Motas-6: New British 3 oscillator monophonic analogue synthesizer
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Motas Electronics Motas-6 · Source: Motas Electronics
Motas Electronics Motas-6 · Source: Motas Electronics
Motas Electronics Motas-6 · Source: Motas Electronics
Motas Electronics has announced the availability of the latest evolution of their Motas synthesizer. First seen at last years Music Production Expo, the Motas-6 three oscillator analogue mono-synth is now ready to go.
Motas-6
The oscillators and signal path are all analogue with a digital control engine and a very flexible modulation architecture. There’s hard sync, phase-modulation and a sub-oscillator along with pink/white noise and an external input feed into the pre-filter mixer. The first filter is a 6-pole voltage controlled low pass filter with resonance that can be pushed up to self-oscillation. A second 4-pole low pass filter and a 2-pole high pass filter keep things interesting. And if you push it too far there are a number of options to cope with analogue clipping.
The modulation comes from the digital side. High-resolution LFO’s, envelopes, MIDI control and CV/gate are all available via the digital interface. There are 4 global LFO’s and envelopes and 33 parameter specific ones – that’s a load of modulation. This also relates to the rather old-school LCD screen, which manages to cram in a lot of information about what’s going on. An oscilloscope and spectrum analyser is included.
Hidden inside is a pattern generator, arpeggiator and sequencer. Each pattern can contain a bar of notes which can be looped on playback. In sequencer mode you can chain up a series of patterns. You can have up to 15 patterns in memory at one time but you can save up to 100 on the synthesizer.
On the back are 4CV/gate inputs plus MIDI/USB to cover all the interconnectivity you could need.
British engineering
The Motas-6 is hand built in the UK from high-grade components, solid wooden ends and all-metal chassis. It is clearly designed by someone who is more of an engineer than an artist. I’m sure creator Dr Jon Hayes would probably own up to that. The layout is precisely organised and methodical, like a proper piece of test equipment. All very ordered, perfectly clear and fit for purpose – just not terribly exciting to look at. The screen is excellent though, I’m loving the way it displays information – not a pixel is wasted. The way the writing on the back is also upside down so that you can read it when leaning over is clearly someone trying to rectify a personal frustration.
They are currently only going to be sold via Red Dog Music in London, at a price of £1250. That’s about the same as a Novation Peak or large keyed Arp Odyssey FS. Other 3 oscillator monosynths like the Roland SE-02, Behringer D or Dreadbox Medusa are considerably cheaper so it’s going to be interesting to see and hear if this boutique monosynth is worth the extra. Check out the videos below and see what you think – they do get rather deliciously meaty.
More information:
- Motas Electronics website
Video:
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