synthesizer
Latest
Korg launches a line of DIY music gear with a $100 synth
Korg may have showed off a prototype back at Super Booth in May, but now the NTS-1 synth is official. The $100 DIY instrument is part of the company's Nu:Tekt line, a series that will "focus on DIY instruments, effects and utilities." The company already has some gear that bears that name, but it seems like this new product is a relaunch of sorts.
UVI’s Toy Suite virtualizes the musical instruments of your childhood
Software instrument developer UVI are swapping their virtual cellos and pianos for Speak & Spells and music boxes. The company's latest library contains over 70,000 samples of nostalgic musical toys, giving musicians the freedom to create anything from the cutest compositions to discordant nightmare fuel that Trent Reznor would be proud of.
Korg Volca Modular synth review: As weird as it is affordable
This review is a little different. Normally when Engadget reviews something, we're bringing years of experience and expertise to the table. But not here. The Volca Modular is a semimodular, West Coast-style synthesizer. And until I received this review unit, I had zero experience with either modular or West Coast-style synths. I am coming at this device from the perspective of a novice. And that's exactly the target audience. The Volca Modular is an affordable entry point to two worlds typically priced out of the range of the casual hobbyist. So the real question isn't "what do modular experts and West Coast veterans think about it?" It's "what can a beginner like myself learn from it?"
CraftSynth 2.0 is portable, fun and a little bit flimsy
Teenage Engineering says the Pocket Operator series is about compromising on everything except sound quality. But I think UK-based Modal Electronics may have beaten it at its own game. The CraftSynth 2.0 (from here on out called Craft 2) is a tiny, cheap synthesizer that sounds huge and is stunningly flexible. But like any synth in this price range -- the Craft 2 costs $149 -- there are those aforementioned compromises.
Ableton Live can control modular synths from your computer
Modular synthesizers are having something of a moment right now. Even mainstream players like Korg are trying to bring them to the masses. So it's no surprise that Ableton -- maker of one of the most popular digital audio workstations (DAW) in the world -- is trying to get in on the hype. Today the company officially launched CV Tools, a set of virtual devices for Live 10 that bring your computer and your modular gear closer together.
Organelle M is a portable and endlessly hackable music ‘computer’
Critter & Guitari has been pumping out interesting musical devices since at least 2008. But a few years ago the company streamlined its selection of instruments to focus on two products: the ETC video synthesizer and the Organelle music computer. What makes the latter unique is that it isn't a synthesizer or a sampler; it's both or neither or some combination of things. It is, at its heart, a computer running patches built in Pure Data, a visual programming language primarily used for creating and manipulating audio. Though, much of that is hidden, and you can just fire it up and start playing if you want. Since its introduction in 2016 the Organelle has received multiple software updates. But about two weeks ago, it got its first major hardware upgrade.
Teenage Engineering ships its delayed modular synth and keyboard
Teenage Engineering announced it was adding modular options to its Pocket Operator line back in January. A month later, the company cited manufacturing issues when it cancelled pre-orders for the 170 analog synth and the 16 keyboard designed to be used with it. In an email this morning, Teenage Engineering says those two pieces of gear are shipping via its website. Indeed both are now listed as in stock when you add them to your cart.
Blipblox is a synth made for kids that adults will like too
Blipblox is a synthesizer designed for children. The company behind it, Playtime Engineering, even calls it a toy. And it certainly looks like one. It's made out of bright, glossy, primary-colored plastic. The large knobs and buttons are clearly meant for the clumsy hands of a child. Oh, and it's covered in crazy blinking lights that are mostly there for show. But if you start digging a little deeper, you'll find more than just a plaything.
Korg's Minilogue and Monologue synths are getting a major update
The Minilogue and Monologue are a few years old at this point, and approaching modern classic status in the synth world. But that doesn't mean that Korg is content to simply let them coast through life the same way they left the factory. Today the company is releasing a major update to the firmware for both that in a lot of ways is about making them a little closer to each other in terms of features. For one, Minilogue users are getting micro tuning capability. That means they'll no longer be bound by the constraints of the Western 12-tone equal temperament, and it's particularly great if your goal is to be the next Aphex Twin. The sequencer is also getting a much needed refresh, especially on the "motion" side which controls the parameters and settings rather than notes. A new view lets you dig a bit deeper and makes it clearer what you're working on. Monologue is getting some tweaks too, including to the MIDI filter, which will be a huge boon to anyone that likes to control it with an external sequencer. There have also been changes to the active step programming features, though we've been unable to test them out, so we can't tell you exactly how useful they are. Lastly, both synths are getting original value indicators. That will make finding your way back to where a patch started much easier after you're done twiddling the knobs. Version 2.0 of the Minilogue and Monologue firmware is available today for free at Korg.com.
