Pattern-rich acid lines, rubbery basses, and animated filters all live inside this compact analog mono synth that thinks like a classic but performs like a modern centerpiece.
The MSW-820S by Michigan Synth Works takes the dual-VCO engine of the MSW-820 and adds a dedicated TB-303-style step sequencer, inviting you to sketch patterns right on the hardware and drive its circuitry into hypnotic territory. At its core are two voltage-controlled oscillators with selectable saw and pulse waves, switchable 4' to 16' ranges, tuning, two-mode oscillator sync, and pulse width modulation, with oscillator 2 offering PWM control from manual, LFO, or a modulation envelope. A mixer section lets you blend both oscillators with a 1/-2 sub-oscillator, noise, and external audio via the switchable Eurorack/line-level input, turning the synth into a characterful filter box for other gear.
The 16-mode analog filter, based on the 3109 OTA chip found in classic Roland designs, is the MSW-820S’s secret weapon, spanning multiple lowpass, highpass, bandpass, notch, and all-pass responses with resonant character and different slopes from 6 dB to 24 dB per octave. With two envelopes, an LFO, hands-on knobs and faders, and a desktop format that can also drop into a Eurorack system, the MSW-820S is built for performance, pairing vintage-inspired tone shaping with direct, pattern-based sequencing for immediate, musical results.
