SN - PHAT•BOY: Real Knobs for Realtime Control

At the risk of sounding old (okay, it’s ‘cause I am getting old), I remember the days when every synthesizer parameter had its own knob and a Menu was something you’d look at when you didn’t feel like having a cheeseburger and fries.

Now the pendulum has swung back, and having a plethora of knobs is cool again. Many of the mid to high priced keyboards are now sporting lots of knobs, sliders, ribbons, and buttons; but what about the General MIDI or computer soundcard users? Are they to be left twistless simply because of their instrument choice?

Not anymore, the new Phat•Boy (list $249) from Keyfax brings the joys of tweakin’ and twistin’ the night away to anyone with a GM, XG, or Sound Blaster compatible synthesizer. The unit has one MIDI Channel Selector knob, 13 Controller knobs, a Snapshot/Reset button and a Mode Switch. The Mode Switch lets you select between three different Modes: “Mode i” is for advanced GM parameters like Roland’s GS and Yamaha’s XG formats. “Mode ii” is for the Sound Blaster AWE soundcards (by Creative Labs) as well as other soundcards that are AWE compatible. “Mode iii” allows knobs 1-13 to send out Continuous Controller data via Controller Numbers 1-13 respectively. This would be useful for those who own synthesizers that can arbitrarily assign Controllers to any parameter.

The parameters that can be controlled (in Modes i and ii) include: Filter Cutoff, Filter Resonance, Vibrato Rate, Vibrato Depth, Vibrato Delay, Reverb Level, Chorus Level, Envelope Attack Time, Decay Time, Portamento Time (or in Mode ii, Sustain Level), and Release Time, plus Panning and Volume Level. These parameter values can be sent to any MIDI Channel of your choosing via the MIDI Channel knob.

Even if you have a synth with no Controller routing ability, Phat•Boy is still likely to control some or most of the following: CC#1 (Mod Wheel), CC#2 (Breath Controller or Joystick Down), CC#4 (Foot Controller), CC#5 (Portamento Time), CC#6 (Data Slider), CC#7 (Volume), CC#8 (Osc Balance), CC#10 (Panning), CC#11 (Expression), CC#12 (Effect Controller#1), and CC#13 (Effect Controller#2).

In short, if you use an AWE computer soundcard or GS/XG compatible box or keyboard to create your music, you simply must own one of these. Nothing else will bring musical life and movement to your sequences as simply or inexpensively as the Phat•Boy. If you own a powerful synth like a Kurzweil, E-MU sampler, or EX5, then you’ll have 13 knobs to go crazy with. Even if all your synth responds to is the Volume, Panning, Expression and Mod Wheel knobs, it’s still worth it to have easy access to 16 MIDI Channels of these parameters. Your mix will never be the same. So call us here at Sweetwater for additional information on how Phat•Boy can help you make music, as well as your special low Sweetwater pricing.