friendofCHAKA Niche products like analogue synths aren't going to save the economy, but this is great example of the innovation and entrepreneurship that Greeks now really need.
+MrQurutin Greek needs expansionary fiscal policy at the moment and I don't mean things like olympic games, housing bubbles or other trinkets but basic needs like better public schools, green energy production (solar, wind) etc. The terrible austerity policy will just have you suffer more.
I purchased one of these about 3 months ago. Beautiful, characterful little synth. Worth every penny. Very reminiscent of late '60s vintage. I love it.
Markus Arike I was thinking something similar, but in a more negative fashion. If I were to buy one of these, what guarantee would I have that the company would be able to provide aftermarket support, in the current chaotic environment Greece is drowning in? This thing sounds/looks great, however.
Michael Smith I wouldn't worry about it, Greece has agreed to another bailout by the banksters, um, banks. For support, I'm sure there are distributers in your country who sell and support Dreadbox products. And if you have questions or concerns, you could always email Dreadbox direct. They have a website.
Markus Arike If only Dreadbox made politicians, Greece would probably be in a position to bail the rest of the world out!!! ;) As it is I'm glad they make synths. I've only had my Erebus for a couple of months & it's one of those instruments that's not only great on it's own, it also adds something to existing gear, breathing new life into it rather than making it redundant.
Nice review, and pretty impressive little piece of kit. I also like the musical sections in the review to break things up and allow us to hear a bit more of the synth rather than having to wait to the end jam session... good format, kept my interest all the way through. cheers!
keep up the good work, your demos are really concise and helpful, really useful when trying to decide what will suit my needs. Thanks! (just ordered one of these)😁
I came back to see this review again due to the reissue of the original Erebus and found that both 7:44 "not as snappy as some envelopes" and 9:13 "doesn´t go right up into the audio rate" were improved in the new one.
Aside of the uncomplete (alas no noise!) feature list - it just resembles the very best of 70´s synth sound. Fat and vibrant. Love it. Very good review!
Been in love with this since this synth since the review by ProckGnosis covered it. Apparently there is a bit of resonance pre-filter, which is what gives it its particular charming sound. Great review, glad to hear you like it as well, Nick. I hope some day to be able to pick one of these up.
Excellent analog devices from Greece!!! During the economic crisis and the economic struggle by Germany and IMF the Greeks have done it again! Their products sound amazing! Unbelievable!
Just bought one on the strength of this demo. Particularly like the ability to modulate the delay time. Look forward to comparing it with my Doepfer Dark Energy
Bought one. Pretty much solely on the fact that nick brings this little box out whenever he can and always makes it sound good. Without Nick Batt I'd never have even considered it.
Great demo - Thanks Nick! What an interesting sounding little synth - and in the single Euro module price range! Very interesting (and just as I was lamenting being unable to afford a SEM...)!
Nice review, the Dreadbox does sounds quite cool I must say, the extra patch points give it way more depth than it seems at first. About the delay modulation option, the Korg Volca Keys has that as well (sort of...), you can control the delay parameters via MIDI CCs. Not as smooth and direct as a CV modulation but it does the trick.
I used in a jam session and it is more than genius. To remember, i dont have the nick batt edition. ( lfo depth) . Midi sometimes aborts on me. Replug the power line helps. 20 min warmup is important. My twopence
You really do the best reviews! Mark Dotty is a bit overexited most of the time, because nearly everything with the "analog" sticker is his favorite. Most people can't hear any difference between a good VA and analog. It's all in the knobs!
should have told the upstairs that you were testing nothing....all the sonic waves have finally been answered from deep space...haha. thanks for another great review Nick!!!!
As far as sound - it's simply magical. This synth alone manages to sound as if it's passed through a whole bunch of analog modifiers, reverb and delay included, and with my setup I often have to pass any of my synths through a ton of modifying equipment to get to this kind of sound. This would be my number one synth for live shows. However, do you not find that it only has a single ADSR envelope limiting? I long wanted to get this synth so badly as a complementary synth to Neutron, utilising the latter's huge patch bay, but now that the Mark III came along I wonder if I should go for that instead.
