Erica Synths has announced that its Sample Drum and Plasma Drive are now shipping and available for order.

Sample Drum is 14HP eurorack sample player/sampler module with straight-forward, intuitive interface, functionality and great sound quality, designed with live performance use in mind.

Erica Synths Sample Drum

Live Performance-Minded: Sample Drum

The Sample Drum module is composed of two identical parts and allows you to play back, record and slice up samples or loops directly in your modular system. For processing, there are different play modes, tuning functions (including 1 V/Oct pitch tracking), virtual VCAs plus AD envelopes and realtime effects.

Three freely assignable CV inputs per channel guarantee a lot of personal expression during performance. 16bit mono WAV samples are loaded into RAM (32MB / ~ 5 minutes of sampling time) from SD card (16 GB SD card with factory preset samples comes with the module) for instantaneous playback response. All settings can be saved and recalled during live performance.

Sample Drum features

  • Sample playback with fast trigger response.
  • Various effects for real times ample processing.
  • Sample recording functionality.
  • Manual and automatic sample slicing.
  • Cue point loading from WAV files.
  • 1V/Oct tracking.
  • 3 assignable CV inputs per channel.
  • Preset memory.
  • User-friendly interface.
  • Performance mode.
  • 16 GB SD card with factory preset samples included.

Plasma Drive is the result of Erica Synths recent collaboration with Gamechanger Audio, another Latvia-based manufacturer that has captured the hearts and minds of music creators.

Erica Synths GCA Plasma Drive

Achieve ‘Heavy Sounds’ with Plasma Drive

Similar to Gamechanger Audio’s Plasma Pedal, Erica Synths’ Plasma Drive provides you with a new and previously unexplored method of achieving signal clipping in 16HP. Instead of using LED circuits, transistors or vacuum tubes to produce overdrive, the Plasma Drive boosts audio signal to 3000V and transforms it into a series of continuous high-voltage discharges in a xenon-filled tube. In essence – you are playing a lightning bolt of electricity, and the electrical discharges produced by your instrument are instantly converted back into an analogue audio signal — producing a quick, responsive, and extremely heavy distortion with tons of unique character.

The eurorack module Plasma Drive brings sounds of the Plasma Pedal to the next level. As per eurorack standards, Erica Synths has added CV control over distortion level and dry/wet mix, as well as octave up and 1 and 2 octaves down tracking oscillators that add even more harmonics to the original signal. Tracking oscillators can be switched on/off manually or via trigger signals. The Plasma Drive module is powered via conventional eurorack PSU ribbon cable and the power consumption is around 150mA.

Plasma Drive features

  • Unique distortion flavor.
  • CV control over distortion and dry/wet mix.
  • Assignable equalizer (pre- and post effect).
  • 1 octave up & 1 and 2 octaved down tracking oscillators.

Sample Drum and Plasma Drive are now available for 300 EUR and 310 EUR ex. VAT in EU + shipping, respectively.

More information: Erica Synths