Retro Boy – free chiptune synthesizer VST
Sound-Base Audio has released Retro Boy, a free chiptune synthesizer instrument for Windows.
Retro Boy is a virtual analog chiptune synthesizer/emulator. It does not specifically emulate a single device or sound chip, but it was made with a certain handheld gaming system in mind.
The goal was to make a simple, minimal, synth that could create “8-bit music” without being overly complicated or requiring much knowledge from the end-user.
Retro Boy features
- Single oscillator with seven different waveforms: Pulse 1 (12.5% duty cycle), Pulse 2 (25% duty cycle), Pulse 3 (50% duty cycle), Saw, Triangle, Sine, Noise.
- Volume, vibrato, decimation, ADSR envelope, and voice control (adjustable from 1 to 4 voices).
- Low CPU usage, <1% on an i5 processor.
Retro Boy for Windows (VST) is available to download as freeware.
KORG Lambda recreated for Kontakt
Rhythmic Robot has introduced Lambda, a virtual instrument library for Native Instruments Kontakt featuring the sounds of the Korg Lambda ES50 poly-synthesizer.
The original Lambda, produced in 1979, was a preset-based synthesiser with genuine polyphony, two banks of preset tabs, and some unusual (and musically useful) touches like two filter circuits, one dedicated to the Brass patch; a separate key-click control for the Electric Piano patch; a global filter; and, unusually for its time, a stereo “chorus-phase” effect which output on twin jacks. This stereo effect, plus detunable oscillators in the synth section, gave the Lambda a typically rich, thick analogue sound and made it a coveted classic.
The Rhythmic Robot version builds on the capabilities of the original but allows the user to switch in a “vintage” mode, restricting the software to the hardware’s behaviour, for creating authentic patches. The more modern updates to the original include resonance on the global filter circuit, a full ADSR amp envelope, a dedicated AR envelope for the percussive sounds, a battery of additional vintage-style effects, velocity sensitivity and individual level trims for the preset patches – allowing combinations of sound impossible on the original.
Lambda features
- The rich, fluid tone of the Korg Lambda analogue synthesiser.
- Vintage Mode: absolute authenticity, restricting controls and features to those present on the original hardware.
- Contemporary Mode: advanced flexibility with individual instrument-level control, for sounds not possible on the original.
- 738 24-bit samples of every Lambda tone and all its variations: 2.4Gb total.
- Includes 30 factory presets covering basses, pads, synths and keys.
- Individual control over instrument levels allows sound-blending for rich, luxurious sounds.
- Stereo Chorus-Phase effect sampled from the original machine: lush, swirling and complex.
- A selection of vintage-style effects including Phaser, Leslie speaker, Amp Cab simulator and Reverb.
The library is available to purchase for the introductory price of £29.95 GBP (RRP £34.95 GBP). Requires full version Kontakt version 4.2.3 or higher.
FRACT – a music & sound exploring computer game
Featuring an expansive and open world to explore and discover, stylized visuals and sounds that combine to deliver a unique and synaesthetic experience. The first game from Montreal-based indie developer Phosfiend Systems, FRACT is coming to Mac & Windows in 2014.
How it started
After unexpectedly winning an IGF award in March 2011 for his student prototype FRACT, Richard E Flanagan decided to take the leap and try to expand the prototype into a commercial release. He quickly realized that he couldn’t it alone, so he brought his wife Quynh on board as producer and Phosfiend Systems was born. Henk Boom joined them shortly after as their programmer.
Making FRACT
The team has been working on FRACT ever since, but realized early early on that they would have to basically rebuild the game from scratch. Since they had to start over, they wanted to make the game even bigger and better, and make music a much bigger and integrated part of the FRACT experience. Their lofty ambitions created some interesting technical and design challenges – and this, along with the inevitable learning curve associated with releasing their first game, has made for a wild ride. To complicate things even further, Richard and Quynh had a baby in the midst of production and have had to try to balance life and a newborn while working out of their home. What they initally thought to be a 6-12 month project is only now close to being finished, but they’re excited to finally share FRACT with the world.
