"Ekdahl Moisturizer analog spring reverb, resonant filter and LFO module with power supply.
Used, fully working and sounds fantastic.
A unique, compact sonic laboratory with lots of modulation options for real time sound shaping."
"We're on the ground in Berlin at the year's biggest synth event. Stay up to date with all the latest gear news, announcements, and preorder info on our Superbooth coverage hub."
Pictured left: Knas / Ekdahl Polygamist (top); FAR prototype (middle); and a trust ARP Axxe (bottom) from a 2024 interview with Knas.
"Karl Ekdahl, also known as Knas, is a Swedish-born, US-based artist and electronic musical instrument luthier. He designed the widely-loved esoteric analog desktop effect—the expressive spring reverb, Ekdahl Moisturizer. This year at Superbooth, Karl introduced a wild-looking electro-acoustic instrument called FAR. These instruments are based on the principle of extracting different harmonics from a vibrating string by precisely controlling the speed and pressure of a bowing wheel. Naturally, we were eager to learn more about this development.
In our interview, Karl provides a unique look into the world of Knas, exploring its history, ethos, and philosophy. He discusses his approach to instrument design, the concept and technology behind FAR, and other instruments created by Knas. Additionally, he highlights the important role of Baltimore's artistic community in his work, continuously emphasizing along the way that Knas is and has always meant to be more than just a gear company."
"The utterly unique Ekdahl Moisturizer! Rare opportunity to dip into the wild world of KNAS without the step entry price. This unit is in excellent condition. Keep in mind, KNAS products are made by hand in small batches and the build quality reflects this. The globs of glue that holding the springs in place are exactly as I received it. And the panel graphics are not screened, they are decals. I find the KNAS aesthetic charming, but thought it would be worth mentioning."
"Live recording by Eduard 'Papa Srapa' Srapionov (b. 1961), an innovative and eccentric Russian experimental/noise sound artist from Rostov-on-Don, primarily known as a designer and creator of peculiar DIY synthesizers, electroacoustic instruments, and various music/non-music interactive objects and sculptures, often built from junk, cheap toys, household items, etc.
Srapionov began his career in the eighties as an audio/light engineer and stage technician for Valery Posidelov's band Day and Evening («День и Вечер»), as well as a bassist for several jazz ensembles and rock groups – most notably, Zazerkalje. Since the early 2000s, Papa Srapa began performing solo with an array of unique self-built electroacoustic instruments, synthesizers, drum machines, effects processors, heavily modified turntable with prepared records, and various unidentifiable sound objects.
Most of his recordings are self-released on CDr – often each copy has a unique handmade artwork and cover design. Papa Srapa also released a few limited edition albums on Ginjoha (Japan), Kotä and Nazlo Records (Russia)."
"The Ekdahl Moisturizer is a spring reverb where the springs are exposed so they can be played/hit/fiddled with. As well as being capable of creating sound in itself, you can of course also play sound through the springs like a regular spring reverb - this makes for happy-fun-time finger-modulation of the reverb on whatever audio that's going through it. On top of this there's an analog multimode filter that can be used to attenuate or exaggerate certain frequencies in the sound, this is real handy while playing the springs as you can - for instance - cut all the highs and just make thunderous doomy sounds or do the opposite; cut all the lows and make that ear piercing high frequency special love. Also, it incorporates an LFO that's internally routable to the filter and that also has some external routing-stuff. The Ekdahl Moisturizer has tons of CV / Expression pedal options on the back for even more hillarious moments. The Moisturizer is a mono unit."
"In this live improvised jam, I introduce the Wavestate to some old and new friends - MicroFreak, Monologue, Volca Drum, Novation Circuit, 3 Zoom MS-70CDRs and Korg NTS-1. The only prerecorded sequence is the drums on Volca Drum. The rest of the jam is live playing and active use of the arpeggiators on the Wavestate and MicroFreak. The recorded video is annotated with some notes about the performance.
During the jam, I let each synth/layer have a solo part where it is up front and center - the MicroFreak, the Monologue and the two arp parts and the pad part on the Wavestate. I try to think of them as different members of a band.
My music on Bandcamp: http://waveformer42.bandcamp.com/
The Wavestate patch/performance is a slightly modified version of "WF Charlottenburg" and is a part of the "Berlin School and Ambient Construction Kit" available here: https://gumroad.com/waveformer.
It has four layers - 2 arpeggiators, one arpeggiated bass and one pad. I added some inharmonic wavesamples to steps 9-16 of the pad sample wavesequence, moved around a few notes and rests on the timing lanes for the two arps, added some octave shifts to the pitch sequences, and some ratcheting to one of the arps.
During the jam, I play around with the wavesequence lanes for all the four layers - timing lane to change rhythm, sample lane to vary the wavesamples, pitch lane to add some octave changes to some notes, shape to add ratcheting, and gate to add some variation to note length. The wavesequence loop lengths are different from lane to lane, creating interesting polymeter effects. I also modify pan, filter cutoff, envelope decay and reverb mix through the jam.
