Black Corporation ISE-NIN 8 Voice Analogue Synthesizer

Inspired by the Roland Jupiter 8, available later this year. Preorders start next week.

Whoa, nice. And a cheeky little Kurt Vonnegut reference (Ice Nine) in the name.

very nice! only thing lacking are these knobs:



luckily we live in an age of 3d printing and they can be found online

Only 1 output, not mono I hope?

wonder what it will cost?

I think that’s the headphone output?

Looking at the front panel details (uploaded higher res pic) they’ve kept the whole lower/upper structure and stereo operation. Separate outs around the back almost surely.

Looks interesting. Won't be cheap

Probably the same as all his synths. $3,749 Built, $999 kit (3,499 for Xerxes, no kit)

2 of 3 BC synths are mono out so probably mono.

Doing the legwork for the eventual behringer clone I expect.. M

Personally I prefer injection molding. From the Age of Injection Molding...


Love the dayglo orange graphics though. Anything dayglo is instantly 80s nostalgic.

I lived a few doors down from Kurt for awhile. Never once saw him outside. I suspect he's a hermit.

I do wish they'd get rid of that tiny screen to something that does not require binoculars to read.

I’d really like one of these, but not gonna happen.

Maybe someone should make and sell some kind of magnifying device that can sit atop the screen of the Black Corps synths. It doesnt bother me with my eyes in their current state but there will come a time when it does.

I would honestly be very surprised if there was a kit version.

Yeah I think that when it comes to the poly desktop synths, the kit era for Black Corps may be firmly behind them. My default assumption is that just like the other recent stuff where everything is in a case with much less depth, compared to the first few synths that were much deeper in size, there will be no kit. An assumption that seem to have held true so far.

looking like they are trying to make a smaller screen than the elektron cycles .. this looks like it's 20mm wide max

note amazon for big magnifying glasses on stands




 or hand held options

I hate when people post stuff like this but...I hope he’s planning to make more Xerxes still. Maybe working on this is why they’ve been out of stock. Totally fair. And cool he seems confident about getting things made with all the supply chain troubles.

Agreed, my eye sight isn't compatible with screens that small. I wish they'd just use the tried and tested red LED screens like on the DSI synths and original Jupiter 8.

While we're at it, the lack on rainbow switches is a bummer too. If only they'd taken some queues from Retroaktiv with their controller.

This is the poly I would have picked for them to replicate.
However, will it put a big Jupiter-like red spot in my budget?
Or can I stay in the black?

That's the question on all of our minds...

Well, that and "when does the Youtube demo drop"

Am I alone in finding it odd that these guys use the legacy/trade dress of classic synths but make "inspired by" synths instead of recreations? I mean, as far as I can tell they're a good company that makes great gear, I just find that odd.

It is odd and does take a bit of balls. It's easier to satisfy potential buyers with a 1:1, but it doesn't equate to the same kind of prestige for the developer. I believe the kijimi is more of a Voyetra than a Kobol due to the internals. And there's a lot of talk about poor firmware and DIY support? Some unit-fatal mistakes in the Kijimi builder's manual had to be spotted by DIY'ers. They're a weird bunch.

I'm dead sick of the JP-8 tone hype, but it's a wise pick for the team. Anything that takes us closer to a JP-4...

Other way around. The DIYers spotted the unit-fatal mistakes because there is no build manual, other than what the DIYers made themselves.

Hyped!

Looks lovely, would it sound as original tho?

Anyway I'll wait for Big B clone.

Nice move! The other BC synths don't sound like the originals in many ways but they sound great nonetheless. That's what I'd expect here too.

I love the dual mode (2 patches stacked to 4 voices) in the Jupiter-8. Lack of dual mode in Xerxes was a missed opportunity, deviating from the og, and the main reason I haven't bought one yet, although I've been in the fence for a long time. So let's hope they put the dual mode in this one and somehow update that in Xerxes too.

EDIT: Duh, it says "dual mode" on the panel, so I guess it'll be there.

Hmmm...
I hope I'm wrong, but from all the pics I've seen so far, there doesn't seem to be any patch store/recall function. BC waxed lyrical about MPE etc, but didn't say anything about memories, so maybe not?

Like their other synths, the screen (in this case near the top right) is where the preset/patch stuff happens.

idk Im reading alot that the Deckards Dream cuts corners. most notably the ring mod in the expander module is global which means you cant get the characteristic AT routed ring mod on a per note basis - that is really important for the sound of the CS80. Im guessing the tremolo works the same way too. digital LFOs etc.

After acknowledging all of that, and it STILL costs $4000 but cannot replicate those important CS80 sounds. tisk tisk.