What does bi-timbral actually mean on the Vector?
Firmware 3.0, out now as a first beta, buries the new mode on the Vector's second main parameter page: flip the setting from polyphonic to dual and the synth stops being one instrument and starts being two. Timbre A and Timbre B each run their own patch, with independent volume and octave controls living in a new "timbre" section of the menu. You can layer two completely different sounds, stack a pad under a lead, or split the two patches across performance, all without a patch cable or a second box on the desk.
Why split 16 voices into 8 and 8?
Here's the tradeoff anyone who actually plays a Beetlecrab Vector live needs to understand before updating. The instrument's 16 voices divide evenly the second dual mode switches on, 8 for Timbre A and 8 for Timbre B. Beetlecrab has confirmed each timbre can still be configured as its own 8-voice unison patch with detune, so one huge, stacked lead is still on the table, it just costs you the other timbre entirely. That's the real decision buried in this update: bi-timbral mode isn't a free feature, it's a genuine choice between two thinner voices or one fat one. For a machine built on a modern take of Prophet VS-style vector synthesis, forcing that choice is exactly the kind of constraint that pushes sound design somewhere new instead of just padding a spec sheet.
What's still to come?
This is a first beta, and it installs by connecting the Vector to a LAN router through the unit's own onboard OS, no laptop or USB required. A second beta is coming, and Beetlecrab has already flagged fixes on the way, including a correction to the arpeggiator. Early demo material from sound designers Tonepusher and Blush Response pushes the new mode toward industrial textures and more abrasive, experimental territory, a hint at what dual-patch layering is actually for on a synth like this. The Vector itself sells for €1,128 including VAT, exclusively through Beetlecrab Audio's own shop.
