Last minute Christmas presents!

Atmegatron Complete and PCB back on sale

There's a small stock of Atmegatron Complete's and PCBs available, via the website and also some distributors. The distributors currently with stock are:

• Juno (UK)
• Music Store (Europe)
• Gizmo Music (Japan)
• Perfect Circuit Audio (USA)

If you order from the webshop, please bear in mind the following last dates for orders to arrive by Christmas:

• UK - 20th Dec
• Europe - 13th Dec
• USA - 12th Dec
• Canada, Asia, South America, Australasia - Won't make it in time, apologies

Delayertron and Atmegadrum overlays now available

Finally the Atmegatron overlays are ready! They are available from the webshop and you get 2 for £7.50 (ex VAT and postage). The overlays are for the Delayertron and Atmegadrum and the software for them can be found here and a tutorial on how to upload the software can be found here.

Please note that only orders to UK addresses will ship in time for Christmas.

New Delayertron and Atmegadrum demo track by DREAMTRAK

To celebrate the new overlays, there's a new demo track showing off the Delayertron and Atmegadrum software. The track was edited together from a jam between DREAMTRAK and Soulsby Synths, performed on 2 Atmegatrons. It's pretty experimental, and that's exactly what the Atmegatron is all about!

Oh and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Music Tech Fest this weekend

It's Music Tech Fest this weekend. I'm going to be taking part in the 24 hour hackathon. Judging by past Music Tech Fests it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.
Do come along and say hello if you're free.  Details below:

Music Tech Fest - festival of music ideas

Jerwood Hall, LSO St Lukes, London.
Tickets: £20 per day

• Friday 5 September: 6pm–10pm - Occupy Music (Soulsby Synths are not involved this day)
• Saturday 6 September: 1pm–10pm - Gunk and HMI
• Sunday 7 September: 1pm–10pm - Get Your Ears Dirty

Delayertron (tron tron tron .... ....) software available now!

Turn your Atmegatron into a sci-fi dream machine

The Delayertron software is now available on the Downloads page of the Soulsby Synthesizers website.
You can see a video of the Delayertron in action here:

The heart of the Delayertron is a crunchy 8-bit delay line. The following parameters can be adjusted:

• Dry/wet mix
• Delay sample rate
• Feedback
• Delay length
• Clip mode (for gritted distorted delay with >100% feedback)
• LFO and envelope amounts to control the sample rate

There's also a filter which can be either high or low pass. The LFO can control it's cutoff and it can be inserted either after the delay or at the output mix.

All the oscillator waveforms are new too and have been increased from 32 to 256 samples long.  The waveforms are derived from Adventure Kid's awesome waveforms library.

The software can be uploaded by anyone who owns an Atmegatron and an FTDI cable.  See this video for instructions.

Latest Atmegatron news (July)

Only a few Atmegatrons left in stock!

It's been a crazy few months and we're now heading towards the end of the first batch. There's literally just a couple left! If you still haven't ordered your Atmegatron yet, head over to the shop.
A second batch of Atmegatrons will be made, but these won't be ready until later this year.
There are also some resellers that still have stock: Juno (UK), Analogue Haven (USA), Perfect Circuit Audio (USA) & Gizmo Music (Japan).

Pre-release version of Atpolytron software now available

Version 0.1 of the Atpolytron software is now available. It provides 4-note paraphonic polyphony to the Atmegatron. There will be some major changes to the software when the final version is released, such as longer waveforms and a different audio processing chain.
Also in the pipeline are:

• Delayertron (simple synth with tape delay fx).
• Envelopertron (not final name! Snappy logarithmic envelopes with envelope repeater).

And there's more that are just at the 'idea' stage, so watch this space!

miniAtmegatron development in progress

Here's a first look at the miniAtmegatron Arduino shield kit. It's at the prototype stage and is currently being debugged and tested.
The miniAtmegatron is designed for Arduino and electronics enthusiasts who want to build their own Atmegatron
It'll come with build instructions and also instructions on how to flash the Arduino to turn it into a USB MIDI device.
There are also plans to create a control interface with the Lemur iPad software.

Drum machines, magazines and more!

Atmegadrum software released today

The Atmegadrum software is now available from the Soulsby Synths website. It turns the Atmegatron into a 16-part 16-step drum machine. It also features a global pitch LFO and individual instrument volumes and delay effects.

The default sample rate is a crunchy sounding 8kHz and this can be tweaked. Check out this YouTube video to hear it in action. There's an audio demo track on Soundcloud too.

