Gamechanger Audio Motor Synth Mk2 Review

Long-Term Review

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Gamechanger Audio’s Motor Synth Mk2 is a refreshing and innovative approach to synthesis with a truly distinct character that you won’t find in any other synth on the market. We subjected it to a long-term FutureMusic review to provide you with an objective and well-rounded evaluation utilizing five different testers — their impressions in quotes below.

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When it first debuted at $3299, it wasn’t the easiest sell for the market, despite its original sound, incredible feature set and Italian sports car build quality. However, when the Gamechanger’s dropped the price to $1999, we knew it was a good time to revisit this electro-mechanical desktop synthesizer, answer your nagging questions and showcase what makes the Motor Synth Mk2 a true original.

Its gritty, a tad sloppy, and “downright angry.”

Let’s get this out of the way immediately so you don’t waste any of your valuable time reading further. This is not a super clean, perfectly tuned synth with pristine waveforms. Look at Polyend’s Synth or Meris Enzo X for recent examples (both of which are going through long-term reviews. —Ed.). Its gritty, a tad sloppy, and “downright angry.” Perfectly suited for Industrial, Techno, Punk, Video Game Soundtracks, and other esoteric genres that don’t necessarily play nice with others. It’s also a “phenomenal live performer,” according to one of our reviewers who produces Industrial.

Eight drone engines are what fuel the Motor Synth’s overall sound, but while you can hear frequency changes when the RPM vary, the motors are not what create the actual sound of the unit. Each motor has a unique pattern etched onto the bottom of each unit to denote square, sine and a descending ramp saw, and an infrared beam is projected onto the motor’s pattern. The beam’s reflection is then read by a sensor to determine the pitch while an electro-magnetic sensor on each motor to employed for additional wave shaping duties. Got that? We didn’t think so. But don’t feel bad. The whole enterprise is absolutely mind boggling to be honest – but that’s the point. One last thing to note, the patterns on the top side of the motors that you can view through the window are purely for aesthetic reasons, but you can see how they actually drift and sway, providing the Motor Synth with its unique personality.

Still having reservations? Gamechanger Audio has got your back, “We offer a Five-Year Warranty and Lifetime Service for the Motor Synth.”

All right, so we got that burning question out of the way, next up: “I heard it’s loud and runs hot, is that true?” Yes. It’s probably the loudest synth on the market in terms of operating noise. But this shouldn’t be a surprise, it’s got eight whirling motors and a robust fan to keep them cool. Here’s how one of our reviewers put it, “I knew it was going to generate some noise, but I didn’t expect it to sound like a group of landscapers coming into the studio with leaf blowers.” Clearly, a little exaggerated for comic relief, but you get the picture. That said, Gamechanger Audio was aware of this and implemented a Sleep feature that shuts the motors down, while the synth is not in use.

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Motion Record

Now that those pressing questions are out of the way, let’s get into the what makes the Motor Synth II so cool and why you should consider it now that the price is much more accessible. We won’t bore you with all the grinding details, since the synth has been out for some time, but we want to highlight some of the standout features and the Mk2 enhancements.

What you should be immediately aware of is that the feature set on the Motor Synth Mk2 is deeeeeeep. The Gamechangers weren’t simply satisfied in creating a synth that runs on motors, it has some awesome features that really take the whole enterprise to the next level. Let’s take a look at the sequencer. The eight, illuminated push-buttons on the unit are employed as you would expect for sequencing, but you can add rachets, repeats and probability parameters to each step. But the best part is Motion Record, allowing you to record your knob movements directly to your sequence. Once recorded, you can then further modulate your motions by changing their direction and speed.

Gamechanger Audio’s mission is to bring musicians products that are “magnificently different.”

The modulation section is also pretty impressive, but hampered to a degree by significant menu diving. There are six LFOs available, three assignable to each voice, providing movement options. MkI had two voices and four-note polyphony from the eight motors, but the Gamechangers added a DCO with four digital oscillators and four-note-polyphony for further sound enhancement in the Mk2 version. Each digital oscillator contains six waveform options with wave-folding and PWM. Furthermore, there are amp, envelope, independent pitch and filtering controls available. Even more interesting is that the digital oscillator can be injected at different points along the motor synths signal path for further sound manipulation.

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Gamechanger Audio Motor Synth Mk2 Features:

