Impressions of the Dominion X monosynth

[marino]

 

A student of mine was looking for his first real analog synth, so when I came across a slightly used MFB Dominion X for 600 Euros, I recommended it to him. He bought it, and left it at my place for a while. So I tried (in my very limited time) to familiarize with it. I liked it quite a lot, and thought to write a report for my fellow synth maniacs. I'll post this review at GS too.

 

 

WHAT IT IS

 

The Dominion X is a mono analog synth module from German manufacturer MFB. It has lots of knobs, and 128 onboard memories. Its normally driven via MIDI, but connections are provided for connecting external modules for CV control. It small, its sexy, it has a whole bunch of features including three VCOs, FM, ring, sync, a multimode filter with six modes, etc. - and it sounds very good.

Price for a new Dominion X is 780 Euros inside the EU, or 700 Euros outside. Theres also an upcoming version with a different filter called SED, for 840 Euros in Europe.

 

 

 

OVERVIEW

 

The Dominion X is presented in a rather attractive box, with wooden sides and a black panel. Its almost alarmingly light, but it feels robust nonetheless. On the back are located the external connections: A single (mono) audio out, an insert TRS jack for external effects, MIDI connections (in-out-thru), and the socket for the (insert profanity here) external power supply, plus an on-off switch.

An overview of the panel shows the various sections logically divided and labeled (vcos, envelopes, etc.), and on the upper edge you have minijacks for CV control of several functions, which allow you to connect external analog modules conforming to the 1-volt-per-octave standard. The jacks address CV control of the individual VCOs (to control one of the oscillators with a different keyboard or sequencer, for example), a gate signal to start the envelopes, oscillator FM, oscillator sync, VCF cutoff, VCA level, and an input for an external audio signal, which replaces the noise generator in the Dominions mixer. Great.

 

The sections on the panel are clearly labeled, but what happens inside those sections could be difficult to understand at first. There are are two reasons for this: First, the writings on the panel is quite small, and at less-than-optimal viewing angles they can be easily covered to the sight by the knob themselves, which are rather packed together; second, whats written on the panel sometimes doesnt explain clearly whats going on, so you have to keep the (very sketchy) manual handy in order to understand what youre doing. To be fair, this only happens on a bunch of parameters, so its not difficult to memorize the meaning of those settings - but its annoying nonetheless.

For example, for the sync functions, you have to keep in mind that the master oscillator is always VCO1; for FM, VCO3 is the modulator; on the two main LFOs, theres a four-stage pushbutton which changes a LEDs color to indicate various modes of use, but no indication of their meaning on the panel. I guess it s been done to save panel space, but still.

 

Theres one more thing you have to take into account when programming the Dominion X: The various modulation sources and amounts are set *at the destination module*. For example, you set LFO1 modulation of VCO1 frequency inside the VCO1 section, *not* from the LFO1 section. You also set the mod amount from there. A bit unusual if you ask me, but easy to grasp after a bit of practice. However, if summed with the occasionally cryptic writing, it could cause some head-scratching during the learning period.

 

Now about those pots and selectors. They feel way better than previous MFB products. But while they feel solid and offer a good deal of resistance (even too much), its way too easy to push them out of alignment, so that the indications on the panel arent in line with those on the knobs anymore. This happen especially with the selectors. Its not the end of the world: After a while, you just learn to be gentle when turning those knobs. But it doesnt contribute to a sense of trust in the instruments solidity.

 

Despite all these remarks, the Dominion *does* feel good. It feels like an integrated instrument, with a definite personality. Thats important in my opinion; if your instrument has an identity, its much easier to establish a relationship with it.

Lets have a look at the individual sections.

 

 

OSCILLATORS

 

There are three nearly identical sections, one for each VCO. From right to left (huh?!) you have a waveform selector (triangle, sawtooth, pulse/square, ring mod), a tuning knob, an octave selector, plus a pair of knobs to select a modulation source, and to set a modulation amount.

