Knas - The Ekdahl Polygamist

You can expect the first synthesizer from Knas to be different and that is what it is: not your typical clean synth. The subrtactive architecture may look very familiar but the 2 VCOs (one is a subharmonic oscillator), the filter and the envelope have a certein twist. The synth has a duophonic ribbon controller, a semi-modular layout, a quantizer, pre-amp, a MIDI/CV interface and even USB.

Like every modular synthesizer the Polygamist has a fixed formation of synthesizer modules and the most useful connections are already done. All those normalizations can be broken by using patch cords. The synthesizer blocks used in this synth are: two different oscillators, an ADSR envelope generator, three LFOs, sample and hold, a noie generator, a lowpass filter, two VCAs, two multiples, a mixer, a preamp with inverter, zwei MIDI/CV-converters, an electronic switch, a voltage quantizer and a duophonic ribbon controller that can output MIDI data.

A number of functions is different then you might know it from other compact synths: Besides the usual waveforms the first VCO generates a "tilted" wavefom that morphs from a sawtooth over rtriangle to ramp. The second VCO has a master frequency and three "sub-pitches" that can cross-modulate each other and allow you to create complex sounds resembling FM or additive syntheisis. The ADSR type enevelope generator has a loop mode and can be used as a LFO. The three LFOs have different frequency ranges and you can voltage contol the 2nd LFO´s frequency. The 24dB low pass filter has two audio inputs and a selectable feedback on the 2nd, 3rd or 4th pole affectingthe resonance behaviour. Combined with the inverter you can create a "ghetto high-pass". One VCA has a circuit removing clicks and pops, the second VCA doubles as a ringmodulator when desired. Both the mixer and inverter can process audio and CV signals. the two MIDI/CV converters can either work standalone or in polyphonic mode.

Instead of a keyboard the Polygamist has a duophonic, pressure sensitve ribbon controller that can play the synth and output control data as CV/gate signals, via MIDI or via USB. The MIDI channel selected fo the 2nd MIDI/CV interface will be the MIDI output channel, too.