Does it convert MIDI to CV the same way the Dark Energy does? Seems like it at least does the modwheel trick but does it also translate/send out 1V/Oct CV from the MIDI keyboard?
Would it be possible to patch the Erebus into (eg) a minilogue, and use a minilogue's motion sequencer as an effect on the erebus' output? Pardon my ignorance pls
Great little synth, eh? My neighbors have "appreciated" its sound on more than one occasion too, I'm sure. I was very interested how Nick was going to demo pulse-width modulation on a synth that didn't have pulse-width modulation. To my surprise, the "PW" input has replaced the "LFO/D" found on my earlier model! Smart modification as Nick loves his PW mod.
Nick: The pre-driven filter means that there's already a little resonance dialed in, ie it will never go totally flat. "It has a built in pre-resonance on 1/6th of the filter's total input gain and is independent from the normal resonance control" Source: 3:14 in here: ruclips.net/video/Nu-RcSQFxsQ/видео.html
sonicstate some stupid questions here: what was the setup for that really pretty opening riff? Would I be able to reproduce that sound/(oscilation?) with any other higher end analogue synths? What is that little mini keyboard?
So can you tune the Osc`s to play 5ths or not? I am not sure i understand the comment about "sounds like a third, doesn`t quite go to a 5th" ? when he Detunes the Osc
Sounds unexpectedly deep, more along the lines of Moog Mother 32 - and I'd say even fatter than any entry-level keyboard poly analog, such as the Korg Minilogue. This is $1000+ territory in terms of depth, I would say.
That modulated echo sounds great! Confused though, you said it was digital in the beginning and then later said it was bbd. Is it a digital bbd emulation? Either way it sounds cool and characterful.
Hi there even though they are saying V.1 and V.2 are sound exactly the same but I need your opinion on this because I wanted one but there only V.2 available now I think. And by the way, which version you are using in this video? Thanks
Typically excellent review from Nick, for what is a surprisingly nice little analogue synth. However, there was no quick look at the back panel! I'm sure it's simple, but it's surprising this was missed out.
Thanks for replying, Paul. I wasn't even thinking about buying a desktop analogue synth like this, but this review has put it on my "serious consideration" list. It really is quite tasty sounding and feature-rich.
***** You wouldn't regret it! It's a fantastic little box. Very warm and oozing late 60' and earlier 70's craziness. I've got the earlier (lfo depth instead of PW) but I'm seriously considering getting another.
This video left me rather confused :( Would love to get some help: When i digitally try to mimic the square wave lfo on the delay time, i get a kind of tapestop sound that is normalizing after a certain amount of time, but i dont get that mellow pitch shifiting sound. In my mind a digital square is way faster than an analog one, so im really confused. Awesome video as always. Would love to have some light shed on this. Thanks
Nice sounding little synth, but some of the comments related to the economy of Greece...um, the UK exports are at an all time historic high and Osborne is still Selling England By The Pound.
Dylan Burtch What I do is set the delay time to something short and modulate the delay time with an LFO, noise, filtered gates, filtered sequences, or whatever sounds good at the time. You have to be able to control the delay time with CV- and the delay times have to be relatively fast (by today's standards). By the way, according to the manual, the Erebus has CV controlled delay time! Experimenting with the 'delayed' signal and dry signal as well as the feedback setting should give you all kinds of fun :). Still though, BBD's require filtering for their clock noise so their fidelity vary depending on their min-max delay time as well as the (low pass) filter's cutoff frequency. I hope that helps you!
Dylan Burtch Well, in that case you might be interested in something like the Ibanez AD202! That has a 'chorus' setting which uses an LFO to modulate the delay time which creates a chorus effect. I think the MXR Carbon Copy uses a similar concept, but you have to go under the hood to alter the 'MOD' LFO speed & depth. I'm sure there are other vintage and modern BBD's that will work :).