• Eight electromotor oscillator system with custom-built brushless DC drone motors
• Two fully independent “Motor Voices” with Separate Amp Envelope, Pitch Envelope and Analog multi-mode Filters
• Additional third Digitally Controlled Oscillator (DCO) with adjustable four note polyphony
• Modulation section with assignable mod destinations:
• Two destination slots each (A, B) assignable to any parameter
• Mod Shape selector and detailed editing menu with extensive wave-shaping options for each LFO
• Independently adjustable clock sources and subdivisions per modulator
• Additional Cross Mod and Drift/Detune master effects with accessible front panel knobs
• Multi-mode modulation envelopes
• Built-in performance interface with ARP, Sequencer and Motion Recording (see below)
• Awesome Clutch Feature
• Accelerate and Braking Motor control for “slip ‘n’ slide’ glides
• Input Signal Processing: Vocoder, Gate, Sidechaining
• Four filter modes: 24 dB Low Pass, 12 dB Band Pass, 12 dB Hi Pass, 24 dB All Pass
• Self-oscillating Resonance
• One knob multi-mode analog filter envelopes (ADSR, AD, AR, DADSR, ADSHR) with adjustable curves
• Arpeggiator – Assignable ARP engine with Note Repeat, Pattern repeat, Pattern Shift and Accent functionality
• Sequencer – Internal note Sequencer with savable patterns, pattern chaining, ratcheting, micro-timing, probability and step-repeat functionality
• Motion Record – Motion Record with eight editable lanes (playback speed, direction, duration, quantization)
• MIDI I/O connectors for sending and receiving Note and Clock info
• Multiple mod wheel and channel pressure slots assignable to any parameter with depth control
• Three assignable CV inputs (3.5 mm)
• Three assignable Trigger Inputs (3.5 mm)
• USB for MIDI in/out and for file transfer to Micro SD card
• Single TRS 1/4″ Output Jack with adjustable Split Voice Routing (can be used as Mono Out)
• Two Separate Send/Return loops jacks (3.5 mm TRS) for each MOTOR voice (pre-VCF, post-VCA)
• Headphone output
• Single Mono 1/4″ Input Jack for Input Signal processing

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The Accelerate and Brake functions are unique to the Motor Synth. Accelerate and Brake act on the pitch envelope to dictate the speed you want to travel from one note to another in Target mode. It provides more control than the traditional Glide functionality and injects the Motor Synth with a very special flavor. The other feature that all our reviewers loved is Clutch. In a nutshell, when Clutch is engaged, any modifications you make on the unit will be muted until you release the button. “Totally awesome for performance,” Clutch is particularly effective when tweaking the modulation attributes and filter. We can see other manufacturers adopting this for their synths since it’s “amazing for sudden energy shifts, drops and transitions.”

So does all this mechanical wizardry, aesthetic deliciousness, and phenomenal build-quality deliver on the sound front? That’s essentially the question we posed to all the evaluators who each emphasized that the Motor Synth Mk2 “is certainly not for everyone.” It’s a “wild ride down a sonic rollercoaster” and “genius in its concept and execution,” but acoustically “the sound is very particular.” Gamechanger made a great decision to add the DCO to [the Mk2 version]” it provides a complementary palette of cleaner, more conventional waveforms” that “almost ground the whirling and withering mechanical sounds.” It also can make the Motor Synth sound “less angry” and “ornery.” But the reality is that “gritty” and “irritated” is what the Motor Synth Mk2 “does best.”

The tones have a “throaty growl” or “can achieve piercing, screeching harmonics with metallic edge” like “a table saw about to lose its circular blade.” Lower notes have a more “saturated tone” that yields “raw bass lines rich in harmonic complexity.” Yet, the sound “always has an electric and mechanical quality,” that “makes no attempt to disguise the fact that this is a machine with a mind of its own.”

It’s not a synthesizer in the traditional sense, nor is it an acoustic instrument, nor is it a “damaged turbine,” it’s somewhere between, and “its sound is both captivating and unnerving in equal measure.”

“I just love how [the Motor Synth mk2] reacts when changing octaves,” cited our Industrial producer. “It can cough and hiccup” giving it an “organic unpredictability and charm” that “speaks to me.” “I know this is going to sound weird, but it almost feels like [the Motor Synth mk2] is the result of what AI would put together if you just dumped various drone and synthesizer parts in a pile and asked it to make a musical instrument. It almost feels like it’s learning new things and making new discoveries the more ‘experience’ and knowledge it acquires.”

Ultimately, the charisma of the Motor Synth Mk2 lies in how it captures a particular feeling of tension and release. The mechanical nature of the sound resists any sort of conventional classification. It’s not a synthesizer in the traditional sense, nor is it an acoustic instrument, nor is it a “damaged turbine,” it’s somewhere between, and “its sound is both captivating and unnerving in equal measure.” It demands attention, pulling you into “a world of strange, haunting frequencies and palpable, robotic vibrations” that push the limits of what you expect from an electronic instrument.

Conclusion

We absolutely have to salute what Didzis and his team at Gamechanger has done to bring the Motor Synth to market and continue to support its development. The thinking that went into the Motor Synth showcases Gamechanger’s mission to bring musicians products that are “magnificently different.” They’re not releasing, yet another, mediocre and compromised “boutique” synth, working back from a predetermined price point, they’re actively pushing the envelope.

The inherent mechanical noise of the motors themselves, while not part of the direct audio output, is an unavoidable component of the Motor Synth’s overall sonic presence in your studio, contributing to its unique, if sometimes challenging, auditory experience. This is not something you’ll have to contend with if you use it on stage, but I can be a tad overwhelming and it needs mentioning. Overall, the Motor Synth is the pinnacle of what can be achieved when brilliant individuals level up and give the world a product that is in a class by itself. For the right musician, the Motor Synth will change their world. Recommended.

Gamechanger Audio Motor Synth Mk2 Review Rating 88%

The Future: For Mk3, we hope that Gamechanger will make the decision to add effects to the Motor Synth. Even though the unit has a welcomed Send/Return loop for incorporating effects, the unit is basically begging for robust distortion, not that Reverb and Delay should be neglected, but if they can certainly leverage the technical knowledge in their Mod Series and Plasma pedals to provide that wizardry…just wow.