SX1000

Vintage Analogue Synth

SX1000 is a faithful emulation of the JEN SX1000, a vintage Italian synth released in 1978. The SX1000 was one of the earliest affordable analog synthesizers, designed for musicians seeking hands-on control without breaking the bank.

The SX1000’s M110 chip has been carefully emulated, with expanded capabilities including polyphonic mode, a sub-oscillator (down to -3 octaves), and additional controls for legato modes.

An arpeggiator borrowed from a vintage classic polysynth has also been integrated, alongside enhanced sonic possibilities with four effects featuring flexible routing.

JEN SX1000 Synthetone

The JEN SX1000 Synthetone is an analog monophonic synthesizer introduced in 1978 by the Italian company JEN Elettronica S.r.l. It holds the distinction of being one of the first affordable synthesizers widely available in Europe, making analog synthesis accessible to a broader range of musicians during a time when such technology was often prohibitively expensive.

At the core it’s a monophonic synth with a single oscillator capable of sawtooth, square, and pulse waveforms, complemented by a noise generator with white and pink sources. AudioThing have expaneded it with a full polyphonic mode, sub-oscillator (up to -3 octaves), additional controls for legato modes, velocity, and more.

The filter section features a 24dB/octave resonant low-pass filter, with a very distinct and organic sound and with classic self-oscillation. It includes basic modulation capabilities: an LFO for vibrato, tremolo, or filter modulation, which we expanded with additional waveforms and sync mode.

It also features two ADSR envelopes for controlling the volume and the filter.

Sub-Oscillator Mod

The SX1000 was notably easy to modify. In fact, AudioThing modded its unit nearly 20 years ago by adding a sub-oscillator using a simple flip-flop circuit. The principle is the same as in the divide-down organs. Since the original version had only one oscillator, this mod was essential for adding more sonic possibilities.

What Noise?

AudioThing has fully emulated the infamous MM5837 digital noise source (white/pink noise), also found in other classic analog synths like the Sequential Prophet 5, Korg MonoPoly, and Oberheim OB-X. However, it can be disabled, as this chip has a very short 17-bit LFSR (Linear Feedback Shift Register), causing the noise it produces to repeat every few seconds. This repetition is audible and has been described as sounding like a steam train puffing, rather than smooth white noise

Arpeggio

The SX1000 did not feature an arpeggiator, so AudioThing borrowed and expanded an iconic arpeggiator from a classic analog poly-synth: the Roland Juno 60.

It features:

• up, up & down, down, random mode
• 4 octave range
• adjustable rate and sync
• hold/latch mode
• note order (pitch, key pressed)
• chord mode

The SX1000 includes a set of four high-quality effects, inspired by classic gear and designed to complement the synth’s character. The effects section features:

Effects

• Tape Echo, based on our Space Echo emulation Outer Space
• Spring Reverb, adding classic vintage reverb
• Wave Folder, for rich harmonic distortion inspired by the legendary Serge Wave Multipliers
• Flanger, BBD based, capable of everything from subtle modulation to swirling textures

You can rearrange the effects in any order using drag and drop.

Features

• 1 Osc (saw, square, pulse)
• Suboscillator (up to -3 octaves)
• 1 LFO (vibrato, filter, PWM)
• 2 envelopes (volume, filter)
• 24 dB/oct resonant filter
• Oversampling
• 4 Effects (echo, spring reverb, wave folder, flanger)
• Arpeggiator
• Resizable Window
• Brightness and Contrast Controls
• Preset system with randomizer

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System Requirements:

Windows

• Windows 7 – 11
• 2GHz CPU, 4 GB RAM
• VST2, VST3, AAX, CLAP, Standalone (64-bit)

Mac

•  macOS 10.13 – macOS 15
• 2GHz CPU, 4 GB RAM
• VST2, VST3, AU, AAX, CLAP, Standalone (64-bit)
• Universal 2 Binary

Linux

• Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
• 2GHz CPU, 4 GB RAM
• VST2, VST3, CLAP, Standalone (64-bit)