Rocket Control Brings Patch Management To Waldorf Rocket

rocketcontrolSynthesizer developer Waldorf has released Rocket Control, a free iOS assistant app for iPad that ‘boosts’ the capabilities of its Rocket hardware synthesizer.

Waldorf describes the Rocket synth as ‘a superficially simplistic USB-powered desktop synthesizer’, that nevertheless offers a lot of power under the hood. Too keep the Rocket synthesizer’s size and cost down, though, Waldorf had to leave some features out, including patch memory.  Continue reading

Moog Minitaur Revolution 2 Review

moog-minitaur-synthesizer-review

Moog Music recently introduced the Minitaur Revolution 2 – an updated version of their analog bass synthesizer module, with new firmware that introduces some significant new features.

The Minitaur Revolution 2 is a deep synth out of the box – delivering classic Taurus-style sounds. And it just gets deeper as you dig into it, offering interesting control voltage modulation options, extensive MIDI options and more.

What is the Moog Minitaur?

Here’s how Moog describes the Minitaur:

Minitaur is a powerful, compact Analog Bass Synthesizer that features a classic one knob per function design. It is the first instrument in the Taurus family that does not have foot pedals. At only 8.5″ x 5.25″ and less than 3lbs, the Minitaur puts legendary analog Moog bass into a package designed to fit seamlessly into today’s performance and production environments.

Two key things to note:

  • It’s a bass synth in the Taurus family. Expect it to deliver the bass, not the soprano (It plays notes C5 and lower). And expect it to deliver the classic Moog bass synth sounds heard on so many recordings of the 70′s – not 80′s FM sounds or digital bass sounds.
  • It’s designed for modern production and performance environments. So it dispenses with pedals, which few keyboardists are used to playing, and assumes that you will control it via MIDI, computer or control voltages.

The Moog Minitaur retails for about $600. Does it deliver $600 of synth action? Let’s check it out……  Continue reading

Elektron Monomachine Overview

Elektron today released a series of videos, demonstrating each of the current instruments in their lineup. This is a video overview of the Monomachine SFX-60+ MKII, which the ultimate sound generator.

According to Elektron, the Monomachine’s five different synthesis methods, plus sequencing, ‘make it the mixed martial artist of synthesizers’. Continue reading