Hi there,
here is a sound demo of the relatively new semi-modular synth Malevolent by PWM. Luckily, not another Moog or Roland clone but certainly with A LOT of character. My predicition: you either love it or hate it 
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Surprised there wasnāt already a thread about this - I watched the Suoerbooth video and it sounded great. I think Iāll love it.
Edit: Gaz Williams interviewed its creator not long ago, a good watch if youāre interested.
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Nice balance of things with the mini keys and the moderate price, but still robust as a patchable modular synth, with the ability to patch in external parts in addition. This should sell fairly well.
How do you feel about the original proposed price of Ā£499.99?
Iām feeling that based on the 32 key mini-keybed and the seemingly fairly basic Sallen-Key filter it would be more of an enticing proposition at Ā£399. Though I appreciate it isnāt cheap to manufacture a (semi) modular fully original analog machine (with digital control) with power and MIDI over USB, along with a proper supplied power supply.
The comparables that come to mind for me immediately are :
- Korg MS-20 Mini
- Arturia MiniBrute 2
- Moog Grandmother
Itās always hard to tell whether or not a price is too high or low. Thereās also the size of the company behind, development costs etc. Just based on what you get for the same amount of money elsewhere (Iām not saying Behringer as this would be an unfair comparison due to his own manufacturing factory) Iād say 100-150 ā¬ less would be more justified. But thatās just a feeling. Maybe they already have a very tight margin.
The format is cool, also the mini keys are ok (if you arenāt generally against them). But I found the knobs too wobbly to make fine adjustments, which is imo an essential feature especially in a (semi)modular environment. All the FM possibilities are almost useless, if you struggle to find the right dosage. Unless youāre planning only to create experimental sounds, obviously.
On the other side there are quite nice features such as waveform shaping, the arpeggiator and vast saturation stages (from subtle to very intense). Also, the envelopes are good - from really snappy to pad-like.
In short: Itās a cool little synth with a particular sound but a bit pricey - at least to me.
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- Korg MS-20 Mini
- Arturia MiniBrute 2
agreed.
- Moog Grandmother
In my opinion, this one isnāt really an alternative. A completely different character, more expensive, and with fewer patch points. A good synth anyways.
Maybe Iādd also add an Erica Synths Pico 3 system as alternative but that really is a pain to use.
We need a good image here.
On the price, itās said to be $550 USD. Thatās a good price.
ADDED : I stand by my comps.
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I agree with what is said so far - I think the price is actually fair for various reasons, and it will likely lower than this with retailers as with most RRP.
In my case I would use it as a nasty malevolent voice for my Pulsar-23, alongside which it would look pretty tasty.
The mini-keys I would need to play but the guy behind the design has a long history of designing hardware including M-Audio and Novation, and he is a super keyboard player (he performed the theme to The Office in the intro to each episode) so I would be surprised if they were as horrid as say, the original Microbrute.
I canāt play keys to save my life so not that big of an issue regardless.
Starsky Carr ā One minute, sound only :
BoBeats ā Review :
Just discovered this little thing, I think I might be tempted if there was a cheaper module version.
Different sound, but it reminds me a little bit of the Stylophone Gen R-8 in the sense that as soon as you hear them youāre like āDamn, thatās analogā. Itās funny how rare that can feel with all the analogs around these days.
Some gnarly sounds in here, really admire them for going for a character piece with this.
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Shown new at Superbooth 22 is an extention to the Malevolent, that allows you to add a row of Eurorack. So that would allow the Malevolent keyboard to work in ways similar to the new Cre8audio NiftyKEYZ, or the old Waldorf KB37.
The end caps on the Malevolent attach with magnets, so this is a fairly easy adaptation to make with new end caps, and a 19 inch rack / Eurorack adapter. I am not sure their plans entirely, for instance will this include a power supply? There are no cables connecting the two in this image, but you can see how convenient the connections would be with shorter cables.
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Looking great!
Hereās a sound demo of the expansion unit (seemingly).
I really dig the size and look of this. It still feels ādesktopā but with a keyboard. Need to take a good listen to its sound.
No. Thatās the second of three synths planned by PWM. Itās a two DCO polysynth with a paraphonic analog filter. Paul Whittington is calling it āThe Creatureā for now. I wrote about it over in the Superbooth 22 thread.
Probably a keyboard synth when it arrives-- 2023 ? A new thread for that when it shows up.
There is a thirty minute video just out with Mylar Melodies, with someone to help him demonstrate the Malevolent. The nice thing with this video is there is lots of patching - the Malevolent is really all about that, including using external Eurorack. They talk about mixing digital modules with Malevolentās analog, but of course there is no limit that way.
00:00 Intro
01:34 What is the PWM Malevolent and who is it for?
02:00 Some raw sounds
02:43 The oscillator and more
08:39 The filter
12:16 High pass
16:20 Drive
20:48 Integrating with other tech
25:31 Semi generative and cross modulation
30:27 Summary
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Anyone knows where to find a manual for this synth?
Iām interested, because of itās character, but would like to read first a bit into itā¦
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