Modal Electronics Argon 8

ManualsBrandsModal ManualsKeysWavetable synthesiser

FM VERDICT

9.0

A very versatile sound

engine, which covers lots

of territory – from warm

analogue to cold industrial.

Another great British synth!

KEYBED: 37-note, three-octave

Fatar TP9 keybed with velocity and

aftertouch. Feels great and keeps the

synth compact yet playable

SCREEN: Use the clear OLED screen

and clickable encoders to view/edit

parameters and see graphic displays

of the waves being mangled

I/O : Analogue clock sync, MIDI DIN

in/out, stereo audio outs, phones,

sustain/expression inputs, 3.5mm

stereo input (with effects routing)

FILTER/OSCS: Onboard are 120

wavetables with up to 32 oscillators

with eight voices. Filter is a 2-pole

multimode with morphing

are some compromises in terms of

interface – for example a shared set

of envelope controls between ﬁ lter,

amp and mod EG – but this works

ﬁ ne in practice.

Also I did ﬁ nd the envelope times

generally a little short and would like

a longer available attack in

particular. Importantly though, all

the main sections you want tactile

control over are easily accessible and

these sections include effects,

envelopes, ﬁ lter, mod routes and of

course I need to highlight the

Argon’s joystick too, which is a very

high-quality metal four-axis affair

used for controlling modulation

(setup in the mod matrix and via the

buttons under the joystick) or for

simply doing smooth and expressive

pitchbending. A joystick is a great

choice for a synth like this that

excels at evolving soundscapes.

Argon-ought you buy it?

Talking of sonics, this little beast

sounds ace! It can sound surprisingly

smooth (and quite mellow), or, in

contrast, nicely textured (especially

when employing the onboard

distortion and many ﬁ lter types). Or

it can sound complex, gnarly,

upfront, distant, wide or narrow and

more besides. It’s deﬁ nitely one of

those synths that feels like you could

explore it for many years but still be

discovering new nooks and crannies

and that’s a mark of a great synth in

my book!

There’s a plethora of options to

stimulate or destroy the high res

wavetable oscillators and you can

really obsess about details in the

sound (if so inclined) and take a

meticulous approach to

programming. Alternatively you can

just use it like a standard synth for

bread-and-butter pads, basses

polysounds and leads. It’s deﬁ nitely

versatile but does have a learning

curve due to the complexity and

shared controls. However, there are a

good number of shortcuts that can

really help too (detailed in the

included documentation). One other

small criticism is that the effects

onboard (reverb, phaser, ﬂ anger,

rotary, delay reverb and more) can

zap a little of the power of the synth

away at times. When you turn the dry

wet mix, sounds appear to lose a bit

of punch/upfrontness, so you have to

go carefully with the wet/dry balance

control to make sure things stay on

point (the reverb could be a little

denser too). Having said this, the

effects themselves still sound very

decent (and are modulatable too)

and when used sparingly, they

complement the synth’s core tone

well. Also, I’m happy to report, there

were no crashes.

Finally, the mod matrix is nicely

comprehensive too and it’s very easy

to assign a source to a destination.

There are eight assignable

modulation slots, four additional

ﬁ xed modulation routings for

common assignments, 11

modulation sources and 52

modulation destinations – enough to

keep you busy for a good while then!

I’d also better not forget the two

LFOs, nor the deep, programmable

arpeggiator and polyphonic

sequencer. You can hopefully see

that whilst this machine may be

small, its capabilities are very

impressive. If you do get to try an

Argon 8 out before you buy

(advisable with any new synth

purchase) then be sure to take your

time over it, as there is a lot to

explore and it certainly put a smile

on my face!

KEYBED

37-note, three-octave