| Apollo View: Rabbit Hole and Curiouser saturated tube mixer Rabbit Hole and Curiouser are presumably Alice in Wonderland inspired modules from the new UK based modular company Apollo View offering vintage saturated mixing. Apollo View Nestled in the South East of England Apollo View is the hardware expression of module designer Jon-Mark. Born out of many years of techno, electro and UK bass music in collaboration with Thomaas Banks. They are hoping that the new modules will be the “special sauce” of your productions. Nice!
Rabbit Hole We often talk about going down the Rabbit Hole of modular synthesis, but it’s an actual module this time. With a whacking great big tube set in the middle of the front panel you know it’s going to get a bit fat. Rabbit Hole is a summing mixer that’s infused with valve saturation and character. It has two channels of mixing which makes you feel like it’s less of a mixer and more of a stereo VCA, but it is definitely designed to sum those two inputs to a single output. Each channel could be seen as a vintage VCA but it gets interesting because the two inputs are summed and stuffed through a solid-state drive circuit. From there it enters the starved cathode dual-triode vacuum tube. If that’s not enough for you then the Off With Their Heads (OWTH) diode LED clipping circuit will bring further signal destruction. So the idea is that the Rabbit Hole can layer on subtle warmth, juicy saturation or total annihilation.
Apollo View Rabbit Hole and Curiouser from DivKid’s video (below). The layout of the seven knobs surrounding the tube is really nice. And you’ve got to love the glowing rings of red. The size gives you great access to the controls for shaping and destroying your sound. There’s a Feedback switch that’s CV controllable and an “L8” switch to change the tube character. Curiouser Just when you were thinking 2 channels is not enough for your journey down the Rabbit Hole, Curiouser adds another 2 channels. It contains a vintage flavour of an OTA VCA that can be used as an expander for the Rabbit Hole. Alternatively, you can use it on its own as a 2-channel VCA. For more information and deep dive into these modules check out the video below from DivKid. He undoubtedly puts them through their paces and teaches us all about patching distortion and VCAs. Both Rabbit Hole and Curiouser are now available for ￡349 and ￡149 respectively. They say that no white rabbits were made late during the production. |
