Chimera BC8 Synthesizer

via this auction

"These are no longer in production. Great little noise maker / box of evil. Lots of crazy noises to be made from this thing."

Chimera Synthesis BC6 Walnut synth / step recorder

via this auction

"A brilliant compact synth / drone machine from the now deceased Chimera. Great for sampling :-)

This is what Chimera had to say about the BC6:

[BC6] WALNUT, handmade, small, standalone synthesizer with in-built 16-step sequence recorder

[DESIGN] Beautiful Black Walnut wood, brushed stainless steel, bright-red printed circuit board, green plastic button and green LED

[SOUND] Distilled Chimera bC8 type sounds

[USE] Live, backing, drone, musique-concrete, glitch, industrial…

CONTROLS:

[1] VCO pitch, from 27.5Hz [A0] to approximately 3.1KHz [G7]

[2] LFO>VCO modulation depth, controls both AM and FM depths

[3] LFO rate (sub-sonic to audible)

[BUTTON] envelope trigger (with sustain), mode selection and playback start-stop

[4] Envelope, combination attack/release control 5 milliseconds to 20 seconds

[5] VCO waveshape continuous morph (sine, triangle, square, sawtooth) and LFO waveshape selection (sine, square, rising sawtooth, falling sawtooth)

[6] Volume [also auxiliary functions of mode selection when at zero and playback speed]

[MODE] single-shot mode with sustain, auto-repeat, playback

[RECORDER] automatically records the last sixteen notes played including, note duration, time between notes and the values of knobs 1-5 (these maybe overridden during playback if desired),

[PLAYBACK] plays back the last sixteen notes, speed maybe smoothly varied from 1/16th speed to 16x speed

TECHNICAL:

[OUTPUT] Stereo 3.5mm jack socket (50mW available for driving headphones)

[POWER] 3x AAA cells, drain ~55mA, power switch on base

[SIZE] 90mm diameter x 45mm overall height (including knobs)

[CONSTRUCTION] body from black walnut, hand-finished and protected with Danish Oil, stainless steel top-plate, high quality double-sided

PCB hand-assembled and tested.

[AVAILABILITY] only 100 units were built (this is number 28)"

My Tiny Army

via Luis Fernando Hernandez-Loera on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

"-BleepLabs: Bit Bolb Jr.
-BleepLabs: Nebulophone
-BleepLabs: PicoPaso
-Chimera Synthesis: bC6 (Blue Face)
-Chimera Synthesis: bC8
-Chimera Synthesis: bC9 (Two)
-Korg: Monotron
-Gijs Gieskes: Acid Machine (Black)
-Rarebeasts: EM-Tronic
-SuONOIO
on top of a Little Phatty!"

ether^ra RANDOM COLLABORATION WITH MACHINES

YouTube Uploaded by potterpaint2000 on Mar 26, 2011

"an improv featuring: Serge Creature/Seq A, Vtol Cramola & Corvax, Chimera bC8, Doepfer DE, EH Memory Man, Alesis Ineko, and a Korg Mini KP...and they all got along...sort of...http://etherra.blogspot.com/"

Chimera bC8 (mk2) synthesizer/sequencer

via this auction

K-N ChimerisM

YouTube via khnshs | Mar 1, 2011 |

"live jam with Chimera BC8 and Pigtronix Echolution... nothing else..."

Dual Chimera?

via @Chimera_Synths

"late night tooling change"

Update: "it's a Super8 (bC8 like, with wild 18dB analog VCF analog, VCA, auxin, MIDI and mad 8-step sequencer with variable destination)"

Chimera BC8 Synthesizer

via this auction
"The bC8 is probably the smallest production synthesizer in the world and certainly the cutest.

Packed into the bC8's tiny round body is a hand-assembled gold plated circuit board, eight high-quality potentiometers, a stereo jack socket, push-button, no less than four LED's, battery holder (3xAAA cells) with a robust stainless steel base.

Sophisticated digitally based oscillators are housed on the DSP as well as an innovative recording system and internal control voltage patching. Choose between single-shot and repetive envelope generator modes; use the seperate ATTACK and RELEASE knobs to create long and soulful drones; select the recording system to record and playback complex patterns of control knob movement, speed up or slow down the pattern playback to add > extra glide detail or confusion, override any of the controls during playback to adapt, complicate or simplifiy your composistion.