Ableton teaches synthesizer basics from the comfort of a browser
From creating grungy music with drone motors to perfecting DIY digital setups and recreating 60-year-old music machines, there are plenty of cool things you can do with synthesizers. But synths can be hard to understand, and if you're unfamiliar with them, you might feel a little left out. Ableton wants to change that. The company's new Learning Synths interactive website offers step-by-step synthesizer lessons, followed by a "playground," where you can put your new skills to the test.
Drone motors make wonderfully grungy synth music
There's no shortage of ways for synthesizers to generate sounds. Generally they rely on one of two tried and true technologies -- analog or digital oscillators. Gamechanger Audio, however, went a completely different route and turned to... motors (hence Motor Synth). These aren't the chaotic, gas-burning engines you'd find in a truck though. These are eight high-precision, brushless motors (like those used in drones).
Inside the crazy, musical mind of Look Mum No Computer
Sam Battle, best known by his musical persona Look Mum No Computer, isn't your average YouTube star. He's built an impressive following not through traditional songwriting or perfectly edited music videos -- though he's adept at both -- but ludicrously ambitious inventions. Over the last few years, Battle has created a creepy but strangely mesmerizing Furby organ, a synthesizer fused with a classic Raleigh Chopper bicycle and a hauntingly beautiful Gameboy Triple Oscillator, which he described online, with refreshing honesty, as "basically three Arduinoboys stuck together."
Moog museum tells the history of popular synthesized music
There's no doubt that Bob Moog had a massive influence on music by making synthesizers popular and accessible, and now there's a dedicated place to pay homage to his legacy. The Bob Moog Foundation has opened the Moogseum, a museum in Asheville, North Carolina that includes static and interactive exhibits devoted to its namesake's synths as well as other electronic instruments.
Teenage Engineering started a record label for songs made with its synths
Teenage Engineering is well-known for doing things its own way. The Stockholm-based synth company's latest project isn't another compact instrument, it's a record label. Teenage Engineering Records will release songs that adhere to only two rules: "It needs to be a good song (easy)" and it has to feature at least one of the company's instruments.
Recommended Reading: Trusting companies despite privacy lapses
People say they care about privacy but they continue to buy devices that can spy on them Rani Molla, Vox In the wake of Cambridge Analytica, concerns about personal data privacy abound. Of course, Facebook isn't the only company that's been caught collecting and sharing user details it shouldn't have. What's most interesting about this entire saga is the fact that we continue to trust the likes of Amazon, Google and others despite these lapses. We continue to buy devices with cameras, microphones and other tech, and willingly put them in our homes. Recode data reporter Rani Molla explains why our trust hasn't entirely eroded in a piece for Vox.
Korg is working on a new DIY digital synth, no soldering required
When it comes to tiny synthesizers, Teenage Engineering's Pocket Operators immediately come to mind. Korg may give the company more competition later this year though, and it may take a more DIY approach to do so. At Superbooth 2019 last week, Korg showed off a prototype NTS1 Digital Kit, a diminutive digital synth that's "the evolution" of the development board it released last year for the Prologue's oscillators and effects. Details are scarce for now, and the only thing Korg is saying officially is that it's a prototype.
Korg's Volca Nubass is a vacuum tube analog synthesizer
Korg debuted its Nutube tech a couple years back, but so far the tiny vacuum tubes have only surfaced in select products. Nutubes have been used in a distortion pedal and a mini guitar amplifier head, one of which was made by another company. Now Korg is putting the tiny Nutubes to work in its line of compact analog synthesizers with the $200 Volca Nubass.
Elektron turned its Digitone groove box into a proper synth
If you're into synths and grooveboxes at all, chances are you're familiar with Elektron's Digitone. It's part of it's mid-range "Digi" line of instruments, and it's loaded with all sorts of gorgeous FM sounds. It's not quite as cold as the classic FM synths of yore like the DX7, but it's still capable complex digital tones, metallic chimes and retro pads. The Digitone Keys is basically the same instrument, but with a keyboard attached.
AI brought a 60-year old music-making machine to life
If you've seen Looney Tunes or The Simpsons, you've probably heard Raymond Scott's music -- which was adapted for those and other cartoons. But there's a good chance you haven't heard of Scott himself. A musician and inventor, Scott was ahead of his time. As early as the 1950s, he began working on the Electronium, a kind of music synthesizer that he hoped would perform and compose music simultaneously. While Scott invested $1 million and more than a decade in Electronium, he died before it was complete. Now, Fast Company reports, Pentagram partner and sound artist Yuri Suzuki has picked up where Scott left off.
Moog introduces the Matriarch: A four-voice semi-modular analog synth
Like it has in years past, Moog is unveiling its latest synthesizer during Moogfest. The company's annual music and culture festival kicks off today in Durham, North Carolina, and when it does, Moog will be building the new Matriarch patchable four-note paraphonic analog synth on-site. A progression from the Mother-32 and Grandmother before it, the semi-modular Matriarch is loaded: built-in sequencer (256 steps), arpeggiator, stereo ladder filters and stereo analog delay. The company says you'll be able to make some noise instantly though, with "no patching required."
