Dreadbox Abyss - Twiddling With and Exploring the Sounds

Published on Jun 10, 2017 ProckGnosis

"WARNING: a bit lengthy listen to the Dreadbox Abyss, 4-voice analog(ue) synthesizer (I tried to cut the length down, but obviously failed). This is NOT a review, and there's no talking past the introduction. It's basically a big sound sampler focusing on chords, with a bit of lead and bass thrown in as well.

When it comes to synths, this thing is retro-in-a-box. And I'm talking sound most of all. And in case you were wondering, the opening ProckGnosis theme for this video was done only with the Abyss and some VST drums.

Top 4 things I've discovered so far:
- If you want that "Boards of Canada" drifting oscillator sound (more recently overexposed in the "Stranger Things" soundtrack), this thing nails it
- The hybrid delay really does create a great chorus effect (the Erebus should be able to do this too, but I've never tried)
- Just a touch of "drive" on the VCA helps make the sound even more classic and...uh...not sure really, but I describe it as "dirty" in the video
- The selection of variable wave shapes sort of pushes this into OB6 territory, and being able to easily modulate the waves really pumps some life into the sound

Again, hats off to Dreadbox for this kind of stuff. I said somewhere, yeah, it's just a synthesizer, but they do it just a little bit differently, and that really makes it something more unique in the field of synths. Cheers!"