August, 2007 archive

The Chemical Brothers have announced a remix contest for their track The Salmon Dance (above). Here are the details:
Here’s your chance to remix The Salmon Dance!
Just download the zip file below to get the raw audio files and mix away.
CHEMICAL BROTHERS REMIX FILES - click to download
Post your completed remix as the first track in […]

B.B. King’s Blues Club in New York City will once again open its doors to Moogfest, the annual festival commemorating and celebrating the groundbreaking achievements of maverick inventor Robert Moog and his namesake synthesizer. Scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 22, the fourth annual Moogfest promises to, once again, be a synthesizer fan’s dream.
Already […]

Puremagnetik has released Retroputer, a collection of tonal sequencing racks for Ableton Live 6. Heavily influenced by Elektron’s Monomachine, Retroputer comes packed with crunchy digital waveforms, all categorized into 10 individual “Machines.”
Over 60 included Live Clips come complete with customized Macro controls that emphasize the charm of these classic digital sounds. Retroputer also contains over […]

Need more teasing about the upcoming Prophet 8 synth?
Here’s a bit of video temptation:

via Sonic State

Here’s something worth talking about - Dave Smith, one of the pioneers of synths, has announced his latest project - an 8-voice update on the Sequential Circuits Prophet V.
Here’s what has been announced:
The rumors are true. (Well, most of ‘em, anyway.) Dave has emerged from his underground lair (the Dave Cave?) with a fresh take […]

Homegrown Sounds has released Astralis C, the 3rd synth from the Astralis VSTi synth pack. It uses either 16 or 24 bit Mono/Stereo Samples as its sound source.
The Samples are stored in banks of around 50 in a custom samples folder which can be installed anywhere on your PC. Each folder in the main samples […]

Jordan Hochenbaum sends word about his Cafe Press site, Gear Addict, that sells synth and audio related shirts and accessories.
“We started because we had a hard time finding cool swag, and after talking with some people on forums, figured, why not just make our own stuff,” says Hochenbaum.
Designs include old modular synths and theremins. We […]

Energizer announced today the introduction of the Energi To Go Portable Power for iPod. The battery-powered device, which promises 46 hours of playback time with iPod nanos, will be available at retail nationwide this fall.
The Energi To Go is powered by two Lithium AA batteries. The device features a control chip that maximizes power transfer […]

Perimeter Sound Arts has released a best-of loop sample collection—The Best of PERIMETER - Volume 1. The sample library is available as a downloadable pack or on CD.
The collection spans 7 loop sample CD collections, and contains 535MB (418 loops) of content. Both Acidized PC format and Garageband Mac format are available. The collection is […]

Steinberg have announced that Groove Agent 3 is now shipping. Groove Agent 3 provides new virtual drummer modules, drum kits and a range of other features .
“Groove Agent 3 puts musically complex and ultra-realistic drum tracks just a few clicks away,” said Helge Vogt, Steinberg’s Product Manager for VST Instruments. “The simplicity of the […]

Crysonic have introduced SpectraPhy LE, a highly optimized look-ahead Brickwall Limiter and Loudness Maximizer based on it’s bigger brother SpectraPhy VST.
SpectraPhy LE has been designed to be used for tracking, mixing, mastering and live use or whenever a large quantity of limiters are required per project.
SpectraPhy LE Features

Proprietary Physics based Peak Limiting and Loudness […]

The Tangible Sequencer is a simple musical instrument. There are 8 colored boxes each with a large triangular play button that lights up in time with music. Press play on any box and it will play a sound. Put boxes next to each other and they become aware of one another. The boxes take turns […]

We don’t talk much about country music at Synthtopia. Maybe it’s because we still have bad memories about Switched-On Buck.
If you need country music drum loops, though, Beta Monkey Music has released Pure Country IVa new drum loop library recorded in Nashville that features brushes in 3/4 and 6/8 time. There are 340+ brushed […]

Björk has been wowing audiences recently with her reacTable, a new music controller that uses movable blocks and a colorful video interface.
The reacTable’s developers say it is the latest in an emerging wave of “tangible music interfaces,” but to the touring musicians who play the thing, it’s merely “cool.”
“Established instruments like the Moog, the turntable […]

Sony today announced the release of musika, an original music visualizer game, on the iTunes Store for play on Apple’s fifth generation iPod.
musika creates beautiful visuals using the title of any song. Users can play along by pressing the center button in time with the letters in the song’s name to advance to more difficult levels […]