The Carbon8 made an appearance at Superbooth 23 ( post ) but was a rather roughed in prototype so it is nice to see it finished out.
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A choice of forty digital algorithms and oscillator modifiers to produce contemporary and unusual sounds. Has an array of 34 filter types, shapeable LFO waveforms, a 512 step sequencer/arpeggiator section and real time control,
There are quite a few videos from Superbooth ( youtube search link ) but they are all with the prototype hardware. I don’t anticipate an enormous change, but it is reasonable that the synth will sound better now.
I used an Argon8 for awhile and it was really quiet, although I believe they addressed it in a fw update maybe? the synth was dope and the editor for pc/iPad made it a breeze to use.
My Cobalt8 was really, really quiet. I had to boost the output by around 20dB in my mixer to get it up to the level of any other hardware. It was weird, I looked everywhere in the settings to see if there was an output pad setting I’d missed but, nope, it was just a Cobalt/Modal thing, that was that.
Strange thing is pushing the gain up externally didn’t seem to raise the noise floor by much at all. It sounded fine. No obvious digital mush or hiss like you’d expect when boosting an input like that.
FWIW my Hydrasynth has the exact opposite problem. That thing kicks out such a hot signal I have to dial back the Digitone audio input from 100 (which IIRC is unity gain on Digi box inputs) to around 20 and even then I can only run the Hydrasynth main volume pot at around 60% of full level. And that’s with patches on the Hydrasynth that are gainstaged internally to avoid clipping and dialled back a lot in the VCA. Bonkers.
Given they are all different hardware, not just changed software, all engineered at different times, what is true about one isn’t implicitly true of the others. You can wait until the Carbon8 actually ships to make any of these sorts of decisions.
I’d be interested in what interests you in particular with the Carbon8 ?
This was all well over a year ago so firmware updates since must have fixed it. It was a common complaint when I first bought the Cobalt (which is how I found out that this wasn’t user error on my part). As I say, even then it wasn’t an issue in practice, I just boosted the gain in my mixer.
October 18th according to US wholesaler/retailer AMS. Modal had said Fall a long time back, so it fits. I expect it is on a boat. Modal is not signed up for Machina Bristronica or Synthest UK, and they didn’t do Knobcon but i’d expect an announcement from them soon.
ADDED : Not sure what this means exactly.
Maybe the Carbon8 will become a collectors item. That’s probably a good thread for further discussion of anything more in this regard.
This does sound great. Bringing it all together, and opening up to more sound design too.
Interesting that they plan to show future products at Superbooth in four months.
So in stores in the US, starting Q2. This company has a great legacy, and the potential for a good future if they can scrape by their present difficulty. I like the Carbon8 especially.
