Imagine a desktop synth that packs 12 analog VCOs into a space smaller than your average laptop, delivering true 6-voice polyphony with the warmth of classic Dreadbox circuits blended seamlessly with digital polish.
At its core, Artemis features two VCOs per voice offering continuous waveshaping across sine, triangle, saw, square, plus PWM, hard sync, and through-zero FM, paired with a sub-oscillator or noise generator you select on the fly. A resonant 24/12dB low-pass filter with keyboard tracking, drive, and FM from osc/noise sits alongside a 12dB high-pass, shaped by two ADSR envelopes—one for VCA, one for the low-pass—and two poly LFOs per voice with BPM sync, fade-in, eight waveforms, and cross-mod over pitch, cutoff, wave, and PW. The front panel brims with hands-on sliders for osc tuning, filter cutoff, envelopes, LFO rates, and a dedicated stereo effects strip from Sinevibes: distortion (exponential to sym warp), modulation (chorus to pitch shifter), delay, and reverb, all running simultaneously with mix controls. Stereo outs, headphone jack, poly aftertouch keyboard, mod wheel, MPE support, velocity, arpeggiator with six modes/probability, poly sequencer, and 640 presets (10 banks) round it out in a sturdy 15" x 7" x 2" metal chassis weighing 5 lbs, powered by a 15V DC supply.
Players love its creamy, characterful filters for everything from deep basses and Juno strings to FM bells and unison leads, praising the playable effects faders that make sound design feel immediate and fun. A few note the shared waveform mod between VCOs and LFO switching limits some flexibility, but the overall verdict highlights its value as a compact powerhouse in Dreadbox's analog poly lineup.
