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It's no secret that modular synthesizers were the original inspiration for what would become the classic, and arguably most recognizable form of a synthesizer, eschewing modular flexibility to provide musicians an efficient, fixed-architecture instrument. Despite what your local 3U-head might tell you, this wasn't a dumbing-down of modular complexity in favor of widespread appeal. In fact, the story is a bit more complex.
The so-called "normalled" connections which would form the classic voice architecture of legendary instruments like the Minimoog were, after all, adopted from how Moog modular users most often created musically-relevant results. Of course, musical relevance is by no means universal, as our friends on the West Coast would prove. However, the point remains that these design decisions were in large part oriented towards the musical possibilities desired by interested musicians, namely the straightforward adoption of excitingly new electronic timbres into their music.
With the reemergence of modular as a relatively mainstream method of electronic music creation with the 2000's craze of Dieter Doepfer's Eurorack format, it might be easy to understand this shifting of hardware trends as mere analog nostalgia. Yet, the source of Eurorack's explosive emergence and staying power isn't so easily defined. While creative trends aren't the only operative force at play, it seems safe to say that the signal flow flexibility and maximalist modulation capabilities that modular provides have been key to many contemporary musicians' creative goals, carving a secure place in the musical moment for modular tools and techniques.
Increasingly, modular techniques are finding their way into other formats, meeting the demand for creative signal processing in part generated by the iterative cycles of interaction between hardware and software developers and the musicians that use their tools. Ableton's adoption of freely mappable LFOs and other modulators, an increased focus on expansive modulation matrices in fixed-architecture instruments, and the significant uptick in unique modulation sources in guitar pedals over the last decade provide ready examples of electronic musical instruments' contemporary trends toward modularization. In bringing these techniques to other formats in dialectical exchange, an interaction of creative perspectives unfolds new possibilities for musicians. This move outlines a similar story that led to the initial departure of modular popularity, and ensures electronic musical instruments continue their healthy development into the future.
The Supercritical Synthesizers Redshift 6, initially released at the end of 2024, is perhaps the most daring of desktop devices to incorporate modular concepts into a fixed-architecture hardware instrument. Uniquely primed to produce such a project, Supercritical Synthesizers first made waves with their powerhouse polyphonic VCO the Demon Core Oscillator and ultra-flexible Neutron-Flux filter. Leveraging their work in the Eurorack space, Supercritical's Redshift 6 presents an intuitive and approachable desktop synthesizer with six voices, each capable of up to 16-voice paraphony (with a maximum polyphony of 5 voices in the current firmware), and featuring their variable-character technology for ultimate flexibility in summoning a wide range of classic and contemporary sounds.
Redshift 6's modulation potential is similarly expansive and features decidedly modular-oriented techniques like their via system, which lets you modulate your modulators with ease. Parameter sequencing, mathematical operators, and wildly flexible multitimbral capacity further instill a sense that the Redshift 6 is the first of its kind—a new breed of synthesizer that seamlessly integrates modular complexity into the efficient workflow of fixed-architecture, desktop devices. Since its release, the Redshift 6 continues to improve and expand in its formidable feature set, consistently meeting the deadlines of their publicly available roadmap for feature expansion. Currently, Supercritical's first desktop synthesizer is already wildly capable, with more features steadily released that push it far into the stratosphere of synthesizer design, with recent additions including full multitimbral support and MPE control.
To celebrate this champion of fixed-architecture flexibility, we went straight to the source to talk with Timo at Supercritical, a co-founder and mastermind behind the Redshift 6. In our talk, we explore the background behind Redshift's uniquely modular-informed workflow, and coax out some of its exciting creative possibilities soon to come. Read the full interview below!
An Interview with Timo of Supercritical Synthesizers
Perfect Circuit: Hi, Timo! As we celebrate the continued expansion of the already wonderful Redshift 6 with its new multitimbral capabilities, I'm reminded of its beginnings in your two formidable Eurorack offerings, the Demon Core Oscillator and Neutron Flux Filter. Was working these designs into a desktop synthesizer always part of Supercritical's goals, and how did you arrive at the decision to turn these two Eurorack beasts into what we have in the Redshift 6?
