer. It has four oscillators based on the CD4093, an IC with four Schmitt Trigger NAND gates.
A characterful lowpass filter joins these with squealing resonance. To add more experimental character, it hosts a power starve potentiometer to glitch the sound even more! I have one more mini synth for you.
Tempest is an analog percussion Synthesizer based on the 358 op amp. It is inspired by Caspar Ockeloen-Korppi and has simple frequency and decay controls.
The synth can be triggered with an external trigger input and has. Sid Rockett promises that it can produce deep growling kicks up to high-pitched toms.
I discovered something else on Tindie. Sid Rockett offers an 8HP passive touch interface besides Alearium and Krackatone.
It has a socket compatible with Eurorack and mini-cable synths, such as the Bastl Kastle, Kastle Drum, Kastle ARP, Bitranger, and other breadboard projects. It is a cool, super affordable little tool with which you can give touch control to small synths.
First Impression
These are lovely little experimental synths for little money. They don’t offer much but are fun to use and bring an experimental touch to any setup.
Sid Rockett Alearium is available now for 28,20€, Krackatone for 18,14€, Tumultuor for 32,25€ and Tempest for 22,16€. Touch is available on Tindie only for $9,99. All prices exclude shipping costs.
More information here: Sid Rockett (Reverb)/ Sid Rockett (Tindie)
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