The amount of innovation coming from Latvia-based Erica Synths is nothing short of stunning. Their latest release, a four-voice, digital drum machine, is pure Erica, familiar, yet completely different. We subjected the Erica Synths Perkons HD-01 drum machine to a long-term test with three different evaluators, their impressions in quotes below.
According to Erica Synths, the Perkons is named after the God Of Thunder, a medieval deity that emerged from the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. Dramatic for sure, but a name that you’ll definitely remember. Each of the Perkons four voices contains a digital sound engine with an analog multimode filter and overdrive. Each voice contains three Algorithms and three Modes, accessed by two, 3-way switches, that dramatically changes how each of the four voices sound. Now you may balk that the Perkons only has four voices, but Erica creatively employs modulation and automation to those four voices to make them sound like much, much more. We’ll delve into this innovative approach in a moment.
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The “best knobs in the business”
The build quality of the Perkons HD-01 is first class all the way with a robust chassis, wood panels and “the best knobs in the business.” The off-green color screams Soviet-era cryptography machines, but it makes everything “very readable, even in dark environments.” The slightly recessed buttons are “delightfully retro” and toggle positively for definitive feel. Four 909-style trigger keys round out the interface.
Delightfully Retro
The Perkons HD-01 is a mono-only machine. Meaning all four voices are summed at the output in a mono signal. It’s a curious design decision, especially at this price point. “I was quite shocked that the Perkons was mono,” commented one reviewer, “a simple pan pot on each channel and a stereo output wouldn’t appear to be a difficult addition to the Perkons’ architecture, but maybe we’ll have to wait for the HD-02.” However, one only has to take a look at how Erica structured the Perkons’ I/O to figure out why this choice was made. Each voice on the Perkons has a Mono Output, a Trigger Input and a Send and Return. Erica Synths thought that the Perkons would most likely be utilized by musicians with a mixer where each voice would have it’s own dedicated EQ and panning options. Furthermore, with an individual Send/Return on each channel, effects processors or guitar pedals could be employed to greatly expand each voice of the Perkons. The Trigger inputs allows drum pads or the outputs of other drum machines to ignite the voices for even more possibilities.
Other I/O options include Clock In/Out (with configurable PPQ), MIDI I/O via DIN connectors, Headphones Out, Master Mono Output, a Send/Return on the Master Buss and an SD Card slot for updating the firmware and saving your own Kits and Patterns. The Perkons includes a built-in Bucket Brigade Device Delay with Time, Feedback, LFO Rate and Mod Depth controls. If a processor is not connected to a channel via the Send/Return, the FX Send will direct the voice to the BBD. Our reviewers felt the BBD was able to “add nice textures” and “road rash” and but “it’s best to use on one voice at a time.”
Individual I/O of each Voice
The Perkons Master I/O – Headphones, Mono Output & Send/Return
Using the Decay knob can make things even more expansive and why the Perkons can be used for drone and ambient compositions. Dialing the Decay all the way to its max creates infinite sustain, allowing ambient artists to then use the Send/Return to bring in their favorite processors. One of our evaluators found the Hologram Microcosm and the Meris LVX, which we recently reviewed, to work “incredibly well” with the Perkons. Where things get even more exciting using the Perkons in this manner is the sequencer’s ability to record modulations. Any knob tweak or filter sweep can be recorded into the sequencer, creating evolving and pulsating swells over time.
But this doesn’t just apply to just drone scapes. Modulating the cutoff of the hi-hats adds rhythmic variation and feel to your sequence. In fact, you can add these types of built-in variations to any voice using any knob, flexing the sonic palette. And this is how the Perkons can punch way above its weight with only four voices. But there’s more.
Close up of the Perkons sequencer buttons
The Erica Synths Perkons HD-01 drum machine can punch way above its weight with only four voices…
The Perkons has a built-in LFO Modulation section that can be applied to the Tune, Decay, Filter, Drive, FX, Level and both Parameters of every voice. This means you can change the pitch of a voice over the sequence to get many different drum sounds, create sweeps, increase/decrease the sustain and tweak an algorithm’s parameters.
The potential here is “incredibly vast.” Under the big Modulation Rate knob is a smaller Wave knob and a Modulation Level knob. The Wave selects between Sine, Ramp, Triangle, Pulse, Double Decay Saw, Saw and Random. The Modulation Level applies how much affect the LFO has on the modulated elements globally. “It’s more of an intensity setting than Level, since each element can have its own individual amount of modulation baked in.”
