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Arturia updates the MicroFreak synth with three new oscillators
The MicroFreak gets perhaps its biggest update yet with three new oscillators from Eurorack experimentalists Noise Engineering.
MicroFreak update adds new oscillator and modes for simplified noise-making
When Arturia announced the Microfreak at NAMM last year, we told you there was nothing stopping the company from adding new oscillators down the line through firmware updates. Well, guess what -- it's got a new oscillator.
The kid-friendly Blipblox Synthesizer is on sale for $30 off
Don't let the Blipblox Synthesizer fool you. While it's advertised as a toy, it's a surprisingly robust digital synth that adults can enjoy too. And while it's normally sold for $189, it's currently on sale for $160.99.
NASA figured out how to make Venus-resistant electronics
There's a reason why we're focused on colonizing Mars rather than Venus: the latter is absolutely inhospitable. Its atmosphere is 96 percent carbon dioxide and in terms of pressure, 92 times stronger than Earth's. That's not counting the fact that the planet is the hottest in our solar system. Needless to say, getting a computer to work on Venus' surface is a challenge. But NASA scientists might have cracked what it takes to keep electronics functioning on the sulfuric planet.
UCLA researchers develop nanoscale microwave oscillators, promise better and cheaper mobile devices
At a size of just 100 nanometers, it may not be much to look at, but a new type of microwave oscillator developed by researchers at UCLA could open the door to mobile communication devices that are smaller, cheaper and more efficient. As PhysOrg reports, unlike traditional silicon-based oscillators (the bit of a device that produces radio-frequency signals), these new oscillators rely on the spin of an electron rather than its charge to create microwaves -- a change that apparently bring with it a host of benefits. That includes a boost in signal quality, and a dramatic reduction in size. The new nanoscale system is fully 10,000 times smaller than current silicon-based oscillators, and can even be incorporated into existing chips without a big change in manufacturing processes. As with most such developments, however, it remains to be seen when we'll actually see it put into practice.