At the heart of the Typhon are two analog oscillators that produce rich sounding tones. This is what first drew me into purchasing the Typhon was the all importand sound quality. There is a 4-pole low pass filter adds depth and character to the sound, while the multiple analog VCAs allow for precise control over the amplitude. So far so what. It starts to get interesting with the wave control which allows the selection of different combinations of the 2 oscillator wave shapes. Its fun to create a sound on one wave from, and then shift to something new by adjusting the wave control to move between the different saw, triangle and square wave pairs. But what really sets it apart from other similarly priced synths, are the three digital effects engines, including distortions, enhancers (chorus, ensemble, flanger), and reverb/delays, which can be applied individually. The reverbs and Delays here particularly stand out as being very useable.
Connectivity
Another fun aspect is the 3.5mm AUX in connection, and unlike say a Roland Aira T-8 or S-1, the signal path of the AUX in passes through the FX engine. So this gives the synth a second purpose in a small setup as a standalone FX unit for another synth and I even tried the guitar into it too for some post-rock madness with the distortion and reverbs.
The unit is only USB powered. So this can make it a no-go for folks fed up with USB noise issues. In my current setup I am not experiencing USB noise issues from this unit or my other devices so its not an issue right now but could be a deal breaker for some. You will also need to make sure you have a 2amp USB power supply, as I ran out of power when connecting it to a low power usb hub some of my other devices were connected too. (time I upgraded that hub too!)
Sequencing
There is a 32 note sequencer on the Typhon, where the selection of notes is managed by adjusting the sliders. I tried it once, but life is too short for such shenanigans, I have a Keystep Pro, so I dont have to put up with using time consuming sequences like this.
Presets
The Typhon comes with 256 preset memory in 4 banks, there are a few nice ones here and there, but mostly they sound very experimental and I would not want to use them in a production. So an opportunity missed perhaps, but good news for the folks selling packs of patches as not everyone is a wannabe sounddesigner, and usually tweaking presets is where I am at right now. Anyway here is a selection of the default patches on the DAWless YouTube channel.
Conclusion
Overall, the Dreadbox Typhon is an excellendt sounding synthesizer that tries to combine the best of analog and digital in a small box. If you like running arpegios into warm sounding synths with big reverbs, then this is very nice indeed. But then when you start having to get into the weeds of sound design through the sliders and small screen interface it starts to get frustrating. So I am going to stick with it for a while and see if I can squeeze more out of this box and maybe I would keep it just for the FX.