Native Instruments has released Reaktor 5.5 - a free update that adds a number of improvements and additions.

New in Reaktor 5.5:

• Fully reworked, streamlined user interface: A complete overhaul of REAKTOR’s interface delivers a new level in usability and improved workflow. The changes make REAKTOR 5.5’s iconic creative potential easier to tap than ever before.
• Two new synthesis modules:
  • Additive Synthesis - The additive synthesis technology in REAKTOR 5.5 allows instrument builders to create sound in a new way. This elaborate module allows instrument designers to realize additive synthesis beyond the CPU limitations of previous REAKTOR versions, as it has been radically optimized to handle large number of partials in a more efficient way. For ensemble users, instruments can now be created that allow accesses to sound parameters that were not possible before. The included Lazerbass instrument is a ready-made example of this technology in action.
  • Modal Synthesis - The Modal Module is a synthesis method made up of an exciter signal and a resonator, and is great for synthesizing percussive sounds ranging from mallets to vibraphones, as well as sustained sounds like woodwinds. The physical modeling algorithms used in modal synthesis simulate the behavior of real instruments, allowing for highly expressive and playable results. The first synth to utilize this technology is REAKTOR PRISM*, created by Native Instruments founder and father of REAKTOR, Stephan Schmitt.
• New Ensemble Content - REAKTOR 5.5 comes armed with fresh sounds and ensembles. Alongside the now-included REAKTOR Electronic Instruments 1 and 2, comes a new synth from the creators of MASSIVE – Lazerbass.
• Revised Structure Editor and Audio Engine – The improvements made to the Structure editor and audio engine mean greater flexibility and more powerful control over REAKTOR.
• Improved documentation – REAKTOR 5.5 also brings reworked documentation, with the Application Reference manual (400 pages) completely rewritten to better reflect the latest improvements, updates and enhancements within this version. All materials now refer to the new user interface while the reworked Getting Started makes it even easier to join the world of REAKTOR.

Korg has introduced the new microKey – a lightweight USB-powered MIDI keyboard.

The microKEY features 37 velocity-sensing mini keys, using the same Natural Touch keybed found on the Korg microKORG XL Analog Modeling Synthesizer/Vocoder and microSTATION Music Workstation.

Features:

• USB MIDI keyboard – thin, lightweight, and USB-powered
• 37 velocity-sensitive mini keys
• Comfortable and easy-to-play Natural Touch keyboard
• Octave Shift and Key Transpose features access the full MIDI note range
• Pitch Bend and Modulation wheels add expression to your performance
• Dual USB ports are ideal for adding Korg’s nanoPAD or nanoKONTROL (or other USB devices) to your setup

The microKEY serves double-duty as a USB hub. The two USB ports (Type A) allow you to expand your custom control center by adding on a Korg nanoPAD or nanoKONTROL.

The Korg microKey is expected to be available in November. Pricing is TBA.

Novation demonstrates what to do when 5 Launchpad controllers just isn’t enough….

via NovationTV:

An explanation of how connecting 6 Launchpads at a time opens up a new dimension to Ableton Live.

One of the hottest areas of electronic music technology this year has been iPad music software. It’s about to take another leap forward, though, as iPad app developers add MIDI support.

Here are a few examples of what’s coming.

iPad Step Sequencing

The video above demonstrates Synthetic Bits‘ prototype analog-style MIDI step sequencer controlling an Alesis Andromeda A6 synth via the Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer interface.

The iPad, MIDI interface and app should be substantially less expensive than the hardware equivalent, and the software will just get more powerful.

Click here to view the embedded video.

iPad MIDI Synthesizer & Control Surface

MIDI support also lets the iPad work as a versatile MIDI synth module and control surface.

Pianist Pro for the iPad, for example, has added support for the Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer interface,  supporting bi-directional MIDI control. For wireless MIDI control, the V1.5 update also adds MIDI via DSMI support and optimized MIDI via OSC support.

