A small oscillator that packs a punch: that’s the best way to summarise Cycle 5.

At its heart lies a refined high-stability triangle core voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), with performance matching or exceeding that of much bigger and costly oscillator modules.

Instead of a coarse frequency knob, a 7-position octave switch is provided. This in combination with a perfect fifth transposition switch and factory pitch tuning, makes Cycle 5 an exceptionally straightforward and musical VCO to use: simply centre the fine tune knob, and the module will be instantly tuned to reference C.

Meanwhile, its dual precision volt per octave inputs add a great deal of versatility. For example, one could be used for pitch sequencing and the other as a generic exponential FM input, or both sequenced together for transposition effects—the dual inputs serving as a built-in precision adder.

Sporting all the classic waveforms, ranging from sine wave, triangle, saw and square/pulse, as well as a hard sync input and low frequency oscillator (LFO) mode, Cycle 5 makes for a real workhorse VCO. The novel trigonometric waveshaper results in a very clean sine wave, ideal for sub bass duty.

Cycle 5’s highlight however, is its vari-wave feature. By adjusting the vari-wave knob, the waveform on the matching output will smoothly morph from sine, to triangle, saw, square and finally a very narrow pulse. The vari-wave parameter can be CV controlled, up to audio frequencies for some intense timbres.

Equally at home as a modest modulation companion to big VCOs, as being in the spotlight in miniature or polyphonic systems, Cycle 5 might just be the most multi-talented tiny analogue oscillator yet.