Vector digital hardware synthesizer warps its way into availability
5,0 / 5,0 | 
We first had a tease of the Vector digital synthesizer last September but I’m very happy to report that they are about to open preorders on what they are calling a unique hybrid synthesizer.
Vector
Vector is a desktop synthesizer with a great big touch screen featured in the middle and surrounded by encoders and switches. It looks every bit like a mashup between digital and analogue hardware but it is perhaps more weighted on the digital side. It uses additive synthesis to generate waveshapes by combining four overtone patterns to form two “Generators”. The two Generators are then blended together to form each of the 10 voices which then routes them individually through their own filter and effects.
The main function of the touch screen is to create and display the warping and modulation vectors in the 2D orbital engine. It can be used for XY morphing between overtones or creating movement as the mix point of parameters carves an orbit through space. It can used for modulation or for sound generation or whatever you want to combine in the process of sound design. It can also expand on the controls being used and gives a great visual representation of the arpeggiation and step-sequencing functions.
In some ways, it doesn’t need to have the encoders around the outside but they do give a much more hands-on feel to the control and the synthesis and dedicated knobs, in my view, are always a good thing.
It all runs on an ARM Cortex A53 microprocessor running Linux with 32bit internal processing. You get a couple of outputs, an ethernet port, USB and a MIDI input. It can have the firmware updated over a network so there’s the possibility of future enhancements. As it is Vector looks really great and the animated screen is very engaging. Sounds aren’t too bad either.
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Preorders open on the 29th June and the “Early Bird” price will be €766. They are saying the lead time will be 2-3 weeks.
More information
- Vector Synth website.
Video
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One response to “Vector digital hardware synthesizer warps its way into availability”
Lovely hardware with a big touch-screen & lots of knobs.
But judging from the demo video the sound generation isn’t that great. According to the user manual we get 2 oscillators, each of which is bending four waves. So this could be thought of as an extremely limited wave-table synth with only 1 table with 4 waves in it.
Fortunately this is only a software problem and could be easily rectified to give us a much more interesting and versatile sound generator.