
Dutch producer and synth master Legowelt has revealed his DIY creation, the Star Shepherd. Modded, hacked and built from old guitar pedals and a keyboard, it’s customised synthcraft at its best.
Keen on building your own synth? You should check out the Star Shepherd by Legowelt. He cobbled it together with stompboxes, a keyboard and a lot of tape.
The synth itself consists of various pedals, EQ boxes, a small AM radio and a 1981 Casio 403 keyboard. The case is a construction of cheap plywood, held together with screws and sticky tape.
To create its signal path, Legowelt employed pitchshifters, harmonizers and sub-octavers for the oscillator section, then added a graphic EQ pedal to create complex harmonic overtones.
Then the signal is directed through a swag of effects, including analog delays, reverbs, tremolos and vibratos – which acts as the synth’s LFO – with the AM radio providing a random noise source.
And if you don’t care for the rough aesthetic of the Star Shepherd, the sound of the cosmic drone that Legowelt shows off in his demo should leave you with no doubt about its quality.
Headover to Legowelt’s website for more info.