Also adding MIDI support are Omenie’s Mellotron apps. Here’s what they have to say about the update:

We have early access to an advanced prototype of a quite fantastic low-cost MIDI interface for iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad. Latency is insanely low, quality is insanely good. Price – well, all we know is ‘low-cost’, this should get more clear over the next few weeks.

We can’t commit right now to when the device will ship – we hope during Q4 this year, so before the holidays – but it will be immense. As soon as we can tell you more about this new MIDI interface we will, but if the design pans out it will be the nicest one we have seen yet.

Having 8 of the chord pads available on the programmable pads of our in-house Axiom 49 is *brilliant*!! And continuous controllers for M3000 ABC blend, pitch and volume – it is just so fantastic to have a MIDI keyboard plugged into an iPhone!

MIDI support should open up a lot of interesting options – like adding Lemur-like multi-touch control to vintage synths or creating user-friendly touchscreen interfaces for unfriendly synths like the DX series.

What do you think of hardware MIDI support for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch?

Leave a comment with your thoughts!

This video offers a sneak preview of SONiVOX Vocalizer – a new vocal synthesis audio effect.

Here’s what SONiVOX has to say about Vocalizer:

Part effects plug-in, part synthesizer, VOCALIZER is entirely new. Speak, sing, whisper, yell, or even run your drum tracks or anything else through it, VOCALIZER will take your source input apart and pitch, harmonize, de-harmonize, modify, fortify, enhance, re-fry, re-synthesize, and reassemble to your imagination’s outermost limit.

The brain child of SONiVOX’s Nemesynth Audio Reasearch Group, VOCALIZER takes the science of sound and puts it on Steroids. VOCALIZER takes anything you input into it and almost magically teleports it into a dimension previously only theorized about. This is the sound of tomorrow’s hits and must be heard to be believed.

Vocalizer retails for $149.99.

Synth designer Jürgen Michaelis has announced preorders for a limited run of the Jaymesonic Resonator Neuronium synthesizer, a synthesizer that offers a unique approach to synthesis:

Because we get periodically inquiries on the Resonator Neuronium, we have opened a new preordering cycle until December 31, 2010. If more than 20 preorders come in until then, we at Jomox can manufacture a new run of the R.N.

The Resonator Neuronium has 6 analog resonant neurons. The net parameters can be programmed by the left hand structure in form of a hexagon by use of knobs, buttons and LEDs.

The cost is 2499.00 €.

iPad Music Software: Phil Bilsby of AudioNewsRoom has taken an early look at the new touchAble iPad controller for Ableton Live, and came away impressed:

touchAble is a serious contender for the best iPad app for controlling Ableton currently and the most competent attempt so far. It is easy to setup, has flexibility with respect to access to multiple controls and so far seems very stable.

Having used this for approximately a week, I am already boxing up my Launchpad ready for Ebay, as touchAble has already made this dedicated hardware device redundant, even at this early stage of development.

I think this app could be improved with better control of the clip start and length and if they could add a separate page whereby users could build there own control surface, especially for live performance situations (much like TouchOSC).  This would definitely make it the iPad Ableton controller to beat by a long way.

touchAble is now available in the App Store for $16.99.

If you’ve used touchAble, leave a comment and let us know if you think it will make dedicated hardware controllers redundant, too.

Ran Kirlian’s Threniar Vish – an ambient improvisation, based over the Roland Juno 60 drone. The other instruments are the Access Virus Indigo and the Indigo 2 Redback.

All audio is processed thru a TC Electronics M-One.

via RanKirlian

Free Music: Richard Devine’s Objects Of Granularity.

Here’s what Devine has to say about the track:

This track was composed for the Curtis (iphone/ipod/ipad) app by The Strange Agency. This piece is a Acousmatic composition based on everyday found objects. I recorded various wine glasses, gears, metal, motors, Ratchets, chimes, croaking frog scraper, Indian bells, Tibetan Singing Bowls, Santoor, waterphone, piano, hematite magnets, processed voice, underwater ambiances, computer, and sprinkled bits of Buchla 200e/Doepfer Euro rack Modular.

