Peter Blasser's Cocoquantus 2 represents the culmination of decades spent refining a very specific vision: what happens when you let 8-bit digital delays become the primary voice of a synthesizer rather than just an effect bolted onto something else. This is the fifth iteration in a lineage stretching back through the Ambrazier, Srine, Tranoe, Cocolase, and Cocostuber, each one pushing the discrete silicon architecture further into stranger territory.
The heart of the instrument is a pair of stereo 8-bit digital delay modules called Cocos, flanked by a central analog oscillator network called the Quantussy. Each Coco accepts audio via piezo input, XLR microphone, or synth-level signals, then processes them through a Dolby noise filter, verso and inverso VCA inputs for both input and feedback paths, a speed knob for clock modulation, and an affect control that ranges from subtle to drastic. The Quantussy section features five analog oscillators arranged in a circle, each with selectable frequency ranges from audio down to infrasonic territory, and they're internally cross-patched through sample-and-hold circuits that create evolving harmonic relationships as you modulate the network. Everything is wired with banana jacks and three-position switches, housed in a compact wooden enclosure measuring just over 12 inches wide.
The Cocoquantus 2 has earned a devoted following among experimental musicians and sound designers who appreciate its unpredictability and the way it blurs the line between processing and synthesis. The discrete chip design means no flash memory to worry about, and the clock modulation possibilities open up territory that most delay-based instruments simply cannot reach. It's not a conventional tool, but for those drawn to lo-fi textures, granular degradation, and feedback systems that feel alive rather than controlled, it remains genuinely singular.
