Modbap Per4mer brings beat-making inspired trigger effects (delay, reverb, glitch…) in the form of an arcade-style module in the Eurorack world.
Eurorack is booming for some years now. New modules have been appearing almost daily from small boutiques and larger manufacturers. The market has become so large that some companies are having a hard time gaining ground with their products. I don’t want to make it worse as it is, but the market has gotten to a point where it is saturated, especially for modules that are essential for modular musicians (VCOs, VCFs…). In order to arouse interest in the Eurorack community in 2020, it has to be different, playful, and recognizable.
Corry Banks, a well-known beat producer and esteemed colleague from the Synthesizer YouTube sphere, recently plunged into the Eurorack adventure as Modbap. Instead of going the classic modular route, he started developing his first module from the perspective of a live-performing beat producer. Per4mer is the result and is a 14HP quad performance effects Eurorack module.
Trigger On-The-Fly Effects
The Per4mer is based around four different beat-optimized stereo effect processors: doppler-style delay, lush reverb, glitch for beat repeats, and tape stop effects. It melts these four into a compact 14HP module and makes them playable via four dedicated translucent mini-arcade buttons. You can manually operate them with a touch or trigger them via the four external gate inputs. Furthermore, each effect has a set of four parameters controllable via the four rotary knobs (FX1-4) or by the four CV inputs.
Additionally, you have tweakable compression (COMP) (threshold, ratio, attack & release) with side chain input detection and color processing effects. The COLOR processor is the special sauce built into Per4mer, says Corry Banks. It is very reminiscent to me of the character-shaping capabilities found in vintage samplers.
It features four color presets that bring textures and character to the signal aka pre effects. More precisely, it includes Classic (12-bit), LoFi (8-bit), Saturation, and Wax (vinyl simulation). The module provides all audio inputs (INPUT L and INPUT R) as mono connections, paired for stereo as well as clock input and tap tempo options.
A Bridge Between Hip-Hop & Eurorack
“Per4mer acts like a bridge between hip-hop and Eurorack.” So says Modbap Modular Designer and Founder Corry Banks. As a writer, emcee, producer, hip-hop artist (Phashara), and IT pro, he should surely know! “It packs in concepts familiar to lo-fi and beat-making circles, but it brings something fresh to Eurorack,” continues Corry Banks, before adding: “I think Per4mer will be a great entry point to modular synthesis for the modular-curious beat-maker — throw it into a small pod and use it like a standalone performance effects unit or rack it up with other modules to liven things up a bit.”
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