Free retro-style software synth plugin
Angular Momentum has released Retronix, a free retro-style software synth plugin for Windows.
The synth features 2 x 5 oscillators and one of them offers a wavetable mode with 135 waves.
The filter has overdrive, key tracking, an ADSR envelope and an extra High Pass filter to filter out unwanted low frequencies.
J M Jarre talks about SW synths
In this official Arturia video, Jean-Michel Jarre offers his take on the advantages of software synths.
OK so now its launched – the new miniMOOG XL
Designed in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Minimoog, the Minimoog Voyager XL is a sonic powerhouse that pays homage to important milestones in the Moog synthesizer legacy. It starts with the heart of a Minimoog Model D. Fat oscillators and warm Moog filters give it that unmistakable Moog sound and the rugged construction and intuitive user interface design immediately tells you that you’re playing a high-quality musical instrument.
From the current Voyager lineage, the XL inherits a 100% analog signal path with stable oscillators, patch storage, touch surface, pot mapping and extensive MIDI control functionality. To all this, add a ribbon controller and 61 note keyboard and you have a monster analog monosynth built on a 40 year legacy of sonic exploration.
And here is all there is to know about it:
Here are the official specs:
100% Analog Sound Engine
The MINIMOOG VOYAGER XL Synthesizer is a monophonic analog performance and production synthesizer. Based on the Minimoog Voyager sound engine, it incorporates virtually all of the sound resources and functions of the original Minimoog Model D and Voyager, with the addition of a number of exciting features from Moog’s modular synthesizer legacy.
Keyboard
61-Note Velocity Sensitive Keyboard with after-pressure. Identical to the Voyager 44-note keyboard.
Ribbon Controller
A 500mm Ribbon Controller is located on the middle wooden rail of the Voyager XL. It’s center-point is lined up with ‘middle-C’ of the 61-note Keyboard. Outputs are sampled and available as CV-OUT (-5V to +5V) and GATE-OUT (0V to +5V).
Control Voltage outputs:
- Keyboard Pitch (w/ internal trim to calibrate to 1 V/Octave)
- Keyboard Velocity
- Keyboard Afterpressure
- Touch Surface X
- Touch Surface Y
- Touch Surface A (area)
- Pitch Bend Wheel
- Mod Wheel
- MOD 1 signal (signal at MOD 1 input)
- MOD 2 signal (signal at MOD 2 input)
- LFO triangle wave
- LFO square wave
- Mod Wheel Mod Buss output
- Pedal/On Mod Buss output
- Filter Envelope
- Volume envelope
- Sample and Hold Step
- Sample and Hold Smooth
- Noise
- Ribbon Controller CV Output (-5V to +5V)
Gate outputs:
- Keyboard Gate
- Touch Surface Gate
- Ribbon Controller Gate Output
4-way Mults (top jack is ring-powered) (3 of them)
Control Voltage Inputs:
- Envelope Rate CV (-5V to +5V) Ring-Powered
- OSC Pitch CV (adj. to 1V/Octave) (-5V to +5V) Ring-Powered
- OSC Wave CV (all three osc. affected) ( 0V to +5V) Ring-Powered
- FILTER Cutoff CV (-5V to +5V) Ring-Powered
- VCA Volume CV ( 0V to +5V) Ring-Powered
- VCA Pan CV (-2.5V to +2.5V) Ring-Powered
- LFO Rate CV (-5V to +5V) Ring-Powered
- MOD Mod1 CV ( 0V to +5V) Ring-Powered
- MOD Mod2 CV ( 0V to +5V) Ring-Powered
- S&H CV (-5V to +5V) Ring-Powered
Gate Inputs:
- ENV Release ON/OFF (0V OFF, +5V ON)
- ENV Gate Input (0V OFF, +5V ON)
- LFO Sync ON/OFF (0V OFF, +5V ON)
- S&H Gate Input (0V OFF, +5V ON) No footswitch input
Active Attenuators (2)
Active Attenuators are identical to the VX-352 attenuators with the following difference:
CHANNEL 1 is normalled to LFO 2 output. So, if nothing is connected to the Channel 1 input jack, the output of Channel 1 will be the attenuated version of the LFO 2 output.
