Rama Synthesizer

“the Ramans do everything in threes.” - Arthur C. Clarke

It’s time for a rendezvous with RAMA, PinkNoise Studio’s new para/polyphonic synthesizer.

RAMA is a classic synth on steroids. The heart of RAMA is a vintage synthesizer from the 80s. This is the Korg Poly-800, which has some unusual features:

• oscillators (DCO) build the waveform from variations of 4 simple pulse waves

• Paraphony: polyphonic sounds with a single filter

• six stage envelope generator

But these are only the starting points, RAMA has many other features that make this instrument a powerful synthesizer that can hold its own in any music style.

Trademark disclaimer: all product names used are trademarks of their respective owners, and in no way constitutes an association or affiliation with PinkNoise Studio or Reason Studios.

Additional features:

• 3 oscillators with dual filters

• 3 oscillator types: P-800 osc mode, wave or sampler

• 33 waveforms from famous synthesizers (when P-800 mode is off)

• 3 user wave slots to use your own samples

• 3 rearrangeable fx units with 12 fx types

• flexible routing

• synth & fx modulation matrix

• XY control pad using macros or performance controllers

• mix pad for real-time mixing of 3 oscillators

• versatile arpeggiator and step sequencer

• 5 play modes: poly, mono, chord, arp, seq

RAMA has different levels of complexity, depending on your needs. Using the grouped global controls it can be simple like an axe, eg. if you want to create a simple bass. But once you separate them, RAMA can be as complex as an airbus cockpit: it’s up to you.

Version history

You can read the full version history in this document .

RAMA version 1.5.0

• Mod Depth can be adjusted more precisely in the Synth mod panel
• Updated Step Sequencer, aesthetic and functional improvements:
  – nice rounded elements
  – ratchet can be set using vertical movement of the GATE length field: click+drag up increases, drag down decreases the ratchet (shift or alt-click also work).
  – The seq shift arrows (on the top left) only move the active range (shift-click moves the entire range).
• trim knobs added to rear panel modulation inputs
• new CV outs: Macro 1, Macro 2 and Macro 3 (e.g. to use the Control Pad with other devices)
• bipolar modulation inputs: the back panel modulation inputs in previous versions were unipolar, which means that only positive values had an effect on the destinations, negative values were ignored. Even if their values appeared correctly in the mod source panels, they were actually unipolar. They are now bipolar.