All of the sounds originally captured at 24-bit 96khz with a Neumann RSM 191 A/S stereo shotgun mic, SMK4060 Stereo Matched 4060-BM Miniature Omnidirectional Microphones and Sound Devices 702 recorder.

You can preview and/or download the free track above.

This video offers a sneak preview of  Twisted Tools’ Buffeater , a granular buffer effects add-on for Native Instruments Reaktor 5.

Features:

• 6 Individual FX:
• Multi-FX version with dynamic ordering (fx are ordered in the order you play them)
• Internal Automation (external possible as well)
• Presets for each fx block within the multi-fx
• Templates for Kore and Maschine

Buffeater is expected to ship in September for $49.

Apple

The most interesting news for musicians is the updated iPod touch, which gets many of the features of the iPhone 4:

• Retina display (326ppi)
• Apple A4 chip
• 3-axis Gyro
• HD video recording with back camera
• Front camera with Facetime
• 40 hours of music playback

If you’ve been interested in the music capabilities of the iPhone 4, but not the AT&T contract, the new iPod touch may be a good option.

The pricing options are:

• 8 GB – $229
• 32 GB – $299
• 64 GB – $399

The iPod shuffle gets:

• Playlists
• Genius mixes
• VoiceOver
• 15 hours of music playback

The iPod shuffle will sell for $49 for a 2GB player.

The iPod nano gets:

• Multi-touch user interface
• 46% smaller
• Clip on
• Volume buttons
• VoiceOver
• FM radio
• Nike+
• 24 hour battery life

The iPod nano will come in a $149 8 GB version and a $179 16 GB version.

Roland has introduced GAIA Synthesizer Sound Designer, a software-based editor application for the GAIA SH-01 Synthesizer.

Compatible with both Windows and Mac OS X, the GAIA Synthesizer Sound Designer allows users to access the GAIA synth’s entire set of sound parameters visually, via a computer.

Once the GAIA Synthesizer Sound Designer is installed, all that is required is a USB connection between the GAIA synth and the PC. With the GAIA Synthesizer Sound Designer’s interactive interface, users have complete control over sound creation. Every control for the GAIA’s three synthesizer engines is represented, while the unique Waveform Display shows the shape of the currently edited waveform in a virtual oscilloscope, providing a graphical representation of the sound.

The Action List feature allows users to record and play back every step of the sound-creation process. Additionally, the GAIA Synthesizer Sound Designer comes with many sample Action Lists that detail the creation of common sounds such as synth bass and synth lead. This feature helps beginners understand basic synthesis and aids music educators teaching in synthesizer labs.

The GAIA Synthesizer Sound Designer also provides a way for users to backup, organize, and store their custom GAIA sounds. Included with the GAIA Synthesizer Sound Designer are a number of newly created patches, ready for loading into the GAIA Synthesizer.

The GAIA Synthesizer Sound Designer is expected to be available in October with an MSRP of $99.00.

Roland announced today that its AX-Synth Shoulder Synthesizer is “now available in a premium black sparkle finish.”

Except that they also say that the Black Sparkle keytar is “expected to be available in November with an MSRP of $1,449.00.”

Get ready to rule the stage now!

In November!

Details on the Roland AX-Synth Black Sparkle below.

Here’s what they have to say about their new sparkly keytar, the Roland Ax-Synth Black Sparkle:

The new glass-particle UV finish reacts to various lighting conditions, creating a glistening appearance that is striking under stage lighting. The AX-Synth remains available in the standard white finish as well.

Created with the art of performance in mind, the AX-Synth allows keyboardists to connect with their audience as guitarists and singers do. It represents Roland’s new generation of remote keyboards, offering an onboard sound engine that features a collection of the company’s best cutting-edge synth sounds.

When wearing the battery-powered AX-Synth, keyboardists can escape their standard stationary rig and create kinetic musical performances, moving freely around the stage. The ribbon controller, mod bar, D BEAM, and assignable knobs give players the ability to perform memorable and expressive solos with the ultimate real time control.

