Erica Synths x Hexinverter: Iconic Drums — Mutated and Reimagined
Across myriad shades of hip-hop, dance, pop, and club history, 808s and 909s defined underground movements that ultimately transformed the music-making world and paved the way for our modern landscape of multidimensional composition, sound design, and creative diversity. This bundle comprises four Erica Synths modules that are built on the foundation of Hexinverter Mutant designs, reimagining the iconic stylings of 1980s drum machines for the prismatic patching possibilities of the Eurorack world: Mutant Bassdrum, Mutant Clap, Mutant Snare, and Mutant Hihat. Each module features multitudes of sound-design flexibility, offering a suite of sonic contouring that multiplies its artistic potential via extensive CV connections and interoperative creativity. Comprising a deliverance of distortion circuits and multi-output madness, the modulation magic within this Erica Synths Eurorack bundle has everything needed for a time-bending, otherworldly percussion that spans the spectrum. But drums are merely the foundation — where will you take this 52HP menagerie of mutant modularity?
Related Videos: Hexinverter Mutant Drum Eurorack Bundle
Mutant Bassdrum
After Stacy Gaudreau, the founder and lead designer of Hexinverter, made the difficult call to close operations, Erica Synths collaborated with Stacy to preserve his company's innovative engineering spirit. This partnership has allowed his work to be revitalized under the Erica Synths umbrella. This sleek Édition Noire iteration of Hexinverter’s Mutant Bassdrum Eurorack module delivers a galvanizing garrison of 808-style bass-shaping power, reimagined for the menagerie of modular-synthesis possibilities. Moreover, Erica Synths took special care to build on the striking foundations executed by Stacy and his talented Hexinverter team, expertly upgrading and enhancing critical components that elevate its aural output and preserve its ferocious low-end spirit. Blending exceptional voltage-controllable parameters with historic basses, vintage-grade optocouplers, and Hexinverter’s searing batteryACID distortion, the Mutant Bassdrum has everyone from synth scholars to beat weavers at Sweetwater eager to take this low-frequency fire starter for a spin.
Mutant Clap
After Stacy Gaudreau, the founder and lead designer of Hexinverter, made the difficult call to close operations, Erica Synths collaborated with Stacy to preserve his company's innovative engineering spirit. With the Mutant Clap module, Erica Synths and Hexinverter blend a voltage-controlled LFSR (Linear-Feedback Shift Register) and percussive synthesis engine. This homage to the percussive panache that began with the dance world’s underground scenes of Chicago house and Detroit techno transmutes the iconic clap into a 909-style drum synth to suit the imaginative ecosystem of Eurorack modular synthesis. Out of reverence for their roots, Erica Synths and Hexinverter built the Mutant Clap to capture the classic character of its precursor while expanding its aural aperture with a slew of filtering, effects, and drive controls, impressing Sweetwater’s synthesists with its dazzling array of sound-design possibilities. Moreover, the onboard engine’s state-of-the-art processing lets you synthesize claps from any external audio source, surrendering complete control of its sonic-sculpting tool kit to wield with the sounds of your setup, giving you virtually limitless opportunities to explore and personalize your percussion-synth power.
Mutant Hi-hat
Inspired by the historic 808’s hip-hop-defining hi-hats, Erica Synths and Hexinverter join forces to reimagine the iconic sonics of the seminal drum machine for the voltage-controlled interoperative magic of the Eurorack ecosystem. A dyad of analog circuitry transforms 808-style hats into a dual-output module of open and closed hi-hat styles, supported by a slew of texture and dynamics tools. While powerful and pliable on their own, they elevate the range of Drive and Filter effects to multidimensional heights when used with the mild-to-wild modulation possibilities of Mutant Hihats’ extensive CV (control voltage) connections. The feature that synthesists and beat-makers at Sweetwater have found to be the most creatively inspiring, however, is the module’s output configuration. In a masterstroke of Occam’s Razor logic, Erica Synths and Hexinverter recognized the historical impact of both the open and closed sound versions of the original 808’s hi-hats and asked, “Why not have both?” Dedicated Trigger inputs and audio outputs for open and closed styles are joined by a trio of output-behavior options, expanding your plane of percussive possibilities with overdrive capabilities for both hi-hat hits. Plus, Mutant Hihats even synthesizes hi-hats on the fly from any external source, making for near-unlimited sound design potential and interoperative use that goes even further when used with the practically source-agnostic Accent input.
Mutant Snare
The original 808 is a time-honored drum machine that shaped the foundations of myriad electronic and hip-hop genres. Erica Synths’ and Hexinverter’s Mutant Snare Eurorack module pays homage to this historic instrument by transforming its lauded snare circuit into an expanded, dynamic iteration that reimagines its iconic sound for the interoperative possibilities of the Eurorack format. Two analog, Bridged T sinewave oscillators form the module’s foundations, capturing the distinctive, organic analog profile of its precursor. Additionally, a slew of sound-design tools let you conjure everything from classic snares to warping, evolving, and surreal percussion. Across Pitch, Tone, Drive, and Decay controls, as well as an external audio input that generates textures from your source of choice and myriad CV connections, Sweetwater’s Eurorack cohorts are in agreement: The Mutant Snare masterfully merges the retro and modern dimensions of snare-sculpting possibilities into a future-facing Eurorack module that’s teeming with interoperative potential.
