"The UNO Synth audio path is totally analog and it's ready to use for a top album or major film score. I think we spent the money where it counts, in the sound and in the personality of the instrument."

MusicTech magazine has been speaking to veteran synth designer and analog guru, Erik Norlander, about his involvement in the design of the new UNO Synth.

Here are some of their questions and excerpts from Erik's answers:

What do you think are the UNO's best features?

"The UNO Synth audio path is totally analog and it's ready to use for a top album or major film score. You can put it alongside your Minimoog, your CS-80, your OB-X, your Jupiter-8, even your TB-303, and it will stand up"

How did you get the end price so low? Did you have to make any compromises?

"I would say instead that we made some very clever decisions to reach that price. Aside from the power switch on the rear panel, there are no switches on the UNO Synth. The capacitance sensing top panel, for example, really helps to keep the price down."

So do you believe that the final result fits the initial brief?

"We set out to create a super-portable, but high quality real analogue synthesizer that you could take anywhere. The Minimoog was a great inspiration but, of course, a Minimoog is not so mini!
We had to be economical, of course, as we couldn't make a €2,000 product within the scope of this vision, but I think we spent the money where it counts, in the sound and in the personality of the instrument."

What's the future of synthesizers?

"We must continue to reduce the barriers between the musician and technology. We must continue to innovate, to bring better quality, better reliability, more portability, and ultimately more musicality to our new instruments. Learn from the past and look to the future."

You can read the full interview with Erik Norlander in the September 2018 issue of MusicTech.

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