Radikal Technologies was founded by Jurgen Korduletsch in 1995 in Kirchen, Germany. The company strated out as a distributor of the other electronic musical instrument maker production – Quasimidi which used to be popular. Quasimidi company was created in 1987 releasing MIDI keyboards and supplying other brands with its technical designs after which the company began to produce its own synthesizers and modules. Quasimidi projects were put into Radikal Technologies production.
When Spectralis came out Radikal Technologies gained popularity and earned the respect as an engineer of the best synth engines all over the world. The sound quality of the synthesizer is still as unique and unrepeatable as it was.
In 1999 Radikal Technologies inherited all the holy remnants of the Quasimidi and started to develop its own musical instrument production. The first product designed and launched by the brand in 2000 - SAC-2K – was a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) control panel which allowed integration with a computer. It also supported most popular DAWs such as Digital Performer, Logic Audio, Pyramix, Nuendo. Soon the design of the company became a true hit of the music market. The success was proven by the release of the powerful controller called SAC-2.2. It had small dimensions and fit any place you needed to put it. The controller included touch sensitive faders, a 31-segment rotary encoder which would give you the accurate amounts and values. Mixer-Mode buttons enabled an easy access to the instrument settings. Channel-Strip section made available many parameters simultaneously per selected sound track. The version can be integrated with other devices via MIDI and USB.
In 2004 the legendary Spectralis synthesizer came out and smashed the market – its possibilities could be compared to and even beat some studio in one instrument: professional monophonic hybrid synthesizer, groove box and sequencer. Asynth (4 digital oscillators) could be put through 2 analog filters; Dsynth (32-voice multisampling engine) – through the digital 2-pole multimode filter; complex sequencer operated with internal signals and parameters as well as external devices. Asynth supported bit reduction, oscillator sync, frequency and pulse-width modulation. The components were divided into 3 trigger groups each of which was controlled by sequencer individually. Trigger groups were a peculiar feature of Spectralis. Dsynth sported a 3-part multitimbrality. RAM could function with up to 128MB samples. Spectralis offered 2 sequencers: basic drum sequencer (11 drum samples) and more complex one which embraced not only already existing sounds and functions but could be interacted with external devices as well. Each of the 24 sequences could number up to 192 steps and be played in various modes. The instrument had a special Overdub function for real time recording. Jörg Schaaf, who used to work as a chief engineer in Quasimidi, was Spectralis developer. Now he’s the driving force of Radikal Technologies development.
The second version of the instrument, Spectralis 2, was devised in 2009. It reminds of its predecessor but comprises 4GB memory allowing you to store the huge number of sounds. Spectralis 2 came out with an updated operating system which fixed many bugs of the previous version. Anyway, Spectralis 2 lost some features concerning recording, LFO timing, sequencer mute and copy functions.
In 2011the new instrument was developed by the brand – Accelerator. It’s a polyphonic digital synthesizer with arpeggiator of the high quality and step sequencer. There are 3 oscillators, 2 multimode filters, 3-band equalizer and 6 envelope generators per voice. The instrument boasts of a wide range of its abilities from phase and ring modulation to noise generating with the help of multimode filter and flexible signal routing. The synthesizer has a quality, balanced and light 61-note keyboard with the split function and aftertouch effect. Accelerator is great during live performances thanks to special automated patch (uploaded or existing) selection.
The history of the company has also seen successful Eurorack modules production (since 2014). The models represent the stripped down Spectralis version keeping its best and most crucial components and functions such as filters and step sequencer. The first module of the series was called RT-451. The unit comprised a dual multimode filter capable of interacting or could be used individually as mono filters. The instrument could produce any kind of electronic sound and was popular among Drum&Bass music fans.
Radikal Technologies has been a successful synth making company for more than 20 years proving its motto - if it can be improved, let’s improve it.