The Leipzig-k keyboard design brief was simple; design a keyboard in the true spirit of vintage keyboard monosynths. There’s plenty of rack analogues and digital modelling keyboard synths around, but very few new true analogue keyboards. We aimed to design a keyboard monosynth that looked like it has been beemed back from the past. True, it has an LCD to edit the MIDI functions, but why make life hard! Thick wooden end panels and top panel wood and aluminium spun knob-caps add to the effect. Details such as this don’t come cheap, but the added cost of the hardware to get the right hardware was not omitted or the design compromised. I wanted to design a synth that truly looked the part and had all those classic vintage synth details, and no expensive or time has been spared to bring that. The quality of design, workmanship and detailing is all of top quality. The case is rugged 1.2mm steel, thick wood sides, powder coated metal, silk-screened legend, aluminium apped knobs and more.
So Leipzig looks the part, but it sounds good too. Pure analogue throughout. Discrete transistor, resistor, capacitor design. The only ICs are as you would expect; op-amps and transconductance amps. Of course there is digital circuits; the MIDI circuits, but I think you can forgive us for that! It’s somehow comforting to know that if you open up this synth you will see thousands of discrete components and not just some giany DSP chip! If oyu had the knowledge (and were prepared to lose your warranty) then you could open up the synth and circuit-bend it as you wish, disect your way into the sound or CV path.
The Leipzig-k is more than just a Leipzig rack with a keyboard. An extra LFO/VCA has been added. The depth of the LFO is controlled via the Mod Wheel. A headphone output has been added. CV/CV2/Gate inputs and outputs making this an ideal analogue synth controller keyboard.
