Monastery Hungry Robot

Hungry Robot Monastery

The Monastery is a Dual Preset, Polyphonic Octave Generator that allows for simultaneous octave up and octave down with minimal latency and excellent tracking anywhere on the neck, even with multiple notes.  The Monastery is inspired by the rich, multi-layered, timbre of vintage organs with its subtle Leslie warble. 

The Monastery features highly intuitive controls.  I deviated from the standard three knob “Dry,Up,Down” controls used in many octave pedals and went for a more intelligent crossfade/pan arrangement.  The biggest advantage of this setup is that the volume remains at unity-gain no matter where you set the knobs.  The left knobs are the “Dry/Wet” controls.  They adjust the ratio of wet and dry and can go from 100% wet to 100% dry with an even split at twelve o’clock.  The right knobs are the “+/-” knobs.  They work in a similar matter, but control the ratio of octave up and octave down. 

The most compelling aspect of The Monastery is the dual preset function.  You can seamlessly cycle between two presets with the right footswitch.  The top LED denotes which row of controls is active.  If the LED is lit, the top row of knobs is active.  If the LED is unlit, the bottom row is active.