This little guy do have very small knobs and a challenging keyboard to say the least. But the pots are of surprisingly good qulity - no wiggle and yet very smooth. Only real problem is that they lack a clear indication. I solved that with knobs from Thonk, that I happened to have. But then of course the space between the knobs became even tighter. A drop of white paint on each shaft would be my ultimate solution.
The display is hardly possible to understand without the manual, because of the very limited number of characters. But at least it's big enough.
As for the keyboard, I found that by pressing only on the front edge of the keys, the action was much easier to control and I could actually play with good and consistent timing.
Generally, the sound this synth can produce is good. A bit on the thin side, definitely "digital", but the effects help a lot to beef it up.
Now to the really big problem, that for me became a deal breaker and had me return and forget about this synt: The motion sequencer...
Recording motion is very easy. You just hit Record with the sequencer running and start turning some knobs. As probably anyone would do to start with, I went for the filter cutoff. All good, the sequense instantly got a bit more interesting. :)
BUT here is the problem: When I cleared the recorded motion - a normal thing to do during a performance - the cutoff did not return to where it was before I started recording the motion. Nor did it stay where I left it. No, instead the filter jumped to fully open! And I jumped halfway to the ceiling because of the sudden increase in volume... Ouch! To get the cutoff back where it should be I only had to nudge the knob. Very strange behaviour - and totally unacceptable. It also happened once or twice that a recorded motion refused to be cleared until I cycled the power.
Another problem that also has to do with the motion sequencer is that after having recorded a knob motion and stopped the recording (sequencer still running) I could not use that knob manually anymore. When I tried to adjust the cutoff with the recorded motion running, the sound generation crasched. Hard to describe, it just got all chopped up and weird. Clearly the software got lost in some unchartered area.
To conclude: This synth is not bad. But it has limitations and I think it struggles to live up to its name. A true "Tweak Synth" should not crash however you desire to tweak it. Probably this is where the real reason for using analogue gear is to be found. Analogue won't crash if you treat it in some way not intended - at least not as long as it is well designed, with the appropriate electronic protective circuits in place.
This is where I will go from here: Back to analogue!
Update: After finding the chorus effect, which is hidden in the menu, I no longer have anything bad to say about the sound. It's great! And who needs a motion sequencer anyway..? ;) so, I decided to keep the synth. I may even buy a second unit...
