Malekko Manther, Mr. D, and BFF Grooveboxes

[Prints]

I played with this for a good hour last night, and I like it a lot. I think it’s way cooler than the Abstract Avalon I once owned.

All my patches had the oscillator levels below the halfway point, and I really prefer how it sounds this way. It’s surprising how many different sounds this can make with its relatively simple architecture.

I particularly like using the wave shaper after the filter subtly to add a bit of tasteful “gnarly-ness”. I also really like using the delay on its < 30ms setting as a comb filter. It’s great being able to modulate it with the LFO (which can be set to retrigger whenever a note plays). I wish the wave shaper could be routed to the LFO as well, but at least it can be motion-sequenced.

I think the interface is really slick. You hit shift and one of the buttons to go into editing modes to adjust things like accent, and all the steps appear on the screen as little boxes that show you your settings. I was surprised you can set varying amounts of accent for different steps.

I’m very happy with the Manther, and it’s a ton of fun. It came with cool stickers too. Oddly, it doesn’t have any rubber feet; so you’ll have to get some unless you want to risk the paint on the bottom getting scuffed up by whatever surface you set it on. I have mine placed on a book until the rubber feet I ordered from Amazon arrive.

[pidgeo]

record uz a demo of it being used the way you prefer it would ya Prints? I’d love to hear how it sounds like that.

[psyclone001]

As usual all the demos sound terrible.
Only vaguely interested in the wavetable one of these.
Still no news on that one yet?

[Prints]

I agree. I almost didn’t buy one due to the bad demos. I’m super glad I did though.

[Prints]

I’ll try to early next week. I have DJ gigs tonight and tomorrow, and I have my daughter all weekend.

[pidgeo]

nice one bru

[Prints]

Here are a few patches I made on the Manther last night.

Bach on Instagram

[pidgeo]

your account is private, I’ve sent a follow request there. @mickybeautron

[earth2j]

Holy sh** that thing sounds good! That’s a very nice, fat sound. I might have to get the Manther even if I was mainly looking at the BFF. Thanks for the post.

[AdamJay]

sounds real good, is the joy everlasting or has the honeymoon passed?

Also,

off topic..

Did you hang on to your Drumatix and TT-606?

[nightfade]

My question is: Manther, Avalon, Gilbert, 810 or OG 101/202?

[AdamJay]

Would depend on if you just wanted a synth, or a “groovebox”.

Seems to me that the Manther’s sequencer has the most features, making it the more ideal “groovebox”

[Prints]

I’m actually waiting for a replacement unit because there was a faulty button on the one I had. I like it a lot though; not sure how long I plan on keeping it though because I have a lot of synths competing for the same audio space. The Hypersynth Xenophone I have can sound very similar, and I still plan on getting a Medusa.

I definitely prefer it to the Abstrakt Avalon and Korg Minilogue. It’s a lot more fun to use, and I like its character more. My Xenophone can sound much more complex, and do really cool things, but the Manther has this raw, organic quality that makes it stand out a bit differently. If I had to choose (which I might end up having to at some point), I’d take the Xenophone; especially, since I can sequence it with the Digitone.

I no longer own the TT-606 or Drumatix, but I far prefer the Drumatix. I wasn’t too fond of the higher noise floor on the TT-606, its kick, and a slight digital quality I hear in its hi-hats. The Drumatix, on the other hand, is still my all-time favorite sounding analog drum machine. I really disliked the cheap buttons and limited 16-step patterns though. But man, what beautiful, punchy, crispy sounds it has…

[Francis]

Manther just became available in Hong Kong which has me interested. Just ordered a Lyra 8 though so should take a breath unless advised not to by a kind soul…

[whikidazz]

Manther is at the top of my list! I was more interested in seeing a demo of the BFF but I guess that’ll have to wait a little bit, and I hope Mr.D is able to be really dirty and clean sounding with unique character.

I’m heavily interested in the new form Medusa has taken with polyend taking dreadboxs’ work to a different level but in your opinions, even with the crazy bonkers abilities medusa has shown would it make sense to add that to the lineup with the bad ass melekko releases?

What kind of pros and cons are you seeing just from these 3 from specs and form factors that havent been discussed above?

[pselodux]

Damn, I forgot about these. I got them mixed up with the Gotharman boxes for some reason.

They look so good! If I ever have spare synth budget I might have to snap one up

[Francis]

Ordered a manther, pickup Monday. The hands on UI convinced me to get this and sell AS1. Can use with lyra8 methinks.

[Francis]

First play with manther was fun apart from taking an age to scroll down the menu to find clock source setting to sync to the rest of the boys. Will have a sesh tonight when the weans are fed, watered and tied down for the evening.

[Francis]