The AX-Synth features 49 velocity-sensitive keys, and is the first shoulder keyboard to include a 128-voice polyphonic sound engine with 256 distinct tones accessible from eight bank buttons. It can also send and receive standard MIDI messages for use with other keyboards or sound modules. The AX-Synth includes a dedicated V-LINK button to control visual elements, and a dedicated PC software editor/librarian application is available for download for players who would like to customize their own sounds.

In this episode of Synthesizer Club, synthesizer expert Rory Daniels deals with a letter from a fan, and offers his take on the digital vs analog debate.

via radialpukesplat

Roland has introduced the Juno-Gi Synthesizer – a new keyboard that features an onboard eight-track digital recorder and pro effects created by BOSS.

Record directly to a single high capacity SD card for up to 192 hours of possible recording time with a single 32 GB card. JUNO-Gi sounds can be recorded along with a vocal mic or guitar when connected via the rear-panel XLR microphone, guitar, and line level inputs. Dedicated effects processing is available for live recording, mixing, and mastering, including BOSS GT-Series guitar effects and effects designed for vocal processing.

The JUNO-Gi also functions as a USB audio/MIDI interface. Users can record JUNO-Gi sounds and play software instruments in any DAW, and also record vocals and guitars while using the JUNO-Gi’s onboard effects. In addition, the JUNO-Gi comes bundled with Cakewalk’s SONAR 8.5 LE software, giving users a complete DAW solution for their PC.

Features:

• Over 1,300 high-quality sounds optimized for live performance
• Friendly operation with dedicated controls and large display
• Lightweight, compact body with battery compatibility
• 128-voice polyphony
• Intuitive user interface, including dedicated Tone Category buttons and large display
• Full-featured 8-track digital recorder onboard with Guitar/Mic/Line inputs
• Plug in a guitar and play/record with built-in pro guitar effects derived from BOSS’ GT series
• High-capacity SDHC card slot for data storage and direct play
• Complete mobility when used with a battery-powered PA or amp such as the Roland’s BA-330 or KC-110

The JUNO-Gi is expected to ship in October with an MSRP of $1,199.00.

Details below. Check it out and let us know what you think about the Roland Juno-Gi!

Click here to view the embedded video.

New Soundbank

A new sound library has been created for the JUNO-Gi, with over 1,300 factory selections that cover a universe of instrument types and musical styles. Tone Category buttons help you scan the vast library and locate the perfect sound with ease and speed. New to the JUNO-Gi are Live Sets, which comprise up to four layered tones each — create your own unique sounds by stacking and/or splitting tones and saving them together as a Live Set. Furthermore, a Special Live Set section takes maximum advantage of the JUNO-Gi sound engine for the most advanced synth sounds.

Performance and Portability

The JUNO-Gi has been designed with the performer in mind. It provides supreme mobility thanks to its lightweight body and battery-power compatibility (up to three hours of continuous operation with eight NiMH AA batteries), letting you experience the freedom of performance in any environment. Roland’s battery-powered amps such as the BA-330 and KC-110 are perfect companions for the JUNO-Gi during street performances. Performers will also appreciate the JUNO-Gi’s friendly front panel, which is covered with hands-on controls, clearly marked and easy to reach. The enlarged 240 x 64 graphic LCD provides clear visibility and fast navigation, even on outdoor gigs with troublesome sunglare.

Digital Recording & FX

Pro recording onboard! The JUNO-Gi’s built-in eight-track digital recorder with 64 virtual tracks provides a full-featured multitrack studio environment, complete with dedicated transport controls and mix faders. The recording media is a removable SD or SDHC card, with up to 192 hours of recording time possible when using a single 32GB SDHC card! Also supported is full import and export of track data with a computer. The same pro performance effects found in the BOSS GT-Series are built into the JUNO-Gi, as well as effects designed for vocal processing. Connect a guitar or microphone directly and apply these top-quality effects for instant CD-quality sound as you record.

