What happened
Reykjavík-based LOVE Synthesizers has moved FIRST LOVE from an award-winning prototype into a limited first production run. Pre-orders opened on August 19, with the company expecting the first units to ship in October through selected retailers.
The standalone instrument is four-part multitimbral and can work polyphonically or monophonically. Its engine combines FM, wave shaping, morphing envelopes, effects and extensive modulation, while its performance side adds pressure-sensitive pads, live looping, riff sequencing and custom scales.
The interesting bit
The headline is less the size of the feature list than the way it is presented. Animated touch gestures sit beside tactile controls, so relationships that are usually hidden in an FM matrix can be seen, heard and moved at once. Microtonal scale building is part of the same immediate workflow rather than a setup-page afterthought.
It is a useful design argument: complexity does not always need to be removed. Sometimes it just needs a surface that invites a player to poke it without fear.