Whats really great is that you can modulate wave symmetry not only for the pulse wave, but for the other waves as well! Sweeping a sawtooth to a triangle or vice-versa sounds particularly dramatic. The triangle wave itself sweeps to a sine wave, so its not as noticeable. The pulse wave itself sounds very good when swept. Ad of course, you can also alter wave symmetry manually, and leave it at any particular interpolation value.

You can *only* modulate wave symmetry from LFO1. Time to realize one important thing: Theres no modulation matrix on this machine. The modulations they thought of are the modulations youre left with. The possibilities are vast, though; its not a closed machine by any means. Example: What if you want/need to modulate wave symmetry with an envelope instead of LFO1? Simple: You put LFO1 in One Shot mode, set it to a reverse saw wave, and set its speed. Done! You have a pseudo-envelope driving your modulation.

 

Whats not so great: The knobs, once again, arent very precise. To set appropriate tuning (or detuning) of the oscillators is not always easy. Same for centering the square wave.

Also, the selector for choosing the mod source is rather cryptic. Judge for yourself:

 

LEVEL = level modulation by LFO1

PITCH 1 = pitch modulation by LFO1

PITCH 2 = pitch modulation by LFO2

ADSR 1 = pitch modulation by ADSR1

PWM = symmetry modulation by LFO1

PW = this allows manual modulation of symmetry

 

As you can see, sometimes it shows the mod source, sometimes whats modulated. Once again, its not difficult to memorize, but you ask yourself if perhaps there would have been a clearer way.

 

How these oscs sound? Quite good to my ears, though not among the absolute best. They seem to have a slightly pushed character, so they arent sweet, fat and moogy even though you *can* extract some Moogism from this instrument, with a bit of thought. They sound like a few other modern analog oscillators: Thick, edgy, aggressive. Overdriving the mixer by keeping the osc levels high gives them even more thickness. And then theres the feedback circuit, as well see in the Filter section.

 

And then theres ring mod, and it sounds quite good. Wether you use it to thicken a sound, or to create explosions of inharmonic partials, it sounds rich and satisfying.

 

 

SYNC

 

As I said before, you have to know in advance that VCO1 is always used as the master oscillator for sync, as its not written on the panel. It can synchronize VCO2, VCO3, or both. Oscillator sync on the Dominion X sounds superb. I would even say its one of the synths main strenghts. Intense and penetrating, without becoming unpleasant. Modulate VCO frequency with an LFO or envelope, add a sweep of the resonant bandpass, put a bit of ring mod on top, and you have some*serious* timbral sweeping.

 

 

FM

 

Close to the Sync section is the Frequency Modulation section. Thats audio rate FM between VCOs. Once again, you are supposed to know that VCO3 is always the modulator. You can choose VCO1, VCO2 or both as the carrier(s), and you set the modulation index with a dedicated knob. Ive never been a huge fan of analog FM, but with a bit of experimentation with the frequency relationship between the carrier and the modulator, you get results that can vary from slightly metallic to sideband madness.

Whats cool in the Dominion X is the fact that you can use all those audio-rate modulations at once. With FM, ring mod and sync going on at the same time, you can achieve really extreme sounds and effects. Add some white noise, plus some interesting settings of filter, resonance and feedback, and you are in *very* complex sci-fi territory. And dont forget that the VCF can be audio-rate modulated by VCO2 and 3, too!

My only complaint is that I havent found a way to disengage one of the VCOs from keyboard control consequently, some of the classic FM sounds arent possible.

