Enabling the next revolution in digital sound synthesis

Digital modular synthesizers for next gen creatives

To many, “digital” still equaled “power hungry” and “high latency”, and no musician likes a delay that wasn’t supposed to be on their recording. Qu-Bit worked hard on design of their digital parameters and devices’ power consumption to fight those stereotypes while providing fresh and innovative audio samples to clients.

Indie vibes are everywhere in Qu-Bit’s industry, which also meant the company had to deliver incredibly high performance even at a small scale to get everyone in the scene on board. Thanks to ST, Qu-Bit not only convinced its Kickstarter backers but is now on track to license its first solutions to competitors.

The need for high-quality knobs  

While Qu-Bit Electronix's constant investment in new sound synthesis was certainly part of its success, the company's high-performance knob design helped fight any initial hesitations toward digital modular synthesizers. The current product line features 16-bit controllers with 65,536 steps, making it impossible even for the most critical aficionado to notice the difference from an analog solution.

Why Qu-Bit tapped into ST’s portfolio, including the STM32H7 

The high processing power needed to design low-latency knobs and sample high volumes of data made the STM32H7 the perfect match. It combined the general-purpose functionality of GPIOs and USB connectivity with unique DSP features and a 480 MHz clock rate. Thanks to the higher processing power, ST’s chips enabled the company to create innovative sounds that customers value the most, whether that’s sound engineers or experimental musicians.

At this point, Qu-Bit moved way past proving that digital isn’t inferior. Its phase vocoders allow time stretching, an entirely novel effect that didn’t exist in analog solutions. Other effects like reverb, delays, time stretching, and samplers simply weren’t part of modular synthesizers in the past. 

Strong support for companies of all sizes

It wasn’t the technical specifications alone that convinced Qu-Bit Electronix. When push came to shove and all the stay-at-home enthusiasts jumped on the Kickstarter campaign, Qu-Bit needed 10,000 chips — fast. ST stepped in immediately and delivered the necessary chips within two days. That level of support has allowed Qu-Bit Electronix to grow and help others in the industry grow alongside the company. 

As Qu-Bit Electronix continues its partnership with ST, it keeps innovating with a strong focus on optimized power consumption to respect and address the challenges musicians face on the road. All of these innovations are driving the next wave of innovative sound effects and music, and Qu-Bit Electronix are just as excited about them as we are.