You might remember the interview with Synton's Felix Visser and This is not Rocket Science's Stijn Haring-Kuipers at Soundmit 2018 on the upcoming new Fenix system. Well, it is here. Update: Priced at 5000 Euros (would be ~ $5600 at todays rate plus any shipping and import fees) - see here on how to get one.
via This is Not Rocket Science
"All you need to play.An intriguing set of modular building blocks
We think Fenixes are true synthesizer-instruments: they give you all the options you need to explore a very wide range of sonic possibilities. You can learn to play a Fenix quickly and you can still be developing your interaction with it in ten years’ time. The first Fenix was born and bred to satisfy one artist’ wishes for an all in-one system. Our Fenix IV is also born out of this desire with ourselves as the artists.
The density of Fenix I,II and III meant it provided loads of sound in one box. Before eurorack boomed, most modular synthesizers required half a wall of space. Fenix provided all your options in a relatively small container. When Fenix II was released, it packed the most punch for its size anywhere on the market. With Fenix IV we think we continue this tradition. We’ve extended the sounds by adding our best from the digital world. The intention is to provide a toolbox for you to make sound with, and not put too much of our flavour in the sounds themselves. Choices are made for maximum sonic variety. For example: we’ve upgraded the delay line from Fenix II with a musical element. In Fenix IV we are now providing a tuneable version so you can use it as a physical model of a string.
There is a flow to every Fenix. All the modules have the same direction for inputs and outputs: roughly left to right and top to bottom. This is the same in educational diagrams that talk about synthesizer structure. We managed to consistently apply this giant swipe from up left to down right across our Fenix too. You can distinguish types of signals on a Fenix by the colour coding – we’ve taken this helpful visual aid and extended it to giving the modules a coloured grouping that corresponds between the knobs and the jacks. Another feature of the Fenix family is the waterline that divides the knobs from the jacks. Keeping the knobs up top means your patching never gets in the way of your twiddling. This division also helps to maintain a sense of overview with lots of cables patched in.
We see the Fenix family as having a “Yes, and” mentality. The usual divide of tonal versus experimental or additive versus subtractive synthesis does not exist in a Fenix. You can have everything at the same time and you can have multiple TYPES of oscillators, filters, lfo’s, envelopes and effects to do your patching with. We have added the usual analog versus digital divide to this “Yes, and“ mentality. There is no need to choose, you can have it all.
All the modules in our Fenix IV – listed by colour grouping:
YELLOW – Oscillators and sound sources
Input
Interface to external sound sources – has an envelope tracker and a gate and trigger threshold.
