Mantis by PWM and the late Chris Huggett // +HQ audio download
Hi there!
Here's my review of Mantis by PWM and the late synth great Chris Huggett. It's a very interesting synth with dual analog filters that can be configured in either stereo-parallel or series, unique oscillator shaping ideas, an irregular mixer concept, an extreme knob-per-function design, and a characterful reverb.
It has mono, duo, and four-note ("quad") modes, full copies of the oscillator section, and shared filters.
That said, it definitely does not tick all the boxes (no sequencer, no custom wavetables, limited modulation, and more), and it's not cheap either.
As usual, all the details are in the review.
I've attached to this post a high-quality download of almost 10 minutes exploring some of its presets. Tomorrow, I'll share multisamples of its sounds with Modulator and WaveShaper Patrons so you can get a taste of playing it at home, so stay tuned for that!
All my best,
Ziv (exploring whether this bug is worth the buzz on a youtube channel called "Loopop"!)
Review: PWM Mantis // Here's what makes it special // Pros, cons and tutorial (YouTube)
Comments (3)
There are some odd design choices. I would have expected and liked to see more options on the oscillators, especially considering they are digital, such as oscillator sync and a basic FM, although there are some unusual options. The filters do sound great, and the unusual filter design has great potential. The design objective seems to have been make a synth that is different and sounds good, which they have achieved.
Not a synth I'd buy personally but I certainly find it overall very cool
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