Catalyst Audio: MIG Series modular steals Soviet Fighter Jet Tubes
3,5 / 5,0 | 
Like Clint Eastwood in Firefox, Catalyst Audio has snuck a bunch of vacuum tubes out of Soviet-era MIG fighters to make Eurorack modules.
MIG Series
All right, so it’s not very much like Clint Eastwood stealing an advanced fighter, but it does feel almost as exciting. In something approaching reality, Catalyst Audio and co-conspirator Electroserf came across a bunch of Soviet-era tubes that they decided to use in a range of vacuum-infused modules.
The line up currently includes a VCO, VCA, VCF, Noise and Mixer. They have about 1,500 tubes in stock so this is going to be a limited edition series. I have to say they look and sound pretty fabulous.
The modules
The VCO uses a pair of tubes to generate the oscillations and another tube to push them into folding. The oscillator tubes each produce half of the waveform. They switch at audio rate, which lets you alter the balance between them to shape the waveform. There’s also a Resonance control on the tubes that boosts the leading-edge harmonics, along with an offset and bias for more tonal changes.
The VCF uses a pair of tubes to overdrive resonance to deliciously rip harmonics from heart of the waveforms. The tubes have enabled Catalyst to bring some controls to the front panel that you wouldn’t normally find on a filter.
The VCA again uses the tubes to push resonance and overdrive. You get the feeling that your modular will be dripping in resonance-injected warmth by the time you get to the end of the signal chain. It can also be a ring modulator.
The Noise module also called the MIG Thrust, can handle different varieties of noise, from white to pitched, with a fantastic amount of deterioration.
The series should come along in summer, and the price is expected to be around $400. A row of these machines would make for a stunning bunch of modular grunt.
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