Review: Tempest Analog Drum Machine – Dave Smith Roger Linn
A review of the latest partnership between two of the most well respected synth designers around. This is a 6 voice analog drum machinesynthesizer.
The Lower Rhythm releases Earthworm VSTi for Windows
The Lower Rhythm says that Earthwormis a bass synthesizer with all of the grease, fatness and power expected of an analog-style machine. It features include two oscillators (five waveforms each), an extra fat LP filter and variable ‘tone,’ ‘tube’ drive and bit crushing.
Although the user interface looks pretty basic/poor to me, it might provide the power you need to add that extra fatness to your sound
“When the soft sounds of other bass synths just aren’t cutting it for your IDM, glitch, industrial, etc… Earthworm will provide the monophonic balls required right out of the box.”
Features:
- Monophonic design
- Two oscillators with five waveforms each
- Extra Fat LP filter
- Variable ‘Tone,’ tube drive and bit crushing
Pricing and Availability:
$12.99
More information:
Deep Analog EQ
DUY tells us that their new Deep Analog EQ is a very special equalizer which can be used like any other standard EQ, though with DUY’s Analog-modelled Active Circuit Synthesis technology.
MAIN FEATURES:
- Pure analogue sound with full digital control.
- Great depth control allows a virtually unlimited definition of analog warmth nuances.
- Fully interactive graphic control blends traditional knob adjust and graphic EQ.
- Proprietary & exclusive Modelled Active Circuit Synthesis (MACS) integrated to resemble full analog operation in the digital domain.
- 9 bell modes on each band, with an unheard-of sound colour variety.
- Noiseless hyperrealistic traditional filter nets, based on classic EQ circuitry.
- 10 bands of total frequency control.
- Comes with some 100 presets for easy-access operation
System Requirements:
- Supports RTAS, Audio Units (AU), VST and MAS for Mac. AAX for Mac available December 14. Windows not supported.
- Mac with Intel processor required.
- Mac OSX 10.5 or higher required.
- Same system requirements as your host software (ProTools, Logic, Cubase, Digital Performer…)
Pricing and Availability:
€ 199.00
More information:
Time machine – Korg Mono/Poly Analog Synthesizer (1981)
Time for a new vintage synth to be closer examined, this time it is the classic Korg Mono/Poly:
Arpeggiator, Poly-Mode, Chord-Memory. Unisono-Mode and different VCO, VCF, Envelope and Effect settings
The Korg Mono/Poly is one of the best monophonic classic analog synths but very underrated.
The sound of 4 real VCO`s , the great SSM filter, the Effect Sektion with Osc.-Sync and Crossmodulation is fantastic.
external fx. Dynacord VRS -23 delay/reverb
A cool analog monophonic/polyphonic from Korg. It has 4 VCO’s which can be shared in 4-voice Polyphonic mode, or linked in Unison for a versatile monophonic lead. Each VCO has its own level, tune, and waveform type control. Waveforms include triangle, sawtooth, variable pulse wave. It has a great VCF filter section as well as 2 envelope generators (one for the oscillators and one for the filter). There are also 2 individual LFO’s which can be used to modulate the Pulse Width, envelope and Arpeggiator independently.
A very flexible and fun synth. Other cool tricks up its sleeve include chord memory and an effects mode in which oscillators have a variety of ways to be synced. The built-in arpeggiator and sequencer can run all 4 VCO’s at a time or cycle through each voice per note! There’s also portamento, CV/Gate, VCF and VCO mod inputs, white noise generator, and the pitch/mod wheels can be assigned to control LFO, pitch or the filter. Its sound quality is nice and very Korg.
KORG monotron DELAY x monotribe = Future Dub Sound!!!!!!
Background information (Googlish from japanese):
Palm-sized battery-powered, with analogue synthesizers monotron DELAY echo like an analog delay.
The VCF circuit is equipped with a highly rated circuit is employed to MS-10/MS-20, adopt a similar filter to MS-10/MS-20 DELAY FEEDBACK. Further input to the AUX input sound because it is inserted in front of the filter circuit can be used as a filter / delay effects to monotron DELAY.
For more product information
http://www.korg.co.jp/Product/Dance/monotronDUODELAY/monotronDELAY.html
Nice Gameboy Analog Filter demo
http://youtu.be/9KDI3UbW_3w
Video introduction and demo of the Works Limited Gameboy Analog Filter.
Radiophonic Synth Workshop
Loopmasters has released Radiophonic Synth Workshop, a sample library featuring a new & unique sounding collection of analogue experimentation.
The team of scientists report that era defining instruments of analogue synthesis such as the Korg Mono/Poly and Roland System 100 and beautiful esoteric instruments like the Elka Synthex, Oberheim 4Voice and Octave Cat were combined with valve equalisation and dynamic control, vintage reverbs and tape delay, to create over 1Gb of data ready to be incorporated into any style of dance or electronic music.
Our team are pleased to report that soft synths or plug in of any type were not used in this project to ensure maximum analogue sparkle and depth within results.
