IK Multimedia has broken new ground, releasing its first hardware synthesizer in the form of UNO Synth, a new monophonic synth that provides a wide analog sound palette, easy programmability, and on-the-go portability. UNO Synth is the culmination of IK’s own decades of experience in software and hardware audio development and a collaboration with Italian boutique synthesizer maker Soundmachines and IK’s synth guru Erik Norlander, taking the types of features and capabilities that IK has been known for in its software apps and bringing them to a powerful hardware synth that can deliver a range of sounds from the classic to the modern. While the new synth packs a lot of power, IK has also taken steps to make it accessible to first-time synth users, with 100 presets and an easy-to-play keyboard, but it’s also designed with the experience professional in mind, providing a true-analog audio path, powerful synth engine, and more.
Under the hood, UNO Synth packs in two independent VCOs with Saw, Triangle and Pulse waveforms with continuously variable shape including PWM of the square wave plus a separate white noise generator, a two-pole OTA_based analog resonant sweepable multimode filter with overdrive, and seven LFO waveforms for modulating pitch, filter, amp, and continuous oscillator wave shapes, all of which combine to produce rich, warm, punch, deep bass sounds alongside a wide sonic palette of leads, drones, apps, sequences, sweeps, and effects.
The use of a pure analog filter also means that you get all of the warmth and depth of a traditional analog synth.
Out of the box, UNO Synth provides 100 presets that are ready to go, 80 of which are fully rewritable, and each of which includes an associated arpeggio and sequence, helping users quickly find the perfect sound. More than 40 onboard controls on the top panel also provide real-time access to just about every synth engine parameter — a very accessible interface for quickly sculpting sound, with no deep menus to get lost in.
A Mac/Windows editor app is also available for deeper customization, and MIDI IN and OUT let you connect it to any MIDI gear, along with a USB MIDI interface for connecting to an iPad or other iOS device using Core MIDI. A built-in audio input also lets you daisy-chain in other external audio devices without requiring an additional mixer, making it quick and easy to use in a lot of configurations without needing to set up a complex rig. UNO Synth is also powered by four AA batteries or can be connected to any USB power source such as external battery banks, allowing it to be used pretty much anywhere that inspiration strikes.
