I really like the sound of a classic Moog as a lot as anybody, however I feel its most attention-grabbing present devices are its lineup of desktop semi-modular synths. The Mother-32, DFAM, Subharmonicon, and Spectravox usually embody some conventional Moog DNA however with a extra experimental strategy. They’re designed to be explored and prodded, not simply performed. The Labyrinth is not any totally different. In some methods it could be probably the most un-Moog synth the corporate has ever made. That’s additionally what makes it so thrilling.
Labyrinth is constructed round an eight-step, two-track generative sequencer, which means you don’t program it manually. As an alternative, you place some information rails up, and the machine does the remaining. You possibly can decide a scale, inform it what number of octaves to cowl, activate and off steps, and resolve the monitor size, however the precise notice choice is finished semi-randomly.
The 2 sequencer tracks run in parallel and, if you happen to set them to totally different lengths (say one the total eight steps and the opposite 5), you may create melodies that change as they fall out and in of sync. There may be additionally a “corrupt” knob subsequent to the 2 sequencer tracks which you’ll flip to introduce much more randomness. This makes the Labyrinth a wonderful happy-accident machine.
{Photograph}: Terrence O’Brien
Stepping Out
The Labyrinth is definitely a really succesful efficiency instrument, regardless of the audible chaos. As a result of you may power the sequencer to stay to a specific scale and sync it to different gear through MIDI or analog clock, you may make it match seamlessly within the confines of a music. Plus, if you happen to do stumble throughout one thing you want, you may maintain down the buffer button to save lots of the sequence precisely as is. This then provides you the chance to experiment by shifting bits (steps within the sequencer) round and turning up the corruption, realizing you may come again to that glad accident you stumbled upon simply by tapping buffer once more. This will make Labyrinth a invaluable improvisation instrument.
Maybe probably the most stunning factor about Labyrinth is that it utterly chucks the acquainted Moog oscillator and filter setup. As an alternative of the standard sq. and noticed wave you’d discover on most different Moog devices, the Labyrinth has a single sine oscillator and a single triangle oscillator. This implies the core sound of Labyrinth is way more mellow and fewer sharp-edged than your typical Moog. Besides that there’s a wave folder and a hoop modulation circuit which may add some admirable roughness. You possibly can even get some metallic clangs if you happen to crank the FM (frequency modulation) knob. One way or the other the Labyrinth is each softer and extra abrasive than most different Moog synths.
Issues don’t get any extra acquainted if you transfer to the filter part. As an alternative of that iconic Moog 24 dB/Octave lowpass filter (usually additionally known as the ladder filter), the Labyrinth has a 2-pole state variable filter that easily blends from lowpass to bandpass. Whereas it’s able to delivering some heat lows, it’s actually at its finest when the resonance is cranked to create percussive thumps or high-pitched plucks.
{Photograph}: Terrence O’Brien
New Sonic Territory
If it wasn’t clear but: If you’d like that classic raw Moog synth sound, don’t get the Labyrinth.
The one concern is that, for all its dabbling in sonic territory that’s unfamiliar to Moog, the Labyrinth can sound a little bit flat by itself, particularly within the greater registers. There are many synths that want a little bit help from some delay or reverb to essentially shine, in order that’s hardly a deal-breaker right here. However the uncooked sound from the Labyrinth positively had me grimacing from time to time.
Should you’re in any respect conversant in the world of synthesizers then the phrases generative and modular positively conjure up photographs of Eurorack circumstances bursting with cables sitting sandwiched between succulents in entrance of a rain-streaked window as vaguely shapeless melodies meander by way of the air. Don’t get me mistaken, the Labyrinth can ship bleeps and bloops with the most effective of ’em, however a part of its attraction is how far past these limits it could attain. It is able to delivering techno kick grooves, snappy snares rolls, sharp bass arpeggios, and apocalyptic tom marches. The one factor it could’t actually do is longer pads, since there is no such thing as a assault management.
