The Beauty of Firsts

There's something evocative and mysterious about firsts. Normal people will immediately recall their first pet, first crush or their first kiss. That's not us. For us, that warm ethereal feeling comes from our first synth, the Minimoog. There's something timeless about a Minimoog. Part of it is its place in history, being the first affordable and accessible analog synthesizer. Part of it is a sonic fingerprint that resonates through over 40 years of live and recorded music. Regardless of the criteria we can only summarize by saying this instrument has made a permanent impression on us, and we're not alone.

A Prolific Past

The Minimoog was made available to the public in 1971 and continued to be produced with very little change over the next 10 years. Considered the most popular synth ever by some there's no doubt the instrument has led a prolific life, leaving a massive wake in its path - changing perceptions and influencing synthesizer design to this day. The Minimoog has a near-perfect balance of simplicity and sonic beauty. Even without a synthesizer background you can approach it and within a very short time understand and control it. This factor surely contributed to its success and makes it a superb tool for teaching the basics of subtractive synthesis.

There's No Quitting You

As firsts often do, the Minimoog taught us a great deal. It cultured in us a sensitivity to intuitive design and the importance of great sound regardless of form. In fact we've been speaking about it from a project perspective since we began. We knew that if we were going to do it, it would not only have to sound great but it would need to elicit that same balance of immediate simplicity and sonic reward - a deceptively complex task. As time progressed our vision crystallized; the design was ambitious but it was clear to all of us that this was a project we had to do.

Heart of a Hybrid Monster

One of our specialties is making hybrid instruments. With a hybrid instrument we get the best of both worlds. High fidelity sample-based waveforms, produced by real circuits in real machines, give the instrument a pure sound from the start. Then accurately modeled filters and effects are used on the backend to shape and control the sound, spending precious CPU cycles only where they're needed. For this approach to work you need to build an amazing library of sounds and marry them to a truly advanced DSP engine. This is exactly what we've done for UltraMini thanks to hundreds of man-hours of tedious multisampling and the award-winning UVI Engine™.

Beyond Mini

Oscillators are only half the story - what about the filters?

Don't worry, we've got you covered. We've included not one, but two of our aggressive analog-modeled Xpander filters in UltraMini, giving you unprecedented control and a sound so sweet you'll swear it's analog.

Additional features include amplitude and filter key follow, unrestricted polyphony, mono retrigger, per-oscillator amplitude, stereo, color and drive control, a built in bit crusher, phaser, delay, limiter and our advanced algorithmic reverb - SparkVerb, built-in phraser and arpeggiator assignable per-oscillator, step and LFO modulations and a huge library of expertly crafted presets to explore.

UltraMini has been designed to give you a rich, authentic sound and an immediate experience. An elegant GUI presents controls in an easy-to-understand layout, grouped for efficient and intuitive operation eliciting the feel of a real Minimoog.

Whether you're an analog aficionado or just looking to add a sonic giant to your studio, UltraMini won't disappoint. A preset-packed, tweaker friendly ode to the arbiter of analog - available now at an incredible value.

Summary