Protein

Protein is a small polyphonic wavetable synth whose oscillators are based on the ASIC chips of the original Microwave 1. Around them sit features taken from the Iridium line: an arpeggiator, a step sequencer, a chord mode and a set of effects including reverb, delay and modulation.

The eight voices can be split into up to four layers. Layers can be stacked, played in round robin modes, or assigned to separate MIDI channels for multitimbral use. A Load Layer function lets a player build new sounds by combining layers from any stored preset. The synth ships with over 150 factory presets and has memory for up to 250.

Sound shaping covers wavetable movement driven by envelope and velocity modulation, a filter with cutoff tracking, resonance, dirt and envelope amount, and a flexible modulation system with multiple sources and targets. Pitch options include scales, chords and glide. The housing measures 252 × 170 × 48 mm and weighs 0.9 kg, so it is easy to carry.