{"product_id":"apollo-polyphonic-synthesiser-for-eurorack-two-engines-eight-voices-midi","title":"Apollo — Polyphonic Synthesiser for Eurorack · Two Engines, Eight Voices, MIDI","description":"\u003ch1\u003eApollo — Polyphonic Synthesiser for Eurorack · Two Engines, Eight Voices, MIDI\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLaunch price — £329.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eApollo is hand-built here in the UK in small batches, and the first 25 go out at £329 as a thank-you to anyone coming along early. After that the price settles at £349.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eApollo is a polysynth, in a rack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEight voices, two engines running at once, twelve kinds of synthesis and a full stereo effects chain — played from MIDI, from a keyboard, or from four sequencer tracks at the same time. Chords, arpeggios, presets and modulation are all on board, so the instrument is finished before you patch anything into it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFull user manual: \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/hampshireelectronics.co.uk\/pages\/product-manuals\" title=\"Download Apollo 8-Voice Polyphonic Synthesizer for Eurorack\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eDownload Apollo 8-Voice Polyphonic Synthesizer for Eurorack\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eTwo engines, twelve kinds of synthesis\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo engines run at once, independently, each with eight voices and its own filter, envelopes, level, pan and tuning. Set each to whichever synthesis suits the sound:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eV-Analogue\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— two oscillators with sync, sub and unison\u003cspan\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFM\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— six-operator, DX-style, with the full bank\u003cspan\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModal\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— struck, plucked and bowed resonant bodies, twelve materials and ten exciters\u003cspan\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eString\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— Karplus–Strong plucks, bows and blows\u003cspan\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDrums\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— nine tuned drum kinds, eight-drum kits\u003cspan\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTonewheel\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— a nine-drawbar organ with percussion\u003cspan\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWavetable\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— thirty-two morphing sets with a position LFO\u003cspan\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePhase Dist\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— CZ-style phase distortion\u003cspan\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAdditive\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— partials, tilt, odd\/even and comb\u003cspan\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormant\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— vowel and voice synthesis\u003cspan\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWaves\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— the four classic shapes, done properly\u003cspan\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNoise\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— white and pink through the engine filter\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEngine 1 can cross-modulate engine 2 by linear through-zero FM or AM, tapped before its level — so an engine set silent is still a full-scale modulator.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd every engine is loudness-matched to every other by measurement. Switching type is a musical decision again, not a trip to the output knob.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eFour knobs that are always the right four\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eApollo boots into its PLAY screen, and that is where it is meant to live.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFour knobs — A, B, C and D — sit on the sound in front of you, already mapped to the controls that define whichever engine you are on: a wavetable's scan, a modal body's material and strike, an organ's drawbars, an FM voice and its brightness. Nothing to bind, nothing to set up, nothing to remember. D does double duty as the value knob once you step into the edit menus, so the hand that was playing the sound is the hand that changes it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEight pages carry the rest under the same four knobs: levels, both envelopes, the filter, the effects, the granular section and the engine's pitch placement. The four assignable CV inputs pin straight onto the Sound page's axes. The depth is all still there — the matrix, the operator envelopes, the mode tunings — but it sits behind the instrument rather than in front of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eEight layers, four tracks, one module\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEight multitimbral slots sit over the default layer, each with its own MIDI channel, CV input or note range. A four-track sequencer into the four CV\/gate pairs plays four lines at once; a DAW on four MIDI channels does the same.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr ignore all of it: a note is a note, and out of the box every input plays the same eight voices and the same sound with no setup at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eOne trigger, a whole part\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe chord engine turns a single gate into a voicing — including just-intonation and harmonic stacks — and can advance the chord type on every note, so a plain sequencer track walks a progression. The arpeggiator then takes whatever is held and spreads it, with harmony, strum, pedal-point, ratchets and generative variation. And on the struck engines, notes decay naturally long after the gate has closed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eA studio on board\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA full stereo effects chain, all of it on the module:\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAge\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efor the drift and wear of a well-used instrument, then bitcrusher, filter and drive, phaser, granular, delay, reverb, chorus and glitch. Every effect has its own wet and dry, and every parameter is a modulation destination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eThe granular engine\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe granular section is the one to go and find first.