Back in August last year, Fred's Lab announced the release of Manatee, a digital desktop synthesizer equipped with MPE support. This week, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Manatee is now available at major retailers.
Manatee is said to take inspiration from the design of "00's classics" such as the Access Virus, blending this with a modern approach to synthesis and a contemporary workflow.
With 16 voices spread over four independent MIDI tracks, Manatee is equipped with a spectral synth engine that fuses additive and wavetable synthesis to manipulate a timbre's frequency spectrum and harmonic structure in real-time, giving the user "the possibility to sculpt and articulate his sound from the timbral, spectral level". The synth is also capable of more conventional digital synthesis techniques, including virtual analogue and 2-operator FM.
Each of its voices has a dedicated sub-oscillator, noise module, ring mod, self-oscillating multimode filter, and a saturator with tube, fuzz and bitcrusher models. Two envelopes and a single LFO for each voice can be routed through a three-slot modulation matrix, and onboard effects include a stereo delay, comb filter and algorithmic reverb.
Fred's Lab describe the MPE-equipped Manatee as "the perfect companion for any expressive MIDI controller". As for connectivity, it's kitted out with MIDI in, out and thru, analog sync, headphone out, and two sets of stereo outputs that can also be used to route out Manatee's four voices individually in mono.
Manatee is priced at €799. Find out more on Fred's Lab's website or watch a demo below.
