Story Index for Articles, Interviews, News and Reviews
NEWS: In case you missed the recent launch, Stratum, a virtual instrument by Sonivox, is a rock-solid layering of a classic Supersaw synthesizer and a 4 operator FM synthesizer. Originally made famous by the Roland JP-8000, the Supersaw waveform has made a strong comeback in the trance and hardcore genres due to its edgy sound, particularly in synth leads and synth basses.
NEW MUSIC: Johnny Chief Project, an alternative rock band, are at L.A.’s Clear Lake Recording Studios recording and putting together the band’s debut EP “Talking to Myself.” The EP is being co-produced by the two core members of the band, Johnny Chief and Alex Medrano, and by Jose Miguel Smithers, the band’s current studio and touring drummer.
NEWS: The 2018 ScottWorks festival on Sept. 8 will include a symposium on Raymond Scott’s 1930s jazz compositions, and 1960s electronic music inventions. There will be presentations, panels, gallery displays, and interactive exhibits during the day, followed by a concert at night featuring live performances to celebrate Scott’s multi-dimensional music.
NEWS: IK Multimedia’s new analog synth module, the UNO, is now shipping, the company announced today. UNO Synth, IK’s first hardware synthesizer is a true analog synthesizer which brings all the warmth, depth and fatness you’d expect from a real analog synth. Ideal for notebook and “bed top” synth musicians.
NEWS: ARTURIA have announced their latest analog drum machine, the newest member of the “Brute” analog hardware family, DrumBrute Impact. In the sound department, DrumBrute Impact features 10 fantastic sounds accessible through 8 responsive performance pads.
MUSIC NEWS: The 12th edition of San Fermin in Nueva Orleans runs July 13-15, 2018, features live music including The Crystal Method. Nola Bulls, LLC steps up to the big leagues for the 12th edition of the ever-growing San Fermin in Nueva Orleans (SFNO) presented by The Advocate, a.k.a. The Running of the Bulls in New Orleans.
NEWS: RØDE Microphones has announced that two of its team members recently received U.S. patents through their ingenious work at RØDE. Technical Engineering Manager Luke Hamilton was awarded the patent for the gamechanging Hamilton Condenser Microphone Backplate and Lead Industrial Designer Samuel Trewartha for the innovative housing on the award-winning Stereo VideoMic X.
The innovative ElectroSpit Mobile Talkbox ESX-1 has been fully funded on Kickstarter. It’s a “tubeless talkbox reimagined for the future” for musicians which allows you to do classic formant talkbox effects without a portable amp and plastic tube, as made famous on songs like Frampton’s “‘Do You Feel Like We Do” (among many others!).
Waldorf Music has announced a full production launch and general availability of Kyra – the world’s first fully FPGA powered synthesizer featuring 128 voices (regardless of settings and effects), each with 10 oscillators per voice, and 8-part multitimbrality, based on the Exodus Digital Valkyrie previewed at Musicmesse.
SYNTH NEWS: Haken Audio has announced an addition to their multi-dimensional music instrument line-up, the ContinuumMini. A smaller version of the Continuum Fingerboard instrument was revealed at ContinuuCon 2018 in Paris. This version is far more affordable, and still has EagenMatrix virtual instrument on board. A Kickstarter will launch July/Aug. 2018.
NEWS: Summer is a great time to pick-up some awesome deals on music tech, much like the annual holiday sales. This is an ongoing “round up” of some of the best deals to be had during Spring/Summer 2018 including music software, plugins, virtual instruments, and more. (Updated 6.6.18)
NEWS: ModeAudio has announced a new sample library, “Dark Mass – Ambient Drone Samples” which according to the company, “surges forth, enveloping all it touches in quietly undulating intensity, sweeping through the landscape of your music with 706MB of caustic drones and meditative textures.”
SYNTH NEWS: Spitfire Audio has announced the roll out of their new LABS Program, which “is an infinite series of software instruments, free and easy to use; made by musicians in London for anyone, anywhere” according to the company. The first releases, SOFT PIANO and STRINGS are both completely free, with much more to come.
NEWS: Softube has released “Tube Delay” for MODULAR the software Eurorack synth for everyone. Modular synthesis is all about options; defining options by building a system one way or another, and exploring the sonic possibilities those options afford you.
SYNTH NEWS: The newly released TRK-01 REAKTOR instrument from Native Instruments (NI) marries classic mixing techniques with innovative sound design, sequencing, and modulation. It is designed to inspire creative and exciting kick-bass combinations, offering solid, powerful sound whilst also addressing some of the most common problems encountered when mixing kick and bass, such as clashing frequencies.
SYNTH NEWS: UVI Updates Retro Organ Suite to v1.5. The new version adds the “Yammy C10,” a new combo organ based on a fully-restored and reinvigorated 1970 Yamaha machine, and new rotary speaker effect improvements from the latest generation of the UVI Rotary plugin. The update is free for existing users.