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt sits in the middle of the chain, after the filter and phaser and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ebefore the delay and reverb\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— so it granulates the whole instrument, both engines together, and the grains then land\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003einside\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ethe delay and the reverb rather than being sprinkled over the top of them. Audio runs continuously into a capture buffer, and grains are read back out of it with Hermite interpolation, up to eight overlapping at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePosition\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— where in the buffer the grains are read from: hard right is the audio you just played, hard left is the oldest still held.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSize\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDensity\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— from single isolated grains drifting past with silence between them, to a solid cloud.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePitch\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— ±2 octaves, and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJitter\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003escatters it per grain, so one setting gives a chorus of pitches rather than a transposition.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSpray\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— scatters where each grain starts reading, smearing a tight loop into a wash.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTexture\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— opens the grain window from a soft Hann curve towards a near-boxcar, which is the difference between a breath and a stutter.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRandom\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— moves the spawn clock from strictly periodic to Poisson, so the cloud stops sounding machine-timed.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGrain arpeggio\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— steps each successive grain up or down by up to an octave over a settable number of steps, turning a held buffer into a figure.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFreeze\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— stops the capture. What is in the buffer stays there, and everything above keeps working on it, indefinitely. Play on top of it with the instrument it came out of.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLong\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003emodes — a short buffer with full bandwidth for stutters and glitches, or a four-times-longer one for pads and drones.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFour of these sit on the knobs on PLAY's own Granular page, and every single parameter is a modulation destination — so Position can be swept by an envelope, Freeze triggered from a gate, Density tracked from a CV input.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eModulation and memory\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFour mod sources — LFOs, sample-and-hold, random, envelopes, probabilistic gates and Euclidean patterns — plus two mod envelopes, feeding a sixteen-slot matrix that reaches every parameter in the instrument. Each routing can be aimed at engine 1, engine 2, or both. The four assignable CV inputs can take any parameter over outright as a hands-on control.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePresets store the whole instrument: both engines, the filters, the envelopes, the modulation, the arpeggiator, the chords and every effect. Program Change recalls them. The module keeps its state through power-off exactly as you left it, edited or not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEight-note polyphony; two independent digital engines, eight voices each — sixteen voice instances at full polyphony\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTwelve synthesis types, all resident and switchable from the panel\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePer engine: multimode filter (LP\/HP\/Band\/Notch) with drive, VCA and VCF envelopes, level, pan, octave\/semitone\/JI\/fine tuning, glide\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEight multitimbral layers by MIDI channel, CV input or note range\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChord engine with sequencing, just-intonation and harmonic chord types\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePolyphonic arpeggiator with harmony, strum, pedal-point and generative variation; internal, MIDI or gate clock\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFour mod sources, two mod envelopes, sixteen-slot modulation matrix with per-routing engine scope\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOn-board stereo effects: age, bitcrusher, filter\/drive, phaser, granular, delay, reverb, chorus, glitch\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePreset memory with factory and user banks; Program Change recall\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInputs: MIDI IN; 4 × 1V\/oct; 4 × gate; 4 × assignable CV\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOutputs: main out; MIDI OUT (thru plus arpeggiator and chord notes); 2 × modulation out\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eControls: four knobs (A–D; D doubles as the value knob in the edit menus), master tune, DATA encoder, OLED display\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e44.1 kHz\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFormat: Eurorack, 19 HP\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePower: +12 V @ 150 mA, −12 V @ 40 mA\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eTaxes and shipping\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUK orders:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eAll applicable UK taxes are included in the price shown and there are no additional UK taxes or import charges to pay on delivery.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInternational orders:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eCustomers outside the UK are responsible for any import duties, VAT, sales tax, customs charges, brokerage fees or other charges imposed by their country of import.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eBuy with confidence\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e30-day no-quibble returns\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e— changed your mind? Send it back.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTwo-year guarantee\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eon every module.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFaulty in the first six months and we replace it\u003c\/strong\u003e, not repair it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFree firmware updates for life.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Hampshire Electronics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56966033801602,"sku":null,"price":329.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0273\/2182\/7422\/files\/front_3fff760f-3718-4f83-a90d-57698e89b78e.png?v=1791288901","url":"https:\/\/hampshireelectronics.co.uk\/products\/apollo-polyphonic-synthesiser-for-eurorack-two-engines-eight-voices-midi","provider":"Hampshire Electronics","version":"1.0","type":"link"}