Kurtz Mindfields Demos Analog Sequencing With NRsynth Ancestor and SynthR4

Jean Luc Briançon, performing as Kurtz Mindfields, shared a live demo exploring analog sequencing using two instruments built by French luthiers: the NRsynth Ancestor and the SynthR4. The performance, featured on Synthtopia on March 10, 2026, puts both machines to work simultaneously, with everything driven in real time through the SynthR4 sequencing software.

Briançon has been documenting his work with NRsynth and SynthR4 hardware since at least mid-2023, with Matrixsynth tracking sessions including "SUNWATER HORIZON (Live #9)" from August 2023 and "Flying Over The Moog / Tangerine Dream(s)" that November. The March 2026 demo is the latest in that ongoing series, and the scope of the rig has clearly grown.

The Ancestor Moog NRsynth anchors the low end of the signal chain. Briançon describes it as "extremely sensitive," built around three original VCOs, a dual filter section pairing one Moog-style filter with a Steiner Parker, VCAs, mixers, two LFOs, and a single noise generator. That Steiner Parker is not a detail to gloss over; it's a bandpass-capable design that behaves very differently from the Moog ladder under modulation, and having both on the same instrument in a live context opens up filter routing options that most hardware rigs just don't offer.

The SynthR4 fills the role of sequencing hub and secondary voice. It carries four VCOs plus two sub-VCOs, three LFOs, two noise sources, a Moog Ladder filter, and what Briançon calls "the famous 4012 ARP (Moog clone)." That 4012 reference points to the filter topology used in early ARP instruments before the Moog patent dispute reshaped the market, so having both a ladder and a 4012 running in the same box is a genuinely unusual combination.

In his own words: "I present to you a demo of synthesizers made by French luthiers, for whom I develop and explore musical possibilities. Whether they are Moog clones or modern analog instruments, the idea is to rediscover the possibilities of the old modular synthesizers, the sound, and the pleasure. [...] The whole thing is controlled in real time through the powerful SynthR4 sequencing software."

On the combined spec count, there is a minor discrepancy worth noting. Matrixsynth headlined an earlier post on March 4, 2026 with "9VCOs, 4LFOs, 4Noises, 4Filters," while Briançon's own per-instrument breakdown in the Synthtopia feature adds up to seven primary VCOs plus two sub-VCOs across both machines, five LFOs, three noise sources, and four filters. Whether Matrixsynth's tally counts the sub-VCOs differently or reflects a slightly different configuration is unresolved in the available material.

The Synthtopia comment section landed on "Auto hypnosis" as the two-word verdict, with a second listener adding: "Yeah, I love the old school hypnotic interlocking sequences, and Mindfields is a master." For anyone unfamiliar with Briançon's output, the Berlin School sequencing approach running through this demo connects directly to the Tangerine Dream aesthetic he has explicitly referenced in past sessions, including a May 2025 piece titled "NRSYNTH MOOG 55: The Sound of Tangerine Dream!" The NRsynth instruments, built by French luthiers rather than the usual German or American manufacturers, are doing genuinely interesting work in keeping that sequencing tradition alive with contemporary hardware.