There seem to be at least two different versions of the erebus! Mine (bought around autumn 2014) does not offer PW input, instead it allows modulating the LFO depth. Too bad, I'd rather have Pulse Width modulation. Or is there a possibility to switch anything on the board thus gaining PWM ?
+Paul Round We should swap our Erebuses then ;-) Does the mod include soldering? Then I'm off otherwise i might give it a try. How do you know? Done it yourself?
+dankro279 It does involve soldering and drilling and bending chip pins! Email Dreadbox and they'll send you pdf detailing all the instructions. Mine is an older 1.0.3 model and I know they'll mod it at Kazbar Systems for a fee if you're UK based. I decided not to in the end as I like the 70's vibe LFO Depth can bring to the party :)
@sonicstate Nick, I'd love to see you do a follow up video with the Erebus where you really go off with it and push it further. This video is a great introduction. Love to see you take this piece of gear further.
Наука
Nick Batt: Helping destroy my bank account balance since 2011.
😂😂😂 and you thank him lol
This thing has a little bit of everything, a patch panel, a built-in delay, duophonic mode. The only thing missing is a side of Tzatziki sauce.
and frape caffe !
friendofCHAKA Niche products like analogue synths aren't going to save the economy, but this is great example of the innovation and entrepreneurship that Greeks now really need.
+MrQurutin Greek needs expansionary fiscal policy at the moment and I don't mean things like olympic games, housing bubbles or other trinkets but basic needs like better public schools, green energy production (solar, wind) etc.
The terrible austerity policy will just have you suffer more.
I purchased one of these about 3 months ago. Beautiful, characterful little synth. Worth every penny. Very reminiscent of late '60s vintage. I love it.
this is my 2nd time watching this video and I was sold on this just from the intro! good stuff
I've been interested in buying an Erebus to support Greece's local economy, and because it sounds terrific.
Markus Arike I was thinking something similar, but in a more negative fashion. If I were to buy one of these, what guarantee would I have that the company would be able to provide aftermarket support, in the current chaotic environment Greece is drowning in? This thing sounds/looks great, however.
Michael Smith I wouldn't worry about it, Greece has agreed to another bailout by the banksters, um, banks. For support, I'm sure there are distributers in your country who sell and support Dreadbox products. And if you have questions or concerns, you could always email Dreadbox direct. They have a website.
Markus Arike If only Dreadbox made politicians, Greece would probably be in a position to bail the rest of the world out!!! ;) As it is I'm glad they make synths. I've only had my Erebus for a couple of months & it's one of those instruments that's not only great on it's own, it also adds something to existing gear, breathing new life into it rather than making it redundant.
reverse:pool Yeah if they had balls as big as them oscillators!!
Your closing little jam was fantastic too! Such a characterful sound
Such a beautiful sounding little synth. Must have.
i have been waiting for this one. ever so patiently. Its a warm blanket. Comfort food for the eardrums.
It's 2018, and the Erebus still sounds better than most analog mono synths!
Nice simple interface for a semi-modular.
We need more Greek synths in the market!!
Nice review, and pretty impressive little piece of kit. I also like the musical sections in the review to break things up and allow us to hear a bit more of the synth rather than having to wait to the end jam session... good format, kept my interest all the way through. cheers!
+ollilaboratories and 8 months later i got one too... cant wait to sink my teeth into it :)
This is an excellent sounding synth!
The oscillators sound f-ing amazing on this synth.
Snappy editing. It's cool to see you getting creative with the newer reviews.
Love your reviews! Bought One based on your review today
keep up the good work, your demos are really concise and helpful, really useful when trying to decide what will suit my needs. Thanks! (just ordered one of these)😁
Gorgeous intro sequence!
Dig that opening riff - nice work Nick!
