The Chernobylizer is a synthesiser designed by Isn'tses (Lisa McKendrick & Tim Drage). This psychogeographic and esoteric custom-built synth contains a world of unique aggressive sounds, including throbbing multi-oscillator pulsewaves, crunchy glitches, bass rumble, harsh noise, 8-bit-esque bleeps, geiger-counter clicks, birdlike tweets and a unique motor-like power-draining effect. Detailed PCB art covers both sides of the board.

The synth is controlled by five knobs and 9 touch-pads. Multiple oscillators interact in deep and mysterious ways, and can be manipulated by an unorthodox resonant pseudo filter and a versatile power-starving section.

A Brief Synopsis:
The Chernobylizer attempts to add to the conversation surrounding the Chernobyl disaster and is an experiment in horror noise. This comes from our own personal interest in Chernobyl and research into the radiation disaster. The silver/gold outline on the front of the PCB represents the decontamination zone and the white outline on the back is the exclusion zone. The four large capacitors represent the four reactors of the Chernobyl plant. The touch pads are mutated forms, mutations caused by radiation. The power starve switch represents the draining of power to reactor 4. If the switch is turned downwards power will slowly drain from the four large capacitors causing the synth to create a sound similar to the reactor losing power followed by a Geiger counter crackle, then to little or no sound as it is fully drained. (note: this is not an on/off switch but if the synth is making no sound it may have fully drained and needs to be turned up). Turning the switch back up will restore power to the circuit in a full-on explosion of sound. This is a rough reenactment of how Reactor 4 exploded.

The knobs controls the amount and character of power-starvation, the resonance and frequency of a kind of pseudo-filter, and a wet/dry mix. All the 5 knobs can be experimented with to create various explosive, loud, crackling noises and drones.

The touchpads control six power-starvable oscillators and three fixed 'phantom' oscillators. Each pad has 3 contacts; moving your fingers around on the pad and touching multiple pads at once warps the sound.
OUTPUTS
The synth has two outputs:
1. The output on the left is an audio output and includes all sounds coming from the synth.
2. The output on the right does not include sounds coming from the filter but includes all other sounds from the oscillators. It is an unfiltered, DC-coupled output which could also act as a gate/trigger signal when connected to other synths or modules. In this way it is compatible with various Eurorack modules and other synths which have CV or input.

NOTE
The Chernobylizer does not have an input.

LED
The LED on the right lights up when the synth is on and the one on the left flickers with the oscillators! We call them the bat eyes.

POWER SUPPLY FOR THE SYNTH - IMPORTANT
The Chernobylizer is powered by any standard BOSS-style 9v centre-negative power supply (not included). Or it can become portable with a centre-negative DC-jack-to-battery-clip adaptor (not included). Using any other power supply may cause the synth to short circuit so please be careful. If you are unsure which power supply to use we have links on our blog to the appropriate one to buy, it can be better to go with a good brand rather than a cheap one which may burn your house down :p. A standard 9v Boss GUITAR pedal power supply should be fine.

One of the reasons we love designing stand alone synths is that we really like the portability and versatility of them. Use it as part of your desk set-up with other gear, Eurorack and synths. Also great for outdoor stuff, just plug it into a small speaker and freak out the nature walkers in the forest. The option of having a battery clip and 9v battery makes it very easy to play outdoors, no carrying lots of heavy gear around. Please Note: headphones are not suitable with either of our synths as they require amplification which most headphones don't have.

Dimensions: 15cm (W) 10.5cm (L) 3cm (H)


IMPORTANT
As this is an open circuitboard synth, take care to avoid placing on a metal/conductive surface while playing or you will short something out! If this does happen don't stress too much as often it only requires a chip replaced.

OPTIONAL CLEAR ACRYLIC BASE
We have now released an optional clear acrylic laser-cut base for the Chernobylizer, this optional extra costs an additional £8.50 and comes with nuts and bolts to attach it, and stick-on rubber feet, order here: isntses.bandcamp.com/merch/laser-cut-clear-acrylic-base-kits-for-fort-processor-and-chernobylizer-synths

DEMO VIDEO
Here is a short demo video - youtu.be/2C-XcKSadX8 - for more please search 'Isn'tses Chernobylizer' on YouTube.

Please note that the style and appearance of knobs and components may vary slightly from the photos due to availability

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The Chernobylizer can be played with the Fort Processor which is another synth we have built. The output of the Chernobylizer can go directly into the input of the Fort Processor to get some really explosive or drone sounding noises.


For more information and videos on the development and use of this synth please visit our blog:
www.isntses.co.uk/blog

x Lisa
x Tim

EU CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: you might be better off ordering our synths from isntses.etsy.com because etsy charge VAT up front, if you order it here you might get charged the VAT by your postal service with an additional service charge on top.