New Regen Desktop Synthesizer From Synclavier Digital

You read it here first in Mark Jenkins’ Synthplex report from last year, but it’s now been released. Here’s what he wrote:

“Perhaps the surprise of the show was a new compact desktop module version of the mighty Synclavier digital synth, Synclavier Regen. Original software designer Cameron Warner Jones had a hand in the recent iOS and Arturia software versions of the instrument, but this hardware version at $2500/£2205 adds many new facilities. 

Like the original, Regen is a digital harmonic synthesizer with sampling and multi-track recording, but now with 12 partials to each sound, additive and subtractive synthesis, polyphonic aftertouch and MPE, reverb, bit crush, and multi-mode filter, and two sample libraries including 700 original Synclavier samples. At Synthplex, Pomona dealer Noisebug introduced the design.”

And here’s the company press release, which originally weighed in with an impressive 181-word opening sentence. We took the liberty of breaking it up, but that’s only because we turned blue in the face trying to read it in one breath.

Synclavier Digital releases regenerated Synclavier® II trailblazer as timeless Regen desktop synthesizer bolstered by present-day DSP developments.

Synclavier Digital announces the availability of Regen — released as a desktop synthesizer that is, a real regeneration of New England Digital’s seminal Synclavier® II digital synthesizer that took the pro audio industry by storm when introduced in its initial incarnation in 1980. Regen is enhanced to take advantage of the increased computing power available today to make it as compelling in a modern setting as the prohibitively pricey original did during its time, while the considerable cost and size reductions associated with Regen’s present-day design criteria conversely position it well within reach of (almost) anyone.

After a two-year development period leading to its soft launch late last year, Synclavier Digital’s Regen readies and steadies itself for use in a modern setting as a timeless desktop synthesizer distinctively designed around a rugged, backpack-friendly — 310mm (W) x 260mm (D) x 42mm (H) — aluminum housing weighing in at 1.8kg and finished in a sand-textured black coloration complimented by a ‘Synclavier-red’ surround securely set upon non-slip rubber plinths, and also embracing ergonomic features such as VESA mount compliance.

Regen’s rich sound-design capabilities are anchored around an advanced DSP (Digital Signal Processing) synth engine that powered the seminal Synclavier® II digital synthesizer. It is, in fact, the self-same DSP engine modeled in software with all the quirks and nuances of the original hardware that lend Regen a musicality seldom found in modern synthesizers.

Samples are clearly integral to Regen, which features over 2,000 royalty-free examples — including over 350 selected original NED samples and 195 newly-commissioned ones from sound design luminaries like English musician and soul singer Jamie Lidell and Canadian keyboard player Leith Fleming-Smith — alongside 550-plus preset timbres categorized by instrument tags, to include 64 hand-picked examples by American musician, composer, and conductor Anthony Marinelli. Polyphonic aftertouch and MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) are supported by Regen, and many presets are optimised for MPE.

Regen retails for $2,500.00 USD (excluding any local taxes or import duties); if purchasing directly from Synclavier Digital’s online Store, the webpage will calculate a local currency price — including free postal service shipping in the USA and Canada, while other express and international shipping options are shown during checkout — based on a fair exchange rate at that time.