From Ric Miller's Magic Hands - This is "Five"







"Five" is a monster. From the floor, the synth measures 5 foot tall. Each of the modules is designed into a standard 19" rack panel, and I have the system installed across two custom cabinets.

The module compliment runs along these lines, top to bottom:

  • Timbre Modulator. Has voltage control over waveshape

  • 4 VCOs. Simultaneous Sine, Saw, Triangle and Dual Pulse (each with separate PWM), multiple CV inputs

  • Dual Three channel Mixer. Each channel is AC/DC switchable

  • 2 Lowpass VCFs. Each has multiple CV inputs, and voltage controlled resonance :)

  • (dual module) Ring Modulator and Multimode VCF (LP, BP, HP) all outputs simultaneously variable

  • Triple LFO. Continuously variable waveshape, simultaneous outputs

  • Gate delay and Comparator (dual module)

  • AD/ADSR. Multiple outputs, LONG envelope times

  • AADSR. Two attack segments - cool

  • Two AD/ADSRs

  • Wave Splitter. Voltage controlled. :)

  • Encore Expressionist


    • Second Cabinet
  • Big 'Ol Mults panel. Includes Knife switch (rigged as power switch) and Blue LED :)

  • Triple LFO

  • Power Supply

    • There's a lot here... :)


    It's quite a synth, with a TON of real time capabilities. Ric is someone who really likes long evolving sounds and as such, the LFOs will run at rates measured in "minutes per cycle" and the ADSRs have very long envelope times. Add to that the ability of having voltage control on cool places like filter resonance, wavesplitter splitting, and timbre modulator modulating, and the sounds that come from this synth are like no other.

    Overall sound wise... Ric uses a lot of the designs from the Electronotes series, and there are some SSM chips in here as well. As such, the synth isn't Moog fat, but I didn't expect it - nor did I want - it to be. I was looking for a synth that could let me build up a sound in layers and fragments over time, and that's what Ric gave me. I wanted a lot of processing modules, and a lot of VC controllers.

    The synth gets used here for wide, lush background pads... You'll hear things that are rolling and changing, but it's not "mechanical". Having the VC'd waveshaper works well for this kindof stuff; you hear something going on, but you can't quite put your finger on what it is.


    Thank you Ric... She be a beauty!



    Back to "The Wall"

    Copyright 1996-2001, Mark Pulver - mark@midiwall.com