Since launching Symplesound, my focus has been to create intuitive instruments and presets that make it easy for producers to create their own sounds – without having to be an expert at synthesizers.
Because of that, I decided to redesign all of the instruments on this blog and collect them into one pack, making everything much easier to use. The pack also includes tutorials, integrated effects and MIDI clips for inspiration.
They're still 100% free – because I want to continue supporting synth fans everywhere – and they're now available at the Symplesound shop, along with more free downloads and goodies.
When it comes to synth exotica, this year's Musikmesse was one of the best I've seen in years. No, no, no... I was too busy with Academik to make the trek, but considering I've already had my grubby mitts on a couple of these delights, I can safely say that the world of synthesis has been going through a bit of a renaissance lately.
Here's a rundown of my favorite products of this show. It is by no means comprehensive, it's just the stuff that I plan to either buy, review, or recommend.
[Update: Some browsers are having problems displaying this piece's layout, notably Safari. Not sure what's going on, since I've posted numerous YouTube videos in the past without incident. Looks great in Firefox, for what that's worth... Apologies...]
ROLAND JUPITER-80
With three months of teasing and rumors, Roland's Jupiter-80 made one of the biggest splashes in tradeshow history - and I'm not just saying that because I designed a fuckton of its presets.
This performance-centric synth sports a three-oscillator analog-modeled synth, Roland's new SuperNATURAL modeling/sampling technology, massive array of world-class effects, and a whopping 256 voices, making it worthy of its $3999 price tag.
How does it sound? Well, having had one in my studio for nearly four months, I can tell you first-hand that it's a true beast of a synth with a VERY Roland vibe. Kind of like a menage a trois between a Jupiter-8, D-50, and Fantom X8 - but targeted directly at live performance.
Howard Jones also designed a bunch of the Jupiter sounds and gives his take on the beastie in the YouTube video above.
These are about as cool as it gets. And my birthday's only a week away!!!
Earlier this month, I was asking the guys over at Switched On if anyone had made a decent Roland VP-330 softsynth. Well apparently, someone did - and if it's Windows-only, I'm gonna key their Chevy.
If you're wondering why I'm so jazzed about an inexpensive digital synth, check out the MeeBlip SoundCloud page. The little beast oozes character in ways that most digital synths don't, simply because it's not trying to be an analog emulation. The MeeBlip just uses the same architecture.
Okay, now that I've got your attention, let's look into this thing called Cymatics.
In really simple terms, Cymatics is a study of how sound interacts with matter. It does so in extremely complex ways, some of which are truly mind-boggling.
At the beginning of each semester, I show a few of these videos to the students in my Synthesis 1 classes. As you will see, this material is both spellbinding and slightly humbling - especially if you have an iota of mysticism in your soul.
I don't claim to know what the fuck is going on here. Fortunately, neither do the researchers, though there appears to be something deeply important about this relatively new field.
Back in black, I hit the sack, I've been too long I'm glad to be back. Well, Waldorf's Blofeld is at least. (via SonicState).
Native Instruments have updated and rebranded their Audio 4 DJ and Audio 8 DJ interfaces with additional channels, now they're called the Traktor Audio 6 and Traktor Audio 10.
Whooooooooaaaa. I totally slept on Propellerhead's YouTube channel, which is packed with cool Reason tutorial videos. Peep it.
Steinberg has announced version 3.5 of their VST plug-in spec. Depending on how many developers adopt these new features, this is either massive news or a non-event. Either way, there's some interesting stuff in there. (via Synthtopia)
Memory Lane department: Somehow, a Spanish blog has gotten their hands on a copy of Sons & Lovers' independently released 1985 EP. Considering there are probably less than 500 copies in circulation, this is nothing short of astonishing. The fact that I was literally in the process of having someone convert it to MP3 next week is even stranger. Oh yeah, Sons & Lovers was my first band...
Working on this Winter Kills remix, so not much time to blahblahblah...
Here's what I dug at NAMM. It's all stuff that's definitely worth checking out. Promise.
M-Audio Venom
Okay, maybe I'm a teeny bit biased because I programmed a fuckton of the presets that ship with this synth, but in all honesty, it's one of the most unique digital synths I've seen in a long time. The fact that the waveforms are actually sampled from classic analog gear (as opposed to being generated via modeling) gives the Venom a more aggressive, slightly quirky vibe - and quirky aggression is something that I'm a little too into or so I've been told.
Throw in an audio interface, MIDI interface, and a street price of about $500 and you have the makings of a synth that's going to be in a lot of rigs.
Once upon a time, Korg made a synth that really DID do it all, called the OASYS. Unfortunately, the OASYS cost around $10000. (Yeah, ten GRAND), so it was strictly a luxury item for actual rockstars.
Six years later, they refined the OASYS immeasurably and brought the price into the range of mere mortals. Kronos is very good stuff - and Jack Hotop's always astonishing, frankly gorgeous demos really drove the point home to NAMMites.
Shameless plug: Kronos also features several of the synths from their Legacy collection and a damn powerful FM synth called MOD-7. I did a bunch of patches for both and Korg has confirmed that these sounds will be included with Kronos when it ships.
As a kid, I always wanted a Fairlight CMI, but I just didn't have $25k lying around for some reason.
Fast forward thirty years. The processing power of the iPhone eclipses that of the original Fairlight Series IIx. Soooo.... Now that Fairlight is back in business, they've decided to re-release the Fairlight Series IIx as apps for both the iPhone ($5.00) and iPad ($50.00) - iPad vid here.
I wet myself.
Reactable iPad App
As a kid, I always wanted a Reactable, but I just wasn't Bjork.
Fast forward four years. Now that Apple makes a pocket-sized platform that does the trick, there's an app for that.
Lots of puddles in Hall E.
Other random moments of excitement...
Rob Papen makes great softsynths. Punch is his latest. MusicRadar has more info.
I've been slavishly devoted to iZotope's Ozone, Alloy and Trash plugs since each arrived. I'm guessing the same will happen with Nectar.
The fact that Korg's Legacy MS20 controller is compatible with the iMS20 means I am robo-excited that I've got one collecting dust in my garage - for now. Here's the YouTube vid to prove it.
