Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Japan's Bananana Effects have finally released the intriguing near-zero-latency Quimera Polyphonic Synthesizer / Sound Designer
Key Points
Japan's Bananana Effects released the near-zero-latency Quimera Polyphonic Synthesizer / Sound Designer for guitar, bass or mic; compared to Boss SY-1000 ($1,319) and Meris Enzo X ($599). As of 2026-07-13, the price was £349.
Polyphonic tracking: tracking every 5ms; total latency 12.5ms. 2 independent oscillators, 3 oscillator engines, 20 hard-syncable waveforms, 30 morphing wavetables, 30 samples. 2 LFOs, 3 ADSR engines, envelope follower, 128 presets.
Multi-FX (Drive, MOD, Delay, Reverb). Controls: top quick-access buttons, V1–V4 variables, footswitches with A/B/C banks. I/O: Input, Dry Out, Wet Out, MIDI In/Out, Expression, USB‑C; 9V DC 400mA.
While obviously a DSP / digital product - the Quimera (Chimera!) has very analog sensibilities in terms of how you build up those sounds - in the most elemental synthesis component fashion - Oscillators and LFO’s, Resonant Filters, Modifiers and FX. This is for proper synthesizer aficionados who want to bring minimal latency synthesis to their guitar, bass or vocals.
This is in the ballpark of the flagship Boss SY-1000 and Meris Enzo X Synthesizer pedals - which also have a component building blocks / sound design nature. The Quimera (Chimera) is just $399 - compared to the SY-1000 at $1,319, and the Enzo X at $599. Each is somewhat different and distinct - but they also have a fair degree of overlap.
I always talk about finding your own lane for particular effects categories - and for Synth Pedals mine is kind of Boss SY-200 territory, also those EHX ones, and that Keeley one - basically 1590BB equivalent boxes. For some it will be Boss’s SY-1 or one of those many compact Subdecay types. So each has to decide how much space and complexity they wish to allocate for each genre pedal. I for instance favour Workstation pedals in particular for Delays, Reverb and Multi-Modulators.
Quimera Controls - Top Quick Access Push Buttons } LFO/ENV, MOD, SAMPLE, SCOPE/UTILITY, PRESET, OSC, LEVEL/TRACKER, FILTER, ADSR (Attack Decay Sustain Release), FX, Variable Params } V1, V2, V3, V4, Footswitches } Left / Preset 1/A / Function, Centre / Preset 2/A / Function, Right / Preset 3/C / Function, Left + Right select Bank Mode.
Ports - Input, Dry Out, Wet Out, MIDI Out, MIDI In, EXPression, UBS-C, 9V DC [-] 400mA
Functional Elements
OSC : Oscillator
- Oscillators : Hardsync / Morphing / Sampler / Tune
LEVEL
- Sensitivity, Compression, Dry, Wet
TRACKER
- Octave, Chromatic, HNX Harmonic Content, Glide / Portamento
FILTER CONTROL
- Type, Frequency (FRMT) Cutoff Frequency, Resonance, ADSR (Attack Decay Sustain Release)
FILTER OPTION
- Soft / Hard Clipping, Drive %, K.TRK Tracking %, MIX post-filter/dry
ADSR
- ATK Attack time, DCY Decay time, SUS Sustain %, RLS Release time
- FX - - - - - - - - -
- DIST Distortion
- TYPE : Soft clip / Hard Clip / Bitcrush, Gain, Tone, Mix
- DIST Distortion
- MOD-ulation
- TYPE : Flanger / Chorus / Vibrato, RATE, DEPTH, MIX
- MOD-ulation
- DELAY
- TYPE : Digital / Analog / Reverse, Delay TIME, F.B. Feedback, MIX
- DELAY
- REVERB
- TYPE : Warm / Large / Small / Bright / Tiny, Reverb TIME, DAMP-ing, MIX
- REVERB
LFO
- LFO1 WAVE : Sine / Ramp Up / Ramp Down / Triangle / Square / Sample & Hold / Random, LFO1 RATE
- LFO2 WAVE : Sine / Ramp Up / Ramp Down / Triangle / Square / Sample & Hold / Random, LFO2 RATE
ENV : Envelope
- SENS-itivity, MIDI SENS, ATK, RLS
MOD : Modulation
- ADSR : -63>+64, LFO1 : O>127, LFO2 : O>127, ENV : -63>+64
SAMPLE
- Record user samples usable in OSC A WAVE 91–100, and adjust pitch and start/end points
- BACK | PLAY | STAR | STOP | REF | NOTE | FINE-tune | THRSH | UNDO | REC etc.
PRESET
- BANK A/B/C
- 128 Presets
SCOPE
- Displays the output waveform
- Scope Mode / Scope Color
UTILITY
- Global Settings, MIDI, Encoder Assign, Expression Assign, ModWheel Assign etc.
TUNING
- TUNING A4 Reference, JITTER, SCALE KEY, MICRO TUNING
Key Features & Specs
- Guitar, Bass and More : Plug in a Guitar, a Bass, or even a Mic
- Polyphonic Tracking
- Near Zero Latency - Tracking every 5ms
- Total Latency 12.5ms
- Functions : Tracking Sensitivity, Note-level Compressor, Transpose, Pitch Quantize, Glide / Portamento
- Quick Functional Access via Top Buttons + 4 onscreen Dynamic Parameter Variables V1, V2, V3, and V4
- 2 x Independent Oscillators
- 3 Oscillator Engines
- 20 Hard-Syncable Waveforms
- 30 Morphing WaveTables
- 30 Samples with Multi-Directional Playback
- Including : Piano, Electric Piano, Kalimba, Sitar, Chime, Tubular Bells, Pizzicato Strings, Tremolo Strings, Angling, Glass Friction, Bowed Vibraphone, Ocarina, Bassoon, Didgeridoo, Tape Violin, Tape Cello, Tape Strings, Tape Flute, Tape Woodwinds, Tape Choir, Mellow, Faemi, Kick 08, Resonant Noise, Delay Oscillator, Chord !, Bound, Random Mallet, Phrase, Suikinkutsu
- 2 x LFO's
- Multi-FX
- DRIVE : Softclip / Hardclip / Bitcrush
- MOD : Flanger / Chorus / Vibrato
- DELAY : Digital / Analog / Reverse
- REVERB : Warm / Large / Small / Bright / Tiny
- 3 x Independent ADSR Engines (Attack Decay Sustain Release)
- Envelope Follower
- 128 Presets - Assignable A/B/C per 3 Footswitches - 3 A/B/C Banks x 3 Footswitches
- MIDI In and Out
- Expression Control
- Buffered Bypass
- Power : 9V DC [-] 400mA
- Updates via USB-C
- Dimensions (W x D x H) : 145 x 121 x 55mm
- Weight : 490g
- MAP / RRP : $399 / €449 / £349
Read up more about the Quimera on the Bananana Effects Website.
Demos and Video References
