Dreadbox Nymphes

Ik heb deze Dreadbox Nymphes gekocht voor een mobiele setup. Eenvoudig mijn Polyend Play, Dreadbox Nymphes, Powerbank en mixertje in een backpack en draaien maar.
De unison 6-voice is te gek voor vette mono bass sounds. Voor chords is de poly optie ook veelzijdig.
De filter is waanzinnig, de enveloppe is strak en de lfo zeer veelzijdig! Voor effecten zo ik iets anders kiezen. De reverb is matig. Maar wel handig als je niets anders hebt.

Kortom: waarzinnig goed synth met ook nog een goede verpakking: de blauw metalen verpakking is sterk, handzaam en erg mooi!

The synth sounds in this unit are good; if you are looking for something near the sounds of a Juno, this box can get extremely close with its voicing structure. No stereo output or Chorus effect onboard, that would have made this even closer to the classic Juno sound.

A few gripes:
First, the interface is awkward, which is forgivable considering the form factor, but should still be acknowledged. It's easy to lose track of what each slider will control whilst the various submenu modes are engaged, and the method of entering submenus is unfamiliar so there is a learning curve.

Second, the only option to power this synth is with a USB cable. In my home studio setup with many other small synths and devices, adding another USB-powered device often means other devices will pick up ground noise when a new device is added. No, I'm not plugging the USB into my computer to power the synth, just using a USB power delivery device.. but then sending analog audio out from this device into an interface or mixer on the same electrical power circuit means that the noise dumped from one device to ground can get picked up by another device and fed back into the audio path.

Third: Tuning stability could be a bit better. I've kept this synth in the same indoor space for a few weeks and I've had to calibrate the oscillators a few times to keep them in tune. Not really a problem, as VCOs do that and that's part of their appeal, but worth a mention. The audible calibration sounds cool while it's happening, though.

Fourth: The only onboard effect is a digital reverb that just does not sound good to me. Very metallic and granular, I just always turn it off since it doesn't lend itself to the type of sound I'm using this for. An onboard stereo chorus would have been a better inclusion in my opinion.

-Menu system is pretty easy to get the hang of, doesn't feel slow (definitely not any slower than extensive menu diving with a screen).

-The reverb is mono, but if you like spring reverbs it sounds nice. I prefer it to the ridiculous shimmer reverbs that are popular. Obviously it's still digital, but this one has character!

-The shift functions are a little annoying, but I can understand why they brought the functions they did to the front panel. To put it in perspective: it's a lot less hassle to hold shift and move a slider (for lets say the high pass filter) than it would be to go into a menu, then a sub menu to change it.

If you like Japanese sounding polys, this is for you. Looking forward to diving deeper with this one.