MFB’s medium sized semi-modular synthesizer

My experiences with the Nanozwerg were enough to warrant buying it’s slightly bigger brother. The oscillators sound good, the modular functions keep surprising you with new sounds and Manfred Fricke always squeezes a few extra functions in the machine, in this case by using a ‘shift’ button. The shift button plays a major role in this machine, as this is the button you use to change between filters 1 and 2, the 2 oscillators, and the LFO settings. The normal oscillators and low frequency oscillators feature the familiar triangle, saw and square waveforms but both OSC’s and LFO’s have an extra trick up their sleeves. OSC 1 features a ring modulator while OSC 2 offers white noise, the LFO has an added ramp in it’s waveforms while LFO 2 has sample & hold.

The Nanozwerg’s bigger brother brings more modularity and patch points than it smaller sibling (the smaller yellow synthesizer pictured on the left). It looks a bit cooler in dark blue with it’s many patch points above the controls, but together they offer a very cool modular combination. Both dwarfs (zwerg being the German word for dwarf) also go well together by using both machines together using the CV (control voltage) in- & outputs. The audio signals can be combined via the ‘VCA (voltage controlled amplifier) add’ and filter inputs. The downside also being the same semi-modularity, with an emphasis on ‘semi’. Not everything can be done, like the lack of being able to adjust the incoming CV value, or scaling as it’s called. This is where a full modular rack would really step-up the sound-designing game. Like the Nanozwerg the filter isn’t awe inspiring but does it’s job well with the 12dB per octave it offers. The resonance is a bit too eager to scream, but together with a distortion pedal this doesn’t have to be a problem. Since I would really would like to expand my studio with a full modular synth in rack format, I’ll probably make use of external filters pretty soon anyway. And there’s always the option to use plugin’s (within a digital audio workstation) to do the filtering. I already play my synths via MIDI inside a DAW and triggering a digital filter is as easy as using the same MIDI notes to trigger the filter’s cut-off.

Because I’ve already tested the Nanozwerg the Micorzwerg isn’t surprising me soundwise. Well, not a lot as I’ve already heard some mad things I didn’t expect when dialing in the sounds. It’s modular side however probably still holds many secrets for me that I’m more than ready and willing to find out. Yeah, it’s not a Moog, but at this price I really don’t care! A great synth to start with to try if analog synths are what you’re looking for. It’s many patch points will stay valuable even if you already expanded your modular synth set-up beyond the capabilities of the Microzwerg making it great value for money.

Related:
MFB Microzwerg Patch Sheet

MFB Nanozwerg Review

The album starts out minimal and dark with Jackmaster Yoshiki followed by a loud squealer from 909 State whom we both remember from Cassette Records’ The World Is Spinning At 33RPM. These aren’t the only names we recognize from that album, as Yebisu 303 also appears on this release. Alongside Hasegawa4200, D4C, Ripa et al. The similarities end there, as this album goes for full-on acid, non-stop!

It’s worth downloading the album for ‘Mango Acid’ by Yasuo Sato alone. A bouncy techno groove mixed with full-on acid insanity! Together with Witchin Grid (by Tremorela) and Riddim-O-Mattic they are the most original tracks on the album. Yebisu303 is the producer of this last mentioned track and delivers a beautiful downtempo arrangement both enjoyable by lounge and acid enthusiasts alike, it’s reggae groove is reminiscent of UK producer duo Leftfield from back in the day.

I could go on like this for a while, singing different songs of praise for this acid compilation that keeps the vibe alive like it’s still 1988 today. But you should check this out for yourself. You can download it for free via Bandcamp, but as varied a release as this deserves some credit.

Cicuta’s latest keep the dark techno beats going and going and going

And for this release it Bran Lanen‘s turn to keep you going till the early morning.

These tracks will fill-up your DJ set nicely with some extra gloom. Some of these beats might be a bit repetitive, but, given the right moment in the mix do exactly want you want them to. I like how Cicuta is trying to bring back the original techno sound and if you’ve liked the previous Cicuta releases, this one won’t disappoint. Download and enjoy! (Link below.)

As always, a free download: Bran Lanen – Sign Of The Progress EP

A sonic journey. The crisp fresh air of a cold winter day. But also the warm sensation of a careless spring holiday. Many different, guitar inspired/sampled tracks float by like clouds in a blue & pink sky. Everything is possible.

Not all tracks on this album are about “dance” as my Minimal-Techno tag would have you believe. ‘Only this’, for example, gives us some air and does so for a very long time. It’s a massive progressive track spanning almost fourteen minutes. (Spoiler; It does have some venom in it’s tail.) The tempo is tuned down even further in the following track. Giving time to wonder what more this album has in store, with ‘The Jaws Of Life’ delivering the payload.

