Vermona Perfourmer
The Perfourmer is a hands-on, real-time Quad Analog Synthesizer. It is a true analog synthesizer ideal for basses, leads, pads and effect sounds! It consists of four voices, each a separate synthesizer channel with its own VCO, VCF, VCA and LFO. Unlike conventional synths, each voice is treated as a separate or monophonic synth, each with its own knobs for tweaking. In fact, each synth channel gets 2 rows of knobs (that's 18 knobs per synth channel). Each of the four synth channels are identical. This method of synthesis allows users to create four totally different synth sounds which can either be layered into unique textural sounds or treated as separate multitimbral parts, such as a monophonic synth bass, monophonic synth lead and polyphonic pads.
Each synth channel consists of the following features and/or parameters: There is 1 VCO per channel with 6 waveforms to choose from plus a white-noise generator. Pitch can be adjusted +/- 13 halftones. There's a 4-pole lowpass resonant filter with variable keytracking and ADSR envelopes for the VCF and VCA. The VCA can also be modulated by the a fixed Gate envelope or the LFO. The LFO has four waveforms and can modulate VCO pitch, VCF requency cutoff, and the VCA.
The Perfourmer features some curious ways of linking the four synth channels together to yield some interesting results. Unison mode combines all four voices into a monophonic synth sound, great for creating simple to complex lead and bass sounds. Duophonic mode combines Synths 1 and 2 into voice no. 1 and Synths 3 and 4 into voice no. 2. This is ideal for creating two-fingered (duophonic) pads, like perfect fifths, fourths and octaves. In Polyphonic mode, all channels function as a 4-voice polyphonic for even better pads and textures.
Additionally there's also an FM mode where Synths 1 and 3 don't produce audible sound, but rather, function to modulate their neighboring channels 2 and 4. The Perfourmer can also be used as a 4-channel filterbank. There are audio inputs to the filter for processing external audio. Each channel has it's own individual audio outputs in addition to the stereo Main Mix outputs in the back of the unit. These output jacks double up as insert jacks for externally processing each synth channel. With some creativity and some TRS insert cables you can actually route signals between the channels, ie: send VCO1 from Synth 1 out into Synth 2 so that it is processed by both VCFs, VCAs, and LFOs in Synths 1 and 2.
MIDI is the main means of playing the sounds you create with this synth. However, four optional CV/Gate inputs (1V/octave) can be added for controlling each synth channel from other analog gear. Cutoff frequencies of each synthesizer channel can be controlled by MIDI, but not by CV. The lack of on-board program memory is disappointing. With over 72 knobs, being able to save and recall your favorite sounds should have been a no brainer...oh well. It's a perfect companion to the Vermona DRM-1 Analog Drum Synth.
Specifications
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Resources
Images from EN-PORT.