Nonlinear Labs - C15 (black) w/Flight Case

Nonlinear Labs' C15 is the result of years of work on a vision that has culminated in an exceptional synthesizer focused on playability.

Nonlinear Labs is the project of Stephan Schmitt, who was also involved with the well-known company Native Instruments. Schmitt has been engaged in designing digital instruments for a long time, focusing greatly on flexibility and playability. The C15 is the result of years of development and stands wonderfully apart from many of the current synthesizers on the market.

The device immediately gives a high-quality impression due to its combination of beautiful wood with robust steel and aluminum. Control is intuitive, selecting a parameter with the respective button and adjusting its value using the large encoder or the ribbon controller. All parameters are cross-fadeable, which significantly determines the C15's sound. The touch-sensitive ribbons are provided in full, twice, and offer one of the central modulation possibilities. They are highly reactive and can be assigned to any desired parameter. These ribbons are complemented by a rich set of 4 inputs for sustain pedals and a so-called Bender. Coupled with the very high-quality Fatar keyboard with Aftertouch, Nonlinear Labs provides you with a powerful and expressive combination to finely control your sounds – all without LFOs! And that leads us to the next point...

The C15 has much to offer, yet there are a few things it doesn't have. The absence of an arpeggiator, sequencer, LFOs, or integrated MIDI caused some puzzlement but was a deliberate decision. Initially, Nonlinear Labs completely rejected MIDI as the focus was on individual performance rather than programmed MIDI tracks. However, there is now the optional MIDI Bridge for the C15, which attaches practically to the rear of the C15 thanks to the built-in magnet. This allows the C15 to act as the control center of your studio or be controlled by your studio. The absence of cyclic or sequential modulation sources such as LFOs, arpeggiators, or sequencers again encourages direct intervention in the sound, emphasizing human expression.

To complete the topic of modulations, let me mention the three envelopes here. In addition to the many physical control options, they enable movements with a temporal dimension. These envelopes are somewhat unusual as they have two decay stages with a breakpoint stage in between, forming ADBDSR envelopes. The breakpoints allow much more complex progressions, and Envelope C even permits negative values when setting the breakpoint and sustain values. Envelope C can also loop stages – so, in a way, it functions as an LFO!

The digital sound generation of the C15 is based solely on two sine waves/operators. However, the manufacturer has integrated some useful tools to make the sound spectrum very versatile. The two sine waves emerge from two oscillators, modifiable in their phase by different signals. This makes it easy to turn a sine wave into a sawtooth wave or noise using the Fluctuate (Jitter) parameter. Both oscillators then go through a shaper section, which plays a significant role in the C15 and appears at many points in the signal path. There is a Drive, Wavefolding, and Asymmetry parameter here, aiding in creating West-Coast sounds a la Buchla. Sumptuous harmonies or wild dissonances, rounded off by a ring modulator.

You can then feed the resulting signals either to the State-Variable Filter or the Comb Filter. The results are extremely different! The State-Variable Filter is a variable filter with a 12dB slope. What's particularly interesting here is the duality of the filter – your sound passes through two filters that can be either serial or parallel. The spread parameter then defines the difference between the two frequencies.

The Comb Filter propels even the simplest clicks into new spheres. With this, you can create beautiful resonances that imitate traditional instruments like strings and brass. Some call this Physical Modeling, although the only similarity lies in the resulting sounds!

A crucial component of the C15 is the Feedback Mixer. Here, you can blend signals from the filters and effects and then re-route them as modulation or sound sources. You can control the phases of the oscillators or let the signal pass through the shaper again. Feedback always brings unexpected and complex sounds, sounding very organic in their unpredictable behavior.

Naturally, the C15 also comes equipped with a solid selection of effects. There is a Flanger, Cabinet Distortion, Gap Filter, Delay, and Reverb. The effects impress across the board, offering subtle reverberations or wild sound distortions.

Lastly, a small note: The C15 can and will evolve since the sound engine is expandable and replaceable. The magnetic overlays allow you to swap out the labeling!

The C15 is a highly specific instrument that isn't for everyone, nor does it aspire to be. The focus is on playability and human interaction. It's best to visit our showroom and experience it firsthand.

The C15 comes with a matching flight case. This high-quality flight case is made of birch plywood and composite honeycomb structure. The edges are aluminum profiles, rounded off with ball-corners. The case provides space for the C15 and all accessories: MIDI Bridge, pedals, power supply.

The C15 is available without a flight case -but for PICK-UP ONLY. Please contact us for that!

Features:

• 2 oscillators with sine waves and...
• Phase modulation
• Wavefolding
• State Variable Filter
• Comb Filter
• Feedback
• 61 keys keyboard with aftertouch
• Base unit can be used without parameter panel
• Infinite Undo
• 3 ADBDSR envelopes
• Effects (flanger, cabinet distortion, gap filter, delay, reverb)
• Output Mixer
• Feedback Mixer
• Bender for pitch bending and the like
• 2 ribbon controllers with 800mm
• 4 inputs for sustain pedals
• WiFi capable
• USB-MIDI (MIDI bridge for host-to-host connections, optional)
• Includes customized flight case