Modal Argon8 – 8 voice polyphonic wavetable synthesiser

The Lounge Other Gear
#41

All three, Modal, ASM and Elektron are at Knobcon this weekend. No doubt there’s a little bit of counterintelligence work going on. I don’t know for a fact, but would guess that Daniel Troberg will be there, so he’s no doubt talking, guardedly with his buddies at Elektron. I don’t know about relationships between Modal people and the other two, but they’re certainly looking, perhaps smiling, and perhaps looking over their shoulder too.

Arturia’s there too. Pigments hardware???

Modal was going to be there anyways with Craft Synth 2 and Skulpt, but i’m sure their looking to put a good show on with Argon (vs Hydrasynth). I’m sure they will. And they will be getting lots of questions too.

Would be fun if Modal and ASM have booths right next to each other.

Will be interested to hear back from those that went to the show.

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#42

Megafreak or Matrixfreak maybe? :upside_down_face:

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#43

I watched both videos, and the vibe I got was that it mostly finished, except for some cosmetic things. It seems like they are set on the internals, ins/outs, keybed, etc. Also, who knows when these videos were recorded? I got the feeling that the Sonic State video was recorded before the Andertons one, but who knows when either were recorded. They mentioned Knobcon coming up, so it is presumably recent though. It seemed like the synth engine, sequencer, arpeggiator was finished, but the fx needed some work. Also, they said that there would probably be more filters, and other features coming in the future, so they could get the fx up to snuff and get a finalized version for the release date, and then continue to add features along the way as some manufacturer’s do. I do agree it is tight window to get it finished by Christmas. But hey, for all we know, they have already started manufacturing the internals, while they finalize the body of it.

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#44

This to me the best bang for the bucks for 2019/2020
And it’s BEAUTIFUL (more than HYDRA which I find ugly but powerful so…)

So great idea to make the low of the top case rounded so with lights (depending) it make a gradient… I like that (and black bamboo oh yes I like that too) Fatar keybed … it’s appealing to create sounds on this little ARGON8

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#45

Yeah its definitely nice looking, much more so than models other designs to me… still there is a bit of there odd design in there but I never mind a bit of that. I dont think hydra is bad looking though, maybe a bit too hitech looking for some but that also is just what it is a hitech synth. The modal seems maybe a bit more straightforward while the hydra might offer more depth.

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#46

More observations regarding the Argon’s doneness.

Jackson tells Nick it’s an “early production prototype” right at the beginning of the video, and says at a little after 2 minutes that “everything is subject to change at this point” as he motions to the machine. My project leader tells me those two and i understand he means hardware too. At around 7 minutes he talks about “the oscillator types we’ve been working on”, not “we just finished”. At 11:20 he says “the aftertouch is not fully calibrated.” At 15:30 he says that the filters “are not modulated yet, but they will be.” He says in a general sense there will be more filters. In the Anderton video he talks about how they’re still changing the colors and this finish he hadn’t seen yet. And of course the back and forth in the SS video on pa that i posted earlier. There is more.

There were a couple of moments i’d also say it glitched and sounded a bit odd. Nick liked the sound and said, “What was that?” and Jackson moved on. I’m not sure on this, but it caught my attention.

Now this all is really quite a ways along; much more than the Super 6 was when U.D.O. showed it at Superbooth 2019. That’s also supposedly on it’s way to market this year. The U.D.O. engineer had people telling him don’t show it, it’s too early. I’m sure there was discussion of that with the Modal people too.

ADDED Sept 10th: BTW The U.D.O. engineer i mentioned here is George Hearn, another former Modal engineer. Also former Modal engineers are Paula Maddox and Matt Jackson.

BTW: I do think the Argon is far enough along to talk about as long as you don’t try to cover things up, and i don’t think they are doing that.

I’ve definitely been pushed to show stuff at shows that i’ve known was not ready. I’d probably be comfortable showing the Argon at this point, particularly if i felt some market pressure.

There’s a rule in project management sometimes called the 90/10 rule, about the last 10% taking 90% of the time. It’s slightly humorous, but it also comes up so often because it’s a reflection of the reality.

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#47

I agree with the 90/10 rule. And I think it is coin flip if it is ready on time. The one reason I think it could be, is that this isn’t new tech, because it is based on Skulpt. And I believe this is the 5th product from this company? So they aren’t brand new, they should have a good idea on timeframes, and should have a relationship with manufacturers. But on the flip-side, it is often the smallest things that cause the longest delays, especially when it comes to prototypes and manufacturing. I am digging that joystick, so that will probably be the issue, and then they replace it with a D-Beam, but the licensing from Roland falls through, so they settle on a mod string that you just pull out when you are doing mod things. I wish there was a betting pool in Vegas, or on a sports site for the completion date. It would be a fun to throw a few clams down and cheer for this thing like I was at the track. :horse_racing:

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#48

Very true! They should know the ropes on manufacture by now.

Modals super high end stuff is way cool, and the Argon takes influence from that too. But of course personnel at Modal has changed some since then. (ADDED: Jackson Almond has been at Modal only since October 2018.) That’s also why i mentioned money in letter (f) above. The Craft Synth 2.0 is also an influence/idea source.

I think betting on it would be fun too, especially if it was the prize if you win! Sometimes i think that’s what Kickstarter is.

Interesting that Modal decided to fund this themselves this time. I know they said that the Craft Synth 2.0 was their last crowd funded development.

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#49

Yeah, I have wanted an 008 for some time, but the prices are a bit high for me. I think that is why I am excited for Argon8. It hits a feature, price point, and size that is a sweet spot for me. Did they crowdfund the 002 and 008, or was it just the craft 2.0 and skulpt?

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#50

All these new synths. What about minologue XD , it’s almost in the shops. Sounded nice.

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#51

That old thing? I am only interested in gear that is months, or years out from being released.

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#52

Jokes aside, I am glad they made a desktop version of the XD. People are always asking for desktop versions, and they don’t get produced enough. As far as the sounds, I have not played one myself yet. I did have an original Minilogue that I enjoyed. From the videos I have seen on the XD, it sounds great, and the addition of that digital oscillator seems to really expand the sound possibilities. So yeah, some interesting possibilities in this price range. The Minilogue XD, Hydra Desktop, and Modal Argon8.

#53

I’ve lost interest in all polysynths with less than 6 voices. I still love the Microfreak though.

#54

Minilogue XD was my leading candidate for next polysynth purchase. I still like how it sounds and think it offers good value for the money.

However, the Hydrasynth desktop, at close to the same price with its poly aftertouch and velocity sensitive pads is a strong contender - for me.

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#55

That is a lot of cool features for a reasonable price. Love it.

#1 on my “Affordable Item GAS List”.

#56
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#57

Reverb goes around Knobcon. Here they talk to Jackson (he’s been busy) on the Argon 8 and listens to some samples. This snippet is 2 minutes long.

Big news, the Argon 8 is now coming out in November 2019!
They’ve confidently moved the ship date ahead.

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#58

So i see you can pre-order the Argon 8 at Andertons.

They’re very specific on the delivery date – November 15th!

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#59

Better get out that catchers mitt, this baby is coming out quick!

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#60

@HoldMyBeer - Ha! That conjures all kinds of images in my head… Oi.

It sure seems like they’re stepping on the accelerator with this one. No doubt spurred by the release of the Hydrasynth. I hope it’s not too rushed, but at least we won’t have to wait long to find out. This holiday season is going to be a hoot, with all this new stuff and maybe more that we haven’t seen yet.

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