Unboxing and Assembling KORG MS-20 Kit
Business suits unboxing the MS-20 😀
1978年発売の名機アナログ・シンセサイザーMS-20が、
2014年、組み立てキットとして復活！
そのMS-20 Kitを、開発者の三枝文夫と西島裕昭が
実際に開封してイチから組み立ててみました！
この動画の後は、皆さまがご自分で組み立てる番です！
是非チャレンジしてみて下さい！
製品の詳細は：
http://www.korg.com/jp/products/dj/ms…
Google translate:
The name of the machine analog synthesizer MS-20 launched in 1978,
2014, revived as assembly kit!
Nishijima is Hiroaki and Saegusa Fumio developers, the MS-20 Kit
I tried to assemble from scratch by opening actually!
After this video, it’s time to assemble all of you on your own!
Please try to challenge it!
The CaSYNTHerette – new virtual instrument library for Kontakt
Rattly and Raw has announced the release of The CaSYNTHerette, a virtual instrument library for Native Instruments Kontakt.
TWO synths, one using waveforms from classic synthesisers sampled from a very rare, stable, full range cassette recorder with loads of character and the other using waveforms sampled using the dirty, noisy Cassamplerette recording mechanism.
Whilst the Cassamplerette was looped and single shot recordings of real instruments, the CasSYNTHerette is a fully functional synthesis instrument using waveforms from some classic synth oscillators recorded and looped onto different cassette tape systems.
The CaSYNTHerette features
- FOUR cassette tape-based waveform oscillator faders: Square, Triangle, PWM and Soft (a combination wave from a classic synth).
- Additional SUB oscillator fader!
- Tape cassette noise fader with stereo and tone controls.
- Individual waveform tuning via tape speed controls!
- Individual waveform pans.
- HP/LP Filter + lfo + envelope.
- Amplitude envelope.
- x2 custom convolution reverbs with tone control. One very rare cranky vintage spring verb and one old spacey hardware digital verb!
- Fully controllable delay.
- Two state distortion control with ‘soften’ control.
- Saturation control.
- LoFi (Bitcrush) control.
- Chorus and Flanger controls.
- Wonkiness control – magnify the cassette tape wobbliness!
- Switchable MONO/POLY.
- Loads of PRESETS!
The library is available to purchase for £20 GBP.
The DSI Prophet 12 Module is now shipping
Dave Smith Instruments has announced that its Prophet 12 Module is now shipping.
“We have had many requests from professional musicians for a small, easily portable version of the Prophet 12 keyboard, with all the same features and incredible sound,” says Smith. “The new Prophet 12 module is just that: it has all the power of the Prophet 12 keyboard – in fact, it has the exact same voice board – and it fits into a backpack.”
“People like small these days,” adds Smith. “Many musicians also have more than enough keyboards, or simply don’t use keyboards. The Prophet 12 module offers a sleek design that still gives you easy and incredibly fast and intuitive control over all parameters.”
Lke its keyboard counterpart, the twelve-voice hybrid digital/analog Prophet 12 module not only boasts the greatest number of voices of any instrument from the distinguished designer to date, but each of those voices features four oscillators, capable of generating classic and complex waveforms, a sub-oscillator (Sub Octave), resonant low-pass filter and high-pass filter, and analog VCA.
Additional features include a tuned FEEDBACK path, a four-tap stereo DELAY per voice, expanded ARPEGGIATOR functionality, deep MODULATION capabilities, bi-timbral operation, and much more besides.
The CHARACTER section adds a variety of out of the ordinary wave-shaping and sound-sculpting options, like:
- Girth (low shelf filtering that boosts low frequencies, with some extra harmonic modification at higher settings);
- Air (high shelf filtering that boosts high frequencies, with some extra harmonic modification at higher settings);
- Hack (reduces the bit depth of the mixed output from the oscillators);
- Decimation (reduces the sample rate of the mixed output from the oscillators); and
- Drive (emulates tape saturation).
The back panel I/O of the Prophet 12 module matches that of the Prophet 12 keyboard in almost all aspects – apart from featuring an external power supply in the interests of making it as compact and portable as possible. Headphones, Main/A Outputs, B Outputs, MIDI Thru, MIDI Out, MIDI In, Pedal 1, Pedal 2, Sustain, and USB connectivity are all available.
The Prophet 12 module has an MAP of US $2,199 and can be purchased from any authorized Dave Smith Instruments dealer. See the DSI site for more info.
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DATAMASKIN
