Sinfonion quantizer, arpeggiator, chord generator and sequencer

Sinfonion is a revolutionary product – there is literally nothing else available that lets you do what it does. It turns you into the bandleader for your modular system. Jam on the fly – creating new patterns, sequences, sounds, beats, and more – certain that all parts will play together in harmony.

Modular is addictive. One minute you′re nervously combining your first kick and mono bass modules… the next thing you know, your partner′s left and you′ve downsized to a one room to pay for kit. But that′s not the problem, of course. How can you get all these delicious oscillators and complex sequences playing together in perfect harmony?

Meet Sinfonion, a completely unique harmonizing module. It employs three quantizers (think of them as ‘snap-to-grid’ devices for pitch) for playing four note chords, arpeggios, and complex progression sequences (more on these later). All are controlled from one easily understandable interface, and all automatically in key, even when you modulate or sequence those key changes.

Now, before we explain more, we should come clean: Sinfonion is the only ACL module we didn′t design ourselves. It was designed by Mathias Kettner, who spent years designing and refining it, and we′re proud that he approached us to build it to the quality and specifications he wanted.

It′s also probably worth highlighting the obvious: to make the absolute most of Sinfonion, there′s no getting around the fact that you need a beast of a system, as at any one time it can drive eight oscillators (three melodies, four for chords, and one for arpeggio) – although things start getting interesting from three or four VCOs or more!

Meet the band

Now, with a total of eight pitch outputs, four gate outputs, 11 CV inputs, four trigger inputs, and gate inputs, and a large number of controls and buttons, Sinfonion can seem a little intimidating. But it′s actually simple to use. Essentially you define a key for the whole instrument, and this then forms the basis for the different sections. The key can be changed on the fly, and can even be modulated and sequenced. Now, let′s take a look at those sections…

Firstly, Sinfonion features three quantizer channels, giving direct access to harmonic scale notes via dedicated buttons (Root, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th) for each channel. Essentially, it pushes any incoming pitch data to the nearest note that fits the current scale – either delivered from a sequencer, from live play on a piano-style keyboard or strip, or even a more random modulator, such as an LFO.

In addition, each quantizer channel provides its own additional individual functions, such as A/B (for switching between two scale settings, using either an incoming gate signal or a combination of user-selectable criteria and incoming clock), and slew (which is like a glide/portamento for chords, complete with different curves) on channel 1, five different Fill toggles (shifting one or more notes out of the selected scale to build tension) on channel 2, and an EQ-Dist function on channel 3 (EQ-Dist means ‘equal-distance’ – this function used for smoothing out interval ranges between the resulting notes).

Next we have a chord section which supplies four pitched outputs, allowing up to four voice chords (or five, if you use it in conjunction with one of the quantizer channels). Quickly find the chord you′re looking for, or perform exciting live progressions, using dedicated knobs for pitch and spread, and buttons for selecting the notes, chord inversions, and optional slew. And as with the rest of Sinfonion, it′s fantastic for those without classical training, as it demystifies complex chord structures: you can simply push buttons, knowing that everything can remain in key.

Finally, the arpeggiator section features eight different patterns – Up, Down, Up/Down, Down/Up, Baroque, Octaves, Brownian, Random – with dedicated knobs for pitch and range (+/1 five octaves), and an array of buttons for selecting the scale notes and pattern selection.

3U Eurorack module, 42 HP wide, compatible with Skiff cases

Current Draw:

• 160 mA +12V
• 4 mA -12V
• 0 mA 5V

Installation depth:

• 25 mm deep