Dreadbox Artemis Goes Nuclear: Starsky Carr’s Analogue Bunker Test

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any nastier, firmware V1.2 arrives with a mod matrix that turns Artemis into a patching monster. Now you’ve got MPE support for those with a fancy controller and the ability to route CC74, so the Artemis will play nice with your wobbliest MIDI gear. The new BBD Resonator and BBD Playground effects add even more filth and swirl, making this box go from clean to chaos at the twist of a knob.

Updated reverbs and modulation effects are the kind of upgrades that actually make you want to update your firmware, not just tick a box. Everything’s modulatable in the patch, so you can go from lush clouds to grainy dirt without breaking a sweat. Starsky’s style is straight-up: he dives into each new feature, showing the real-world impact instead of reading the manual out loud. This is the sort of update that makes you want to skip work and stay in the studio all weekend.

Brace yourself—a seven-minute sound journey shows the Artemis in its natural habitat: from bare oscillator throbs to full-on stereo FX madness. Starsky starts with a two-oscillator patch, then slams it through filter sweeps, stereo detuning, and every Sinevibes effect in the arsenal. The results are gritty, wide, and occasionally unhinged—exactly the kind of thing you want from a modern Dreadbox.

There are hidden samples lurking in the demo, so keep your ears peeled if you want to play along at home. But let’s be real: no write-up can do justice to the full sweep of this sound journey. If you want to feel your face melt or spot the cheeky sample drops, you’ll have to watch the video yourself. Trust me—headphones mandatory.

So, is the Artemis actually worth three times the price of the Nymphes? Starsky lines them up for a no-BS A/B test: PWM, sawtooth, filters, drive, and raw tone all face the firing squad. The Nymphes holds its own for basic tones and simple modulations, but the Artemis just has more muscle everywhere—more immediate controls, more modulation, and a filter that can go from creamy to caustic without blinking.

Of course, the Nymphes is still a budget street weapon, especially if you just want classic Dreadbox grit and don’t need a spaceship’s worth of routing. But when it comes to flexibility and performance potential, the Artemis wipes the floor. You’re paying for hands-on chaos, not just more voices or effects.