  A modified version of the Ginzburg-Landau equation is introduced which
accounts for asymmetric couplings between neighbors sites on a one-dimensional
lattice, with periodic boundary conditions. The drift term which reflects the
imposed microscopic asymmetry seeds a generalized class of instabilities,
reminiscent of the Benjamin-Feir type. The uniformly synchronized solution is
spontaneously destabilized outside the region of parameters classically
associated to the Benjamin-Feir instability, upon injection of a non
homogeneous perturbation. The ensuing patterns can be of the traveling wave
type or display a patchy, colorful mosaic for the modulus of the complex
oscillators amplitude.
