Ciat-Lonbarde Peterlin

Dressed in their signature banana jack-laden wooden enclosure, the Peterlin is Ciat-Lonbarde’s take on the Benjolin: a tribute to the synthesizer designs of Rob Hordijk. Deceptively simple in appearance, the Peterlin is a highly interconnected instrument containing two oscillators, a resonant lowpass filter, and Peter Blasser’s take on the infamous Rungler circuit. Clocked by one oscillator, the Rungler is a shift register feeding upon not only its own output, but also listening to the output of the other oscillator to further influence its data with feedback chaos. As the Rungler’s CV output is then fed into the oscillators and filter, a range of hefty drones and chaotic noise is possible. Of course, the Ciat-Lonbarde take on this classic experimental instrument is filled with its own mysteries.

Beginning at the top left of Peterlin and rotating clockwise, the four outer knobs correspond to the base settings of the non-Rungler sections: oscillator pitch A, oscillator pitch B, filter cutoff, and filter resonance. Their associated blue banana jacks are CV inputs, allowing for patched modulations from the Peterlin itself or external sources. The left oscillator features a slightly lower frequency range, but both offer square wave outputs on their red jacks, and triangle waveforms on their orange jacks. The grey jack produces the Rungler CV output, while the white produces the post-filter signal—and of course, black is for establishing common ground with other synthesizers.

In the middle of Peterlin are four knobs that route the Rungler and other CV signals across the instrument, and it’s here that the nuance of its chaotic nature is most clear. The top three knobs allow the Rungler to influence the left and right oscillators as well as the filter cutoff, while the bottom is filter cutoff modulation from the left oscillator. It’s a bit of a stretch to call the Peterlin tame even when these controls are all the way down, but begin to turn any combination of them up and you’ll be treated to an assortment of bleeps and bloops, chaotic hisses, or ominous gurgles.

As with all other Ciat-Lonbarde instruments, you’ll find a minijack stereo output at the top—Peterlin is mono, but the jack is stereo as a courtesy for headphone users. And if you’d like to Peterlin-ify your other instruments, you’ll find a minijack input on the bottom for external processing through the filter. Ciat-Lonbarde’s new iteration of the classic Benjolin concept is one of the most compelling yet, and provides plenty of knob-tweaking fun.

Peterlin Features

New design inspired by one of Rob Hordijk’s most famous instruments
Compact wooden enclosure
Dual oscillators, lowpass filter controlled by Rungler chaotic shift register
Middle controls route Rungler back into oscillators and filters
CV inputs for oscillator pitches and filter cutoff
Square wave outputs on red, triangle on orange
Rungler CV output on grey
Cross-mod oscillator output on white
Black banana for common ground
Minijack audio input and output
Can be powered via 9V battery or external 12V power supply (see specifications for details)
Note: external power supply is not included