With ZeKit, Fred's Lab presents a paraphonic desktop synthesizer with very compact dimensions. The hybrid signal path starts with the digital oscillator. With the selection of the waveform it is also determined whether the instrument is monophonic or paraphonic playable, for both playing modes there are eight waveforms each. The solid basic sound is fed into an analog filter that can be switched between lowpass and bandpass characteristics. The resonance is determined by the Chill/Acid toggle switch. Chill has a more subtle effect, while Acid gets everything out of the filter and does the small mono synth credit. The signal path is completed by an analog VCA with optocoupler. For modulating the filter there is an attack/decay envelope, the VCA is controlled by a release envelope. ZeKit can also be used as a filter box for other audio signals thanks to the audio input (mono). In VCF position the signal is sent through the filter and the VCA and can be modulated by the envelopes.

The Stepsequencer

In addition to MIDI (notes, sync, pitch bend, CC#74 for cutoff), ZeKit offers a paraphone step sequencer that can remember up to four notes per step. A total of 16 user patterns are available, which can be up to 96 steps (6 bars) long. The sequencer is played and synchronized via MIDI, whereby the synchronization can also be done via the analogue clock input.