"Been putting another electro track together using mostly old school analog equipment like the roland TR808, SH101 and Jupiter-4. Chord stabs from the crumbar bit-one. FM/Arpeggiator sounds from the TTSH ARP 2600 clone. Processing using various pedals (meris mercury, strymon el capistan) and outboard (Klark Technik 1167 and EQP1, Knas Moisturizer). Made some video material whilst recording and mixed in some diving footage to have a bit of a back-drop to the track."
New track from supporting member, The Galaxy Electric. Gear list below.
"Thanks for listening! Go on a musical voyage with us where we'll send you a new song every day, a cosmic story, and a chance to earn space treasure: https://thegalaxyelectric.lpages.co/5...
This single was created in our signature Cosmic Tape Music style, utilizing electroacoustic techniques, Reel to Reel tape machine, and varispeed “tape tricks” for vocals and bass guitar to change timbre and original pitch. The use of electro-mechanical effects treatments like spring reverb and tape delay were implemented to add a touch of vintage spice.
The following gear was used to make this song:
TEAC A-3440 Reel to Reel tape machine
Buchla Music Easel
Mellotron M4000D mini
1979 Dual Algorithmic Oscillator
Crank Sturgeon Plug SP contact microphone
Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer Spring Reverb
Lyrics:
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Beside a garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
"This started off as a sound experiment when I ran the Korg MS-20 through a spring reverb and ring modulator. With this setup I quickly realized I now had the power to contact aliens, so I wrote this song. The spring reverb is the Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer. The ring mod is the moogerfooger one. I'm also playing the Arturia Solina V plugin and there's some drums coming from Ableton Live.
"The Ekdahl Moisturizer is an innovative spring reverb where the springs are exposed so they can be played/hit/fiddled with. As well as being capable of creating sound in itself, you can of course also play sound through the springs like a regular spring reverb - this makes for happy-fun-time finger-modulation of the reverb on whatever audio that's going through it.
On top of this there's an analog multimode filter that can be used to attenuate or exaggerate certain frequencies in the sound, this is real handy while playing the springs as you can - for instance - cut all the highs and just make thunderous doomy sounds or do the opposite; cut all the lows and make that ear piercing high frequency special love.
Also, it incorporates an LFO that's internally routable to the filter and that also has some external routing-stuff. The Ekdahl Moisturizer has tons of CV / Expression pedal options on the back for even more hilarious moments. The Moisturizer is a mono unit.
"electro tune played without computers - 'route through akrpesh'. Using a sequential drumtraks, arp axxe and roland mc202. Dynachord tape echo and knas moisturizer as effects. Boss KM60 for mixing. Guess its not a surprise I love listening to the older Dutch electro stars from the Hague, like legowelt and I-F."
"The Keyed Mosstone from Lorre-Mill has multiple touch plates, including three round plates that can be used in different combinations to play eight different notes, and these notes are tunable. The sound is generated by a triangle wave oscillator and noise source that run through a wave-shaper. The Keyed Mosstone is run through the Ekdahl Moisturizer for a little bit of spring reverb.
"With its Moss Oscillator, multifunction envelope, random voltages, and playfully inviting banana patch points and touchplate keyboard, the Keyed Mosstone is all about exploring new sound through physical interaction and game-like play. Keyed Mosstone is an inspiring and quirky standalone synthesizer from Lorre Mill.
The Keyed Mosstone's primary sound source is the Moss Oscillator: a triangle oscillator with variable noise amount, then fed into a dedicated Lockhart wavefolder. A two-stage envelope generator can either be looped or triggered via the keyboard, allowing for multiple styles of interactive play. The keyboard itself has a deceptively simple design for the power it contains: it acts not only as a tunable pitch controller, but also allows touch access to random voltage routing and envelope loop state, acting like a momentary tactile patch matrix.
And of course, the Keyed Mosstone is fully patchable, with linear and exponential FM and CV inputs for most parameters. Just add some banana cables and get patching!
"I run the Roland SH-101 through the Ekdahl Moisturizer spring reverb. The SH-101 is a classic analog monophonic synth from the 80s made famous for its use in acid techno. The Moisturizer is a combo spring reverb and analog filter. What's unique about this reverb is that the springs are exposed at the top so you can tap them and play them with your hands. You can also replace the spring tank if you want. It also comes with a multi-mode filter which can be smoothly switched from low pass, bandpass and highpass. There's also an onboard LFO which you can modulate the filter with. Finally, it has various different CV jacks on the back for interfacing with external analog gear.
This video is part information part demo. I go over all the different knobs on the Moisturizer and experiment with different sounds along the way."
This one in via Soviet Space Child after seeing the Suiko for sale, just posted here. If you enjoyed the above, you can find a playlist of all of ludoWic's jams below.
"The Ekdahl Moisturizer is an innovative spring reverb where the springs are exposed so they can be played/hit/fiddled with. As well as being capable of creating sound in itself, you can of course also play sound through the springs like a regular spring reverb - this makes for happy-fun-time finger-modulation of the reverb on whatever audio that's going through it.
On top of this there's an analog multimode filter that can be used to attenuate or exaggerate certain frequencies in the sound, this is real handy while playing the springs as you can - for instance - cut all the highs and just make thunderous doomy sounds or do the opposite; cut all the lows and make that ear piercing high frequency special love. 
