Meris has unveiled the Enzo X – a revamp of its flagship Enzo synth pedal, which is being touted as “the highest quality and most flexible polyphonic synthesizer ever created in a pedal format”.
Founded by former Line 6 and Strymon employees – and boasting a multimedia designer who’s worked with Disney, Sony, and Lexus – Meris has been making strides in the pedal market in recent years.
Its MercuryX reverb, released in October 2023, was modeled on that same mantra of unmatched flexibility, while the LVX appeared to completely change the delay game. So, will the Enzo X make it a hat trick?
The Enzo X crams five different synth modes – Mono, Polyphonic, Arpeggiator, Dry Mono, Dry Poly – into one unit, incorporating the same modular system and UI/architecture as the firm's other two standout stompboxes.
That lines up four footswitches, four LED buttons, an onboard screen display, and seven control knobs for one comprehensive and user-friendly interface. It’s the launch pad for the “supernova expansion” that the Enzo X promises to deliver.
Pitch, Filter, Mod, and Level controls are augmented by three push-and-turn encoders that are “your gateway for seamless control”. They are fully customizable for each preset, of which there are 99 to explore. These include Meris-made presets, artist presets, and empty slots ready for players to curate. A bank of three slots is reserved for a player's favorites, too.
Further still, Enzo X’s six polyphonic voices can be used simultaneously, making for what Meris founder Terry Burton is calling a “polyphonic monster”.
Tonally, there is a huge amount to explore, helping players turn their electric guitars into highly convincing synthesizers via unscrupulous levels of control. It could be easy to feel dizzy trying to understand just how much the pedal can do, with virtually every parameter tweakable in some way shape or (wave)form.
The Enzo X also has dual oscillator voices, meaning that, unlike the original Enzo, each oscillator's parameters behave independently. The all-new Filter category enables players to select and tune filters to vastly shape the synth's sound, and there are ADSR Envelope Generators for both Amplitude and Filter controls, configurable Oscillator, and Filter types with saw, triangle, and square waveforms.
Elsewhere, there are five different onboard modulation types, made up of chorus, flanger, phaser, vibrato, and ring mod, and five different drives – volume pedal, tube, op amp, transistor, and bitcrush.
A trio of reverbs and a 2.5-second delay have also been chucked in for good measure. There are plenty of other features not mentioned here, as we'd run out of digital pages if we did.
Its back panel, again, is “all about versatility”. There are Stereo in/out jacks with selectable synth levels, a jack for connecting an external expression pedal, MIDI ports, and a USB-C connection for firmware updates.
Hell, the brightness of the screen and the logo light is even dimmable as Meris leaves absolutely no stone unturned. A worthy competitor to the Boss GM-800 indeed.
Available for $599, the Enzo X isn’t exactly accessible for all, but for a pedal this detailed, there is some fair justification to the price tag.
Head to Meris to learn more.
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