Dreadbox, the analog synth maker based in Athens, Greece, has a new drum machine that is not really a drum machine. Alecto is a dual-voice analog percussion synthesizer, which means it builds every kick, snare, tom and metallic hit from scratch with oscillators and filters instead of playing back samples. It went live on November 3, and it is in stock now.
The name comes from Greek myth. Alecto was one of the Erinyes, the Furies, and her title was "the Unceasing." Dreadbox leans into that on purpose: the whole instrument is built around rhythms that keep shifting instead of looping the same bar forever.
Two voices, built from scratch
Each of the two voices has two analog oscillators with several waveforms and FM, short for frequency modulation, where one oscillator bends the pitch of the other to get clangy, bell-like and gritty tones. A white noise source with its own balance control sits next to them for snares, hats and breathy textures. Each voice then runs through dual analog filters and two envelope generators, the circuits that shape how a sound starts and fades.
The front panel keeps it hands-on. TUNE moves pitch and filter together, TIMBRE detunes the second oscillator and offsets the filter, and MORPH reshapes the character of the hit. There is a pitch envelope with a BEND amount for that classic dropping kick, a master DECAY, and a three-position high-pass filter switch. CLICK and ATTACK switches add snap to the front of a sound. The DRONE switch is the wild card: it turns off the envelope on the VCA, the voltage-controlled amplifier, so a voice stops being a hit and becomes a sustained tone you can play with.
Two sequencers that drift apart
Alecto has two independent trigger sequencers, one per voice, and they are polymetric. Each one has its own LENGTH and its own DIV control, which divides the clock, so you can set one voice to a pattern of five steps and the other to seven and let them slide against each other. The tempo runs from 30 all the way to 7680 BPM, beats per minute, which pushes past rhythm into audio-rate territory. A START button and a TRIG/RST button handle playback and resets.
There is also a wide-range LFO, a low-frequency oscillator used for slow, repeating movement, with a full-level square wave and an attenuated triangle wave, plus rate and depth controls.
The patchbay and the case
The patchbay has 21 patch points. Each voice gets CV inputs, short for control voltage, for TRIGGER, VELOCITY, TUNE, TIMBRE and MORPH, along with a BEND output. Both voices have their own outputs next to a MASTER out, and clock IN, START, RESET and OUT jacks let Alecto lead or follow other gear.
It ships as a 42 HP Eurorack module, HP being the horizontal pitch unit used to measure modular panels, inside its own case with a ribbon cable. That means it can sit on a desk powered over USB, with a 5 volt USB-A adapter rated at 1000 milliamps or more, or come out of the case and go straight into a modular rig. Dreadbox sells it two ways: as a solderless DIY kit or fully assembled.
Where to get it
Alecto is available now from the official Dreadbox shop, which says orders ship in two to four working days. It sits alongside the brand's other DIY kits and its synthesizers. Follow Dreadbox on YouTube and on Instagram for sound demos.
Why it matters
This one is Surfacing. Analog drum synthesis usually means either a big boxed drum machine or a wall of modules. Alecto splits the difference with two deep voices, a sequencer designed for patterns that never quite repeat, and a case that lets it live on a desk or in a rack. If you are getting started with modules, read our modular synth starter guide. For more analog rhythm, see the Erica Synths Konstrukt 8, and for the machine that started it all, the Roland TR-808 explained.
