Modular Transformation Machine.
Expand the sound of your modular rack with incredibly lush, ethereal reverbs. Enhance signals with gorgeous chorus, flanging, and modulated delays. Create uniquely expressive synth voices with Karplus-Strong string synthesis. Turn simple mono audio signals into vast stereo soundscapes. StarLab is a single module that will completely transform your modular rack.
Singular Modular Reverb.
From perfectly voiced room ambience to vast, immersive, nearly infinite decays, StarLab offers the pinnacle of premium reverb sounds with unparalleled depth and spaciousness. Add musical intervals to the reverb signal with Shimmer, and enhance the harmonic spectrum with Glimmer, while enjoying real-time control over the size/pitch of the reverb process.
Modulation And Delay Effects.
StarLab has vastly expanded what reverb pre-delay can do by allowing you to bus the pre-delay signal to the output while making the pre-delay time a modulation target. This results in the ability to create rich choruses, sweeping flanger effects, and beautiful modulated delays, while also processing signal through the reverb.
Karplus-Strong String Synthesis.
In addition to input signal processing, StarLab is a powerful Karplus-Strong string synthesis voice module that allows freely alternating bowing and plucking as well as dynamic string damping. This results in an astoundingly expressive and lifelike instrument with a unique voice all its own, which can be enhanced and expanded by the full range of StarLab’s reverb capabilities.
Intuitive Creation Station
From patch creation to live performance, StarLab’s powerful features are easily accessible at the turn of a knob or the touch of a button. With no menus to wade through, StarLab’s interface is designed for intuitive hands-on sonic exploration, while every function and control works together to respond musically and smoothly.
Sound Design
What is StarLab?
Development for StarLab began with one goal in mind: to provide the highest quality reverb possible for modular systems, perfectly tuned for immersive electronic soundscapes with a high degree of flexibility and creative control. The seemingly simple idea of allowing the pre-delay signal to be fed directly to the module’s output led to the development of rich sounding delay, chorus, and flanger effects, all of which can be used together with or independent of the reverb. While experimenting with short delay times using feedback and filtering, we began finding very musical and expressive Karplus-Strong string synthesis sounds, and realized that StarLab could move beyond signal processing and become a truly unique voice module as well.
All this ultimately resulted in the creation of a module that is equal parts reverb, delay/modulation, and playable instrument.
One of the attractions of modular synthesis is its tendency to inspire musical creation during experimentation. These audio samples were recorded by sound designer Pete Celi at different points throughout StarLab’s development as he was inspired by various features he was working on at the time.
Verbs
A simple input demonstrates the character of Starlab’s reverbs. After the dry signal is played, we hear Diffuse, then Dense, then Sparse reverbs at the nominal size setting.
Control & Routing
Front Panel
Circuit Board
Specs
Sound Design:
Three selectable reverb types for a wide variety of ambient textures
DELAY/KARPLUS section with feedback
Delay assignable to output for mod/verb and delay/verb effects
Four-octave Karplus-Strong string synthesis mode with damping control for string/verb full voice capability
LFO section with various waveforms to modulate delay time, reverb size, or tone filters
FILTER section to sculpt the high and low EQ of the reverb and DELAY/KARPLUS section
HARMONICS section to enhance the aural spectrum of the reverb
Adjustable SHIMMER for adding pitch shifting of up to +/- 1 octave to the reverb
GLIMMER for dynamic enhancement of harmonics
Adjustable reverb core size to increase or decrease the space for reflections, allowing for pitch control of the regenerating reverb content
4-pole 24dB/octave variable resonance low pass filter
INFINITE freezes the input audio prior to the reverb tank
Independent WET and DRY level controls
Ins, Outs, and Switches:
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Stereo inputs and outputs
- Extensive CV control of parameters
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Access to four presets from the front panel
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USB jack (located on the rear) for performing firmware updates
Audio Quality:
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Analog dry path for a zero latency dry signal that is never converted to digital
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Ultra low noise, high performance 24-bit 96kHz A/D and D/A converters provide uncompromising audio quality
- Super high performance ARM DSP
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32-bit floating point processing
Dimensions & Power:
- Rack width: 28hp
- Rack depth: 41mm, 1.61”
- +12V rail: 210mA
- -12V rail: 210mA
- +5V rail: 0mA
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Designed and built in the USA