 

 

 

FILTER

 

Or, better said, filters. The filter on the X is a multimode with three types of lowpass (24,18, od 12 db per octave), plus a bandpass, a notch (band-reject) and a highpass. You can only select one type at a time. Resonance go nicely into auto-oscillation, and sounds good without thinning out the sound. The knob for setting the envelope amount to the filter is labeled Contour like in the Minimoog. Keyboard tracking is provided in three steps: 0%, 50% and 100%. I would have preferred a continuous pot for that function but whats strange is that the keyboard tracking seems to have an effect on the filter even when the cutoff is set at its maximum value! Its not a subtle thing; you fully open the filter, and you get a certain response... then when you engage tracking, it gets *much* brighter. Someone could consider it a musically sensible choice but what you do if you want your filter fully open *and* no key tracking?! Mmm.

Finally, the response of filter envelope can be inverted. Good.

 

A separate section selects a modulation source for the filter, and sets a modulation amount for that. The possible modulation sources are LFO1, LFO2, VCO2, or VCO3. The two kinds of modulation (from LFO or VCO) are, of course, much different in result: With the audio oscs, you will achieve a timbre modulation, not a cyclic one (well, it *is* cyclic, but the ear cant discern it). So having them in one single selector could be a bit confusing if you dont know exacly whats going on.

Only one modulation of the filter can be selected at one time except of course for the hard-wired filter envelope. So if youre modulating the filter with an LFO, you cant have audio-rate modulation from a VCO at the same time.

 

So how those filters sound? To my ears, great. Again, they sound a bit pushy, like a small amount of saturation was applied not so much to break the sound, but enough to make it thick. So the result is often full and aggressive, and in almost no case bland or generic.

Plus, the filters seem to match the sound of the oscillators quite well, for a compact and recognizable final sound.

 

Whats interesting is that the three types of lowpass filter have quite different sonic characters. In fact, I found that in some situations, the 12 db filter responds more like the 24, while the 18 has a completely different personality! A good thing to me, as it offers you more choices.

Overall, the Dominion filter is clearly not made to sound sweet and creamy, but you *can* achieve respectable results in that direction too. Its not always piercing and aggressive; it has so many variables that with a bit of thought, you can use it for a myriad of functions.

 

To add to the treat, theres the Feedback knob, which routes the overall output sound back to the filter input. This not only saturates the timbre further, but also alters the response of the resonance on the various filters greatly. With experimentation, you can achieve a huge palette of sounds, playing with the interaction of filter type, cutoff, resonance, envelope amount and feedback amount.

The feedback amount is not modulatable, unfortunately.

 

 

ENVELOPES

 

There are two ADSR envelopes, one hardwired to filter modulation, and the other to the VCA. The filter envelope can also be used to modulate the frequency of one of more VCOs. These envelopes are really fast: Percussive sounds with aggressive snap are very easy to achieve. The attack and decay times have a nice range; Im not sure if I love the way their relative knobs are scaled, but its just a matter of getting acquainted with it.

More serious is the fact that its quite difficult to perform very small adjustments with precision, and the fact that theres no visual feedback from the display doesnt help. As for the VCO frequency knobs, very precise settings, or simply trying to reset these knobs to an original value, is difficult, especially in the fast range.

Also, when using medium/slow attack settings, in certain situations you get a slight clicking sound at note-on. This is perhaps a result of allowing the attacks to be so fast; a choice of fast or normal mode could have helped here.

That said, these envelopes sound lovely. They have a nice curve (slightly exponential?), and being so quick and responsive, playing with those settings is a treat.

 

 

LFOs

 

There are two main LFOs, plus a third one which is hardwired to be controlled by the mod wheel. The two main ones are identical; since on the Dominion X you set the modulations at the destination, for each LFO you just have a selector for waveform, a pot for rate/frequency, and a pushbutton which selects among four different LFO behaviors.

Lets have a look at the waveforms list: sine, triangle, saw, reverse saw, square, and sample/hold. Excellent. Rate goes from extremely slow into audio range. Great!

Now about those different modes.... theyre very useful, but like a few other functions on the Dominion X, theres no way to guess what they are by looking at the front panel or the display; you have to have the manual handy.

