Antonus 2600 DIY - Test Drive

video upload by Tumeni Knobs

"This is my Antonus 2600 - I just completed building it from the synthCube.com full DIY kit. It is a huge project! Working on it in my free time, it took six months for me to complete. But I'm sure a full-time builder could do it in a couple of weeks. I actually love that it took me this long. :-)

Anyway, since I first powered it up I have been testing, calibrating and starting to understand how it works, and yes, it deserves it's reputation as an awesome sounding and very flexible synthesizer.

This video is just me noodling on it using the Arturia KeyStep Pro with a sound/patch I really like. This is actually just one of its three oscillators, but I have the saw and square waves patched in. The other two oscillators are in LFO mode. The oscillator is using the ADSR envelope and the filter is using the AR envelope plus an LFO to modulate it - makes some interesting accents.

Effects are courtesy of the Fractal Audio VP4, which is an incredible pedal.

I thought adding some drums would give this more of a musical context, so I force-fit some patterns from EZ Drummer.

The opening groove is definitely reminiscent of Bluetech's Laika, from the Spacehop Chronicles album. It's intentional. :-) I really like his stuff! Go buy some at Bandcamp.

This signal path for this recording goes like this: 2600 into VP4 into iRig into iPhone. I then applied a little EQ in Studio One, just to trim out the extreme highs and lows - I did not use any compression on this.

Can't wait to make some "proper" music with this amazing synth.

Cheers!"