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Black Corporation Xerxes MkII

Item: SYN0008354-000

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Polyphonic analog synthesizer with two DCOs and multimode filter based on the Elka Synthex. All product info

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Black Corporation Xerxes MkII

8-voice desktop clone of the Elka Synthex

Analog Synthesizer
Clone of the Elka Synthex (1981-1985)
Fully analog signal path
Eight-voice polyphonic
Two oscillators (DCOs) with PWM
Ring modulator
Noise generator
Multimode filter
Two ADSR envelopes
Two LFOs with sync and fade-in
Polyphonic aftertouch
Chorus effect
1408 presets (11 banks x 128 presets)
Clear layout
Parameters correspond to the original
Desktop case respectively 19" 4U

With Xerxes MkII, Black Corporation helps the eight-voice analog synthesizer Elka Synthex, built in Italy from 1981-1985, to a rebirth. Thanks to modern technology, the massive polyphonic keyboard synthesizer of yesteryear has been successfully housed in a compact desktop enclosure that, with the included rack ears, can fit 4 HU in a 19" rack. The MkII version has been redesigned circuit-wise, special attention was given to the VCA. In addition, there are now balanced stereo outputs with large jack and the audio signal is output via high-quality converters via USB to a DAW. The front panel and almost all controls are now in black.

Sound generation

The two oscillators are very homogeneous and powerful sounding DCOs, each have the waveforms triangle, sawtooth, square and pulse, handle PWM and are individually switchable into the ring modulator. The third sound source in the Xerxes is the noise generator, which produces white or pink noise. The fine tuning of the good basic sound is done by the multimode filter. It handles lowpass, two bandpass, highpass and is resonant. The last link in the signal path is the switchable chorus effect, which adds width and liveliness to the sound.

Modulation

Two ADSR envelopes are permanently assigned to filter and VCA, but can be finely dosed via velocity and aftertouch matching. Glissando respectively Glide can be set separately for the oscillators. The two LFOs can be synchronized to MIDI-Clock if required and can be used for a maximum of 10 destinations. Thanks to six waveforms and their own transient delay, no wishes remain unfulfilled here.

Then as now: contemporary

Today, the Elka Synthex is a sought-after classic and certainly finds itself more on the price level of a Jupiter-8. In this respect, the Black Corporation has done good by transferring this radiant and assertive sound, which outsiders would consistently attest as "beautiful", into a very compact cabinet and adding modern details such as an OLED display and many memory locations. The case is designed to be placed on a table with the beautiful wooden side panels or to be installed in a 19" rack with the metal brackets. Conveniently, the connections in the housing were somewhat recessed, so the cables in the rack do not take up additional height unit space.