NEWS: EastWest Sounds Online announces Voices of the Empire, a cinematic and ethnic vocal tour de force, featuring the raw, primal vocals of Uyanga Bold. Produced by Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix, Voices of the Empire is a must-have virtual instrument for composers and musicians looking for that epic vocal sound for their next project.
NEWS: TC Electronic announce TC2290-DT plugin based on their classic 2290 Digital Delay, with included USB-powered control surface. Adopted by producers, FOH engineers and musicians such as David Gilmour, The Edge and Robben Ford, it set the benchmark for delay units.
NEWS: Spitfire Audio has announced its new Spitfire Symphonic Woodwinds Expansion Pack that strengthens and enhances the core Symphonic Woodwinds library, Seminal Orchestral Woodwinds, with over 167GB of additional content.
NEWS: UVI today announced enhanced versions of its UVI Workstation instrument and class-leading FALCON virtual instrument. Both now allow for scaling of instrument interfaces (finally!). Falcon 1.5 adds a Frequency Shifter, as well as new Event modules using the Script Processor such as MIDI Delay, Velocity Remapper, while the Wavetable oscillator now offers FM.
NEWS: Best Service has announced a new sample library, “Celtic ERA” by Eduardo Tarilonte. According to the company, “Tarilonte once again takes you to a fascinating journey through time. This time, he travels far north to the roots of the Celtic culture.” For Celtic ERA, Tarilonte has recorded 23 brass-, string- and percussion-instruments in full detail and with immaculate quality.
NEWS: Eventide has announced that its popular Blackhole reverb plug-in is now NKS-ready — reconfigured to support Native Instruments’ Native Kontrol Standard extended plug-in format for use with MASCHINE and KOMPLETE KONTROL keyboards and software — as of April 18, 2018.
NEWS: Q Up Arts recently announced Benny Rietveld Bass Latin Fusion Vol. One for Apple Garageband and Logic Pro. Accorsding to the company, “Benny ignites Latin fusion and pop/rock basslines with his unique spin.” Offered in Apple Loops, wavs and arranged in Logic ProX session files, these smoking basslines provide creative spark for song starters, jamming or just getting new bass ideas.
SYNTH NEWS: UVI Augmented Piano is a new one-of-a-kind piano workshop including 24 configurations recorded on a 1909 Pleyel Grand Piano. Full 88-key preparations cover brushed, finger-plucked and muted preparations to haunting eBow resonances and brilliant metallic sounds by way of tacked hammers.
SYNTH NEWS: Tracktion has announced their latest DAW release, Waveform 9 Music Production Software, which adds a Multi Sampler Instrument and Modular Mixing Tool. The expanded capabilities of the popular MIDI pattern generator include a global chord track, a custom plug-in faceplate designer, macro parameters and track loops / presets.
SYNTH NEWS: UVI has announced a new add-on for their flagship FALCON virtual instrument, sampler, workstation: Digital Motion explores FM synthesis from vintage digital to visionary hybrid tones. According to UVI, when utilized within the modular architecture of Falcon, “Digital Motion” delivers a focused set of hyper-detailed and expressive FM patches offering vivid, evolving and highly-musical visions.
SYNTH NEWS: ContinuuCon 2018 comes to Paris at IRCAM for users and fans of the Haken Continuum and Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression (MPE). The event will explore the uniquely expressive instrument through music, workshops, lectures and more. Dr. Lippold Haken, inventor of the Continuum, and Edmund Eagan, developer of the Continuum’s synthesis engine EaganMatrix, share their knowledge, history and musical talents.
SYNTH NEWS: Spitfire Audio recently announced their new virtual instrument and scoring library ALTERNATIVE SOLO STRINGS — an “alternative take on a sampled solo strings library” putting performances of four of the most interesting and progressive string soloists in London into an easy-to-use tool to access Violin (Warren Zielinski), Viola (Joel Hunter), Cello (Chris Worsey), and Double Bass (Mary Scully).
SYNTH NEWS: The non-profit Bob Moog Foundation today announced launch of new raffle for 2018, of a vintage Minimoog Model D synthesizer keyboard, signed by Rick Wakeman, the legendary progressive rock keyboardist whose 50-year career has inspired people worldwide. The raffle supports the music education efforts of the Foundation.
SYNTH NEWS: IK Multimedia today announced that registered users of the Syntronik J-60 synth can download a free update from their User Area and enjoy 42 all-new instrument sounds and an additional 1.2GB of new oscillator samples. The J-60 is based on the Roland® Juno-60, one of the most popular polyphonic synths of all time, used by artists like The Cure, Howard Jones, Eurythmics, Billy Idol, INXS, Ultravox and many others.