theremin players and fans are invited to the Hands Off 2007 UK Theremin Symposium, running from 27th to 30th July 2007. The Purcell School of Music near Watford will be the venue for a series of workshops, demonstrations, masterclasses and concerts performed on this unique electronic instrument by some of the world’s greatest thereminists. The… Read More UK Theremin Symposium Scheduled For July
The new Ztar Z7-S master MIDI guitar controller from Starr Labs offers guitarists high-speed MIDI control. The Ztar differs from other guitar synths by having a glitch-free, 6-string x 24-fret touch-sensitive keyboard that’s ideal for playing synthesizers. The Z7S fingerboard is fully polyphonic, meaning it can play more than one-note-per-string can be played simultaneously. The… Read More Ztar Z7-S Master MIDI Guitar Controller Lets Guitarists Synth Out
Flame has introduced the Flame MIDI Talking Synth, a small-sized MIDI-controlled sound module based on the analog Speakjet chip, produced by the U.S. company Magnevation. Originally designed for basic artificially generated speech output in American English tongue, it has been refined and further developed as an 8-bit sound module with speech-like sounds and synthetic robot… Read More Musikmesse: The Flame MIDI Talking Synth
Synth designer Paul Schreiber, founder of Synthesis Technologies, is selling a unique fully-restored Moog 55 modular synthesizer. “It is always a difficult thing to describe the condition of vintage gear,” says Schreiber. “However, I can honestly say this Moog 55, after the restoration, is probably a 9.5/10 overall in physical condition.” The Moog 55 is… Read More Unique Moog 55 Modular Synthesizer For Sale
Stijn Schiffeleers and Greg Zifcak have created Beat Blocks, a tangible interface for a rhythm sequencer. The user is able to create and manipulate an 8-track drum loop (4 tracks in the featured prototype) on the fly by physically re-arranging blocks within a matrix. Each block is actually a sub-sequence identified by a patterning scheme.… Read More Beat Blocks Offer New Way To Control Music
Alternate Mode has introduced a new addition to their line of percussion MIDI controllers, the world’s first MIDI Steel Drum Percussion Controller, the PanKat. The panKAT consists of 30 playing pads in a standard C pan format. Borrowing from the feature set of the malletKAT Pro, the panKAT offers a rich MIDI implementation, with total… Read More World’s First MIDI Steel Drum Percussion Controller
Noah Vawter, a.k.a. Shifty, created Ambient Addition, an ambient music generator that interacts with your environment. A tiny Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip analyzes a built-in microphone’s sound and superimposes a layer of harmony and rhythm on top of the listener’s world. In the new context, some surprising behaviors take place. Listeners tend to play… Read More Gadget Turns Everything Into Ambient Music
You’re probably wondering why we’ve got a giant glossy photo of a guitar splashed cross the pages of Synthtopia. We don’t look at it as a guitar, though, because it’s the Carvin NS1 Nylon Synth Access guitar. The NS1 Nylon Synth Access guitar combines the attributes of a nylon string acoustic with the power of… Read More Carvin Intros NS1 Nylon Synth Access Guitar
NAMM: Yamaha Drums introduced a new pair of electronic drum kits – the DTXPRESS IV Standard and DTXPRESS IV Special. The new electronic drum sets incorporate the same technology that powers Yamaha’s Motif synthesizers and as with their predecessors, they also come with an easy-to-use module. Both kits feature round cymbal pads and three- zone… Read More Yamaha Intros New Electronic Drum Kits
Yamaha debuted its DD-65 Digital Drum Kit at Winter NAMM 2007. The kit can be used as a practice set of as a percussion MIDI controller. The compact digital drums feature eight touch-sensitive pads, two drum pedals and AUX IN capability for playing along with an MP3 player. The unit also fits any snare stand… Read More Yamaha Intros Portable Digital Drum Kit