USB MIDI & Audio

The JUNO-Gi’s multifunction USB port offers both audio and MIDI functionality — a one cable connection to your computer is all you need to stream audio and MIDI back and forth and interface with your favorite music software. When you combine the JUNO-Gi with the bundled Cakewalk Sonar LE 8.5 software, you have a complete digital audio workstation package for your PC. In addition, the MIDI Controller Mode lets you operate the JUNO-Gi as a MIDI master keyboard for controlling external MIDI devices.

Valhalla DSP has announced ValhallaShimmer – an algorithmic reverberation plugin.

It’s sort of like Brian Eno in a plugin – at least a classic Eno effect.

You can preview ValhallaShimmer above. The example is an Erik Satie piano piece, being fed into 4 series instances of the plugin.

The plugin is set for a longish reverb sound, with 3 of the instances also being set to pitch shift the feedback (at intervals of +/- 12 semitones, +/- 7 semitones, and +/- 5 semitones).

Here’s another demo of ValhallaShimmer in action, on a harp loop:

Here’s what developer Sean Costello has to say about ValhallaShimmer:

There are several reverberation modes available, to allow the user to dial in the preferred initial sound.

By adjusting the Feedback, Diffusion and Size controls, the attack, sustain and decay of the reverb signal can be fine tuned. The modulation controls can be set to produce subtle mode thickening, glistening string ensemble-esque decays, and the distinctive random modulation of the older Lexicon hall algorithms. Two tone controls and the Color Mode selector allow the timbre to be adjusted from bright and glistening to a more natural dark decay, similar to that produced by air absorption in large spaces.

In addition, ValhallaShimmer has the ability to pitch shift the feedback signal. There are 3 pitch shift modes available: Single, where the feedback is shifted up or down by the Shift value; Dual, where the feedback is shifted both up and down (in parallel) by the Shift value; and Bypass, which turns off the pitch shifting (useful for “standard” reverb sounds).

By setting the Shift amount to +12 semitones, and the Feedback to 0.5 or greater, the classic “shimmer” sound is produced, as heard on Eno / Lanois productions for U2 and others. The algorithms allow for the classic shimmer effects to be generated with ease, as well as a variety of pitch shifted, evolving ambiences.

ValhallaShimmer is expected to be available for OSX (VST/AU/RTAS) in early September 2010, with Windows plug-ins (VST/RTAS) to follow.

Calum Scott demonstrates his Wiimote Looper:

Demo of a patch I wrote for the Nintendo Wiimote and Nunchuck.

Functions include: loop select, record/stop/clear, playback speed, delay on/off, delay hold, delay feedback, delay mix, loop start/stop/speed, loop freeze

Benoît Maubrey claims that he’s the director of a Berlin-based art group and that these are his “Audio Ballerinas”.

Got a better explanation for the neighbors?

Then leave your caption in the comments!

Strange Musical Instruments and Guitar Synths: We’re not sure what to call Nick Demopoulos’s new instrument, the Smomid.

Is it a MIDI controller? A keytar? A guitar synth?

Whatever you consider the Smomid, Demopoulos ably demonstrates it with his take on Burt Bacharach’s Wives and Lovers.

Here’s what he has to say about the Smomid:

The Smomid is a midi controller created by musician Nick Demopoulos. It’s odd name is an acronym for String Modeling Midi Device.

The Smomid was designed to allow a string player to be able to interface with it. The messages sent from the Smomid can be used to play music, manipulate video or even control robots. It makes use of several string-like sensors, five knobs and several buttons.

The Smomid made it’s debut performance in 2010, and since that time has made several appearances at Dixon Place Theatre in New York, and at the Interactive Music New York Festival.

via nicnut210

iPad Music Software: This video captures a demo of using TouchAble for iPad to control Ableton Live from 100 meters.

That sounds amazingly awesome – until you think about how many times you’ve needed to control Ableton Live from 100 meters away.

The video does demonstrate, though, that TouchAble frees live users to perform away from their computer – anywhere within WiFi range.