"I tried to picture clusters of information as they moved through the computer. What did they look like?" - Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, Tron: Legacy (2010)
We don't know who we might be updating with this statement, but we're living in a definitively digital world. Maybe you were cryogenically frozen or maybe you've just been busy, but our world is distinctly driven by the digital. We can see this just about anywhere, naturally, but for our own sake, let's talk about the world of musical instruments.
We've had decades of computers entering musical spaces, no surprise there. From synthesizers to emulators to MIDI and everywhere in between, there's very few – if any – places the musical world hasn't been peppered by the ones and zeroes. Was it inevitable? Who's to say? In any case, the musical world is no stranger to creation by the way of programs and software with some of the modern era's most prolific, daring, and dynamic music being the product of digital interfaces. Among these many interfaces are the works of California-based outfit Meris.
On today's chopping block, we have an evolution on one of the name's most popular and groundbreaking units. Let's picture clusters of information and ask, "What do they look like?"
This is the Meris Enzo X Modular Instrument Synthesizer.
Computer Love
Introducing the Meris Enzo X Modular Instrument Synthesizer
We can't properly introduce the Enzo X without first contextualizing its creators – the crack team at Meris. These digital effect wizards are responsible for some of the most forward-thinking digital effects units around today. Among their extensive and highly celebrated catalog are the Polymoon, Mercury7, and Ottobit Jr., though the story doesn't end there. In the last couple years, Meris has moved into even more daring territory with their new line of evolved "X" units – namely, the LVX Modular Delay System and MercuryX Modular Reverb System. Today's Enzo X enters the conversation with a similar philosophy to its other "X" brethren with extensive connectivity, personalization, and playability as main tenets in design with vast libraries of sound to explore.
Today's Enzo X sets out with a familiar goal to the LVX and MercuryX: expand on the capabilities of its predecessor and push the experience to new levels. We hate to spoil anything at the jump here, but the Enzo X hasn't been this hyped and anticipated for nothing – the original Enzo was a definite fan favorite for soundscapers, sonic tinkerers, and synth and guitar fans alike, so how does its older brother (or younger brother?) shape up? Let's get into it.
A Meris Heiress
Meris Enzo X Workflow and Controls
The Meris Enzo X is a library of synthesized sounds controlled by either guitar or MIDI signals. A six-voiced polyphonic synth unit, the Enzo X prides itself on being a thoroughly fluid, expressive, and powerful piece that breaks from synth unit conventions. There's usual sorts of preconceptions that can come to mind when we talk about synthesizer guitar pedals – the Meris Enzo X seeks to deconstruct all of them. The Enzo X does not need any additional pickup hardware to be played with a guitar. A common characteristic of more involved synth guitar pedals and units, the Meris Enzo X operates for guitar players how they most commonly interact with their gear: entering from the deep end. In essence, don't worry about this pedal not being guitarist-friendly. We'll get into that more later.
With the Enzo X, we are certainly not starting from zero. There's quite a bit of power and character that the Enzo X is inheriting from its smaller-scaled sibling. Before we get into all of that, let's discuss what's new to the core experience of the Enzo X.
More Like "Man, You Diving?"From the get-go, you can see that we're not in Kansas anymore. Surely familiar to players of the LVX and MercuryX, we have a new control interface with a bright display screen, seven front-facing dials, and four footswitches. What we think shouldn't be missed in any discussion of the Enzo X, and therefore we'll say at the onset here, is that the Enzo X is very intuitively workable from the start with this interface. Though the Enzo X might look like similar contemporary units with their complex menu diving and interface navigation – and while there is plenty of exploring to do with such diving – that is not the totality of the Enzo X's experience.
Turning on the Enzo X and entering its interface at its most basic, there is plenty to do with it. The Enzo X, among its seven front-facing dials, features many opportunities to adjust parameters and create new sounds in tactile ways. Again, this is part of the Enzo X's experience not being so dependent on menu diving.
For starters, on the Enzo X, we have four dedicated dials each doing one thing across all of its synthesizing modes. Dials for Pitch, Filter, Modulation, and Level all deliver consistently across each synth mode the Enzo X carries. These all work in intuitive, familiar ways for different synth voicings, so there aren't many surprises to get into just yet.
