Produkt Audio’s Kobol Expander Deep Dive: No Knob Left Unturned

Produkt Audio doesn’t waste time with pleasantries—the Behringer Kobol Expander lands on the bench and immediately gets the forensic treatment. Forget the usual synth fluff: this is a methodical, knob-by-knob strip-down that exposes what makes the Kobol more than just another analog clone. The host promises a PhD-level understanding by the end, and from the first moments, it’s clear that every switch, jack, and oddball feature will be put under the microscope.

What sets the Kobol Expander apart? For starters, its oscillator section is a playground of unique waveforms and crossfades, with a panel layout that’s as much puzzle as it is instrument. Produkt Audio’s style is clinical but never dry—each control is explained with the kind of detail that makes you want to reach for your own unit and follow along. If you’re after a synth that rewards curiosity (and a bit of patience), this one’s got you covered.

The tutorial splits the Kobol into two battlegrounds: the Main Panel, where you get your classic analog action with zero patch cables, and the Patch Bay, where things get semi-modular and slightly unhinged. Produkt Audio walks through the Main Panel first, showing how you can wring a surprising range of sounds from the oscillators, filter, envelopes, and LFO—no spaghetti required. Even here, quirks abound: the PWM section is a bit of a diva, and tuning isn’t exactly idiot-proof, but the results are worth the effort.

Once the cables come out, the Kobol’s true personality emerges. The Patch Bay transforms the synth into a voltage playground, letting you reroute, overdrive, and generally abuse the signal path in ways that would make a purist blush. Produkt Audio’s approach is hands-on and practical, with every patch demonstrated and explained. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you feed the audio out back into the filter, or use the voltage processor for gain-staging chaos, this is your roadmap.

Here’s where the Kobol Expander earns its street cred. Produkt Audio dives into the voltage processor, showing how it’s not just for CV but can mangle audio with the best of them. The patch points are explored with surgical precision—LFOs get rerouted, envelopes escape their default assignments, and noise becomes a weapon. The voltage processor’s dual gain stages allow for everything from subtle modulation to full-on toaster-fight distortion, and the host demonstrates how to chain these for maximum effect.

The real fun starts when patching gets creative: LFOs modulate filter cutoff, envelopes sweep oscillator pitch, and noise is pressed into service as a control source. Produkt Audio doesn’t just patch for the sake of it—each example is musical, showing how these tricks translate to actual tracks. If you want to see the Kobol Expander pushed to its limits, this section is pure gold. Of course, some of the wildest sounds and patching gymnastics are best experienced with your own ears—so don’t expect every secret to be spoiled in text.

Produkt Audio takes a scalpel to the Kobol’s key sound-shaping tools. Pulse Width Modulation isn’t just a checkbox here—it’s a multi-mode, LFO-and-envelope-driven beast that can get quirky but delivers thick, shifting tones when dialled in right. The filter section is classic 24dB low-pass, but with a resonance that’ll self-oscillate and a keyboard tracking circuit that’s more flexible than it looks. Envelopes are streamlined ADS, with a decay switch that toggles between snappy percussion and lush, ringing tails.

The host doesn’t waste time on synthesis basics—if you don’t know your ADS from your elbow, look elsewhere. Instead, the focus is on how these controls interact, especially when combined with patching. Produkt Audio’s explanations are direct, highlighting the quirks (like inverted envelope amounts and non-linear responses) that give the Kobol its character. This is the section where you’ll pick up the gritty tricks that separate a bland patch from a dancefloor weapon.