Much has happened in the recent weeks. Almost too much to summarize in such a news post. Here it goes..

Corona & scams

First, the bad news. The ongoing Corona pandemic has now had its effects on almost everyone and everything. We went through significant delays with respect to purchasing parts, but they seem over (!). Yes! For now.. For our own work force, here in The Netherlands, we’ve decided to send everybody home who’s even feeling mild symptoms, and to work extra hygienically. All design and administrative work is to be done from home, preferably. We expect to keep shipping at a moderate rate for the coming month at least. We’re reducing the estimated lead time on GR-1 units from 4 weeks to a conservative 2 weeks.

Scammers had advertized the GR-1 for a whopping 28 USD, lol. Thanks to our efforts, and that of our users, these guys have now given up. Once again, you can only buy the GR-1 from us, PCA, KMR and Schneiders. No one else!

ECR-1 Convolver

Ok, only positive stuff from here on!

The ECR-1 Convolver module is in production now. Our beta testers have reported back. We’ve fixed the problems they encountered and made the controls even more responsive than they were, adjusted audio input levels and added a few more “Shift” functions like previewing the processed sample including envelope and pitch bend, and fast forwarding when turning the encoder. Expect to see it in the webshop early April, priced 499 EUR including VAT.

GR-1 Firmware 2.2, new video, and sound packs

The GR-1 has just received a major update last week. Firmware 2.2 adds new tape mode that allows you to do vinyl scratching. It has new modes of cloud generation (more “punch” when triggering notes), and it has proper multi-timbral MIDI support, and much much more.

It’s the biggest update in over a year, and this version has been tested to destruction and back for the best possible user experience. Check the release notes, it’s quite the list: RELEASE_FW_2.2.0.txt. We’ve also done a bit of work on the GR-1 manual and added mini tutorials on how to easily modify and save performances and patches: User-manual-GR-1-v2.2.0.pdf.

We believe this firmware turns the GR-1 into more than the machine we always wanted it to be. We thank everyone for their patience and suggestions, and of course the beta testers!

The new famous Youtube synth reviewer Loopop has also done a new video on the GR-1 as well. This shows some of the 2.2 features too.

Loopop gives a solid hands-on overview of the GR-1 basics, but for GR-1 users that want to know know how to get the most of our machine’s functions, check out the latest sound packs here (firmware v2.2 required):

SpringPack2020.zip : Spring 2020 sound pack, from our in-house sound designer, including creative sample work, granular glide, and slightly detuned LFO modulations

OneCell-2.zip : Sound pack from user Sef Spee, including creative use of scan mode and LFO quantization

In the last months there have been a couple more sound pack uploads too. You can always have a upload to and download from our patch sharing page: gr-1-downloads/ , near the end of the page.