The Meris Enzo X operates with an internal bank system of synthesizer modes navigated by its first three footswitches. How this operates is through the combined pressing of either the first and second footswitch or the second and third footswitch to move up and down through the Enzo X's bank system. Synth mode presets load in three at a time, as depicted by the display screen, and are accessed then by the first, second, and third footswitches. In short, enter a bank of three presets and click into one of those three with a dedicated footswitch. Easy, right?
Through this mode of interaction, the Enzo X is not only intuitive, but particularly guitarist-friendly. Visualizing parameter changes through the front-facing display screen and accessing preset banks through a very visually intuitive and responsive system makes the Enzo X particularly good for performance on the stage or in the studio.
Human After All
Meris Enzo X Sounds and Tones
Once we've entered the Enzo X's world through its intuitive navigation and control system, then we can start talking about its sounds.
The Meris Enzo X offers, from the very start, a robust library of expressive, colorful, and downright thrilling synth sounds propelled by versatile playability though your instrument of choice. With the Enzo X, we are treated to many different flavors of synthesized sound from vintage-inspired to thoroughly modern. The Enzo X loads in its original Mono, Poly, Arpeggiator and Dry modes for fans of its original synthesized tonality, yet effortlessly expands on them without losing what made them fan favorites in the first place. While the original Enzo is still very much intact in the Enzo X, that's not the whole reason we're here, now is it?
Enter the Meris Enzo X and you'll be met with synth modes that lift off effortlessly. If you're tepid about synth pedals or their capacity to get you going effectively, worry not, the Enzo X has you covered. The Enzo X's early library of pre-built synth modes gets you rolling with its tones and interactivity seamlessly. Take on the Enzo X and hit the fast lane with self-propelling arpeggiator engines, expansive polyphonic engines, drilling monophonic engines, and more to not only achieve your standby synthesizer foundations but get involved and create your own. The Enzo X features extensive configurations of oscillators and filters to shape sounds the way you want to – again – all within the intuitive bounds of the pedal itself. The Enzo X effortlessly hits that sweet spot of deeply interactive and customizable without getting in the way of on-the-fly creativity, playability and inspiration.
Dial "M" for "Meris"
Meris Enzo X Functions and Connections
How does one tame the digital frontier? Well, if you're Meris, you've got a few ideas.
The Meris Enzo X is extensively equipped to operate through a suite of control schemes and equipment alongside modern considerations for connection and routing. The Enzo X is again, playable fully in six-voice polyphony without any external pickup system with an electric guitar. This however, is not the end of the Enzo X's story. Utilizing MIDI connection, the Enzo X can be played with a keyboard, effectively making it a two-in-one guitar effect pedal and synthesizer module. In non-synth nerd terms (or for that one guy in disaster movies that says "English, please!"), grab a MIDI keyboard and make a piecemeal digital synthesizer for yourself. Admittedly, this would be a pretty easy way of getting into synthesis for the first time, if you're curious.
Along with this capability to play stringless, the Enzo X punches in with plenty to connect into the most modern and intricate of setups. Stereo in and out connections make for the most foundational of entry points for all you stereo sticklers out there. An expression input allows for the external control of parameters via any number of expression controllers. MIDI implementation goes even further than just keyboard connection for parameter controls, onboard preset data send and receive, and clock syncing. If it's not clear already, we've got an extensively enabled synth unit on our hands here. If you've got a stereo-connected, expression-enabled, MIDI controlled dream, Meris is here to make that dream a reality.
Meris Enzo X Modular Instrument Synthesizer Final Thoughts
As we've explored, the Enzo X is a definite push ahead for synthesizer effect pedals. Essentially a full effect computer itself, Meris has certainly advanced the game and given us plenty to chew on for, at very least, the near future. This isn't even to mention the USB-C connection, hinting at future firmware updates. It's rare to see a company expand their bounds in such a way to loop in a whole new field of musicmaking altogether, what with the Enzo X's functionality as a guitar pedal and synthesizer module, but can we complain? Why would we?
It's clear through the Enzo X that Meris has pictured what their data looks and sounds like. Their skills as digital architects have certainly come to fruition as their vision translates seamlessly. The frame is vast and the vision is detailed, in short, the picture is complete. Meris is a mirror and the Enzo X is a reflection. A reflection of what? You tell us.
