Here’s another video review of the new Arturia Mini Brute analog synthesizer, via Russ of the airusersblog.
The bottom line? He calls it ‘a fantastic analog synth’.
Arturia Mini Brute Hands-On Review
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Category Archives: Gear Reviews
Akai EIE Pro Electromusic Interface Expander Review
Nick from Sonic State takes a look at the EIE Pro – a 96kHZ 24-bit USB audio interface that offers 4 channels in and out, MIDI and a USB hub.
If you’ve used the EIE Pro, let us know what you think of it!
Electronic Music Works EMW-200 Review
Atomic Shadow has posted a review of the new Electronic Music Works EMW-200 synthesizer – a modern take on the vintage ElectroComp EML-200.
In no time at all you have soundscapes from alien worlds (kind of my thing I guess), squiggly beeps and tweets, atonal ring modulated moaning, hissing and banging.
It has all of the fundamental building blocks of electronic sound in one nicely designed package.
This not some cheap toy. It is well built, solid, with wooden end panels. There are no menus or memories, just knobs and patch cords, the way God intended. Last night as I recorded the demo I thought that this thing is sort of the VCS3 that I will never be able to afford.
The Electronic Music Works EMW-200 synthesizer is priced at $1,299 and is available via the EMW site.
Roland Jupiter-50 Review
Dan Goldman takes a deep look (30 min) at the new Roland Jupiter-50 keyboard synthesizer, the portable version of Roland’s Jupiter-80 synthesizer.
The Jupiter-50 inherits the sounds and Live Set architecture of the Jupiter-80, but packs them into a relatively lightweight keyboard.
The Jupiter-50 offers the synthesizer and acoustic tones found in the Jupiter-80. With the Jupiter-50, though, Roland puts the synth engine in a portable instrument designed for live performance.
Goldman’s bottom line? “It’s a great board. You really are getting the quality of sound that’s in Roland’s flagship synthesizer.”
via musicradartv
Nord Drum Virtual Analog Drum Synth (Review)
In this video review, Nick Batt takes a look a the Nord Drum – a new virtual analog drum synth that was introduced at the 2012 NAMM Show:
“The Nord Drum is certainly a usable little unit, with the range of sounds on board even with the limited number of Tone waves, it will find a home in many a drummers arsenal as a way to enhance an acoustic setup or perhaps as a drum aspect to an electronic music setup. Its a shame that it was not possible to extend the wave palette more and give it a stereo output.”
See Nick’s full review of the Nord Drum analog drum synth at the Sonic State site.
The Novation Launchpad (Review) – The Affordable, Portable Controller For Ableton Live
The Novation Launchpad is the MIDI controller that took the 8 x 8 button matrix mainstream.
While it’s been out a few years, we thought it was time to revisit it, in part because the monome-style button matrix has become a de facto interface for working with Ableton Live and also because the Launchpad’s street price has dropped to a very affordable $150.
If you’ve been under a rock, the Novation Launchpad is a MIDI controller designed specifically for Ableton Live, designed in conjuntion with Ableton. It comes with an introductory version of Live and is extremely easy to set up. It’s USB powered, so you basically plug it in, launch Live and get busy.
The primary use for the Launchpad is triggering loops and sounds in Live’s Session View. The Launchpad automatically lights up its buttons to mirror the arrangement of your clips in Live. This makes it easy to navigate the grid of otherwise identical buttons.
Here’s how Novation positions the Launchpad:
The Launchpad transforms your experience of using Ableton Live, making it more like working with hardware than working with a computer & mouse.
While using the matrix buttons instead of a mouse delivers obvious speed improvements, the benefits of the Launchpad are deeper than that.
The Launchpad turns the Session View into something that you can really ‘play’, making it easy to trigger samples and loops on a much more granular level. This makes it much easier to experiment with arrangements and rearrange things while playing live.