Vermona trade mark belongs to HDB electronic GmbH located in Erlbach, Germany. The company produces musical instruments of the highest quality: modular synthesizers and effects processors, drum machines and etc. Vermona is an old stager on the musical instruments market.
In 1949 VEB Klingenthaler Harmonikawerke company was founded in GDR which became the leading accordion manufacturer in the East Germany. In 1964 VEB Vermona became the branch of VEB Klingenthaler Harmonikawerke company making electric organs and pianos. First logo of the brand appeared on Vermona instruments (ET 6 electric organs) only in 1972. Bernd Haller designs brought fame to the company: Phaser 80 and Vermona Synthesizer (based on popular Minimoog in 1980). Vermona synthesizer was a monophonic analog instrument comprising 2 VCOs. It also had all the basic sound editing possibilities and included analog 4-pole filter with 4 control parameters (Brilliance, CutOff, Resonance, Contour), one LFO for filter and oscillator section modulation and an amplifier with a standard ADSR. There were preset settings for VCF and VCA as well as manual settings entering mode but at that time the instrument couldn’t save patch settings due to the lack of memory; it didn’t have MIDI and CV/Gate implementation. The instrument sounded as any other classic analog one producing nice bass sounds and a bit less convincing strings. Anyway why would you be surprised with a 2-oscillator synthesizer with a limited programming ability; there was neither an arpeggiator or sequencer nor multitimbrality. Glide and vibrato effects were offered onboard. Although an attractive and accurate front panel layout, vintage wooden housing details and authentic analog sound made this instrument seem quite a decent one.
Due to the political and economical situation Vermona ceased production but in 2000 its revival was met with happy shout outs – Vermona was back on the market as a Thomas Buchheim’s company (he was a founder of Electronic GmbH HDB).
In 2001 Vermona launched Mephisto – quite a unique synthesizer. The analog instrument was to be released by Touched By Sound company which announced it in 2000. Mephisto was also to be released as a limited series numbering 500 units. Anyway the project was frozen and the instrument didn’t make through the prototype stage. It was meant to be a successor of Vermona produced in the 80s. The developers recreated and modernized the old sound making it relevant and stable. Mephisto had a 61-note keyboard with aftertouch. It included 6 voices of polyphony and 3 classic type VCOs, low pass and high pass filter, two ADSR envelopes as well as two LFOs for various parameters modulation. There are pink and white noise generators, ring modulator, glide effect, stereo input for the filter, CV/Gate and MIDI control. Among upgraded features there were effects processor, external memory card possibility and an updatable operating system. 37 control knobs would be enough for many other vintage analog synthesizers.
Released in 2002 dual analog stereo filter Vermona DAF-1 with two individual high pass and low pass filters for each channel and standard cutoff frequency and resonance control included 4 modes (Band, Notch, Parallel, where both are low pass, and Serial, with the effect of a 48dB filter). That’s how Serial mode allows putting the left channel output into the right one and send mono signal through all the 4 filters achieving a 96dB width which is actually quite amusing for an analog filter. Cutoff frequency of each filter is modulated with a built-in LFO. Vermona DAF-1 included CV input as well as TRS Mono/Stereo jacks. Unlike its impressive and multifunctional competitors – for example, Sherman and Mutator – DAF-1 seemed a more affordable product. This year Action Filter (AF-1) came out. It was meant first of all for live performances among both musicians and DJs. The unit took some specs from DAF-1 but featured smaller dimensions and only a 2-mode operating (Band, Notch). The instrument included Hi-Fi system. Plug-N-Play function responsible for integration with DJ equipment received positive feedback.
Analog mono/stereo phaser PH-16 made by the brand became a multi-purpose instrument producing a high quality sound. Because of the functions it’s often compared to Moogerfooger MF-103. PH-16 included 2 independent phasers operating in series and in parallel. Thoroughly elaborated circuitry of the instrument conduced to the clear sound with no noises. Rackmount device offers 16 stages so it could be used as a stereo phaser applying from 4 to 8 stages or a mono phaser if you apply 8-16. Depending on the number of the stages used the character of the sound alters giving a dynamics effect to PH-16. Phaser uses brand Vermona optocouplers which made the functioning of the device as pure as possible in the upper frequencies with no unwanted distortion. An integrated LFO can modulate phase shifts of the 2 phase units in 4 various ways. As an additional modulation source there’s a CV/EF section. PH-16 set its own quality standard on the market featuring intuitive user interface.
Perfourmer series synthesizers included a few enhanced versions. An analog instrument created specially for operating in real time mode is great for bass, lead sounds, pads and effects. It has a 4-voice polyphony, each voice with its individual channel and allotted VCO (6 waveforms + white noise generator), VCF (4-pole resonant low pass), VCA and LFO (4 waveforms). The envelope generator offers two ADSR for the filter and amplifier. Unlike a conventional synthesizer the approach to each voice is individual (a mono synth approach) – each voice is tweakable independently. Each channel has 2 sets of knobs which results in 18 knobs per channel while all the channels are identical. This method allows layering 4 different synthesizer sounds in a unique texture as well as creating independent multitimbral parts, for example, monophonic synth bass, synth lead and polyphonic pads. The synthesizer operates in 3 modes: unison stacks all the 4 voices in one monophonic synth sound, duophonic mode combines synth1 and synth 2 in №1 voice, synth 3 and synth 4 – in №2 voice, polyphonic mode offers amusing solutions for 4-voice polyphonic pads. Besides, there’s FM mode where synth 1 and 3 won’t generate their own voices but will modulate neighboring synth 2 and 4. Perfourmer can be used as a 4-channel filter bank. The main work with the synthesizer happens thanks to MIDI but there’s an option of 4 CV/Gate inputs for other analog equipment channel control. The synthesizer numbers 72 knobs but lacks onboard memory. The second version of the instrument, Perfourmer 2, differed from its predecessor with big dimensions and increased number of control knobs. Analog oscillator with 5 waveforms and noise generator are the solid basis of the instrument. Anyway the essence of Perfourmer 2 is in combination of its multiple synthesis channels giving practically unlimited possibilities to the synthesizer.
In 2010 Vermona Mono Lancet and Mono Lancet ’15 came out based on Perfourmer series functions and differing from the predecessor in portability. Modular Dock Eurorack was released as an expansion solution for the synthesizers – it included the set of various inputs for integration with the synthesizer. Two oscillators and noise generator are the backbone of Mono Lancet models. The instrument has a simple and intuitive user interface with ability to control each parameter.
Now Vermona products are released in a limited number but many musicians are attracted to the electronic musical instruments made by the brand paying respect to the deep-rooted traditions in quality music products making keeping Vermona popular on the market.