Enough complaining. The four modes are:

1) Free-run

2) Sync to note-on (the waveform cycle restarts with each incoming MIDI note)

3) Free-run with LFO speed increasing as you play higher notes

4) Sync to note-on, *and* speed increasing with higher notes.

The amount of speed increase is fixed, and a bit brutal to my ears, at least for melodic uses... but of course, it could be just what you need for other kinds of use.

 

Whats really great is that the two main LFOs can be used as simple envelopes, when put in One Shot mode. This function is found in the Programming section, but of course it belongs to the LFO section, so Ill talk about it here. In short, you can individually switch the two main LFOs to go thru one waveform cycle and stop there. If you need a third envelope for modulating VCO or VCF frequency, this is the next best thing. Reasonably, the One Shot function is only available when the LFO is in one of the Sync to note on modes.

 

About that third LFO (which MFB calls Mod LFO): It only produces a sine wave, of which the mod wheel controls the amplitude. Rate is set by a dedicated knob, and it has a wide range. It can modulate a variety of destinations: Global pitch, VCO2 pitch only, VCO2+3, VCF cutoff, VCA volume. Great, although only one destination can be selected at a time.

 

Its wonderful to have the third LFO, but theres a potential problem here: The range of LFO amplitudes is scaled on the mod wheel response in such a way that a very slight movement of the wheel produces a very noticeable vibrato. Once again, it could be useful for other LFO uses to have this particular response, but for vibratoes and such, which is presumably one of the most common uses of the mod wheel, its definitely a problem. Theres no way to attenuate/calibrate this response, so it becomes difficult to introduce exactly the amount of vibrato that you intend especially when you think that this is the *only* way to introduce delayed vibrato to a sound.

 

 

PROGRAMMING

 

This is how MFB calls the parameters which havent found a place or section on the front panel, and are accessed by means of a 12-position selector, a data knob and a three-digit display.

The first selection is for browsing, recalling and storing presets. There are 128 presets divided in four banks. You only get to give your sounds a bank and a number; no fancy names allowed. Unfortunately, theres no compare button either.

Then you get to choose the MIDI channel to which the instrument responds.

The next choices are impressive. You have key velocity control over the following parameters: VCA (volume), VCF cutoff, resonance, VCF env amount, LFO 1 and/or 2 speed, wave symmetry of one or more VCOs, the times of either or both envelopes. The quantity of modulation is programmable, positive or negative, in variable amounts for each destination. Im impressed.

And it doesnt end here. On the next two selections, you have control over retriggering of the envelopes: Note-for-note or just when you play staccato.

Even more impressive are the options for glide. You have a choice of constant time/constant interval, legato/always present, and linear/exponential/logarithmic curve. And fortunately, the glide time is set by a dedicated knob.

This is great stuff! In the hands of a good programmer, it opens a myriad of choices for expressive playing. My hats is off to MFB for having included all these possibilities into a low-cost instrument.

Again, its not the same as having a mod matrix for modulating anything with anything; for example, theres no provisions for aftertouch. But if you think of the price and dimensions of the Dominion X, the designers have made sensible choices within the limits of the project. They seem to have privileged a great sound in a small package at an affordable cost, and this sounds good to my ears.

 

Finally, the last selection of the Programming section is the one which switches either or both the two main LFOs from continuous to One Shot mode and viceversa (see above).

 

 

 

GENERAL COSIDERATIONS

 

Strangely enough, the Dominion I played came with no factory presets on board; just 5 or 6 patches on the A bank, and not particularly distinctive. They could have been programmed by the previous owner, of course. The remaining memory locations were empty.

I think this was a good thing, as I started making sounds without preconceptions on how the machine should sound.

 

So how does it sound? The overall sound of the Dominion X is, generally speaking, big and aggressive. The naked sawtooth and pulse waves dont sound dull but rather full, the filters matches them very well, the resonance adds edge without subtracting character, the sync whistles and rotates merciless, and in fact the machine seems to give its best when a few audio-rate modulations are engaged. FM, ring mod, sync, filter FM, feedback, all contribute to an overall bright and piercing sound, with a great presence. Add a bit of delay and/or some other *good* effects, and youll have a very big sound.

