Analogue Solutions Filtopia

A fully analog, monophonic hardware synthesizer from UK boutique maker analogue-solutions, hand-built and limited to 200 units at £1,799. Its defining trait — and its name — is a parallel filterbank: five analog filters wired in parallel rather than the usual single serial VCF.

Sound sources

Three multi-waveform VCOs with PWM, hard sync, and cross-modulation (XMOD), plus two sub-oscillators, a noise source, ring modulation, and a small pre-filter mixer. An external audio input can be run through the filterbank, so the synth doubles as a standalone filter processor.

The parallel filterbank

The five resonant filters split as one LP/HP multimode, three bandpass, and one BP/LP filter. Filters 1 and 5 sweep cutoff; the middle three use offset controls. Because the three VCOs can be routed to different filters independently, the synth produces formant / vocal-style timbres that a single serial filter can’t — the parallel bank is the whole point, and what separates it from a conventional synthesizer with a single serial filter. See modular-routing for why parallel-vs-serial matters.

Modulation & output

Three ADSR envelopes, two multi-wave LFOs, and an 8-step CV sequencer with per-step pitch. Output is two stereo VCAs (high headroom) with an onboard solid-state delay/echo (time, feedback, level). Connectivity: MIDI In/Thru over 5-pin DIN (converted to CV internally — no MIDI out for the sequencer), stereo 6.3mm outs, and patch points for extra modulation.

Provenance & availability

Covered by Synth Anatomy and corroborated by a second write-up on gearnews.com (https://www.gearnews.com/analogue-solutions-filtopia-synth/), which confirmed the specs and noted the run was nearly sold out (≈4 units left) at publication. Two vendor-adjacent press write-ups → T3; specs are the makers’/press’s, not independently measured.