Impressive and inspiring! On my shortlist for sure.
I came back to see this review again due to the reissue of the original Erebus and found that both 7:44 "not as snappy as some envelopes" and 9:13 "doesn´t go right up into the audio rate" were improved in the new one.
Great review.... I'll be on the lookout for one of these.
Really like the sound of that thing!
Just bought one a few days ago, but I haven't received it yet. I'm very glad to have Nick's approval.
Aside of the uncomplete (alas no noise!) feature list - it just resembles the very best of 70´s synth sound. Fat and vibrant. Love it. Very good review!
We need a NYX review!
This is definitely on my want list for a tabletop analog synth!
That intro is so beautiful
thx a lot, this is the best review on it, i think. i use the erebus und my tracks and it gives a lot of character
wow sounds fantastic
Well, the Greeks do love their bottom end ...
This is a nice little synth.
I just got one of these and have it paired with a Mini Brute SE. It is an amazing little synth.
This sounds very nice!
Been in love with this since this synth since the review by ProckGnosis covered it.
Apparently there is a bit of resonance pre-filter, which is what gives it its particular charming sound.
Great review, glad to hear you like it as well, Nick. I hope some day to be able to pick one of these up.
Now this little thing I Like.
Amazing synth! My next buy
Got one permanently plugged into a Hades. Completely recommended, a great little synth with tons of character.
I have it and use it on all liveset I do. Great machine! Very recommanded!!
Excellent analog devices from Greece!!! During the economic crisis and the economic struggle by Germany and IMF the Greeks have done it again! Their products sound amazing! Unbelievable!
absolutely great price for an analog synth, sounds terrific too!
Very nice Demo by the way!
Just bought one on the strength of this demo. Particularly like the ability to modulate the delay time. Look forward to comparing it with my Doepfer Dark Energy
That opening sound. Ohhhhhh yesssssss
That's a really nice sounding little synth.
Bought one. Pretty much solely on the fact that nick brings this little box out whenever he can and always makes it sound good. Without Nick Batt I'd never have even considered it.
sounds great....
Love it! The neighbours complained about the noise! I want one..
Great demo - Thanks Nick!
What an interesting sounding little synth - and in the single Euro module price range! Very interesting (and just as I was lamenting being unable to afford a SEM...)!
sounds great!
great synth
Just got the first gen nyx, and now I want this one to : )
Got one. It has a MASSIVE amount of girth & presence.
The phone call from the neighbors regarding the bass ;-) definitely a good sign
On a second listen I want one.
i'm definetly sold
Nice review, the Dreadbox does sounds quite cool I must say, the extra patch points give it way more depth than it seems at first. About the delay modulation option, the Korg Volca Keys has that as well (sort of...), you can control the delay parameters via MIDI CCs. Not as smooth and direct as a CV modulation but it does the trick.
They knew to send Nick the new one with PWM :)
Pete Brown LOL! Was thinking exactly the same thing! I actually wondered if they changed it *because* of him :)
Hahaha true!
I used in a jam session and it is more than genius. To remember, i dont have the nick batt edition. ( lfo depth) . Midi sometimes aborts on me. Replug the power line helps. 20 min warmup is important. My twopence
Dreadbox is unstoppable.
Harmonics sound lovely even through RUclips.
You really do the best reviews! Mark Dotty is a bit overexited most of the time, because nearly everything with the "analog" sticker is his favorite. Most people can't hear any difference between a good VA and analog. It's all in the knobs!
it sounds amazing, and the price ($500) is damn good as well. I just wish it was available in Canada
should have told the upstairs that you were testing nothing....all the sonic waves have finally been answered from deep space...haha. thanks for another great review Nick!!!!
Good god that sounds good with some delay.
Nice.