Timo: Yes, the idea for both technologies actually started out as a vision for a self-contained synthesizer (desktop or keyboard). Back in 2015, when this was just a hobby for me, the first implementation was a synthesizer voice, meant to be one voice of a polysynth, no UI, just MIDI inputs and audio outputs on a bare PCB. It featured two VCO’s (one triangle core, the other saw core), a low-pass only core of what is now known as the Neutron Flux filter (the other parts were laid out, but not soldered to the PCB), and then, as an afterthought, like “I’m wondering if this would work”, there was the hardware needed for an eight waveform version of what later became known as the Demon Core Oscillator (DCO), but I never got around to writing the firmware to run it. At that time, the idea was just that it would be a supersaw oscillator.
The hobby version didn’t go beyond the single voice board, but I did end up using it as a 2 VCO and partial Neutron Flux filter synth voice on some songs I produced (I thought it sounded awesome, but I would say that, wouldn’t I?). Some years later, as we had this crazy idea to try to make eurorack modules, I first wrote the firmware to see if the DCO would actually work, and it did! We ended up extending it for more controllability, up to 16 waves, and realized that it could also play chords, paraphony etc. So that became the Demon Core Oscillator Module.
Then as we started designing a filter module, the first thing I did was to solder the remaining parts of the Neutron Flux circuit on to the single voice prototype, tweak the firmware a bit, and that was basically the core of the Neutron Flux Filter module, as a proof-of-concept on that single voice synth.
Just as the Neutron Flux entered production, the parts shortage happened. Basically we couldn’t really produce anything, so it made sense to look further into the future to use our time to design something bigger. So it was time to come full circle, and finally start implementing the polysynth for which this technology was originally envisioned. We were fortunate enough to find some investors who believed in us, and that got us underway in developing the synth that became the Redshift 6.
[Above: the single voice synth PCB, and its “case” used when demonstrating the idea of the Neutron Flux filter at a synth meet in Finland in late 2019.]
PC: With multitimbrality now available on the Redshift 6 via the Parts menu, I get a sense of these modular roots, often finding myself using the different voices similarly to how I'd use a collection of monophonic voices in Eurorack. Likewise, the modulation matrix is incredibly robust and flexible. Was capturing modular workflows in a desktop synth an important part of Redshift's design inspiration?
Timo: In part yes, since coming from modular, many limitations that are typical in a compact synthesizer seemed superfluous to us. But maybe even more so, once we’d decided that it’s not going to be knob per function, there was so much more room to make things flexible, as not every little detail would force us to add a knob or an acrobatic key & knob combo (we do have some of the latter, but they’re all shortcuts, not required to use all the features).
PC: I understand you worked with the renowned synth-world industrial designer Alex Hartmann in creating the Redshift's industrial design, with its hexagonal themes and characterful red underlight. What inspired the aesthetics of the Redshift, particularly as they differ from Supercritical's Eurorack panel designs?
Timo: As we were trying to come up with a name for the synth, there were many options emphasizing the number six quite heavily, and so our marketing guy at the time, Heikki, who’s also one of the founders, came up with this animation with hexagons to use as marketing material. It was around that time that Axel produced the first sketches of what the synth could look like, and one of the options emphasized the hexagons and introduced the color red to the sides. We picked that option, and that’s also where the name Redshift came from. So basically the hexagons come from the number of voices, and the color red was introduced by Axel.
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PC: The multitimbral features of Redshift make it particularly exciting in studio and live contexts alike, readily providing a whole ensemble of different timbres with slick voice allocation between parts, and other options that enable a ton of creative set-ups. Even still, the UI remains easy to navigate and intuitive for setting up complex programs. When designing Redshift 6, were there other synthesizers you looked to for inspiration about handling such vast multitimbrality in an analog device?
