I wanted to buy the Sonic Potions LXR for the 2nd time, as I wasn’t happy with the build quality of the one I initially bought off of ebay. Sonic Potions had a list of builders for their kit, and I emailed some person known as “Altitude,” who was the only listed builder for the US.
When inquiring about having the LXR built, I also mentioned that I was thinking of getting a PreenFM2 down the road. It’s important to note that PreenFM2 is currently out of stock, and it seems to be released in small batches that sell out in a week or two.
Altitude told me that he could put the LXR together for $150, and that he could also send me a PreenFM2 for $250 (parts+labor), as long as I could wait a few weeks for him to get a certain part. Perfect.
I pulled the trigger, and now I have all the synths I was planning to get except one: a bass synth.
Enter, the Mutable Instruments Shruthi-1.
It’s a DIY 2 OSC + 1 subOSC monosynth with an analog filter and a slew of waveform and modulation options. It has patch memory, looks pretty easy to edit, transmits and receives MIDI CC, and sounds pretty damn good for bass. Altitude can make them for $300 (parts+labor) and once I get a little more time to drum up the cash, I’ll be getting one made.
It has occurred to me that all of my synths will be DIY projects, except for the Yamaha Reface DX. That wasn’t intentional. It’s just that these DIY synths offer me the best value on the dollar. It sucks that you can’t walk into a Guitar Center, try one out, and then walk out the door with one, but upon finding a person to source and build these projects, it’s a no-brainer for me. I would encourage anyone to give these DIY synths a good look.
Altitude can be contacted at altitude@misw.us, and you can see examples of his builds at here.
bleep bleep boom 