The bC8's VCO goes from the subsonic to the upper end of human hearing, introduce suble amounts of modulation from the LFO or envelope generator to create gentle vibratos or progressively wind in more than 700% modulation for almost impossible-to-predict and perhaps never-heard-before sounds. VCO is capable of 'thru-zero' modulation (frequencies run backwards).

To sum up: Eight LFO and four VCO morphing waveshapes, 128 different patchings, deep modulation options, wide ranging ATTACK/DECAY envelope generator and recording sequencer in a hand-built-by-one-man-in-a-tiny-factory-in-England - pocket sized - self powered - round package carefully machined from high-quality acrylic plastic (Perspex)."

bC8 random knob twiddling

YouTube via thegroovecriminals | June 28, 2009

"Quick video of our Chimera bC8 and some random knob twiddling - fab little machine."

Chimera bc8 & KORG Monotron

flickr By jonas_l
(click for more)

"At first the Chimera bc8 felt like a random beast, and while it still does at times I have discovered that running it through the filter of the Korg Monotron is a good way to tame it. Great for rythmic bass patterns and random noise."

Chimera bC9 mini synthesizer with external CV & Trigger

via Noisebug on Ebay

"Based on the popular bC8 synthesiser/sequencer, the bC9 offers the same astonishing range of sounds with the ability to externally modulate any possible combination of the eight main control knobs, including the infamous ‘patch’ control. A ninth knob controls the depth of external modulation. The semi-transparent frosted body diffuses the light from the ten LEDs that logically show various conditions and processes (warning: mesmerising). Powered by 3x AAA cells the bC9 measures 102mm x 70mm x 50mm high (4"x 2.75" x 2"). Designed, programmed, CNC machined and hand-built by BC in the UK." Also see Noisebug's other listings here. previously posted

ether^ra CONCENTRIC ANOMALY

YouTube via potterpaint2000 | September 21, 2010

"an improv featuring my Serge Creature/Seq A combo, a Korg MS20, a Chimers bC8,and some fx. http://etherra.blogspot.com"

Chimera BC8 Synthesiser Sequencer

via this auction
"Amazing Chimera BC8 Synthesiser/Sequencer Complete with Brand New Batteries and Instructions.

Very Rare - Made in UK - Incredible sounds -Check out the web videos to see what this "Beast" can do

Check the following Link for Info

Grab a piece of Musical History -Great Condition -Latest Software Installed -Amazing Sounds -all in the palm of your hand -incredibly portable -use headphones on the train or whack it through an amp for really Dirty Gritty synthesised sounds."

no MIDI no keyboards (+audio)

flickr by Chris_Carter_
(click for more)

"Live improve set-up.

Equipment shown:
Two Kaossilators, two mini Kaoss pads, a KP3 Kaoss pad, a Tom Bugs WOM synth, Chimera BC8, BC9 and BC16 synths, two Zoom PFX-9003 effects, an Eventide Modfactor, an Eventide Timefactor, a Dirty-Carter E.S.G.I synth, a portable Edirol mixer and a Zoom H2 for recording. No MIDI, keyboards, laptops or desktop computers were used.


Rhythms were generated by the two Kaossilators - going through the mini KPs, bass loops were generated by the KP3. The Chimera BC16 synth (LFO and ADSR) was voltage controlling the BC9 synth and the two Eventide stompboxes. All loop syncing and BPM matching was done on the fly using 'tap-tempo' on the Korgs and Eventides.


A recording of this improv set-up can be heard here:
soundcloud.com/chris_carter/no-midi-no-keyboards

another photo here: www.flickr.com/photos/chris_carter_/4652558166/

This is part of my CCCL project.
aka: Chis Carter's Chemistry Lessons
chriscarterchemistrylessons.blogspot.com/"

Chimera Synthesis BC9

"bC9 synthesizer –
Based on the popular bC8 synthesiser/sequencer, the bC9 offers the same astonishing range of sounds with the ability to externally modulate any possible combination of the eight main control knobs, including the infamous ‘patch’ control; a ninth knob controls the depth of external modulation...