In the near future there will be software to allow users to upload their own drum samples to the Atmegadrum.

Latest Atmegatron Reviews

If you've still not got an Atmegatron and want to know more about it, be sure to check out some of these reviews:

• Sound On Sound (June). "Paul Soulsby’s debut product is a small synth of violently unrestrained character."
• Future Music (June). "The unit is certainly fun to use and sounds as gnarly and unrefined as you would expect."
• Palm Sounds. An audio interview with Paul Soulsby and demonstration video.
• Sounds and Gear. A highly in-depth video review.

Soulsby Synths at Games Britannia

Soulsby Synths will be at Games Britannia Live! in Sheffield on 28th and 29th June. It's a family friendly video gaming and coding festival.

During the day there will be Atmegatrons out for people to play and visitors will have the opportunity to try sampling their own voice into the Atmegatron.

During the evening there is a "Chiptune Gig In The Garden". Soulsby Synths and _ensnare_ have teamed up and will be performing live. Be sure not to miss this!!!

Atmegatron Complete back in stock soon!

A limited run of Atmegatron Completes will be available in the second week of June. If you would like one of these please email the waiting list, as these have nearly sold out already!

Development is well underway with the miniAtmegatron DIY kit and Eurorack project. I hope to have more news on these projects in the next few weeks.

May 2014 News

Future Music review and demo

This months Future Music features a nice review of the Atmegatron (on page 94 to be precise!).  There's also some great demos on the DVD.  They demonstrate live sound creation on the Atmegatron, as well as providing a preview of some of the upcoming software versions.

Palm Sounds interview

I was recently interviewed by Ashley Elsdon from Palm Sounds.  You can hear the interview here. It covers my own history with synthesizers and also the inspiration and development story behind the Atmegatron.
We also made a quick demonstration video of the Atmegatron, which will be available soon on the Palm Sounds YouTube channel.

Sounds and Gear review

JK from Sounds and Gear recently did an amazing review of the Atmegatron. Check it out here. The YouTube video is really in-depth and covers pretty much everything there is to know about the Atmegatron.

What's new at Soulsby Synthesizers

You may have noticed that we are currently sold out of Atmegatron Completes. There will be limited stock available at the end of this month (May). Add your name to the waiting list, to be certain to get one.
More progress has been made with the miniAtmegatron kit and also a new exciting Eurorack project.  Below is an enigmatic picture of the miniAtmegatron prototype working on my desk. The miniAtmegatron will eventually be in the form of an Arduino Uno shield that is a DIY kit.

The next Atmegatron software to be released will be The Atmegadrum.  A 16 part, 16 step drum programmable drum machine. This should be available by the end of next week.

Atcyclotron software released today!

The Atcyclotron: Turn your Atmegatron into a brand new synth! 

The Atcyclotron software is the first major alternative software release for the Atmegatron. It turns the Atmegatron into a wavetable cycling synthesizer. The key difference is that the sound now consists of 4 waveforms rather than one, which allows for more complex timbres to be created. It can do everything from grinding dubstep basses to bright modulated lead sounds.

The Atcyclotron source code can be downloaded from the downloads page.

Check out this YouTube tutorial to see how to upload the software and to hear the Atcyclotron in action.

You can also hear the sounds of the Atcyclotron in this Piney Gir remix.  All sounds (apart from vocals) are created by the Atcyclotron. There is also a dry mix of it, so you can hear exactly what the Atcyclotron software is doing.

There will be more software versions over the coming months which turn your Atmegatron into a polysynth, drum machine and more!  

In other news...

We had a great Arduino Day last week demonstrating the Atmegatron at London Arduino and Furtherfield/Codasign. It was fantastic talking to so many people about the Atmegatron and I was also able to demo the prototype for a new DIY kit version of a mini-atmegatron. I hope to have it in production in a few months. Watch this space!

Giraffe Audio are now stocking the Atmegatron and I had the pleasure of visiting their impressive showroom last week. If you live in the Midlands (of the UK!) I recommend checking it out.

There are still a few Atmegatron Completes left from the first run. We still have stock of the PCBs too.  Here's the details:

• Atmegatron Complete. £255 + delivery + tax (customs duty outside the EU). Atmegatron housed in an aluminium case with beautiful walnut side panels. Comes with PSU, manual and quick reference card.
• Atmegatron PCB. £127 + delivery + tax (customs duty outside the EU). Atmegatron PCB with support pillars, PSU and quick reference card.

The Atmegatron is available online from Soulsby Synthesizers. Strictly limited supply.