Cognate Macro Synth

Cognate Macro Synth is a responsive, analog-sounding mono synth block for Anagram. Great for adding synth, lead sounds or envelope filter effects to bass or guitar.

Before digital pedals, the EHX Bass Micro Synth (and its guitar sibling) gave bass and guitar players the fat analog synth sounds they coveted from their Moog-playing bandmates. Four decades on it’s still going strong, turning up on the boards of the most-watched players in worship, pop and rock.

This is our homage to the Micro Synth. We faithfully modelled the circuit, filters and vibe of the classic pedal, then added new oscillator waveforms, filter types and features.

The original voices are all here on faders: a beefy sub octave, octave up, square fuzz, and your dry signal. Alongside them are the new wave shapes: saw, super-saw, pulse with PWM and square, stacked synth oscillators; each available at pitch or an octave down - plus a sub-octave fuzz, for a far wider palette of sounds.

The mix then runs through one of three filters: Micro, the pedal’s own OTA filter; Ladder, a punchy Moog style; and Twenty, modelled on the Korg MS-20’s resonant snarl, and a special guest: a vowel formant filter. Set the sweep’s start and stop frequencies and its rate. The Trigger control tailors the synth’s sensitivity to your playing and instrument, and an Attack control dials in volume ramps and swells.

Like the pedal it’s modelled on, Macro Synth has no pitch detector. Its oscillators lock directly to your instrument’s signal, which gives it a different kind of feel: it responds to slides, bends and ghost notes the instant you play them, and it sounds like an extension of your instrument. Like the original, it’s sometimes glitchy – always characterful.

EHX, Electro-Harmonix, Bass Micro Synth, Moog and Korg MS-20 are trademarks of their respective owners, which are not affiliated with Cognate Audio and do not endorse this product. Names are used solely to identify the hardware studied in development.