As far as sound - it's simply magical. This synth alone manages to sound as if it's passed through a whole bunch of analog modifiers, reverb and delay included, and with my setup I often have to pass any of my synths through a ton of modifying equipment to get to this kind of sound. This would be my number one synth for live shows. However, do you not find that it only has a single ADSR envelope limiting? I long wanted to get this synth so badly as a complementary synth to Neutron, utilising the latter's huge patch bay, but now that the Mark III came along I wonder if I should go for that instead.
I like it.
Does it convert MIDI to CV the same way the Dark Energy does? Seems like it at least does the modwheel trick but does it also translate/send out 1V/Oct CV from the MIDI keyboard?
Would it be possible to patch the Erebus into (eg) a minilogue, and use a minilogue's motion sequencer as an effect on the erebus' output? Pardon my ignorance pls
DreadBox has been putting out some impressive products. will you guys be reviewing the hades too?
Great little synth, eh? My neighbors have "appreciated" its sound on more than one occasion too, I'm sure.
I was very interested how Nick was going to demo pulse-width modulation on a synth that didn't have pulse-width modulation. To my surprise, the "PW" input has replaced the "LFO/D" found on my earlier model! Smart modification as Nick loves his PW mod.
ProckGnosis i wish they kept the LFO/D though. Ditto on Murmux2
Nick: The pre-driven filter means that there's already a little resonance dialed in, ie it will never go totally flat. "It has a built in pre-resonance on 1/6th of the filter's total input gain and is independent from the normal resonance control"
Source: 3:14 in here:
ruclips.net/video/Nu-RcSQFxsQ/видео.html
I'm sure Nick gets a semi on playing with all these new toys ;)
could you review the murmux? I love this little tweed thingy!
Just bought one. Hoping for a Hades v2 soon.
How is the pitch stability and vco tracking in the higher octaves?
Very, very clever design ! Certainly this little "baby" will brake the synthesizer market !!!
sonicstate some stupid questions here: what was the setup for that really pretty opening riff? Would I be able to reproduce that sound/(oscilation?) with any other higher end analogue synths? What is that little mini keyboard?
Andrew Benavides just screenshot the opening setup and March accordingly. The little keyboard is a CME XKEY midi keyboard
4:30 You had me on separate glide.
is the gate out put Can do midi to cv to trigger other synth like the moog mother 32?
Hi Nick, can I ask you what keyboard you're using there ? (Already got an Erebus and Hades, incidentally.) Cheers and Happy New Year !
Hey nick do you think you could do the Nyborg 12? being british im sure you could get your hands on a demo :D
So can you tune the Osc`s to play 5ths or not? I am not sure i understand the comment about "sounds like a third, doesn`t quite go to a 5th" ? when he Detunes the Osc
Sounds unexpectedly deep, more along the lines of Moog Mother 32 - and I'd say even fatter than any entry-level keyboard poly analog, such as the Korg Minilogue. This is $1000+ territory in terms of depth, I would say.
Can you take any patc output and plug it in to any patc input???
That modulated echo sounds great! Confused though, you said it was digital in the beginning and then later said it was bbd. Is it a digital bbd emulation? Either way it sounds cool and characterful.
Flohr It's actually a PT2399 delay chip, which is digital, but it sounds dirty, lo-fi and magnificent.
been searching all the videos that show the envelope speed, 7:30 just sold this on me.
Hi there even though they are saying V.1 and V.2 are sound exactly the same but I need your opinion on this because I wanted one but there only V.2 available now I think. And by the way, which version you are using in this video?
Thanks
This one or the Moog Minitaur for soulful/funky basses and leads for rap- beats? Price is quite the same.
I'll bet that delay is PT2399 and not a BBD. It sounds cleaner than a BBD. Good chip.
Sorry wrong my friend
14.03 the neighbours😂😂 yes that's an awesome sign lol😂😂
Typically excellent review from Nick, for what is a surprisingly nice little analogue synth. However, there was no quick look at the back panel! I'm sure it's simple, but it's surprising this was missed out.
It's simple round the back but it does have an audio input which is nice for running stuff through that lovely filter!