CHANNEL 2 is normalled to RIBBON output. So, if nothing is connected to the Channel 2 input jack, the output of Channel 2 will be the attenuated version of the RIBBON controller.
EXPRESSION PEDALS can be connected to the Attenuator inputs (i.e. they are ring-powered inputs).
AMOUNT controls gain of -1 (CCW) to 1 (CW). Thus, the attenuators can create an inverted version of the waveform.
OFFSET control allows you to add a DC voltage of -5V to +5V to the input signal. The Attenuator output will be clipped to approximately +/-10V.
Four-Input Mixer:
Inputs 1 and 2 can be attenuated via front-panel knobs
Inputs 1 and 3 can be controlled by Expression Pedals (i.e. ring-powered)
Two output CV’s (+) and (-)
DC offset can be added to signal via OFFSET knob
Overall output of MIXER can be adjusted via the MASTER knob
Lag Processor
RISE and FALL time constants are adjustable from 1 millisecond to 1 second (middle is 100 millisecond).
LFO 2
A MIDI-syncable second LFO source has been added to the Voyager XL. The default frequency range is 0.02Hz (50 seconds) to 20Hz (0.05 seconds). This range was made to augment the current Voyager LFO which does not go slow-enough for some very slow modulations.
INPUTS: LFO 2 can be
- Free-running (adjusted by the RATE knob on the front panel)
- MIDI SYNC from external MIDI clock
- Directly CLOCKED from a GATE CV via the front panel CLOCK jack
- Controlled via external CV or Expression Pedal via the front panel RATE CV jack
OUTPUTS: LFO 2 has two complementary LFO outputs labeled (+) and (-). In default mode, these are the same waveform 180 degrees out of phase.
WAVEFORMS
Available front-panel waveforms:
- TRIANGLE
- SQUARE
- RAMP
- SAW
- S&H
- S&H SMOOTH
Synth sounds going into delay pedals
Calvin Cardioid shows off his Boss DD-3, Moog MF104SD, Eowave Spacebug, OTO Biscuit and more.
“Six Delays in September… I’m just playing common synth patches in mono with one hand, while the other tweaks the pedals.”
The sense of hearing
There are some fundamental principles regarding the construction of an acoustically healthy society, one where we can exist within the sounds of life. Respect towards voice and words, sonic awareness, the awakening of the sense of hearing. To preserve the sounds that tend to fade out, while remaining open to the sounds that spring out of each technological stride. To build an aural idiom that interprets its own symbolism. To accept the silence, enforcing it in the due moments. And, above all else, to listen.
Weekend synth power coming your way…
with Freakangel 
September 2010 Directed by: Elina Kasesalu Camera: Elina Kasesalu Editing: Elina & Indrek Kasesalu Special effects: Elina & Indrek Kasesalu www.freakangel.org
The band has released the “My Darling Bullet” video and it has to be said, it’s damn professional. Directed and filmed by by Elina Kasesalu with additional editing and special effects by Indrek Kasesalu it is an example of how great videos can be made for this scene.
CLASP gets reward
CLASP was nominated for the upcoming 26th Annual Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards (TEC) by top industry pros – engineers, studio owners, producers and other leading industry figures – further underscoring the system’s growing reputation within the professional audio industry.
Commenting on their nomination, Endless Analog founder and CLASP inventor Chris Estes commented, “We’re very proud to be acknowledged for the CLASP by the top industry professionals. It is truly an honor to receive such accolades from our peers!”
