ATC-1

Back in 1997, this rackmount synth burst onto the scene with a killer trick: swappable filter cartridges that let you channel the souls of legends like the Minimoog, Roland TB-303, ARP 2600, or Oberheim SEM, all from one compact analog powerhouse.

At its core, two voltage-controlled oscillators deliver triangle, sawtooth, and variable-width square waves, with osc sync, cross-modulation, and white noise for thick leads and basses. Two LFOs—packing triangle, saw, reverse saw, square, noise, random, and sample & hold—modulate pitch, filter freq, resonance, osc levels, pulse width, noise, and volume, while three ADSR envelopes handle VCA, VCF, and extras like osc2 freq or LFO depth. Editing happens via 50 membrane switches and a single data knob on its Moog Source-inspired panel, with a three-character LED display, 512 patch memories, MIDI/CV/gate I/O, and external audio input to the filter. It's a 2U unit, 10 inches deep, weighing 10 lbs, with one stereo audio out and universal 90-250V power.

Players love its authentic, thick analog tone—Fatboy Slim swore by it—and rave about the filter swaps for endless classic vibes, though the one-knob editing suits studio tweaking more than live jams.