Eight-Voice Subtractive Synthesizer

Weird Honker Two

Congratulations, you found our secret synth. Shhh...

An eight-voice subtractive synthesizer with everything in it: three oscillators, FM two ways, AM, a ring, a wavefolder, noise, two filters from a wardrobe of five, two envelopes, three LFOs, glide and iron. What you get is a grid of fifty-six knobs with nothing written on them - no two of them the same knob, and not one of those differences a clue - in an order drawn once from a seed and frozen forever. The host is told KNOB 01 through KNOB 56 and nothing more. For the brave sonic adventurer who wants to fend for themselves.

The engine underneath

VST3 · Windows 64-bit·No activationmacOS VST3 and Audio Unit are in development.

The Weird Honker Two front panel on black crinkle. A brushed steel nameplate reads WEIRD HONKER TWO, FIFTY-SIX KNOBS. NO LABELS. NO PRESETS. GOOD LUCK., beside a brass MORE SYNTHS button. Below it, a grid of fifty-six knobs, eight across and seven down, and no two of them the same: chrome skirts, knurled black caps, fluted plastic in pale green, brass, a red one, a chicken-head, a pale collar around a silver insert. Each sits in a ring of ticks with its own painted pointer - a line, an arrow, a dot - at a scatter of different positions. There are no other words anywhere on the panel.

It is a Honker

No labels. No presets. No readout.

There is no map. There is no menu and no patch bank, and the nameplate carries the only words on the panel. The defaults are the only patch, and double-clicking a knob puts it back there. Everything else you find by turning something and listening.

A seed, once

Drawn once, and frozen

The order of the fifty-six was drawn once from a seed and fixed for good, so a project saved today reads the same forever - and a knob you learn stays learned.

Two copies built one after the other differ by exactly nothing, sample for sample.

A close-up of fifteen of Weird Honker Two's knobs, five across and three down, and no two of them alike: a chrome skirted knob, a pale green fluted one, black knurled caps, a brushed brass one, a pointed chicken-head, a pale collar around a silver insert. Their pointers are painted lines, arrows, dots and dashes, and there is not a word between them.

Somewhere on the grid

What is in there

Every function is a circuit from the Phonon catalogue, and every one was measured doing its job through the grid. Here is what the fifty-six knobs add up to. Where each one is, you will have to find out.

THE OSCILLATORS

Three expo-converter oscillators, each with coarse and fine tuning, a morph from sine through triangle and saw to pulse, pulse width and level.

harmonics 2 to 8, under the fundamentalsine39 dB→saw5 dB

WHAT THEY DO TO EACH OTHER

FM two ways, AM, a diode ring, a wavefolder with its own symmetry, and noise.

exponential FM, 2 into 1: 500 Hz to 3 kHz against the carrierdown-106 dB→up+4 dB

thru-zero FM, 3 into 2: the carrier stays within5 cents

... while its sidebands lift+44 dB

AM: a line at 1.5 times the carrier, under it by6 dB

the ring: the sum, over what is left of the carriers+105 dB

the fold: a sine's harmonics 2 to 9, underdown39 dB→up2 dB

FM that stays in tune. The fold's symmetry moves the even harmonics.

TWO FILTERS, FIVE MODELS

Each filter is one of five circuits - a transistor ladder, a diode ladder, a two-pole lowpass and its mirrored highpass, a state-variable - with its own cutoff, resonance, envelope amount and key tracking. The second runs after the first or beside it.

cutoff moves 2 to 8 kHz by54 dB

resonance at 0.85, the band at the cutoff, on the ladder+31 dB

highpass against lowpass, the top against the fundamental+46 dB

a shut first filter, top beside against in series+54 dB

key tracking, A4's top+11 dB

The two ladders are driven where they still resonate. Measured alone, a transistor ladder at the usual level is a comparator with no peak; at a third of it, it sings.

WHAT MOVES

Two RC envelopes, one into the filters and one into the VCA. Three relaxation oscillators - a Schmitt trigger charging a capacitor - each sine, triangle, square or sample-and-hold, each sent to one of ten places. Glide, and output iron.

filter envelope: top in the first 35 ms against half a second+38 dB

VCA attackshort0 ms→long420 ms

VCA release, 600 ms onshortsilence→long26 dB still there

an LFO on pitch at 4 Hz, a quarter turn, peak to peak600 cents

glide, an octave jumpshort10 ms→long1.5 s

output iron: a low note's 3rd harmonic, underdown37 dB→up15 dB

The ten places an LFO can go: pitch, either cutoff, the fold, pulse width, FM, AM, the ring, the third oscillator's pitch, or the level.

Eight of them

Twenty-four seconds each

Straight out of the plugin, no processing on the way here.

Blind turn 01

Blind turn 02

Blind turn 03

Blind turn 04

Blind turn 05

Blind turn 06

Blind turn 07

Blind turn 08

Black crinkle

The grid

Fifty-six hardware knobs, no two of them the same - chrome skirts, fluted plastic, knurled black, brass, a chicken-head - turning under a fixed light, in eight columns and seven rows. Drag, wheel, shift for fine, double-click to reset a knob to the only patch. Eight voices, and a ninth note steals. It runs at five times realtime with all eight held, and the panel is 720 by 690, so it fits a laptop.

The sheet

What is in the box

FormatVST3 · Windows 64-bit

In developmentmacOS VST3 and Audio Unit

Voices8 · a ninth note steals

The grid56 knobs, no labels · the host sees KNOB 01 to 56

The orderDrawn once from a seed and frozen

PresetsNone · the defaults are the only patch

Oscillators3 expo converters · sine to pulse, pulse width

ModulationFM two ways, AM, ring, wavefolder, noise

Filters2, each one of 5 models · in series or beside

What moves2 RC envelopes · 3 LFOs to ten places · glide

FM-106 dB to +4 · thru-zero carrier within 5 cents

Ring and foldRing +105 dB · fold 39 dB under to 2

Resonance+31 dB on the ladder · highpass top +46 dB

Performance5 times realtime, eight voices held

The panel720 by 690 · it fits a laptop

ActivationNone. No license server, no phone-home

Good luck

Weird Honker Two adds nothing to the Phonon engine. It quotes circuits already in the catalogue - the expo converter, the wardrobe of filters, the wavefolder, the relaxation LFO, the output iron - so the plugin and the DAW can never drift apart in sound.

The rest of the shelf

VST3 · Windows 64-bit - macOS VST3 and Audio Unit are in development. No activation, and the plugin never asks who you are.

At a glance

Weird Honker Two specifications

Technical specifications for Weird Honker Two, Eight-Voice Subtractive Synthesizer
Format	VST3 · Windows 64-bit
In development	macOS VST3 and Audio Unit
Voices	8 · a ninth note steals
The grid	56 knobs, no labels · the host sees KNOB 01 to 56
The order	Drawn once from a seed and frozen
Presets	None · the defaults are the only patch
Oscillators	3 expo converters · sine to pulse, pulse width
Modulation	FM two ways, AM, ring, wavefolder, noise
Filters	2, each one of 5 models · in series or beside
What moves	2 RC envelopes · 3 LFOs to ten places · glide
FM	-106 dB to +4 · thru-zero carrier within 5 cents
Ring and fold	Ring +105 dB · fold 39 dB under to 2
Resonance	+31 dB on the ladder · highpass top +46 dB
Performance	5 times realtime, eight voices held
The panel	720 by 690 · it fits a laptop
Activation	None. No license server, no phone-home