Conductive Labs Terrain Synth Now Available To Pre-Order
Conductive Labs has launched a Kickstarter project to fund production of the Terrain Synth – an original synth design featuring wave terrain oscillators.
They say that the Terrain Synth is the first commercially-available, full-featured hardware polyphonic multi-timbral synthesizer based on terrain synthesis.
Here’s what they have to say about it:
“Terrain synthesis was first conceived in 1978 by synthesist Richard Gold, but it took the compute power of 2025 to bring this intensive process to an affordable synthesizer.
So what is “terrain synthesis” In short, traveling along a circular path on a bumpy terrain creates a waveform. The waveform changes by moving or varying the path shape. By combining paths and terrains there are an infinite number of possible waveforms. Modulating those paths and terrains gives you an unlimited variety of sounds.
The terrains come in many flavors… the built-in mathematically generated ones can be wildly morphed in real time. For a totally custom sound you can create your own terrains. Graphic, photographic, topographic and even AI generated terrains can be imported as JPG & PNG image files. The Terrain Synth can even import old school WAV wavetables.
From some simple terrain/path combinations you can easily create classic analog style waveforms (sqr, tri, sine, saw, etc.) too!
In addition to the unique oscillators the Terrain Synth has a zillion LFOs and envelopes, nearly every parameter has its own. If you want to modulate the path size, twist the LFO knobs and make it happen, no need for a deep modulation matrix. Each parameter also has 4 assignable expressive modulator slots for mod-wheel, velocity, poly aftertouch, etc.. 12 mappable CCs, 3 pedals, 6 CV/Gates and so on. This makes it easy for you to bring out the unique sounds and richness this architecture provides, such as rhythmic effects and long evolving pads and drones.
Despite the focus on the oscillator and modulators, the filter section has 8 types of morphable filters, from Ladder to Comb to Formant. These create the classic and modern sweeps and quacks you’re expecting. Several onboard effects are included too: Delay, Ping-Pong Delay, Reverb, Shimmer Reverb, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Stereo Phaser, Overdrive and Decimator.
Terrain synthesis is highly visual in nature so we chose a large 7-inch IPS display for sonic visualization. You can customize the color palette, the visualization perspective and the 3D angles. This enables you to easily inspect the modulations on the path and terrain and the resulting waveform.
The inside is just as important to us as the outside… our circuit design and layout were all developed by an expert audio engineer with many years of experience. His extreme devotion to audio purity and performance makes this synth sound amazing”
Features:
- Unique terrain oscillators
- 32 note polyphony (8 per timbre)
- Four timbres (layers) that can be split or stacked
- Two morphable terrains per voice
- Up to 7x unison for each voice
- Two additional sub-oscillators for each voice
- White, Pink, Blue and Brown noise
- Oscillator sync, Phase distortion, Mirroring and Windowing
- 17 math-based terrains with infinite resolution
- Dozens of image-based terrains
- User loadable image & wavetable terrains (.jpg and .png, .wav)
- 18 morphable paths with infinite resolution
- Dedicated mixer for timbre layers
- LFO, Envelope and Expressive-mapper per parameter
- On board effects: Delay, Ping-Pong Delay, Reverb, Shimmer Reverb, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Stereo Phaser, Overdrive and Decimator
- Dedicated sequencer, arpeggiator and audition buttons
- Hundreds of sortable presets and onboard preset librarian
- 36 quick access patch favorites (6×6)
- Multi level patches, Init, Copy & Paste
- Infinite Encoders – mixer, menu, modulation and user modules
- A 7-inch IPS display for full color sonic visualization
- Selectable terrain view angles and color schemes
- MIDI-I/O via 5-Pin DIN, USB Host, and USB Device ports
- 6x CV/Gates and 3x expression pedals.
- Left/Right balanced stereo and headphone (w/ vol control)
- Desktop / 4U rack configurations
The Terrain Synth is available to pre-order via a Kickstarter project, priced at $949. The estimated street price is planned to be $1199. The project has already met its funding goal.
*Note: Crowdfunded projects can involve risks, which are documented at the project site.