 

As I said before, you *can* achieve more of a sweet, creamy sound with this synth just it doesnt seem to be its speciality. I have compared it with my MEK and my SE-1, and while I still prefer the overall sounds of those two (much different) synths, the MFB stands very well in the comparison, especially in a few areas like attack speed, filter versatilty, sync sound, where it seems to have an edge over the other two. I used to think that the MEK could achieve a very aggressive type of sound, until I played the Dominion X. Ive layered a few percussive-type sounds on the two machines for a seven-oscillator monster patch, with devastating results!

 

All in all, the little MFB sounds definitely like a modern analog.... a good one. Fat and strong, but also pushy, neat and in your face. If youre looking for a Moog or Oberheim sound, look elsewhere. It doesnt sound very dissimilar from a few other European analogs, like the Leipzig, or the Mono Lancet. But the Dominion has more features than those two, plus of course patch memory.

 

You must take into account its little quirks: You have to set it at the right angle to program it confortably. You have to be gentle with those pots, as they dont feel very stable. Youre supposed to memorize a few things in order to understand some of the settings. Critical adjustments like VCO detune and env attack time are not easy to set precisely. Sometimes the envelopes produce a click. The third LFO is hypersensitive to mod wheel movements. The manual, though complete, is *extremely* sketchy. And it has the dreaded EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY.

 

Then theres the thought that with all that complexity in the voice architecture, sometimes you are left wanting for more modulation possibilities. For example, you cant modulate LFO speed (except with note number, and at a fixed amount) or LFO amplitude. You cant use aftertouch for anything. And so on. Some of these limitations (though not all) can be remedied by connecting external modules to the jacks on the upper panel.

But once again, you have to consider that this is a low-cost machine. Finding another analog synth at this price with these great features *and* such a convincing sound is an impossible task. (See What it is above).

 

Would I consider to make the Dominion X my only analog monosynth? No, as I still prefer the ones I own (MEK, SE-1) for my own musical needs. But if money wasnt so tight, I would certainly consider adding it to my rig, to have another, different voice, more in-your-face and aggressive.

Programming the Dominion X is a real treat; I came up with two whole banks of patches in a few hours.

Of course, tastes in sound are very subjective, so I can only suggest to hear the little beast in person before committing to a purchase. But if you feel that it suits you music well, and if youre willing to live with its little idiosyncrasies, by all means get one. Its an instrument with a definite, complex personality, in a small package and at a great price.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[marino]

 

Almost forgot a picture:

 

http://www.carlomezzanotte.com/imm/DominionSmall.jpg

 

 

 

[mate stubb]

 

Theres one more thing you have to take into account when programming the Dominion X: The various modulation sources and amounts are set *at the destination module*. For example, you set LFO1 modulation of VCO1 frequency inside the VCO1 section, *not* from the LFO1 section. You also set the mod amount from there. A bit unusual if you ask me, but easy to grasp after a bit of practice.

 

To a modular user, that is absolutely normal. You patch your modulation, and set the amount with the CV input attenuator.

 

Great review BTW!

[marino]

Yeah, I know... on integrated synths, however, it seems to me that the tendency is the opposite. What's also a bit unusual is to see a selector at the destination module for setting the source, and not just an attenuator.

[marino]

I'm adding this post just to inform you that I've added some audio examples to my review above.

 

Here you can hear some of the patches that I made for the Dominion X. Just totally sloppy fiddling about while selecting patch numbers.

 

The audio is mono mp3 encoded at 256 kbps. No effect or eq has been used, just the output from the instrument. Of course, many dry sounds seem to demand some after-the-fact treatment... but I thought it was fair to give them in their naked glory.

