The Mantis by PWM two-voice playable keyboard synthesizer with hybrid sound generation. At the same time, the Mantis is the last synthesizer on which the British synth developer Chris Huggett (Wasp, Gnat, OSCar, Bass Station 1) worked until his retirement in 2020 and was completed by Paul Whittington (PWM). That the Mantis is a real Huggett can be heard directly in the clearly designed instrument. The mathematically generated oscillators form a good sounding foundation for electronic sounds of all kinds, which is followed by a very flexible, analog Multimode filteralong with distortion and analog VCA. The easy to play 37 key keyboard produces aftertouch and velocity. Instead of the usual handwheels, a joystick is installed, which allows intuitive handling of pitch bending and modulation assignments. As a playing aid, a well-equipped arpeggiator with six playback directions, six octaves of transposition, Swing and various clock dividers/multipliers is implemented, which automatically synchronizes to the incoming MIDI-Clock. For the lovingly created sounds, the Mantis holds 200 memory locations ready, which are divided ex works into 100 Factory and User sounds each and are all overwriteable.
Hybrid sound generation
The Mantis generates the sound basis with two digital oscillators that generate sine, triangle, sawtooth, square and other waveforms. With the parameter Shape the waveforms can be bent extremely, which leads e.g. with the rectangle quite classically to PWM and with the sawtooth to supersaw-like textures. The first oscillator is followed by a sub-oscillator that is always tuned one octave lower. In the mixer section there is also a noise generator and a ring modulator, which complements the sonic spectrum excellently. The tone generating section is followed by an analog Multimode filter and distortion unit that impresses with eight filter modes. With increasing resonance, the filter tends to strongly color the oscillator signals, which is also characteristic for Huggett synthesizers. As a special feature, the filter width is adjustable, which makes it possible to specifically work out nuances in the sound image. As usual, the analog signal path is completed by the VCA. Between the VCA and the audio output PWM has given the Mantis two digital effects to set the sounds in scene full of character. Chorus is available in four levels and adjustable in intensity. The reverb can be applied to different frequency ranges.
Modulations
Regarding its modulation possibilities, the Mantis is rather classic. There are two loopable ADSR envelopes, which have an additional Sustain fall parameter and whose maximum intensity can be controlled via velocity. The envelopes are permanently assigned to filter and VCA. In addition, there are two similarly structured LFOs with four waveforms each, which can be synchronized to MIDI-Clock, are reset-capable and have Fade In respectively Fade Out. The LFOs are assigned to different parameters as bipolar attenuators. The Modulation Controller links six modulation sources (EG 1/2, LFO 1/2, Tracking, AN) with six modulation destinations (Osc Shape 1/2, Pitch 1/2, Cutoff, Filter Width) and allows the intensity to be controlled via the Joystick X/Y, Aftertouch, Velocity, Pedal and AN controllers.
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