Thanks for replying, Paul. I wasn't even thinking about buying a desktop analogue synth like this, but this review has put it on my "serious consideration" list. It really is quite tasty sounding and feature-rich.
***** You wouldn't regret it! It's a fantastic little box. Very warm and oozing late 60' and earlier 70's craziness. I've got the earlier (lfo depth instead of PW) but I'm seriously considering getting another.
This video left me rather confused :( Would love to get some help:
When i digitally try to mimic the square wave lfo on the delay time, i get a kind of tapestop sound that is normalizing after a certain amount of time, but i dont get that mellow pitch shifiting sound. In my mind a digital square is way faster than an analog one, so im really confused.
Awesome video as always. Would love to have some light shed on this.
Thanks
Or is this some kind of CV-Echo ?
Where incoming notes get transformed and then repeated ?
Im so confused
is the delay MIDI syncable?
Nice sounding little synth, but some of the comments related to the economy of Greece...um, the UK exports are at an all time historic high and Osborne is still Selling England By The Pound.
Freaqbox Murmux - Greek Synth =)
Freaqbox was actually the name of dreadbox and the murmux is the company's first synthesizer. It is now produced under the name dreadbox murmux
myrsias Gotcha :)
Is it possible to create a chorus effect with the delay?
Steven Morris Read that you could get a chorus effect with the delay, but haven't tried it yet
ProckGnosis Thanks for the info. I would love to hear it sometime. That's one of my favorite uses of BBD style delays :).
Dylan Burtch What I do is set the delay time to something short and modulate the delay time with an LFO, noise, filtered gates, filtered sequences, or whatever sounds good at the time. You have to be able to control the delay time with CV- and the delay times have to be relatively fast (by today's standards). By the way, according to the manual, the Erebus has CV controlled delay time! Experimenting with the 'delayed' signal and dry signal as well as the feedback setting should give you all kinds of fun :). Still though, BBD's require filtering for their clock noise so their fidelity vary depending on their min-max delay time as well as the (low pass) filter's cutoff frequency. I hope that helps you!
Dylan Burtch Well, in that case you might be interested in something like the Ibanez AD202! That has a 'chorus' setting which uses an LFO to modulate the delay time which creates a chorus effect. I think the MXR Carbon Copy uses a similar concept, but you have to go under the hood to alter the 'MOD' LFO speed & depth. I'm sure there are other vintage and modern BBD's that will work :).
Does this mean a new song for the Sonic Lab Bandcamp? 😉 My Nick Batt album needs more tracks!
There seem to be at least two different versions of the erebus! Mine (bought around autumn 2014) does not offer PW input, instead it allows modulating the LFO depth. Too bad, I'd rather have Pulse Width modulation. Or is there a possibility to switch anything on the board thus gaining PWM ?
It's a bit more than switching I'm afraid! Email Dreadbox and they'll send you a pdf of the mod. Personally I prefer it without PWM!
It's a bit more than switching I'm afraid! Email Dreadbox and they'll send you a pdf of the mod. Personally I prefer it without PWM!
It's a bit more than switching I'm afraid! Email Dreadbox and they'll send you a pdf of the mod. Personally I prefer it without PWM!
+Paul Round We should swap our Erebuses then ;-) Does the mod include soldering? Then I'm off otherwise i might give it a try. How do you know? Done it yourself?
+dankro279 It does involve soldering and drilling and bending chip pins! Email Dreadbox and they'll send you pdf detailing all the instructions. Mine is an older 1.0.3 model and I know they'll mod it at Kazbar Systems for a fee if you're UK based. I decided not to in the end as I like the 70's vibe LFO Depth can bring to the party :)
@sonicstate Nick, I'd love to see you do a follow up video with the Erebus where you really go off with it and push it further. This video is a great introduction. Love to see you take this piece of gear further.
does it have Syncable LFO & Delay?
rhampton1914 mehh