Vermona PerFOURmer mkii

[photomoto]

Hi, I'm very interested in the perfourmer mkii. I was wondering if there was anywhere in the uk to demo this synth, London would be nice...any other thoughts about this synth would be good, will it be a good investment or a flop in future

[samuraipizzacat29]

I wouldn't buy it thinking it's flexible enough to be a poly synth. It's probably loads more stable, but my mono/poly was practically useless as a polysynth. If it were me, i'd buy it for the sake of it being one bad 4 osc monosynth and disregard it for its poly uses.

I'm not sure if you can use it this way - but it'd be cool if each voice received on a different channel so you could use it for different parts. snappy envelopes for drums would be agreeable as well.

[Stab Frenzy]

I'm not sure if you can use it this way - but it'd be cool if each voice received on a different channel so you could use it for different parts. snappy envelopes for drums would be agreeable as well.

That's exactly what it's made to do. It's not a 4 osc monosynth, although it can be patched to resemble one.

[samuraipizzacat29]

well then there you have it

[Sir Ruff]

I wouldn't buy it thinking it's flexible enough to be a poly synth. It's probably loads more stable, but my mono/poly was practically useless as a polysynth.

Why not? It IS a true polysynth, whereas the monopoly is not. I wouldn't see this as a secondary feature, but rather the one that makes it the most interesting, i.e. each voice can be altered within a polyphonic patch. It's very much like a 4-voice in that sense.

[meatballfulton]

I owned the original PerFourmer and the MkII adds a lot of really useful features like PWM and osc sync.

My only real complaint with the new model is the price, it's almost double here in the USA compared to the original (shot from $1100 to $1900). I don't know if UK/Euro pricing is more reasonable.

The polyphonic mode is very retro, as Sir Ruff mentioned you can't really get all four voices to sound identical and doing tweaks while playing means you have to tweak all four. On the other hand, using it as a multi-timbral analog mono is very interesting, stack up voices on one channel to create complex sounds, use it as four monos on four channels, it's pretty flexible. Because it is analog, the FM mode is mainly for noise-making, the osc drift makes precision FM programming impossible. It's certainly useful if you will be sequencing it most of the time.

[Sir Ruff]

Yeah, it's really a bummer about the price... I'd love to try one.

[Solyaris]

I was surprised to find that there never has been a thread dedicated to this synth on here (as far as I could tell from a search) before. Does anyone around here have one and how are you liking it (or not)? It's very appealing to me and I'm strongly considering getting one. I love that Four Voice setup.

[Aaron2]

I find the synth appealing, too, but I've just never pulled the trigger on one. The reason for the lack of a thread may simply be that -- in the U.S. at least -- Vermona is very much a boutique kind of manufacturer, whose prices tend to be on the high side on this side of the pond. I would liken Vermona to MFB. Nice German-made products, just kind of expensive for what you get.

[Solyaris]

I find the synth appealing, too, but I've just never pulled the trigger on one. The reason for the lack of a thread may simply be that -- in the U.S. at least -- Vermona is very much a boutique kind of manufacturer, whose prices tend to be on the high side on this side of the pond. I would liken Vermona to MFB. Nice German-made products, just kind of expensive for what you get.

If I remember right, the CV version was $2,099 back when the Perfourmer II first appeared on my radar back in 2012. I thought that was too high but it looks like at some point it came down here in the US to $1,699 which I feel is a bit more reasonable. Still expensive, but a well made, unique synth that will last a lifetime seems reasonable to me. Then there's the fact that if you want a new Oberheim Four Voice layout style synth there aren't really any other options!

[zaphod betamax]

I think it is cool.
Waiting for my midi kit for my Monotribe.
So it will be MS-20kit to Monotribe via cv/trig
Monotribe to perFOURmer via midi out of Monotribe.

[meatballfulton]

I've owned two MkI's, the MkII is a mixed bag...some good changes, some unfortunate changes.