The Sequencer section appears basic, but “has all the goodies you could possibly want for sequencing” the Voices. Sequences can move Forward, Backwards, Ping-Pong (back and forth) or Random. You can record your steps in realtime using the 909-style key pads on the right, or simply select one of the steps on the grid. Erica includes per step Accents and Rachets with x2 – x3 – x4 – x5 repeats available, but also incorporates Odds and Probabilities. Odds lets you program how many times a voice will be triggered by a step. For example, selecting 1/2 Odds means that a sound will be triggered once every two sequence cycles. Probabilities is different. Instead of a systematic cycle rate, Probabilities allows you to dial in a statistical percentage of a voice being triggered: 10%, 25% 50% and 90%. The idea is to add a human feel to certain voices. Our Ambient musician found it was effective to add unpredictability to certain repeating soundscapes, while our more Techno-oriented evaluator found it worked well on the downbeats of high-hats. Finally, the Sequencer features a Groove or Swing attribute that provides four different volume-based vibes. It can be applied to all four sequences, or to individual tracks. Groove was the one element that all three of our reviewers felt could have been better thought out with more variety and attributes. Finally, each one of the four sequencer tracks can be Divided or Multiplied to achieve different time signatures and notation.
All your Kits and Patterns can be saved and recalled. The Kits are the complete settings of your four voices and the Patterns are your sequences. Every single attribute that you design is saved and recalled, included all automations, Rachets, Grooves, and so on. You can recall both Patterns and Kits while a sequence is playing, but doing so will not start the new pattern on the “one.” It gets triggered the moment you select it. This isn’t so much of an issue when switching Kits, but with Patterns it can be problematic since the timing will instantly get wonky. We’d love to see Erica Synth modify this in a future firmware update. (The same goes when you change the Divide and Multiply settings on the fly —Ed.).
While the Perkons HD-01 is not hard to use, it does take some getting used to in terms of workflow.
While the Perkons HD-01 is not hard to use, it does take some getting used to in terms of workflow. There are a lot of submenus and multi-button presses to achieve certain tasks. Considering the amount of money buyers will spend on a Perkons, most musicians will have no problem investing the necessary time to make the workflow second nature. However, if you’re the type of user that gets easily frustrated and doesn’t have the patience to get it right, the Perkons may not be for you.
Erica Synths Perkons HD-01 Specifications:
- Four voices (digital sound engine and analog multimode filter with overdrive)
- Three Algorithms per voice
- Three Modes per voice
- Two Parameters per voice
- External trigger inputs
- Individual voice outputs
- Individual FX sends and returns
- Master FX send and return
- 64 kit and 64 pattern memory, pluse additional storage on the SD card
- Built-in BBD
- Built-in compressor
- Modulation LFO with morphing waveforms
- Up to eight modulation destinations per voice
- Four track sequencer
- Four time divisions and four time multiplications per track
- Per-step ratchets, odds and probabilities
- Shuffle and groove settings for each track
- MIDI I/O
- Dimensions: 315mm x 454mm x 90mm (including knob height)
- Weight: 3.7 kg
For versatility, sound design and quality of results, the Perkons HD-01 is hard to beat. “It’s simply astonishing how many different sounds you can get out of a single Voice.” Therefore, our reviewers who were initially put off by the lack of Voices didn’t cite that as an issue as they spent more and more time with the Perkons. All evaluators enjoyed their time with the Perkons and found the sound quality to be excellent. From “big and meaty” kicks, to “sizzling and bouncy” hi-hats to “spaced out alien force fields,” the Perkons delivered over and over. Even better, our reviewers found the Perkons to be a joy to use. “I have a lot of drum machines in my studio and the Perkons is, by far, the most fun…it’s not even close.”
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Conclusion
The Perkons HD-01 is for musicians who are looking to create their own unique rhythmic identity. Instead of just dialing up another X0X sound, the Perkons allows you to add a truly unique and identifiable drum sound for your compositions. Whether you create banging Techno or Ambient soundscapes, we can’t think of a better percussive partner than the Perkons HD-01. In fact, the Perkons has won our Gear Of The Year Award 2022 in the Drum Machine category. Highly recommended.
Erica Synths Pērkons HD-01 Rating: 92%
Cheers:
+ Sound Quality
+ Innovative
+ Enormous Fun
+ Send/Return On Each Channel
+ Complex, Yet Simple
+ Automation and Modulation
+ Flexible and Versatile
+ Sonic Variety
Jeers:
– Mono only
– Expensive
The Perkons HD-01 by Erica Synths retails for €1700 and is available now.
The Future: We’d love for Erica to go from Mono to Stereo in the next version of the Perkons. We’d also like to see any changes to Multiply, Divide, Kit, Pattern, etc. while the sequencer is running to start on the “one” instead of instantaneously.
