Behringer – Odyssey Analog Synthesizer

The Odyssey’s analog circuitry has been meticulously engineered to be true to the original, using vintage-style voltage-controlled oscillator, filter, and amplifier designs that make it easy to re-create the coveted sounds of the ’70s. This painstaking attention to detail is what gives the Odyssey its prodigious sound-shaping ability, which covers everything from ultra-fat basses and searing leads to stunning otherworldly effects. The MKI filter was a 2-pole 4023 type, with an open sound and biting resonance. MKII was a 4-pole 4035 ladder filter; round, fat, and rich – great for basses. The MKIII 4075 filter was also a 4-pole design and similar in many ways to its predecessor, but smoother and silkier when you pushed the resonance. The Behringer Odyssey contains all three filter types, and they’re all available at the flick of a switch. There’s also a new Drive circuit that hits the filter harder, taking the instrument’s renowned sonic aggression to a whole new level.

The Odyssey gives you generous modulation options, including two envelope generators, an ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release) and an AR (Attack, Release). To allow for an even broader range of performance options, switches are provided for ADSR Gate/LFO Repeat, AR Gate/LFO Repeat, and Keyboard Repeat/Auto Repeat. Another feature is Sample & Hold (S/H), which allows you to modulate your pitch and filter settings using a variety of waveforms. The S/H section also includes the Output Lag slider, which generates a glide effect between voltage steps, effectively rounding off the edges of the LFO waveform.

Odyssey’s sequencer – a feature that the original Odyssey lacked – lets you easily program up to 32 note/rest steps via either Keyboard or Step mode and save them as a pattern. You can record, save, and recall up to 64 patterns that can be stored in eight banks, with each bank holding up to eight patterns. The onboard Arpeggiator offers eight patterns that you can trigger simply by playing a chord.