Cool intro to the beta Spectralis External Control
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/3011127?pg=embed&sec=]
Info on Spectralis:
Spectralis 2 is the even more powerful successor of Radikals sophisticated Hybrid Synthesizer. With up to 2 GB sample memory and tons of new features Radikal raises the bar again for our competition. Never stop the sequencer engine again with our fully redesigned sequencer engine that allows for on the fly realtime sequencing, recording of MIDI controllers and overdubbing. Quick Sound Selection for every part – your most favorite sounds are just one fingertip away. Transpose your patterns and step sequences with the attached keyboard and control the Spectralis 2 parameters via MIDI from your computer. There is only one thing, we left untouched in our new design – the sound engine. Still the warmest and richest sound out there with the power of a modular synthesizer in a box.
For music nerds only: DotCom 960 & Kaoss 3
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNX6uyCO1EU&eurl=http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded]
Samples on the KP3 pad from the Synthesizers.com Q960 analog sequencer. Showing using Cubase as the MIDI timing and real-time looping into the KP3.
Cheers
FabFilter Twin 2 is here
FabFilter Twin 2 is a versatile and powerful synthesizer plug-in with the highest possible sound quality and an ultra-flexible modulation system.
- Three oscillators with sawtooth, square, triangle, sine, and pink/white noise wave forms, ring modulation, hard sync, pulse width, phase sync, stereo panning and polyphonic portamento
- Two independent multimode filters with 11 different filter characteristics
- On-board delay effects section with two delay units and two extra multimode filters in the feedback loop
- Clean and uncluttered interface that only displays the components that are actually in use
- Drag-and-drop modulation system that lets you modulate almost any setting with the following modulation sources:
- . Up to 4 XY controllers
- . Up to 6 XLFOs offering everything from classic LFO shapes to 16-step programmable step sequencers, per-step glide with adjustable glide curve, “snap” option that locks steps to musical notes to create arpeggio-like sequences, modulatable phase offset, and much more
- . Up to 6 envelope generators with graphic controllers and optional side chain input
- . Up to 4 envelope followers, triggering on side chain input
- . Up to 10 MIDI sources that let you use any type of MIDI data as a modulation source
- More than 1600 professionally designed and categorized factory presets
- The usual FabFilter goodies: perfectly fine-tuned knobs and controllers, section presets, interactive MIDI Learn, undo/redo and A/B switch, Smart Parameter Interpolation for smooth parameter transitions, an extensive help file with interactive help hints, sample accurate automation, AltiVec and SSE optimization and much more
The new Roland V-synth
The reason I recommend the V-Synth is because it is the only synth of its kind that provides an amazing combination of sampling, synthesis and looping along with the best set of programmable controllers ever assembled. Having such a great knobular synth combined with touch screen and a loaded controller set makes this an awesome performance keyboard. The factory sounds are great and it’s cool that you can always recover them if you want them. The best part is creating your own sounds because this keyboard makes it so easy and awesomely fun.
Roland’s original V-Synth set a new standard in expressive synthesis and sound design. It won awards and acclaim around the world, as it forever changed the way sounds were created and performed. But just when you thought V-Synth technology had reached its peak, Roland raised the bar even higher with the new flagship V-Synth GT! This unique instrument injects the V-Synth’s famous Elastic Audio Synthesis engine with revolutionary Articulative Phrase Synthesis technology. Its expression and realism is unprecedented, as is its ability to make never-before-heard sounds.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-QjkCGjaNY]
- Multiple forms of advanced synthesis under the control of a friendly, icon-driven interface
- New AP (Articulative Phrase) SYNTHESIS technology models the performance behavior and nuance of musical instruments
- Includes Roland’s proprietary Elastic Audio Synthesis engine plus Vocal Designer, playable simultaneously
- Sound Shaper II offers incredibly easy and efficient user programming
- Futuristic, high-quality industrial design
- Color touch-screen display with wide viewing angle
Launch of Waldorf Largo
Waldorf have released Largo, their first ever software instrument. It’s a synthesizer that the developers say features the same kinds of sounds as the Blofeld and Q hardware synths, giving the user a diverse sonic palette, from complex pads to screaming leads.
Many producers and synthesizer enthusiasts asked for a full-blown Waldorf Synthesizer for their virtual rack. So have I, and now Largo. Largo is the first pure software synthesizer with Waldorf DNA. And again – it is the cutting edge sound that makes the big difference.