Timo: Both flexibility and multitimbrality did require quite some planning and hard decisions. In the early stages we had two big inspirations for the UI, the Ensoniq SQ-80 and the ASM Hydrasynth. The SQ-80 has a panel printout of its signal path in block diagram form, and buttons you use to select the block you want to edit. Then the main display is surrounded by buttons that allow you to edit a number of individual elements. The Hydrasynth has the same basic setup, but with eight endless pots and an LED ring to make the display a bit more immediate to use.
Once we landed on that, the rest was kind of easy, in that we didn’t have to lock down everything at once, but we could iterate the UI on the screen as we went along. Of course, we still had to decide what blocks the digital control path would consist of, and figure out which dedicated controls we’d like. At some point, there was even a solid argument to have no dedicated controls at all, since they would (and they do!) diminish the flexibility of the design. However, that felt a bit too draconian, and after a lot of internal back-and-forth we settled on the dedicated controls you see now. Time will tell if they fit well with all the upcoming engines!
For multitimbrality specifically, and more generally for parts of the UI, another inspiration is Elektron. The dynamic voice allocation is inspired by the Digitone, which made us ask the question could this be done when assigning analog voices. Turns out it can!
[Above: Redshift 6 prototypes from the instrument's development.]
PC: Let's talk a bit about the oscillator engines of Redshift 6, which define how its powerful DCOs are controlled to provide the foundational sound source in the synth. Currently, only the dual pulse/saw wave is implemented, but you've teased multiple new oscillator engines that are in development in your recent blog post. Why did you start with the Dual Wave engine, and which engines still in the works are you most excited for?
Timo: The leading idea in laying out the initial set of features was to make a synth that is super flexible, but still allows you to land on the classic vintage sounds and hit a sweet spot with ease. So we felt that the first oscillator engine had to go with that paradigm. The most classic oscillator section for a polysynth is of course the dual oscillator setup. We added the stack option to make use of the large number of actual oscillators, and paraphony so you can use them to play chords using just a single voice.
Out of the DCO engines we’ve mentioned this far, I’d say I’m most excited about the one with the working title “Phase Sync”. It takes you to places that nothing else, analog or digital, that I know of, will. Our Demon Core module does some of it, but the Redshift version will be more flexible in terms of modulation and has a few more controls to take it that much further.
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PC: A core feature of Redshift 6 is its variable character design, which allows you to shift between filter paradigms to instantly evoke classic sounds from legendary instruments. While filter character is often a defining aspect of a synth's sound, Redshift 6 takes a novel approach in its flexibility between five types, leveraging your powerful digital controls to adjust filter circuits on a whim. As a core feature across your devices, what about the flexibility from digital control inspires the design focus at Supercritical?
Timo: It’s probably my tendency to not take any limitations for granted, combined with the observation that in terms of sound generation, the biggest difficulties in analog tend to be control. In an analog circuit, you really don’t get any other mathematical functions than addition, subtraction, exponentiation and logarithms, and even with those you’re always struggling with accuracy. On the other hand, in digital the biggest deficit is that it takes a lot of work to make it sound good, interesting, or especially both simultaneously. That can and has been done, but it takes serious work. So it makes sense to combine the best of both worlds, i.e. to design a good sounding analog signal path for digital control from the start, and then run with it.
PC: Redshift 6 is one of a number of modern synths and electronic instruments which has been released without parts of its functionality being implemented, instead opting for an evolving platform that releases in an early stable state and grows in capability over time. While this trend is one we've seen before, Supercritical has offered a rare and appreciated amount of transparency about this process, with a public roadmap of new features, as well as your blog posts which provide insight into the development process. What went into the decision to release the Redshift in this manner, and why are things like the roadmap and blog updates important parts of Supercritical's development process?
Timo: There’s of course several things that went into the decision. In some sense, it wasn’t so much a decision, as it was a natural course of events: the synth hardware was ready to ship, and the firmware development had been delayed by various preparations for production, including a mistake by the EMC lab that cost us several weeks of time and one prototype run.