 

When playing the file with WMP on my system, there's a nasty click at the beginning, plus a few softer ones later. I haven't been able to reproduce this when playing the file with Sound Forge, Cubase, or other programs. It's not in the audio file, so I guess some format incompatibility caused it. I have tried to re-encode the file multiple times, always with the same results... then I gave up and uploaded the file as it is.

 

Speaking of clicks - in some of the examples, you will hear clicks at the start of the notes. Those clicks are *not* induced by some stage of the audio recording/encoding like the previous ones: They are generated by the instrument. I have talked about those clicks in the "ENVELOPES" paragraph.

 

Also, I'd like to mention that this is most definitely the very last instrument review that I'm writing for the KC forum. The spirit of these reports has been to give info and opinions to my American friends about pieces of gear which are not so common on the other side of the ocean - but the complete lack of interest is not encouraging.

 

[Markyboard]

Also, I'd like to mention that this is most definitely the very last instrument review that I'm writing for the KC forum. The spirit of these reports has been to give info and opinions to my American friends about pieces of gear which are not so common on the other side of the ocean - but the complete lack of interest is not encouraging.

 

That's too bad for people like me. I really enjoyed reading your extremely thorough and well written review Carlo. I read it carefully twice and just opted not to comment since I had nothing too add. I did have thoughts throughout of comparing it to my fairly new Cwejman SK MK2. I need to get more time in my day and thus one of the reasons why I don't reply often. I'm betting there's more people than me here that are reading, appreciating and just not commenting. BTW this review brought me back to the Keyboard reviews from 15-20 years ago. Thanks for your efforts Carlo!

[MoodyBluesKeys]

@Carlo,

 

I have also enjoyed reading your reviews. Most of the items are devices that are not available to me, and I don't have a comment. However, please don't stop writing them - there is NOT a complete lack of interest. Thanks.

 

[Mike Martin]

Keyboard Magazine should print your review. Nice job Carlo.

[marino]

Well, thanks for the sympathy to all who have spent a few words, but since the latest couple of similar reports proceeded to slide into the back pages with almost no sign of interest (not to speak of the trouble that the previous one has caused to me... but that's another story), and since I usually write these things in my non-existent spare time (read, instead of getting a few hours of sleep), and in a foreign language, my feeling is that it's not really worth spending all this time and energy. After all, posting something like "that was useful/interesting to me", or even, "hey, I think you have written a pile of crap" shouldn't take very long.

 

Anyway, it's not often that I come across a new, interesting synthesizer to review, so who knows, until next time. Maybe a more condensed version.

 

 

[orangefunk]

Hey Carlos, Nice write up.

 

And Happy NY!

 

PS. I guess the lack of interest is across all forums these days and I rarely visit sites like I used to.... I think Facebook has a lot to answer for... (guilty as charged)

[NewImprov]

Hey Carlo, I understand why you wouldn't want to continue writing these reviews, it looks like a lot of work. But I, for one, really appreciate them. Especially for synths like this one that I will probably never see in a store. It looks like a fun box!

[humannoyed]

Carlo,

I also enjoy reading your impressions and reviews of new gear you ecounter. Sorry for failing to acknowledge that!

 

The Dominion X review was most thorough. I agree that Keyboard mag should publish it and slide you some cash for your efforts. :smile:

 

If I were to venture a guess... perhaps a little history of the company and audio examples of what you were describing in the review perhaps may have generated more interest in your first posting. Please note I am not telling you what you should have done, I am simply trying to make excuses for reasons why we may not have responded better.

 

 

[marino]

Well, I had meant to include audio examples on the original review... I added it as soon as I had a little time. Again, the lack of interest in the review wasn't encouraging in leading me to do it sooner.

 

I agree that a bit of history of previous MFB instruments would have helped my American friends to relate with the instrument in question. I guess I relied on the fact that there had been quite a lot of talking about the Dominion among synth fanatics, so I thought that the title was enough to let KC members know what it was.