WMD to close by the end of the year and releases three new modules
4,2 / 5,0 | 
WMD has announced it’s going out of business. As a last hurrah, it’s releasing three new modules; Subway, Legion and Orion and will be liquidating all other stock until the end of the year.
WMD – we’ll miss you
This is terrible news, and our hearts go out to the WMD team over in Denver, Colorado. In a statement on the website, WMD’s Alex Anderson explains how spiralling costs and lengthening component lead times have devastated their bottom line. While they have plenty of fabulous ideas for new products, it’s become impossible to find the chips to bring them to life. Read the full statement here.
The plan is to close by the end of the year. In the meantime, all stock, except for the three new modules, the Performance Mixer and Metron, will go on sale with 30% off. WMD wants to do the best for its employees, and all purchases will help enormously with keeping people on while they wind down.
WMD is a large player in the Eurorack community. You are likely to find WMD modules in everyone’s rack. In particular, the Performance Mixer is a staple of almost all performing modular artists. It completely nails how to mix voices in a modest Eurorack rig. The drum modules like Crater, Chimera, Crucible and Fracture are world-class bits of noise, skin, grains and razzle. And then there’s the hugely impressive Metron trigger and gate sequencer for extraordinary drum programming. And we shouldn’t forget the whole range of guitar pedals, processors and effects.
There will be one more run of Metron which you can preorder now. It’s limited to 500 pieces. The Performance Mixer seems to be fully sold out already.
WMD Metron · Source: WMD
New Modules?
Undeterred by the strain of closing the business down, WMD has released a limited run of three new modules.
WMD Legion, Subway and Orion · Source: WMD
Subway is an 8 input, 1 output scanning crossfader. Very simply you plug in up to 8 signals and turn the knob to scan between them. Use the buttons to turn channels on and off. You can morph between audio signals or perhaps more interestingly, you can move through multiple modulations. It’s also great for using different modulations to the same destination without having to repatch – perfect for changes in live performance.
Legion is an analogue oscillator with extra outputs and interesting inputs to give it quite a unique flavour. Along with the usual waveforms Legion has a Roland Alpha Juno-inspired saw wave section. It adds a “window” to the wave that imposes a negative pulse which comes alive during pulse width modulation. There’s also a “Swarm” supersaw output and a sub-oscillator with a selectable waveform. There are many modulation options, including Thru-Zero FM, which hugely benefits from having a pair of Legions pushing into each other.
Orion is an analogue phaser in 6HP. That’s just a load of fun right there.
Each module is getting a run of 600. Orion is $239, Legion is $499 and Subway is $269.
Hard times
WMD has handled this with a huge amount of dignity, which must be hard when you see your business disappearing out of control. WMD also built modules for several other modular firms and so the impact will spread. As modular enthusiasts, it’s more important than ever to support the makers and manufacturers in our community. While we are all suffering from the increased cost of living, I would encourage all those who are able to keep buying and investing in the makers of the gear. It’s these modules and these signal manipulators that bring us alive.
Thank you WMD for the noises, the bleeps and the bloops, and we wish you all the best in the future. For the full details of product availability, preordering and continuing support please visit the WMD website.
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2 responses to “WMD to close by the end of the year and releases three new modules”
Cycle of life. They came and they leave. Do not hold them, let them go to another level. Maybe, some years later at the rainy day, you can recognize them under umbrella of the Music Tribe.
”I hear the voice of the tribes” 😀
#musicgearsdystopia