Euterpe Synthesizer Laboratories shared this short demo/preview for their Vertice Analog Filterbank.

Vertice Seconda Serie is a 4U, 19″ rack mount filterbank, hand-built by Stefano Bersanetti and Mirella Vigna. It is a totally analog machine, with through-hole audio grade components. The printed circuits boards, chassis  and wood side cheeks are made in Italy, near Euterpe’s laboratories.

Vertice can be used as a filter bank, but also has many other functions:

• Filter and equalize
• Amplify, both in the input stages and, very massively, over the final stages
• Sum up to 3 signals
• Distort
• Compress and expand (GSSL and dbx 160A style)
• Deal with percussive situations thanks to the audio drivable EG
• Easily go into feedback mode and become a weird complete synthesis system
• Manage true stereo signals, duplicate mono signals or do the two things together

Specifications:

• 3 x fully-independent fully-analog 1974 multimode Sallen-Key filter boards, with massive use of diodes. Each board equipped with Cutoff and Resonance controls and Audio and CVinput. Great sound, huge presence, very natural and intense attitude, autoscillating reso, easy screamy/go-crazy tones, easy formant-like tones. Independent LP, BP and HP available via switch selector
• 2 x Resonance ways for each filterboard. The original passive one, smooth and musical or really psychopath resonance values, which sometimes make cutoff so unstable to be impossible to tame. And the active alternative way, that reduces the dynamics inside the feedback path. They say it’s designed to “scream like a pig”.
• 3 x (1970’s Cambridge Audio) Audio Input stages, one per board. Obtain true analog summing section for 3 different signals. Very silent, 17dB gain that, on a normal line level signal, pleasantly distort at the end of the pot race
• 1 x Master Cutoff section, controllable by ext-CV and internal-EG, to drive the three independent filters Cutoff together
• 1 x transistors Distortion circuitry, to make it suffer. Really efficient with percussive signals, it can boost anything to produce no-compromises wave flatness.
• 1 x not-so-classic discrete EG design with ADSR and Level-Out controls, drivable by external audio (this feature makes compression and expansion very easy) or by a CV-gate and/or temporary gate switch. Looping Mode lets it become a strange and keyboard-playable “LFO”. Percussive, Smooth and Ultra-Slow range, Positive and Inverted out. LED for visual sync. In Percussive mode the loop can reach around 170Hz and vary its waveform from triangle to saw to square just using the ADSR controls. The EG also have a dedicated Rear Output, to let Vertice drive some external modules
• 1 x Audio Serial/Stereo Out VCA
• 1 x Audio Mono/Parallel Out VCA that allows to obtain mono, false stereo and real stereo outputs. This configuration allows you to use Vertice Filterbank as a mono unit with series slopes of 12, 24 or 28 dB/oct, as a false-stereo unit with simultaneous 12 and 24 dB/oct slopes and as true-stereo unit with slope of 12 dB/oct for each channel. The double VCA is internal-EG controllable for Staccato (via standard CV gate) and Continuo (Drone) functions. This two ports are also available in the rear patch bay, in order to simply have a more clear patching situation. But they can also be useful to double the output signals to use them for different process at the same time (like with parallel compression) or, more creatively, to re-plug the output signal into one of the Vertice’s input, creating very interesting signal feedbacks
• A and B rear outputs. The A and B filters not attenuated outputs are hosted also in the Rear panel. Real exiting possibilities of feedback them into the main inputs and see Vertice becoming a weird complete synthesis system
• “Very huge dynamics”, from classic clean tones to brutal distortion. Very useful to revitalize VST and other digital sources or simply to boost weak sources
• Real analog low noise summing circuitry
• 1 x SER/PAR switch
• 1 x SER/PAR/STEREO switch for easy and creative manipulation.
• arranged for V/oct use
• 1 x +/-15V alimentation module, allowing 110 and 220V AC worldwide compatibility, CE marked
• Amphenol 1/4″ TRS female connectors
• Alpha pots
• C&K ‘anti-vandal’ Momentary Switch for the EG trigger.
• Prepatched
• “No-compromise ICs”. No TL07x or similar ICs for a precision and trusty audio signal, they are used only for CV managing and similar applications (eg. VCA control circuitry and Envelope Generator’s buffers)
• High grade modern capacitors in the audio path by default, but they can also use rare NOS Mullard capacitors.
• Handcrafted lateral wooden cheeks (optional) with laser engraved customers’ logo
• 2mm handcrafted lacquered synoptic aluminum panel
• Heavy phenolic fluted knobs with white pointer from Illinois.
• ‘Finger-breaking panzerfaust-looking switches’, to be sure to make contact. The switches are from C&K and promise lifetime performances
• Panasonic double layer industrial hi-quality PCB

They add that every single Vertice unit is unique in some way, because of its handcrafted character.

Pricing and Availability

The Vertice is available to pre-order for 1999 Euro.