Pittsburgh Modular Flamingo, a harmonic interpolation wavefolder joins the safari

October 11, 2021 Synth Anatomy Eurorack, Hardware, News 0

Pittsburgh Modular expands its explorative Safari series with a Flamingo, a module that brings Don Buchla’s center clipping concept to life.

The development of a new Synthesizer or Eurorack module takes a lot of time. During this, developers try out a lot of ideas until they get the final features that fit in the module. It’s a long, explorative process. Richard and Michael from Pittsburgh Modular are also currently in this. Unlike other developers, they share their progress with their customers in the form of limited, colorful Safari modules highlighting novel concepts, test ideas for future instruments…

A very smart and very welcoming path that PGH has taken here. This enriches the Eurorack world with new features that may never have come onto the market. The next “proof of concept” module from the Safari series is in the starting blocks. Flamingo is a new waveshaper that brings up a concept that has not yet been implemented.

Pittsburgh Modular Flamingo

Flamingo introduces center clipping and harmonic interpolation to analog synthesis. It’s a concept started by Don Buchla but never implemented. According to the developers, Center Clipping is a method of shaping a waveform from the inside out. So it pulls the top half or button half of a waveform toward the middle.

Pittsburgh Modular takes it further. Overtone adds another dimension to the analog waveform gymnastics by sliding and inverting the top and/or bottom of the waveform back on itself. This creates new types of wave shapes and shifts the fundamental in and out of the waveform.

That sounds very new, different, and exciting. But this new idea comes at a cost. Center Clipping is a destructive process that can dramatically reduce the amplitude of waveforms. Harmonic Interpolation is the process of attempting to restore the center-clipped waveform by allowing the analog circuitry to guess what the waveform should look like. Results will vary says PGH.

Availability

The interface is very appealing and definitely stands out in every rack. I like that Richard and Michael experiment with new novel concepts and bring them to Eurorack. The first modules from the Safari series were very tempting. I’m pretty sure this will again big fun.

Pittsburgh Modular Flamingo is coming soon in limited quantities. Price & availability TBA.

More information here: Pittsburgh Modular

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