When used as a polysynth be prepared for the voices to never sound exactly alike...that's part of it's charm, but can drive you nuts if you are used to digital repeatability. Also, when you go to tweak knobs while playing polyphonically you now have four knobs to tweak...one per voice...that's one reason the default assignment for the mod wheel is filter cutoff The current prices are a bit steep, I got my Mk I's when they were going for about $800, the Mk II is double that

[wizardmix]

I'd like to add myself as a owner and absolute fan of the Perfourmer MKII. I play the thing (as opposed to sequencing) on a midi keyboard and I think it's one of the greatest modern analog synths ever made. Amazing build quality, the raw, expressive sound right out of the box brings tears of joy, it's very stable and I find that if you know what you're doing, it's very easy to get a uniformed polyphonic sound out of it (several sync options as well to help with the heavy lifting). The 1-2-3-4 adjustment pattern starts to become second nature if you're doing uniform sounds.

While it's no fun to be twisting knobs on live gigs and there are zero drop menus or memory, there is nothing like a full on, extremely manual polysynth to get your programming chops into shape. What you see is what it does and frankly, while some might call it a weakness, that's what I love most about it. The control and versatility you get with this synth is the joy of owning it. Much like Dave Speir's gushy youtube love letter to his 8-Voice, I too have spent entire weekends discovering the most amazing sounds from the perfourmer. If you like it, take a picture!

I love the differences in the VCOs, even if they are subtle, they give a part character. Why go analog if you want something to sound antiseptic? Polyphonic, monophonic and duophonic potentials are vast. I can go from chords dancing in a panned stereo spectrum to a big Mooglike stacked Roygbiv bassline in one step. The Vermona will do it at probably 1/6th the cost of a good 4-voice SEM setup -- not to mention it does many things the SEMs simply won't do. My next synth will likely be another Perfourmer MKII -- I hope Vermona creates a module that will pair two Perfourmers into one mega 8-Voice!! That would be my heaven....

You just have to love the manual nature of it. The Vermona will get you to be able to see on the panel what you hear in your head.

[wizardmix]

I wouldn't buy it thinking it's flexible enough to be a poly synth. It's probably loads more stable, but my mono/poly was practically useless as a polysynth. If it were me, i'd buy it for the sake of it being one bad 4 osc monosynth and disregard it for its poly uses.

I'm not sure if you can use it this way - but it'd be cool if each voice received on a different channel so you could use it for different parts. snappy envelopes for drums would be agreeable as well.

As one who owns and plays a MKII regularly as a polysyth I couldn't disagree more. It's really not difficult at all to get four uniformed, stable notes out of it. It has a built in digitally generated A440 switch so it's exceptionally easy to tune. Yes, of course they won't be 100% dead on but they will be in tune. I use it as much as a polysyth as I used it as a mono. It's the duophonic features I rarely use.

Ironically, it's so easy for me to get the four monosynths lined up, (until recently discovering the subtle blend of FM to induce that pitchy wurble) I found it harder to modulate slightly detuned and drifty BoC sound without purposely detuning the VCOs (which I don't like to do in live situations when I'm changing settings quickly).

The people who say the Perfourmer MKII isn't a polysynth have likely not played one to understand just how amazing a polysynth it really is. I can get CS50/CS80 like lushy string/pad sounds out of it all day long and with a quick turn of one knob, I can get it to stack up against a Model D in terms of soaring leads. I can go full on 4-voice and do all kinds of dynamic textures (ala "Bojack's Theme" by Patrick Carney), I can turn it into a drum machine with the snappy envelops and I can get that thing to go full-on THX.

I think when you compare this to the going rate of a Model D, or a 4-voice or a CS-50 and realize that this does much of what those high-ticket synths can do at a fraction of the price, brand new, in a compact, stable unit that's built like the engineer station of a 747-200, the Perfourmer MKII starts to seem like a bargain. -- But I'm partial obviously.

[zaphod betamax]

perfect companion to be controlled by the '14!