New releases today: Studio Equipment

Notes: The Mutant Hot Glue is a versatile bus mixer for analogue effects chain design. The included analogue compressor offers series or parallel compression and a sidechain input, making it particularly well suited to drum processing. The voltage controlled distortion is based on ideas borrowed from the guitar pedals responsible for a lot of yesterday's acid style techno sounds, but improved over the guitar equivalents, and made specifically for synthesizer and drum processing. The distortion can be used in its default position, normalized to the effects send, or like every other part of the module, broken out and used elsewhere in your modular system.

Features

4 Channel Mixer with Effects Send

4 input channels, each with their own level and effects send control
Channel A mixer bypass switch and dedicated output for easy sidechain compression
Channel B is dual input, but shares level/send controls (for dual output modules, like the Mutant Hihats)
Channel C+D summed output
Main mixer output normalized to compressor input

Hi-Fidelity Analogue Compressor

Soft-knee compressor based on the same family of premium audio ICs used in some 500 Series studio gear
Dedicated threshold and compression ratio controls
Gain control dials in up to +40dB of compressor make-up gain
Compressor sidechain input for creating pumping effects
LED indicator actively displays the amount of compressor gain reduction

Voltage Controlled Analogue Distortion

A classic distortion topology reborn for modular analogue synthesizers and drum processing
In/Outputs are conveniently normalized to the module's send and return jacks
Blend control lets you adjust the mix of distorted and clean input signal
Fast responding CV input allows for complex modulation patterns and even modulating with audio signals

By default, the 4 channel mixer's output conveniently feeds into the compressor's input, giving access to easy New York style parallel compression by way of the compressor blend control. The dedicated output and mixer bypass switch for channel A allow you to use it as a sidechain source for the compressor. An effects send and return allow you to create complex effects routings within your modular system. With the number of excellent DSP and other effects modules on the market today, this makes it easy to combine modules to great effect, all within the eurorack modular domain.

Redesigned by Erica Synths in close collaboration with Hexinverter. Minor alterations were made in mechanical assembly and digital controls to address Erica synths manufacturing routines and chip shortages, but the analogue signal path is 100% identical to the original version.

In September 2022 Stacy Gaudreau - the founder of Hexinverter Electronique, announced closing down the operations. Following their announcement, Erica Synths in cooperation with Hexinverter Electronique saw a way for their incredible and truly unique music instruments to keep on inspiring musicians and finding a home in countless studios to come.
The effort and innovation incorporated in Hexinverter Electronique eurorack modules are far too great to prematurely become history. Erica Synths will take over the manufacturing, sales, and support of several Hexinverter Electronique modules. While retaining all functionality of Hexinverter Electronique modules, Erica Synths redesigned the hardware of modules and will provide support for reissue modules only.

Technical specifications

Width: 24HP | Depth: 30mm
Current draw: +70mA, -70mA @ 12V

Notes: A couple of years back, Frequency Central developed Cosmic Background as a standalone percussion voice. The concept was to bundle all required sub-modules behind one panel, pre-patched, yet also fully modular, with each sub-module having its own inputs and outputs. This proved to be a very popular product, but Frequency Central decided to replace Cosmic Background's noise generator with a VCO (and do a few other tweaks), creating a cute little fully modular synth voice ripe for sequencing - and that's how Dark Star was born!

Dark Star consists of 4 sections:

Voltage Controlled Oscillator based on AS3340 with sawtooth, triangle and pulse waveforms
Voltage Controlled Filter with lowpass and highpass options, Drive control, Sweep control which attenuates amount of Release CV
Release generator with CV input for voltage control of release time. Option for sustain via jumper on rear panel.
Voltage Controlled Amplifier
Together they form a pre-patched super versatile analogue synthesiser voice.

Additionally, each section is fully modular in it's own right, so there are patch points for:

1V/oct CV input
PWM CV input - attenuator doubles as manual pulse width when no external signal is present
Gate input for Release or Sustain/Release
Release CV input for voltage control of Release time
VCF audio input with attenuator, for introducing external audio
VCF CV input with attenuator (1V/oct CV is normalised to this input)
VCA audio input (VCF is normalised to this input)
VCA CV input (Release CV is normalised to this input)
Release CV output
VCO audio output
VCF audio output
VCA audio output

Here are some useful patches to try:

Release CV output to PWM CV input, for swept PWM
VCF OUT to VCF IN, thickens and further overdrives the filtering
VCO OUT to VCF CV input, for fizzy FM of the filter
Use a multiple to patch 1V/oct to Release CV input, lower notes will have longer release, higher notes will have shorter release

Product Specifications

12V draw: 28mA
5V draw: 0mA
-12V draw: 28mA

Depth: 35mm
Width: 16HP