Austrian synth connoisseurs Mayer have unveiled the MD900 X-VA at Superbooth 21, their new flagship multi-timbral wavetable synthesizer with hands-on control, drum instruments and many other features.
The MD900x-VA is a multitimbral virtual analog and wavetable synthesizer with 16 voices and 4 parts. The 16 voices are shared by the parts, and each has its own effects section, arpeggiator, and step sequencer. The heart of the synth is the two aliasing free oscillators OSC1 and OSC2. These oscillators have two different modes Wavetable- or Algorithm-oscillator and each of them can run in 4 instances with detuning capabilities that spread in the stereo channels in a different way. There is also Noise which is a sample-based oscillator that can be restarted with the Note-On, run free with fixed pitch or follow the Note-On pitch.
There is an effects section that exists for every part independently and can be stacked and assigned in order of Delay, Chorus Flanger, EQ, Compressor and Reverb.
The wavetable contains 256 waveforms and the filters are multimode that may be pushed towards self-oscillation, as well as the option of modelling traditional analog filter types PWM, Hard Sync, Formant and Phase Distortion. There are also other algorithms can also be used to morph and manipulate the waveforms.
The sequencer and arpeggiator sections can handle up to 64 note patterns that may be saved and subsequently triggered into the four parts in Clip Launcher mode. The Drum Instruments utilise samples outside of the machine’s synthesizer and are organized into 14 distinct sounds that may be saved as kits and along with the four synthesizer parts, you can program five drum parts.
It has a groove-box and workstation vibe to it, rather than just being a synthesizer and the display provides a lot of detail which allows for a deep degree of editing. The operation panel allows real-time control to the major voice parameters with a dedicated knob and all parameters are accessible via touch-display and the endless rotary encoders.
