Hypersynth Xenophone Firmware Update & White Edition

Hypersynth, a synthesizer manufacturer from Iran announced a new firmware update for the Xenophone analog Synthesizer. This update includes several fixes and new features. Beside the update firmware, the developer also released a new white edition of the Xenophone Synthesizer.

Xenophone is an advanced analog mono-synth with 100% analog signal path. It has three oscillators, two subs, four ring modulators, one multimode VCF and analog distortion, all based on discrete analog circuits followed by a high quality stereo digital delay and reverb. The extensive modulation capabilities of the sound engine plus the warm and unique character of Xen’s filter enriched by built-in analog distortion make it the best choice for creating deep basses, aggressive leads, transparent and crisp synth lines, acid sequences, complex arpeggios, punchy percussive sounds, extreme SFXs and more. Besides the synthesis capabilities, it can be used as a powerful audio processor to colorize an external input signal by analog filter, distortion and DFX.

Classic + Variable Shape Waveforms:

In addition to the classic waveforms, Xenophone offers 3 new ones that are built from Tri+Sqr, Saw+Sqr and Sqr+Sqr. The combined waveform is not the summation of signals. It builds from a portion of first wave plus a portion of the second in each freq cycle which can be controlled with “shape” parameter. Using this technique new harmonics are added to the signal that makes the oscillator sounds different and unique regarding the shape and square PW value.

2 Subs + 3 X-Rings:

Each oscillator has a dedicated sub oscillator, tunable 1 or 2 octave below that helps emphasizing bass freq deeply. X-Ring is XOR ring modulator between the square wav of oscillator and its sub (4 or 8 octave below) useful for creating crunchy and gritty sounds.

True Analog Ring modulator:

Ring modulation between oscillator 1 and 2 signals, with dedicated level control. You can get metallic and bell type sounds out of this modulator with analog flavor.

Versatile Noise Generator:

Capable of generating White, Pink, Red and C64 pitched noise! Pitched noise is a lofi-ish tunable noise and you can play it like an oscillator.

VCF with Screaming Resonance:

Xenophone VCF delivers ten types of filtering. Among the classic lowpass, highpass, bandpass, and notch in various slopes, It introduces 2 innovative filter type which are build from cascading a “18/12dB lowpass” and “6dB highpass” filter with custom feedback. The cascaded filters create amazing textures of screaming resonance at high end and growling low end that self-oscillate with “triangle wave” and “clipped triangle” instead of classic sinus wave in 24dB mode.

Fast and Punchy Envelopes :

Xenophone has 3 flexible DAHDSR envelopes (range=1mS to 30S). “Hold” stage specifically controls the punch to emphasis kicks and percussive sounds. Each envelope offers 4 styles: (Linear, RC, RC2, EXP). Linear sounds like a digital envelope while RC emulates an analog RC-based envelope. Besides the classic trigger options, Filter and Mod envelopes can be triggered via LFO2-S&H.

Analog Distortion and Digital FX:

Distortion section is pure analog and able to colorize the sound from subtle warmth to screaming distortion using 3 selectable modes: Light, Harsh and Massive. The feedback path from filter output to mixer input produces a kind of overdrive effect that is controlled by external-input level. Xenophone is equipped by a 24bit stereo effect processor. DFX delivers delay and reverb in various algorithms. Delay time can be synced to tempo to produce rhythmic effects.

Arp and Sequencer:

Arpeggiator with 4 modes of arpeggiation, gate adjustment, 15 time divisions, latch button and indicator.
16 x 4 step sequencer options : slide, Step-lfo mode (each track can be used as mod-source in mod-matrix with dedicated Slew rate limiter)

New in Firmware v2.1 : Additions & Fixes:

Optimized system performance.
Added option to copy and paste a sequence from one preset to another.
Added “De-zipper” to remove zipper noise of filter freq knob and modulation wheel.
Removed: [Freq Enc Ratio] in global menu.
Now semitone knob changes the oscillator pitch smoothly without any stepping.
Now the OLED display makes less jumps while two knobs are tweaked at the same time.
Now “Arp latch” can be set in Arp menu using soft knob [E4].
Increased preciseness of the numbers that are displayed for LFO rates and ENV parameters.
Fixed Arp pattern reset issue while changing oscillator’s transpose and cent.
Fixed compare button issue that sent out unwanted MIDI messages.
Fixed FM level issue that displayed wrong value on the screen after being modulated.
Fixed soft knob [E2] problem that did not transmit after touch message when “Panel TX MIDI= ON”.
Fixed bug that caused knobs send out of range MIDI messages when “Panel TX MIDI= ON”.
Fixed problem in receiving “bank select” followed by “program change” message via MIDI.
Minor improvements in updating parameters via MIDI.
Renamed: SEQ-T1/2/3/4 to “SQ-NOTE”, “SQ-VEL “, “SQ-AUX1”, “SQ-AUX2” in Mod Matrix source list.