Hardware Effects

Velvet Acid Christ’s Bryan Erickson has published a nice interview with Scott Jaeger, the guy behind The Harvestman’s digital synth modules.
The Harvestman has introduced some of the most interesting and innovative new synth modules in recent memory, including the TymeSefari loop sampler/delay and the Malgorithm voltage-controlled bit-crusher.
Here are a few highlights:
BE: What got you interested […]

In this cool video, Wire to the Ear’s Oliver Chesler goes to Jomox in Berlin, Germany, to purchase a Mbase 01 analog kick drum module. There, the owner Jürgen Michaelis shows Oliver his workshop and toys.
Michaelis is responsible for some of the craziest electronic music gear being created.

xelent’s Tape Delay Machine uses two Walkman type tape players, a Realistic Stereo Mate and a Memorex XB, to create a tape delay. It’s Frippertronics on the cheap!
A single tape loop runs through two modified cassettes (each which have had one of their left or right sides removed). The players themselves have had there walls […]

Arturia’s preview for the Origin synth is a teaser, more than anything else.
Origin is the first Arturia Hardware synthesizer. It is a modular system, featuring modules based on some of the best synthesizers of all time (Moog Modular, ARP 2600, CS-80, Minimoog and Prophet VS).
Features:

500+ presets created by talented musicians and synthesizer specialists
Up to 32 […]

Stretta got his hands on the new Tiptop Audio Z5000, a modular analog CV-friendly DSP effects processor, and says “Go buy one”:
What the world needs is a Eurorack-format DSP with CV control. Along comes the Tiptop Audio Z5000. First of all, it is in stock, you can buy it now. None of this, announce, wait […]

Nice demo of using the Future Retro Revolution as an audio processor.
With an analog resonant filter, envelope, overdrive, and DSP effects, the Revolution makes a powerful effects processor. The Elektron is slaved to the Revolution’s MIDI.
via BigCityMusic

Tiptop Audio has introduced the Z5000 voltage controlled digital signal processor.
I’ve been talking for a couple months about how Eurorack is where the modular action is now at - and this may push me over the edge……
Description
The z5000 is an analog-controlled digital module with a powerful dsp engine running 16 fft algorithms of 24-bit digital […]

Now you know:
In this video the Metasonix TM-7 Scrotum Smasher is annihilating the Analogue Solutions SEMblance monosynth. The LFO of the Moog CP-251 is modulating the Scrotum amount. All of it is running through a Fulltone Tube Tape Echo that’s pretty cranked. The first little clip is the SEMblance dry.

Behringer has released several stompbox collections, targeting different types of instruments and music. Each package includes 3 stompboxes, a pedal interconnect and patch cables.
Altogether, there are 5 available packages:

The Behringer MTPK985 Metal Trio Package includes the Super Metal SM400 distortion pedal, Multi-FX FX600 multi-effects (with 24-bit audio resolution and flanger, chorus, phaser, …) and the […]

Eowave has announced the Eobody2 Live Sensor Controller Pack is now shipping.
The kit offers an easy way to get into creating DIY MIDI sensor interfaces.
Eobody2 Live Sensor Controller Pack includes:

1 Eobody2 USB8 SensorBox
2 x 18 mm pressure sensors
2 x 10 cm position sensors
1 x 20/80 cm distance sensor - extension with any other Eowave […]

genoQs Machines has announced NEMO, a new MIDI sequencer based on technology from their Octopus sequencer.
Features:

Unique, high-end design
Octopus technology at heart
Portable format
16 concurrent tracks
Intuitive, realtime everything

Pricing is set at 1399 Euros, with availability in July. The site promises more details to come.

One of the most interesting introductions at NAMM this year wasn’t a synth or new control surface, but KRK’s ERGO - a digital room analysis and correction system.
ERGO analyzes and compensates for bad room acoustics, which can negatively effect your mixes.
The unit connects to a computer via Firewire when it is performing its room analysis, […]

Gainer is a DIY environment for user interfaces and media installations. It can be used to connect sensors or actuators with Max/MSP.
The basic concepts are:

The user can use it for creative work from prototype stage to final output stage.
Using a breadboard allows the user to learn by mistake.
The user can build their own I/O module […]

Line 6 has introduced the JM-4 Looper pedal, designed for practicing, songwriting and performance
The JM-4 Looper lets players layer guitar and bass tracks and, with the balanced XLR microphone input, even vocals, using sound-on-sound loop recording.Complete with an extensive collection of famous guitar sounds, JM-4 Looper gives players access to 250+ artist-created presets, 150+ song-based […]

Dave Cornutt offers a nice overview of how a VCO works:
Synth circuit designers, starting with Moog and Buchla in the early 1960s, long ago turned to “artificial” oscillator circuits that do not rely on natural resonance. Rather, they rely on an analog implementation of a mathematical function that can be made to increase and decrease […]