Sequential Circuits Split-8

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The Split-8 makes for a very nice programmable polyphonic analog synthesizer with complete MIDI implementation. With 8 voices and 8 oscillators (Curtis 3394 SENTE chips) the Split-8 is a heavy contender against the Roland Juno-106! However programming the synth, while straight forward and intuitive, is limited to adjusting one parameter at a time assigned to one Data knob. This limits performance ability but is no problem during studio use.

The keyboard features splits and layers, all of which can be saved with patch data. Choose between 8 voice polyphony with 1 oscillator per voice, 4 voice polyphony with dual oscillators per voice, 2 voice polyphony with a mega 4 oscillators per voice, or the unison mode which is just a fat 8-voice solo mode for trance bass and lead heaven! Similar to the Juno-106, the Split-8 uses a Chorus effect to liven up the sounds. Sonically the Split-8 sounds much 'thinner' than a Roland Juno-106, however this 'thin' sound is characteristic of Sequential and is quite nice. The wooden side panels definitely give the Split-8 that vintage flare!

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Demos & Media

Pacific Northwest Synth 2009 - Carbon111 Part 2
by
matrixsynth

Specifications

Polyphony - 8 voices
Oscillators - 8: 1 per voice (sawtooth, triangle and square)
LFO - 1: programmable rate (0.25 - 20 Hz), depth, triangle, square waveforms; route to VCO, VCF, or pwm
Filter - 24dB/octave 4-pole lowpass resonant filter; cutoff, kybd, ADSR env
VCA - 2 ADSR Envelope gens
Keyboard - 61 keys (no velocity or aftertouch)
Memory - 64 patches, 64 performances
Control - MIDI IN/OUT (2-parts), SysEx dumping
Date Produced - 1985

Resources

Images from Synth Site.