7 archive page

A few weeks ago, I suggested that there are only two colors for serious electronic music gear: black & matte black.

A lot of Synthtopia readers weighed in, pointed out all the holes in my logic, suggested all sorts of exceptions to the rule and basically said I had gone insane.

It’s probably all true – and there’s room for those pink keyboard controllers – but at least the monome guys are on board.

They’ve introduced the monome grayscale – which features grayscale/bright white lighting. black silicone over a strong steel enclosure (wacka-chicka-wacka-chicka) and the same minimalist functionality as the original monome sixty four.

The original monome 64 is a great, influential controller. They’ve been selling as fast as they can be made.

The monome grayscale is sure to be a hit, too.

It’s going to cost $500. It’s going to have 64 buttons. It will be available starting in January – but it will probably be hard to get.

Free Music Software: In the late 60’s composer Steve Reich stumbled across a technique he called phasing, which was to have two identical tape loops that run at slightly different speeds, the result is that every possible combination of sound is cycled through until they arrive back in sync. The result with a melodic piece of music is that it moves through moments of chaos and moments of melody.

Phase Shifter is a Windows VST designed to make it easy to create phase shifting music, like the early work of Steve Reich. It also has a built in recorder so that the output can be recorded directly to disk. It works by loading up to 2 WAVs, and is triggered via a MIDI keyboard. Middle C will play the WAV at it’s original speed.

You can preview the results of Phase Shifter below.

Download here.

 

 Phase Shifter demo [3:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Thomas P Heckmann’s studio is more than just a working studio – it’s a synthesizer museum with a fantastic collection of some of the hottest synths ever made.

This video, in German with subtitles, features Heckmann talking about his music, his amazing synthesizer museum and why he prefers making music with vintage synthesizers.

via robotstv, rebellen

Livid Instruments‘ Peter Nyboer published an interesting post over the weekend, explaining his thoughts on why you should buy one of his company’s controllers, like the Livid Block, over alternatives from larger companies, like Akai’s APC40 or the Novation Launchpad:

Jay and I first saw the APC40 at the NAMM convention in January. We went to NAMM to meet with dealers and show them our plans for the year, sharing some prototype work of the Ohm64, prepared to highlight how we were evolving our existing Ohm controller (which was initially targeted at VJ’s), and broadening our reach to musicians. We felt like we had a unique product to offer.

Practically the first thing we saw when we walked into the giant convention hall was the APC40: a direct competitor, well-funded with an existing sales and marketing network, an established if not legendary brand, teamed with the hottest product, priced way below what we could imagine, speaking directly to the customers we had hoped to reach. It was a bit disheartening, to say the least, and brought up the very question you ask. Unfortunately for us, the dilemma was more an existential one: not “What do I buy?” but “Why am I here?”

The reason we are here is because we want to offer a foundation for gratifying creative work. As you’ve observed, our controllers are designed to work well with Ableton’s emphasis on tracks, clips and effects. A company called NativeKontrol (http://www.nativekontrol.com/) has even designed software that works “between” Live and the Ohm64 to provide the navigation control and automatic mapping of the environment.

Nyboer goes on to explain some of the hardware, software and philosophical differences that might make you want to get a Livid controller, and why an APC40 might be a better choice for some people.

It’s a must read, if you’re considering purchasing a matrix controller.

It also highlights that we suddenly are flooded with great options for matrix sequencer controllers, ranging from the relatively inexpensive Novation Launchpad to the more boutique monome 128. They’re all good options, depending on your need and budget – but Nyboer makes a good case for paying a  little more for a solution that gives you more options.

See Nyboer’s full post here – and leave a comment with your thoughts on which of these controllers is the best solution.

Free Music Software: de la Mancha has released FMMF, a 4 operator FM (Frequency Modulation) synthesizer plug-in for Windows, written as an entry into the KVR Developer Challenge 2009.

