“I got a fever! And the only prescription is … more rimshot!” If you’re set to get really obsessive about analog rimshots and claves, this Erica Synths reboot of Hexinverter has you. (And you might discover unique kicks and toms and other percussion, too.)
Erica Synths continues reissuing and enhancing the wonderful Hexinverter designs. The latest is the rimshot, vintage rimshot modeling, all-around percussion module Mutant Rimshot. I love this, actually – I haven’t seen a module with this many rimshot options outside of software. (Check in VCV Rack, and you’ll find a couple software modules that go in this direction, albeit digitally.)
With tons of options and patchability, this is far from a unitasker – you could bend this in all sorts of percussive ranges, which might well argue for this over just “let’s try a trick with some low pass gates.”
Listen:
The basic architecture:
- Three modes – rimshot HI, rimshot LO, and clave (CLV).
- Original and extended pitch modes on the back – original is “more accurate,” whereas extended sounds like more fun (apologies).
- Three filter modes – highpass, lowpass, bandpass. There’s also a VCF IN so you can blend sounds.
- MOD DECAY for VCA envelope.
- VCF MOD attenuverter which routes mod decay envelope to filter cutoff (and just answered the question in my head “why did they call that mod decay?”)
- Switch on the back to enable routing the internal pitch-controlled VCO to filter cutoff for filter FM-ish hits
You can patch in CV for control of pitch, filter cutoff, and resonance, so there are many, many ways to use this as an instrument. This could be a percussion favorite to stand up to my other fave, Noise Engineering’s Tymp Legio – and it’s a nice analog counterpart to that grungy digital approach.
Stacy Gaudreau’s designs really shine through in the Erica Synths reimaginings. It’s great to see them evolving.
And did I mention this is €160?
More:
https://www.ericasynths.lv/shop/
Hexinverter’s modules – including some of the now-discontinued OG gear – is available via Perfect Circuit:
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