The Erebus’s rear panel features a socket for the external 12V power supply, quarter–inch input and output sockets, and MIDI In and Thru sockets. Unusually, each has a separate glide amount, but there’s a single mix control to balance the levels. Both have slightly different ranges, the first offering 8’, 16’ and 32’, the second pitched an octave higher. Lovers of long, lazy filter sweeps are going to relish the Erebus.īoth VCOs sport sawtooth waveforms, with the first given an optional square, the second a triangle. The LFO has two waveforms (triangle and square) and a range from 0.009Hz up to 30Hz. If the rate knob is much below the 12 o’clock position this could take a while because, at its slowest, a complete cycle runs to almost two minutes. Lacking a power or MIDI status indicator, the only way you’ll know the adaptor isn’t a dud is by observing the red LED that marks the slow–cycling, free–running LFO. Plug in, and there might be no indication you’ve done it. There’s no level control but I found the line-level output of a string synth and a drum machine worked fabulously. It’s adjacent to a similar socket that serves as an input for any audio you care to pass through the Erebus’s filter and echo unit. The audio output is a firmly attached quarter–inch jack. Incoming MIDI notes are accepted over a five-octave range but velocity is ignored. It’s odd, but at least there is a choice. The available channels are: 2–7 or all (omni mode). You probably won’t change channels regularly, as doing so involves unscrewing the four rubber feet and removing the base plate in order to reach three internal DIP switches. Having temporarily misplaced the manual, I was stumped how to do this until I downloaded another copy and discovered that a screwdriver is needed. One operational quirk I experienced right away involves accessing and changing the MIDI channel. Joining the rear–set MIDI In is a MIDI Thru, which wasn’t functional on the review unit.

That way you can make use of the mod-wheel output on the patch panel. Overall, the knob and switch count is generous, and when you factor in a CV patchbay positioned so it doesn’t obstruct regular knobbing, the Erebus begins to look and feel like a potent little synth.Īlthough it’s possible to run exclusively from the CV (1V/Oct) and Gate inputs, the Erebus is probably best operated by MIDI. (Typically you’d do this when processing external audio.) It’s a peculiarity, but hardly fatal.

In order to cut out both VCOs, both waveform switches need to be off. Instead, you are treated to the output of the other oscillator, regardless of the position of the Mix knob. These switches have a middle ‘off’ setting - but when you choose it, you don’t get silence. On the panel are a number of three–way switches, and the behaviour of those responsible for oscillator waveform selection deserves a mention. The largest knobs are reserved for tuning the two VCOs, adjusting the filter cutoff and setting the output level. However, I’ll take that response over ‘light and easily disturbed’ any day.

Several of the smaller variety are quite weighty - so much so that it was hard to move them quickly at first. Only a few are packed too close for comfort. It measures a substantial 225 x 160 x 55 mm, is edged in wood and populated with classic–style knobs of high quality and mixed size. The low–cost analogue market has never been more alive - so are these attributes enough to separate this attractive desktop synth from its rivals? Green Boxīefore me sits a rugged metal box painted in grey and a shade of green that suggests fluorescence (which, sadly, is not the case). Add to this a built–in MIDI-to-CV converter, distinctive filter, echo unit and patchbay, and you can dismiss any fears of Greeks bearing gifts. The Erebus has what I later perceived to be a carefully chosen blend of features, not least that it’s probably the most affordable duophonic analogue synth around. Dreadbox began by making boutique pedals, only branching into synths in 2013 with the Murmux Pedalsynth, a fat bass machine for players with nimble feet. Unlike Greece’s primordial god of darkness, after which it is named, Dreadbox’s Erebus synthesizer is not born of Chaos but of a chap called John in Athens. The Dreadbox Erebus is an unusual small–format synth with an inviting price tag.

Erebus v3