All in all it’s a beautiful progressive tech inspired album. And it reminds me of ‘The Field’, which I have fond memories of. Great job, Nick!

A varied release, to say the least. Many different well known techno artists from Japan’s techno-scene, featuring DJ Tmykisb, Yebisu303, Doremimate and 909 State to name just a few. Ranging from acid bleepery to danceable and deep to surprising. The release demonstrates a love for the original techno sound lost in the days of minimal unimaginativism and dubstep repetition.

DJ Tmykisb opens the album with the filter-happy ‘Chrono Kitten’, an uplifting track that makes the waist wiggle. Even if seated it’s hard not to move to this sliced madness slightly reminiscent of ‘Tokyo Disco’. 909 State gives a distorted slammer likes he does so well, after which Beel’s ‘RTF_SHT’ takes over with a surprisingly deep track not unlike Richie Hawtin’s better (Plastikman) tracks. The compilation wouldn’t be complete without a good acid track! And that’s where Pulse2Pulse comes in. I should say the same for dub, and the compilation also satisfies those needs with Yebisu303′s ‘Blueprint’, a last-minute favorite of mine. In the track’s layered background there’s a loop playing which stimulates the imagination while the recognizable dub synth does it’s work of playing with your sense of rhythm. (Watch out for a very groovy break followed by a drop like we haven’t heard since at least 2005.) Yes, there’s even a melodic techno track like Carl Craig is good at producing, Choochoogatagoto is the one responsible.

The CD supplies well to the techno loving people out there that are missing the original vibe. We need kickdrums, not plops. We want acid, not just a simple sine-wave. Minimal and tech-house have their place, on this album too. But playing the same sounds over and over is what kills a genre, a scene. This album bravely steps-up where even the hardest techno DJ’s have sold-out to simple bloops and over-used samples. It’s been enough!

A CD release is rare these days, especially for electronic music (Techno). But it does give a sense of nostalgia to open-up a sealed CD box. Welcome to the post-digital age where physical releases are becoming a rarity and more of a promotional tool than an actual selling point. That’s why I appreciate Cassette Records effort to put this out there, no matter what the market is doing. To step-up and say, nay shout: Techno isn’t dead yet! I haven’t even finished listening to the CD yet, and this is what the music is telling me. The CD holds even more surprises towards the end, but I’m not gonna spoil anymore for you. You should go out and check this out for yourself.

Track List

1. dj tmykisb / Chrono Kitten
2. POP STORE JUNK / ZTN
3. iserobin / 7420247
4. Limited toss / Gus
5. 909state / Armed poker
6. BEEL / RTM_SHT
7. Pulse2Pulse / Bouncer
8. Yebisu303 / Blueprint
9. jackmaster YOSHIKI / PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM
10. choochoogatagoto / Hat Season
11. doremimate / Gymnopedia
12. Sakoo / Heartbeat
13. tofubeats / technoizer X
14. SOL / One More Thing…

The album’s liner notes were written by Bibinba. I’m proud of you, 友達!

Manfred Fricke Berlin, a modular synth producing company that in the last years has joined the modular-synth market by creating modules like we know and love from Doepfer and similar companies like Analogue Systems, has been releasing some semi-modular synths like the Microzwerg, Megazwerg and the smallest and lightest of the bunch; The Nanozwerg. The Nanozwerg has a single oscillator (triangle, saw, square, pulse), a switchable filter (low-pass, band-pass, Notch, High-Pass), a single LFO (triangle, saw, square, sample & hold), a knob to modulate the filter with either LFO or VCO, a knob to modulate the oscillator by itself (VCO) or LFO, some patch points and a sub-oscillator to fatten-up your sound. The Sub OSC also includes a Noise generator which makes it possible to synthesize non-harmonic sounds like drums. Pretty standard synth stuff, and the reason why I bought the thing in the first place. But here comes the fun part..

The patchable ports on the device (CV in, Gate in, VCF in, VCA in, LFO in, LFO out and audio in) offer more options you’d ever expect from such a small and perhaps simple synth. The LFO in accepts CV messages to oscillate the LFO along with your notes, making it possible to use it as a second oscillator (via audio in), which is a fantastic idea in itself, but it’s also possible to use it as a high speed modulator for the oscillator giving the Nanozwerg simple FM capacities. (Analog FM synths, do such things even exist?) Patch the LFO into the VCA and you have AM, into gate for interesting rhythmic gating effect and patch it into VCF and the filter will move along with your LFO. (Yes, simple FM filter capacities as well!) There are more options, but if I spoil all the fun there’s nothing to discover for you…

.. OK! One more! Use the Sample and hold from the LFO as a sound-source (LFO out -> Audio in) for that 8-bit burning sound from the old days.

