Review: MFB Nanozwerg

Don’t let this synthesizer’s size or single oscillator put you off, this synth has quite a lot of tricks up it’s sleeve!

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

Cicuta004 : Hyo – Wicked Game EP

One of the best consequences of a new (net-)label is the fresh names it brings; Hyo

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.

Cicuta002 – Drugstore – Shadai EP

The second Cicuta EP features a single artist, Drugstore presents his latest productions.

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

Soma Records 20 Years – Soma Classics

If for some reason you didn’t have these tracks yet, than this is the time to buy this album and act like you knew them all along…

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!)

Conforce – Dystopian Elements EP – 89DSR

Conforce’s melodic dub-techno landscapes return for this grim look on to the future.

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