FMMF features

• 4 Operator FM Synthesis instrument with 17 FM algorithms
• 11 different waveforms per operator, with note sync option
• 7 Multi-segment Envelopes (up to 32 stages) for amp, pitch and effects modulatio
• 3 LFO’s for pitch and effects modulation
• All envelopes can be free or tempo-sync, each stage can have it’s own contour
• Envelopes can have user defined sustain and repeat points with flexible locking and zeroing options
• LFO’s can be free or tempo sync, with 20 waveforms and phase & note sync options
• Each LFO has it’s own ADSR envelope
• Arpeggiator with 6 modes and adjustable tempo-sync, note length and octave range
• Resonant low pass filter with key and velocity tracking, can be modulated by envelopes or LFOs
• Distortion effect with 18 flavours, can be modulated by envelopes or LFOs
• Delay with comb delay option, size, feedback and damping, modulated by envelope or LFO
• Harmonics can be adjusted from 1 to 256, with limit on frequency beyond Nyquist
• Polyphony adjustable from 1 to 16 voices
• Portamento time
• 64 presets by brian botkiller covering many styles

Details below. Read more…

Free Music Software: Christian Budde’s Noise Reduction is a free VST plugin for Windows.

Budde notes:

The Noise Reduction plugin is based on a spectral gate to filter out unwanted noise in the frequency domain. The gate is based on the lightweight dynamic series and features a soft knee and customizable attack and release times.

Originally this plugin was planned for the KVR’09 developer contest, but in the end I missed the deadline by one day and thus I had to use another plugin for my entry.

Features:

• Highly customisable spectral noise gate
• Continous and consistent characteristic
• Fully adjustable soft knee in dB (as margin below the threshold)
• Several exotic window functions available
• Low CPU usage
• Different FFT sizes
• Manual included
• Open source (as part of the Delphi ASIO & VST Project)

Download it from Budde’s site.

Modartt has released Pianoteq Pro – the advanced version of Pianoteq. Its major feature over Pianoteq is per note adjustment for physical parameters.

Features:

• Note per note adjustment for 22 physical parameters: detune, unison width, direct sound duration, hammer hardness piano, hammer hardness mezzo, hammer hardness forte, spectrum profile, hammer noise, strike point, pickup symmetry, pickup distance, impedance, cutoff, Q factor, string length, note resonance, quadratic effect, damper position, damper duration, damper noise, key release noise, volume. Restricted to detune and volume in the Standard version.
• Internal sample rate available up to 192 kHz. Restricted to 48 kHz in the Standard version.

Pianoteq Pro is available now for windows, Mac OS X and Linux for 399€.

Read more…

Percussa has announced that their AudioCubes are now available in packages of 6 and 8. Details are available at the Percussa shop.

You can preview the AudioCubes’ capabilities above.

Here are their recommendations for various types of applications:

This is an audio demo of Analogue Solutions’ Vostok matrix synth.

Matrix panels alone do not allow interfacing with external synthesisers & signals, so the Vostok also provides a full complement of front panel jack socket patch points for additional internal & external patching & interfacing.

The Vostok is not a Synthi and not intended to be or sound like one. It is an independent synthesiser in it’s own right.

The Vostok may at first glance look like an EMS clone, but it is not. It may share the matrix panel and suitcase style design concept, but that’s where the similarities end. The Vostok has more features, packing a powerful amount of modular synthesiser power into a small suitcase. It also has a different sound and uses different circuitry.

According to Peter Nagle’s SOS review:

This is a synth with a specialised appeal and the Vostok’s behaviour, range of sounds and performance undoubtedly does bears comparison with those classic EMS instruments. It scores by being slightly cheaper and having such extras as a MIDI interface, a sequencer, mini-jack connections and more. The VCOs sound fine, the filter marvellous and even the digital oscillator could be the source of some very strange sound effects or funky, wave-changing sequencer loops. I mean it as no insult to say that it could be an awesome self-contained sound-effects machine. In that context, the Vostok could do just fine.

Read more…

In this episode of Electro-Harmonix Effectology, Bill Ruppert takes a look at guitar reverb tricks and demonstrates how to create some amazing effects.

While the focus is effecting guitars, the same effects can be used with other sources. Read more…