In short, if you have a modular system this might not be interesting for you: The filter is only 12dB per octave, there’s only one (normal) oscillator, it’s monophonic. But if, like me, you’ve just started making your journey into analog, this is a great place to start. It’s pretty cheap (Around €215,-), it’s more powerful than any competitor (Dark Energy, Mopho etc.) and KORG DS-10 users will feel right at home using this synthesizer. Somehow it even reminds me of the software.

One last thing; The power-plug is amazing! It’s small, lean and light like a mobile-phone charger. Kudos for that! Why do we have to have so many wall-warts huh? (I’m looking at you, Roland, Korg, Kawai, and EVERYONE ELSE!)

Related:
MFB Nanozwerg Patch Sheet

MFB Microzwerg Review

After missing the third EP, (I might do a review of it anyway) Cicuta releases a hard hitting six track EP with three original tracks and one remix each. The tracks are dark and abstract and take you (back?) to a sentient industrial machine gone rogue.

Here are some previews to give you an overall impression.

1908 Tunguska (PREV) by ‘Hyo

Chemical Imbalance (PREV) by ‘Hyo

Skyquake (PREV) by ‘Hyo

The tracks miss a bit of bass sometimes, a matter of taste perhaps, but the overall sound makes up for most of it. Some parts of the tracks remind me of Unmarked Noise’s release; V. Black with it’s quirky synth riffs and off-beat rhythms. The remixes take the idea of  ‘dark and industrial’ and give it a little more structure and in case of the Bran Lanen remix add a bit of imagination, a small silver-lining at the end of the storm. If, like me, you’ve got a yearning for more retro-techno this is well worth your bandwidth.

Tracklist:

01. Hyo – 1908 Tunguska
02. Hyo – 1908 Tunguska (Po Remix)
03. Hyo – Chemical Imbalance
04. Hyo – Chemical Imbalance (Bran Lanen Remix)
05. Hyo – Skyquake
06. Hyo – Skyquake (Drugstore Remix)

Download link (Active on December 15th!)
Can’t wait? Here’s a download for Cicuta003 : Ajana EP.

Download here

Kicking off with the intro to the EP, ‘The Birth’ is a short ambient/noise soundscape to set a mood for the EP. A rhythmic track follows, which shows influences from Detroid-bass with an experimental twist. The ‘Hermético Remix’ takes the track’s hook and transforms the song into a big-room techno remix.

Shadai is where the EP picks up in speed. An up-tempo techno track comparable to, and missed since, the sounds of the start of the millennium; Dark, thumping and spacy. The remixes of Shadai are not my cup of tea though, and this is also my only critique on this release. The remixes don’t do for the EP what they should have. They offer a different perspective, a very spooky one at that. But the remixes failed to grasp me.

All-round a less dark EP than the first Cicuta release. One that’s dancable and a little more experimental, rhythmic, and crisp. Crisp for it’s great stereo-image and clearness in sound. The tracks Drugstore delivers are good and usable in your DJ-set, but get dragged down a bit by the remixes. Be sure to listen to ‘Shadai’ and ‘Night Dream’ though, the EP’s little deejaying pleasures.

[CICUTA 002] Drugstore – Shadai EP by Cicuta Netlabel

Cicuta Netlabel
Drugstore on Soundcloud

A whopping 48 tracks produced by (among many others) Slam, Funk D’Void, Silicone Soul, The Black Dog, Samuel L. Session and an unreleased Daft Punk track that has been collecting dust on the shelves. Some of the best Soma had to offer in the past twenty years. Tech House, (minimal) techno, electro, all-round good dance-music lovers and even non-techheads can all get into these classic tracks that you’ve bound to have heard before. (Well, except for the much touted Daft Punk remix that didn’t see the light of day before.)

For real though, if you haven’t heard any of these before than go stand in the corner for at least half an hour… (while listening to the album of course!)

Slow moving, dark yet entrancing, this EP takes you through 4 short stories of a civilization that collapsed on itself. Leaving a desolate place with foreign looking objects and remnants of what could be described as a disaster in a physics experiment. (Nuclear, sub-atomic, gravity, take your pick!)

The minimal nuances do all the talking in this release, moving you through the barren cities and ground that remain. But it doesn’t leave an impression of simpleness that has diseased the minimal scene the last few years. It takes from the past what it needs to create familiarity but not shy of innovation through Boris Bunnik’s (Conforce alias) own interpretation and style. I haven’t heard intriguing techno like this in a while. I feel like techno is returning to it’s core: A little more abstract, a little more dark, and much less bleepy.

The release is also available as WAV, MP3 and two flavors of vinyl on Delsin Records.

• Delsin Records
• Conforce official website