The semi-transparent frosted body diffuses the light from the ten LED’s that logically show various conditions and processes (warning: mesmerising).

Connections
CV input: 3.5mm jack socket (near yellow VCO knob): 0v to 5v Trig input: 3.5mm jack socket (centre): 2 to 10v Audio out: 3.5mm stereo jack socket (near grey volume knob), drives headphones.

Indicators
10 separate LED’s of various colours. Aside from showing the current status of the LFO, envelope generator, battery and external trigger. The LED’s also show the modulation destinations when the black push-button is pressed. External CV voltage shown by the ‘analog’ LED by the black push-button.

Knobs
1st knob, yellow - VCO frequency 2nd knob, yellow - VCO & LFO modulation depth control 3rd knob, blue - Waveshapes for VCO and LFO 4th knob, blue - LFO speed 5th knob, green - External CV modulation depth control 6th knob, red - Attack, envelope generator 7th knob, red - Release, envelope generator 8th knob, green - Patch control 9th knob, grey - Volume control

Controls
On-Off switch (right-hand toggle) Envelope mode (left-hand toggle) >up=auto-repeat, centre=single shot (no sustain), down=single shot (sustain allowed). Black push-button >press to see and modify the external modulation-destination. Red push-button >triggers envelope generator, effectively in parallel with external trigger

Battery
3x AAA cells, alkaline or rechargeable types. Supplied allen key loosens four screws to allow stainless steel base plate to be removed.

Unibody construction
CNC machined from a solid lump of transparent acrylic polymer, hand frosted with alumina. Stainless steel base plate/battery lid. Four rubber feet.

Chimera Synthesis Ltd
http://www.Chimera-Synthesis.com
E&OE 13 May 2010"

Update: see the comments of this post below if you are considering picking up a Chimera.

musique concrete: chimera bC8 synth

musique concrete: chimera bC8 synth from todd barton on Vimeo.

"A very short musique concrete piece made entirely from sounds from the Chimera bC8 micro synth/sequencer.
Only a little virtual spring reverb added accompanied by a slideshow of photos of the bC8. enjoy!

For more on the Chimera bC8 go to:
chimerasynthesis.com/"

chimera bC8 synth

chimera bC8 synth from todd barton on Vimeo.

"Sort of a graphic score of a little test drive of a Chimera bC8 micro synth."

Chimera Synthesis bc8 micro-synthesizer

via this auction
"The maker describes the bC8 as "probably the smallest production synthesizer in the world and certainly the cutest." That's probably about right. This thing is only 2.75 inches in diameter and 2 inches tall, but they packed in a hand-assembled gold-plated circuit board, eight potentiometers, a stereo mini-plug, a push-button control, four LED's, and a battery holder (it takes three AAAs).

The maker says: "Sophisticated digitally based oscillators are housed on the DSP as well as an innovative recording system and internal control voltage patching. Choose between single-shot and repetive envelope generator modes; use the separate ATTACK and RELEASE knobs to create long and soulful drones; select the recording system to record and play back complex patterns of control knob movement, speed up or slow down the pattern playback to add extra glide detail or confusion, override any of the controls during playback to adapt, complicate or simplifiy your composition."

More description is here.

This was one of the last batch of bc8s made, and Chimera Synthesis says they have no plans to make more. If you followed the saga, you'll know that it was almost impossible to get one even when they were being made. I waited about six months for this one, then realized I really need more definite pitch control (read: keys, and polyphony) for what I want to do.

You can hear the bc8 in action played by my friend Opsysbug on YouTube"
Here, here and here. Click on the Chimera link below for more.

bC16 synthesizer and its various bits and pieces

flickr by sethelgart

(click for one more)

Tiny. Note this is the bC16 not the bC8 which is even smaller.

click on the Chimera label below for more including audio and video.

Chimera bc8 via kuyanov

Sonomute-sonoscape.1 by kuyanov
"nano step micro digital electronic minimal live
live session performed with Chimera bc8 and ipod touch."

Sonomute-sonoscape.2 by kuyanov
"nano step micro digital electronic minimal live
recording of live performance."

via Timur in the comments of this post.