Largo has three oscillators with a variety of waveforms that include shapes from the PPG and Wave hardware synths. Two multi-mode filters can be used in parallel or series, and each has a drive section and can self-oscillate. There are three LFOs, one of which has a step sequencer-style waveshape arpeggiator generator, and there’s a selection of effects, including chorus, flanger, phaser, overdrive and delay. Largo runs as a plug-in inside VST and Audio Units hosts.
Product feature: EVE
EVE stands for Electronic Vintage Ensemble, which suggests the design philosophy behind the instrument. EVE was made to recreate in the virtual world of softsynths the exciting and immediate experience of the early age of electronics in pop, rock and jazz music from the 1960’s and 1970’s.
During this creative period in music history, many musicians started to employ the innovative sounds of the ‘electric keyboards’ which were newly available for use on stage and in the studio: Rhodes electric pianos, Hammond and Vox organs, Hohner clavinets, strings machines such as the Arp Solina string ensemble, Moog synthesizers, and all those that are now considered ‘classics’.
EVE takes these vintage sounds and this early approach to ‘electronic’ music production as a starting point, bringing this general philosophy and sound into the modern virtual environment with an intuitive and powerful interface. At the core of the EVE approach to sound design is the basic structure of 3 sample-playing layers, 2 multi-effect racks, and a selected library of multisampled ‘electric keyboards’. This enables the blending of several waveforms and instruments into a vintage wall of sound, or alternatively, the use of the 3 layers multi-timbrally as a vintage workstation. These layers can then be further processed through EVE’s powerful multi-effect racks.
EVE 2 adds several enhancements and new synthesis features to the simple yet powerful EVE design. All the original functionality and ease of use is still there, with the following changes and additions –
• The original LP resonant filter per layer in EVE has been replaced by a multimode filter (LP, HP, BP, BR) with control over cut, resonance and envelope modulation, as well as a special ‘fractal’ modulation parameter. This expanded filter design provides further tools for balanced layering of sounds, and deep pads.
• FM/AM modulation capabilities per layer have been added via the ~FM switch matrix. FM and AM can be used to add interesting harmonic distortions to the original instruments, or to manipulate new sounds from the existing samples.
• The vintage multi-effect racks have been updated, with an expanded ECHO rack, and a new overdrive effect in the MODULATOR rack, as well as various enhancements to other effects.
• New routing options between the layers and the effects allow the MODULATOR rack to function in both ‘send’ and ‘insert’ modes.
• EVE 2 now supports the loading of WusikSND SoundSets, opening up a whole range of extra sample content that can be loaded into the EVE engine. Due to synth design differences, EVE 2 does not load Wusik presets (FXP, FXB, BNK or WusikPRST files). For EVE 2 to read WusikSND SoundSets, they must be installed into the ‘EVE Data’ directory in any subfolder.
Buchla 200 Modular Synth
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCK–bs6FYY]
The original Buchla Music Box was the brainchild of Don Buchla and came from a commission by composers Ramon Sender and Morton Subotnick. First built in 1963, this synthesizer was composed of several “modules” that generated or modified a music event. Each box served a specific function: oscillator, filter, sample and hold, etc. This would have an effect on the pitch, timbre, amplitude and spacial location of the sound. The idea was to allow musicians and composers to create sounds suited to their own specifications. Previously, one had to utilize either discrete audio generators such as test oscillators or via musique concrete, recorded sounds from natural sources. Although it was a fresh and exciting idea and an excellent way to get new sounds, this was very time-consuming and arduous. The Buchla Box allowed musicians to bend and manipulate sound all in one device. This would lead to the many kinds of electronic instruments available today.
The system features unusually high functional density, extended dynamic range, self-contained monitoring (preview) facilities, and unrestrained expandability. Interesting new techniques for polyphonic signal generation, dynamic spectral and timbral modification, complex pattern generation, and control of spatial location and movement are introduced. Organization is optimized for compactness, ease of access, and ready comprehension.
Connections within the system are made with color-coded patchcords, for maximum graphic visual feedback, zero crosstalk, optimal utilization of panel space, and unlimited flexibility and expandability. A clear and consistent distinction is maintained, both in modular function and in interconnection, between signals (the raw material of electronic music), control voltages (defining parametric structure, e.g. pitch, timbre, intensity, location), and timing pulses (defining event times and durations).
This you just must see – talkbox
Incredible 60s talkbox action from session musician ledgend and steel guitar whizz-kid, Pete Drake.
A talk box is an effects device that allows a musician to modify the sound of a musical instrument. The musician controls the modification by changing the shape of their mouth.
TalkBox
The effect can be used to shape the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto a musical instrument, typically a guitar (its non-guitar use is often confused with the vocoder) and keyboards.