The Radiophonic Synth Workshop sample collection from Loopmasters weighs in at 1.2GB and includes 890 Synth Samples recorded at pristine 24Bit resolution. Also included are 10 ready to play patches for Reason NNXT, Halion, EXS, SFZ and Kontakt soft samplers.
From Pulsing synths, Alien FX, Transmission Fuzz, Pulses and Deep Space Echoes, 50’s inspired Radio Chat, Sci Fi Bleeps, Lasers and more – this is one hell of a sound collection meant for all types of music producers worldwide.
The Radiophonic Synth Workshop sample library is available for £29.95 GBP.
Analog Vinyl Sampling
Experimental analog sampling with modified vinyls.
Sectors from a vinyl record are cut and replaced by pieces with exact shape from other records. When played in a vinyl player the needle follows the grooves from both sectors creating sampled tunes or loops.
Music sampling has been done for years using different techniques. Currently samplers (either as a piece of hardware or as software) is the most extended tool for playing samples that can come from digital formatted music, live recording, vinyls or tapes. One of the most old techniques for sampling was cut&paste the audio tape. I love this video from Delia Derbyshire using reel-to-reel recording, creating loops by cut&pasting the audio tape, and sync the samples to create music. More information here: blog.ishback.com/?p=918
In this video:
Supertramp – Crisis? What Crisis?
Paul Anka – My Way
Chicago – Chicago X
Lil Jon – Kings of Crunk
Quick Start Guide for Tempest Analog Drum Machine from Dave Smith Instruments, narrated by Roger Linn
Tempest is a collaboration between Smith and longtime friend and fellow instrument designer Roger Linn. Though they’ve consulted with each other on past projects, Tempest marks the first time a product will carry both the Dave Smith Instruments and Roger Linn Design logos. “If you’re going to make a drum machine, who better to have in your corner than Roger Linn?” said Smith, referring to Linn’s legacy as inventor of the digital drum machine.
Though Smith is also responsible for some fine drum machines—most notably Sequential’s DrumTraks and Studio 440—Tempest is his first to utilize analog synthesis to generate the sounds. “We’ve designed a very flexible new synth voice for Tempest,” said Smith. Linn added, “The design of Tempest reflects a rethinking of what a drum machine needs to be in the current era. It’s not so much a drum machine as a new musical performance instrument for the creation, manipulation, and arrangement of beat-oriented music, with an intuitive and efficient use of human gestures.”
Tempest’s 16 velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads are arranged in an 8 x 2 array to facilitate both real-time and step entry of beats. Two pressure- and position-sensitive Note FX slide controllers provide a unique new method of performance and control.
- Each of the 6 analog voices has 2 analog oscillators plus 2 digital oscillators (with a large bank of included samples), Dave’s classic analog low-pass filter with audio-rate modulation, an additional high-pass filter, analog VCA with feedback, 5 envelopes, 2 LFOs, an extraordinary variety of analog modulation routings, and stunning sonic quality, warmth and punch. Although optimized for drum sounds, it excels at tuned sounds as well, and even doubles as a 6-voice analog synth. In addition to the 6 direct voice outputs, there are stereo mix outputs and phones outputs, plus 2 inputs for foot switches or expression pedals, MIDI in/out and USB.
- The performance-oriented operating system, 90 panel controls, and bright 256 x 64 OLED display work together to provide a tightly integrated, non-stop workflow: record a drumbeat in real-time, switch to another drumbeat and use the lit pads to record it using step programming, switch to another drumbeat and record tuned keyboard parts, use the 2 touch controllers to to record real-time note or beat-wide parameter animations, use the generous sound controls to edit any of the drum sounds, tweak the analog effects or drum mix, arrange beats in real time and record the live arrangement into a song, enter/exit Song mode and much more, all without ever stopping play.
- 16 pressure- and velocity-sensitive lit pads are arranged in a 2×8 configuration, providing intuitive access to all your fingers and providing the ideal compromise between the popular 4×4 pad arrangement (popular for real time programming ) and 1×16 arrangement (popular for step programming) because Tempest does both. The pads can be used to play 32 drum sounds (2 banks), mute/unmute the 32 sounds on playback, play and arrange 16 beats in real time, play one sound at 16 tunings (in a variety of scales) or 16 velocities, or as 16 time steps for step programming. The ROLL button permits creating drum rolls or repeated groove patterns by varying pad pressure as the beat records, and doubles as a momemtary “stutter” effect when the pads are assigned to play beats. Use the Sustain button on tuned parts like a keyboard’s Sustain pedal, or to choke drum sounds or drumbeats when the pad is released.
- Two pressure- and position-sensitive Note FX slide controllers permit real-time recording of note or beat-wide sound parameter changes into the drumbeat as you play. For example, record simultaneous filter frequency, tuning, envelope decay and pan changes for each note, or control similar parameters affecting the entire beat.
Experimental Percussion Box
Experimental Percussion Box + loop station, triggering LZX Monolith, Modified Gakken SX-150 and DIY Sequencers.
**Modified Gakken and Experimental Percussion Box soon to be for sale on Etsy.com
DATAMASKIN
