Chimera Synthesis BC8 SN 1X4B1A

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"For auction is a Chimera Synthesis bC8 synthesizer. It's very compact (about the diameter of a Coke can) yet it features a wealth of modules. Astonishingly flexible.

Unfortunately the one man company went belly up and ceased to exist quite some time ago. There are only very few of these synthesizers, rarely being offered for sale.

The bC8 is powered by three AAA cells (alkaline or NiMh types). Connection to the outside world is via a 3.5mm (1/8”) stereo jack socket.

The bC8 is 69mm in diameter (less than 2.75”). There is a stereo headphone amplifier connected to a 24bit / 48KHz digital to analog converter (same unit as used in the bC16). A powerful DSP generates a VCO and LFO (similar to the bC16).

The DSP performs waveshape modulation and the VCA controls the patching of functions.

There is a simple but powerful ‘one button’ pattern sequencer..

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The bC8 is controlled by eight rotary knobs and one push-button. Four LED’s indicate battery status, LFO and EG level and other mode elements. bC8 pattern sequencer records the timing/duration of the button presses and all the knob settings for each action, these can be altered live for acid loops etc… The speed of playback maybe dynamically varied between 25% and 400% of normal.

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I have written some of the descriptions of what the knobs do on masking tape which is stuck on the side. This can easily be removed.

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The knobs have the following functions (going counter-clockwise from the headphone jack):

Knob One: VCO frequency
– ranging from sub-sonic to about 8,000 Hz.

Knob Two: VCO modulation depth
– operates on FM, exponential, duty cycle modulations etc..

Knob Three: VCO / LFO waveshape
– complex operation with many different combinations of VCO and LFO waveshapes.

Knob Four: LFO frequency
– ranging from 30 seconds per cycle to over ultra-sonic.

Push-button:
– triggers/retriggers envelope generator (EG)
– inputs sequencer rhythm, stops and starts sequencer, re-records sequencer pattern, etc..
– toggles knob eight between volume control, playback speed controloutput effects

Knob Five: Attack - Envelope Generator (EG)
– envelope ATTACK maybe varied from 1mS (fast) to 20S (very slow)

Knob Six: Release - Envelope Generator (EG)
– envelope RELEASE (or DECAY) maybe varied from 1mS (fast) to 20S (very slow)

Knob Seven: Patch Pattern
– controls the patching of all the internal elements 128 different combinations, including inverting the envelope generator.

Knob Eight: Volume control / Playback Speed / Mode change / End of Record
– adjusts output volume level
– dynamically changes the playback speed of a pattern from 25% to 400%
– toggle modes (singleshot, autorepeat or pattern record/playback)
– used to end a pattern recording session and start playback VCO waveshapes are sine, saw, triangle, noise/random, square. VCO is capable of through-zero FM modulation. LFO waveshapes are sine, triangle, positive saw, staircase up, negative saw, staircase down, square, random/noise."