SYNTH ANATOMY Unleashes the Morphor Echon 6: Like a BBD Kangaroo on a Polyphonic Bender

SYNTH ANATOMY kicks things off at SynthFest France, chatting with Boris from Morphor about their latest sonic monster, the Echon 6. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill polysynth—it’s a six-voice analog powerhouse built around classic BBD (bucket brigade device) tech, but with a twist of physical modeling that’ll make your head spin. The concept? Take the unpredictable magic of BBDs and shove them into a polyphonic chassis, giving you a synth that’s equal parts science experiment and performance tool.

What makes the Echon 6 stand out is its refusal to play by the digital rulebook. There’s no display, no menu diving—just pure, hands-on chaos. Boris explains that the team wanted to make something as direct as a trumpet or guitar, so you’re always in the thick of the action. The result is a synth that feels alive under your fingers, ready to spit out anything from delicate plucks to wild, resonant storms. If you’re after a polite, well-mannered instrument, look elsewhere—this one’s for the sonic thrill-seekers.

Now, let’s talk features that’ll make any mod-head drool. The Echon 6 packs six independent voices, each with its own BBD resonator and a full suite of controls. But the real kicker? Each voice gets four LFOs—yep, that’s right, polyphonic LFOs for days. The modulation matrix is so deep you could lose your thongs in it, letting you route envelopes, LFOs, velocity, aftertouch, and more to just about any parameter you fancy.

Assigning modulations is dead simple: just press, hold, and twist. Want to modulate the crossfade between noise and wave? Easy as snagging a snag off the barbie. The system’s so hands-on, you’ll be patching up wild mod routings before you can say “BBD feedback.” It’s a playground for sound designers who love to get their hands dirty, and with all this flexibility, you’ll be discovering new tricks every time you power it up.

The heart of the Echon 6 is its exciter and resonator combo, and mate, it’s a recipe for sonic chaos. The exciter isn’t just a boring old noise burst—it’s got noise (white or quantised), oscillators, envelopes, and even harmonics you can dial in. You can shape the exciter’s tone before it even hits the BBD resonator, setting up everything from classic plucks to gnarly, evolving textures.

Once the exciter’s cooked up, it gets fed into the BBD resonator, where things get truly wild. The resonator tracks the keyboard, responds to feedback, and can go from subtle shimmer to full-blown feedback meltdown. Want to hear what happens when you crank the feedback and let the resonators self-oscillate? You’ll have to watch the video—words can’t do justice to the outback storm of sound this thing can whip up.

Here’s where the Echon 6 really earns its stripes for live performers and experimentalists: it can process external audio. Plug in a drum machine, a synth, or even a cheeky field recording, and the Echon 6 replaces its internal sine wave with your own sounds. Suddenly, you’re not just playing a synth—you’re mangling anything you throw at it through the BBD resonator and modulation matrix.

This opens up a world of creative possibilities, from wild effect processing to vocoder-like madness. The demo at SynthFest shows a Volca drum beat getting chewed up and spat out in ways that’ll make your jaw drop. If you’re the type who likes to push gear to its limits, this feature alone could make the Echon 6 your new best mate on stage or in the studio.