A talk box is usually an effects pedal that sits on the floor and contains a speaker attached with an air tight connection to a plastic tube, however, it can come in other forms, such as the ‘Ghetto Talkbox’ (a homemade version which is usually crude) or higher quality custom made versions. The speaker is generally in the form of a horn driver, the sound generating part of a horn speaker with the horn replaced by the tube connection.
“According to an interview of Pete Drake “You play the notes on the guitar and it goes through the amplifier. I have a driver system so that you disconnect the speakers and the sound goes through the driver into a plastic tube. You put the tube in the side of your mouth then form the words with your mouth as you play them. You don’t actually say a word: The guitar is your vocal cords, and your mouth is the amplifier. It’s amplified by a microphone.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4h7mo2RRCo&eurl=http://www.futuremusic.co.uk/&feature=player_embedded]
In need for 600 oscillators – Alchemy is here
Alchemy is the ultimate sample manipulation synthesizer. It’s a synth powerhouse and yet is very easy to use thanks to its performance controls and remix pads. Just tweak the library of excellent presets from many of the world’s top sound designers or dive in and analyse your own samples – it’s up to you!
Alchemy features additive, spectral and granular synthesis and resynthesis, sampling, and a very capable virtual analog engine with unison and PWM. You can morph or crossfade between sources. You can import your own samples from SFZ, WAV or AIFF files. A wide range of analog modelled filters are included, in addition to a flexible rack of effects which includes all those from CamelPhat and CamelSpace as well as many new effects such as a high quality reverb. The innovative modulation system is extremely flexible, yet easy to use. Alchemy also features a powerful arpeggiator with the ability to import the groove from any MIDI file for immediate synchronization to a beat.
What is Alchemy all about?
- Additive, spectral and granular synthesis and resynthesis, sampling, virtual analog engine with unison and PWM.
- 4 stereo sources each of which has additive, VA, spectral, granular and sampler engine, morph between sources using advanced harmonic blending and precise time alignmen, crossfade between sounds with vector mixin.
- Performance controls and remix for easy tweaking by non-programmers. 16 controls per preset carefully assigned by the preset designer, for instant access to each presets most tweakable paramete.
- 8 remix pad variations per preset – click and drag to morph between variations two XY squares
- You can import your own samples from SFZ, WAV or AIFF files.
- 2GB of samples and analysed content.
- 300 presets covering everything from pads and soundscapes to keys, basses and leads designed by many of the worlds top sound designers.
- 16 effects types including all of the CamelSpace and CamelPhat effects!
- 128 Step Groove Arpeggiator
- Extensive modulatation routing with midi learn
Additive:
- Very high quality analysis and resynthesis – import vocal phrases, drum loops made possible by 600 stereo oscillators
- Realtime modulation of amplitude, pitch and pan spectrums by any modulator – for example, control the odd/even harmonic balance, pan partials using LFOs, stretch or contract the harmonic spectrum and lots more
- Individual amplitude, pitch and pan envelopes for each partial
- Easy to use additive editor with unique detail knob to simplify sounds for editing
Spectral Synthesizer
- Phase vocoder analysis for high quality pitch and time stretching
- Noise resynthesis mode using 256 band noise shaping
- Advanced graphical sonogram editing – choose from a range of brushes and select the colour and opacity
- Graphical spectral cut, copy and paste – cut or copy and paste specific frequency and time regions
- Sampler or granular playback modes
- freely modulatable parameters including grain size, density (up to 10 simultaneous grains), random grain time and random pan
- Selectable and customizable granular window shapes
Twenty Synthesizers
The composer Benge has released and album called twenty systems. Twenty pieces are included and each piece is created using only one synthesizer. As there are 20 pieces there twenty different synthesizers are used. The synthesizers are selected one for each year 1968 to 1988 – twenty years. The idea was to demonstrate the development of the synthesizers from the first commercial available system up to the fully digital systems in the late 1980s.
Tracklisting:
1968 Moog Modular 3C
1969 EMS VCS3
1970 ARP 2500
1971 ARP 2600
1972 Serge Modular
1973 Roland SH2000
1974 Oberheim SEM
1975 Moog Polymoog
1976 Yamaha CS80
1977 Yamaha CS30
1978 Roland 100M
1979 Korg Lambda
1980 Korg Trident
1981 Yamaha CS70M
1982 PPG Wave
1983 Fairlight CMI
1984 Oberheim Xpander
1985 Yamaha CX5M
1986 NED Synclavier
1987 Kawai K5M
Brian Eno called the album “a brilliant contribution to the archaeology of electronic music” .
DATAMASKIN