CLASP is the world’s first and only pro audio hardware that lets you record on real analog tape with digital speed. CLASP provides sample accurate tape synchronization with zero latency analog monitoring while delivering a true Analog front end recording solution for Pro Tools. Already being used by top artists, producers and engineers worldwide, CLASP is re-inventing analog for the digital age. CLASP is employed by a diverse range of artists, engineers, producers and facilities, including Lenny Kravitz (at his new Bahamas-based Gregory Town Sound recording facility); Michael W. Smith; Denis Savage, engineer for Celine Dion; producers Nathan Chapman, Dave Cobb, Chuck Ainlay, John Fields and Tom “T-Bone” Edmunds; and studio facilities such as Clearwater, Florida’s Cleartrack Productions, Los Angeles, California’s Hemispheres Recording and Austria’s Prime Studios. Analog tape manufacturers recommended by Endless Analog for use with CLASP include ATR Magnetics and RMG International.
ARP emulation – The Pro SoloVst, download the demo here at Stereoklang
AM Music Technology has announced the release of version 2.0 of Pro SoloVst.
You can download here the demo version of the
AM Pro SoloVst for Windows and AU for Mac.
Changes include:
- New functionality: The Sustain Pedal control has been added.
- Improvements:
- All presets have been reviewed and improved to be extremely close to the original instrument sounds.
- A new more realistic graphic interface has been redesigned.
- Improvements have been made on some controls, like Brilliance, Portamento and Aftertouch.
- Major bug fix: Aliasing noise audible in some presets has been completely removed.
- Some minor bugfixes.
Pro SoloVst is an emulation of the ARP Pro Soloist monophonic analog synthesizer from the early 1970s. Pro SoloVst’s sound engine is a software emulation of the analog circuits implemented inside the original instrument: VCO, resonators, filters, VCF, VCA and analog effects. It offers a set of 30 voices corresponding to the presets of the original synthesizer.
Version 2.0 is available for Windows (VST) and Intel-Mac OS X (10.6+) (AU).
Price: EUR 29.99
Visit: AM Music Technology
Updates on the Machinendrum
The Machinedrum SPS-1UW+ MKII, where UW is short for User Wave, is a drum machine equipped with numerous drum synthesis methods as well as a sampling engine. But this is not your ordinary beat box, it’s something far better. Both synthetic and sample based sounds can be manipulated to great extents. In a matter of seconds a vocal sample can be transformed in to a kick drum. Change a few parameters and a hand clap is suddenly a hi hat. Your imagination is the only limit.
We have a lot of nice news for the Machinedrum. The new Machinedrum OS 1.62 adds the much asked for feature of letting you rename ROM samples. The Sample bank quick access mode and the possibility to write protect Snapshots and Sample banks are other convenient features this update brings. Because of the new OS functionality the Machinedrum manual and the C6 SysEx tool have been updated as well. Download the new OS, manual and C6 version in the Support and Downloads section.
Today we also introduce Machinedrum Sound Packs. They are great tool kits for almost any genre. No less than seven Sound Packs are now available, consisting of a total of 23 Snapshots linked to 23 dedicated Sample banks. Each Snapshot features 4 patterns demonstrating the content of the Sample bank. The 500 samples are studio recorded, 100% royalty free, and found nowhere else.
All Machinedrum SPS-1UW+ MKII units come with these seven Sound Packs pre-installed. When upgrading a UW MKII with a +Drive they are included as well. Current Machinedrum UW users can download the Sound Packs in the Support and Download section. Note though that they are specially made for UW MKII models as some of the Sample banks exceed the sample memory limit of the UW MKI. If you are curious about how the Sound Packs sound you can listen to them at the Machinedrum SPS-1UW+ MKII Sights and Sounds page.”
Test with the new Vermona Kick Lancet
Here’s a test with the new Vermona Kick Lancet, really an amazing synth kick… u can obtain sweet and light kick, to booom one, to 909 aggressive style… more u have all the knobs in front of you for a real analogue style control…. really amazing in my opinion…
it’s based on the kick of the DRM1 MKIII, but it has more controls
for more info go to vermona website
http://vermona.com
DATAMASKIN
