Fenix on fire again

Published by Priscilla Haring-Kuipers on 2018-06-262018-06-26

We have been working together with SyntoNovo (aka Synton) on the development of their PAN project and during this collaboration we got our hands on a Fenix II.

Man, do we love this synth. It sounds bloody amazing and the insides are an audio-electronic-engineering marvel by master builder Bert Vermeulen.

This summer we are diving into one AWESOME project: designing our very own Fenix.

We start with the greatest love and affection from the Fenix II released in 2010– a well-packed beauty filled to the brim with audio goodies. The eurorack equivalent would be about 35 modules.

Inside Fénix II

• 3 VCO’s,  3 different VCO’s ( Inputs CV, FM, PWM, Sync e.o, Output square, triagle, sawtooth and some has puls, sub, sine e.o) )
• 4 different VCF´s ( SVF, 24dB Lp, BPF, 12dB Lp). ( Input CV modulation, SVF  has  Q-CV control
• 3 EGR and 4 VCA’s and 5 LFO’s. (Many  modules are voltage controlled)
• 7 Mixers ( 3 audio mixers and 4 DC-Audio mixers).
• 1 Phaser and 1 Delay (BDD). ( off course voltage controlled)
• 1 8 step analog sequencer with own clock.
• 1 Waveshapers, 1 wavemultiplier and 1 full wave rectifier.
• 1 CPR, 1 S&H, 1 Gate delay, 1 Ringmodulator, 1 Slew limiter, 1 fixed +/- 5volt output.
• 1 Analog noise and 1 Digital noise. ( Digital noise voltage controlled
• 1 6 Banana to 3,5 mm minijack connectors.
• 1 Input module with trigger, gate and envelop out.
• 1 Stereo output module with dual panning and dual VCA. ( off course voltage controlled)

However, we do not want to rebuild the Fenix II. We have some ideas to change and enhance its’ circuits and sound. We would like to introduce the Fenix to the digital age and to modern means of production.

Lauri and Stijn have about four decades of audio fiddling between them, and both feel that they could improve this songbird for another flight.  Currently we are going through all the original schematics and are prototyping some adapted filters etc. – see some of the board development here https://imgur.com/a/w7qExDp

In our development we want to honour the ‘philosophy of sound’ that is in the Fenix II and master builder Bert remains involved throughout the process.

This is a huge challenge and we are excited!

We will keep you updated on the progress.