Modal Electronics have released a major firmware update, ARGON8 Firmware v3. The most comprehensive update since ARGON's release three years ago (reviewed in SOS June 2020), v3 redefines the sound and functionality of the ARGON-Series of advanced wavetable synthesizers and adds a raft of new features including filters, effects and arpeggiator functions.
The brand-new Vintage parameter is designed to model the technical imperfections of vintage gear by altering the wavetable textures, making subtle shifts in tuning and other variations. Oscillator Free Run is another new feature known from analogue synthesis that helps to further model the characteristic sounds of classic gear.
Firmware v3 adds four new filter types, including a 4-Pole Ladder Filter, a 1-Pole Ladder Hybrid, a resonant Phaser Ladder Filter and a new 2-Pole Sallen-Key Filter. All new filters come with Pre-Filter drive and precise sweeping. The Ladder filter unlocks even more classic synth tones as well as expanding ARGON’s experimental capabilities. The Sallen-Key filter brings a whole new level and character to gnarly, driven sounds, especially when paired with the Drive FX.
There are 15 new powerful effects included in ARGON8 Firmware v3. Comprising a versatile Reverb v2, vintage-inspired Chorus v2, Phaser v2, Compressor, Three-Band EQ, Unisoniser, Utility and additional Drive effects. Additionally the programmable arpeggiator receives new Arp Directions. There are also 100 new factory presets included to showcase the Firmware v3 in action.
Availability
Firmware v3 is available as a free update via Model Electronics’ own MODALapp software.