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On the other hand, we’d never thought of this as something that ships and is fixed from that point on, but as you say, as a platform that would evolve for years, so from our point of view we were just shipping the same platform a bit sooner. Indeed, during the last month or so we actually removed features (that will return later), because the last thing we wanted to do is to ship a buggy firmware. The unfortunate thing is that we didn’t communicate well enough what the state of the firmware was, and we’re still working on getting all the relevant third party sites to update the descriptions.
The transparency is in part to remedy this, and also in a big part because we just don’t like secrecy and withholding information. We believe that open and honest communication is always the best choice. Besides, it’s fun to write a Dev Diary or a Deep Dive article now and then! Also a shout out to our very special community on our Discord server, there’s a great vibe and huge amounts of excitement there.
PC: While it is planned for later on in the roadmap and may not be finalized yet, what can you tell us about what you're planning for the Redshift's sequencer, specifically in how it integrates with the synth's multitimbral potential?
Timo: There will be a sequencer per part, so it will further expand the possibilities for very complicated layered patches. As to the exact feature set, I can’t tell you much yet, but we do feel that using the sequencer as a modulation source is a big part of it, since just for laying out notes there’s always going to be much more flexible external options. Also, the idea is not to turn this into a groovebox, since we don’t have the start / stop utility controls needed to make that work smoothly. However, combining the notes from the sequencer with synchronized modulation opens up possibilities that you can’t really achieve from an external sequencer, so our idea is to explore that and make the sequencer a bit different from the more usual designs.
[Above: Timo and crew celebrating the first Redshift 6 production units with their characterful red PCBs.]
PC: The DSP engine is another exciting addition to the Redshift 6 that is in development, adding effects to expand the sound design capabilities of the instrument. Are the effects you have planned and in development inspired by any specific devices, and will we see effect parameters implemented as targets in the modulation matrix?
Timo: Well, the chorus certainly has its inspiration in a certain 80’s DCO synth known for its chorus effect, among others. At this point, since the effects are global and only on the main output, they will not be modulation destinations. On the “years down the line” level, we do have an idea to have, in addition to the current modulation modulation matrix which is per voice, a per part modulation matrix (allowing things like one envelope sweeping the cutoff off all voices currently playing, etc), and a global modulation matrix, at which point it would make sense to make at least some effects parameters global mod destinations too.
PC: Among the few controls on Redshift 6 which are not yet implemented, one sticks out as less obvious to me than the others, though some exciting guesses come to mind. What can you tell us about Supercritical's plans for the "Math" button?
Timo: The plan is that it’s kind of an extension of the mod matrix, so that you can for an example take two mod sources and combine them, for an example, by multiplying them, or taking the maximum, or maybe shape them with a fixed function, and so on. That would then show as a new mod source in the matrix, giving even more fine control for sound design.
PC: With plans to continually implement new features and expand the Redshift's capabilities over at least the next year of your public roadmap, does Supercritical plan to keep development rolling beyond your already planned goals, or does the Redshift have a set plan for a "final form"?
Timo: There’s no set final form. We’re of course pushing now to complete all the front panel features, but after that we have ideas in the queue for at least a year or two, and during that time I’m sure we’ll come up with a few more. So it remains to be seen when we run out of things to implement, but that won’t be for a while!
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[Above: The Supercritical team at Superbooth 2025.]
PC: It's clear Redshift takes inspiration from your work in Eurorack, but has the development process for Redshift given you any ideas about more modular designs?
Timo: We haven’t had the time to think about anything like that at all! In principle, the oscillator section of the Redshift would probably make for a fine quad or hex Demon Core module, but it’s unclear if there’d be any demand for an even more expensive module. Anyway, no concrete plans at the moment.
PC: While many aspects of Redshift's development have been teased in your roadmap, blog, and discord channel, can you tell us about any more upcoming features or plans for other designs at Supercritical on the horizon that you're particularly excited about?
Timo: There’s a lot of plans and designs going around! A keyboard version would be an obvious move. But right now, we’re concentrating 100% on completing the advertised firmware features of the Redshift, and there’s really nothing else we can think about right now.
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