Arturia's KeyLab Essential series is kind of the sweet spot in its lineup. It has most of the same core features as the company's flagship KeyLab series, but with a less premium build and a few less hands-on controls. But it's they're also about half the price. The new KeyLab Essential mk3 delivers even better value with more controls, a bigger screen and a more eco-conscious build.
The mk3 will initially be available in 49- and 61-key varieties, in both black and white finishes. While there was no announcement of an upgraded 88-key model, I wouldn't be surprised if Arturia added one down the line. On the surface the KeyLab Essential mk3 doesn't look terribly different from its predecessor. There's still nine knobs and nine faders on the right that provide immediate access to range of parameters in Arturia's softsynths. But there are also control scripts for a number of popular DAWs, including Ableton Live that allow you to do think like mix tracks using the faders or stop and start recordings.
The one immediately noticeable difference is the much larger screen in the middle of the keyboard. It should make navigating presets in Analog lab and other Arturia instruments much easier. There's also four contextual button below it allowing for more control over your plugins.
Arturia also expanded the controls at your disposal, including adding a second bank for the eight pads so, at least with a bit of work, you can take advantage of a full 16 pad drum rack in Live. There's also new scale and chord modes with presets, as well as a hold function and an arpeggiator. The company also upgraded the pedal input to allow for use with an expression pedal instead of just sustain. The software bundle included (which was already pretty great) has been expanded to include Native Instruments The Gentleman, Loopcloud and Melodics, in addition to Ableton Live Lite, Analog Lab V and UVI Model D.
Lastly Arturia has committed to lessening its environmental impact by making the KeyLab Essential mk3 out of at least 40 percent recycled plastic and moving to 100 percent recyclable packaging. And despite all this, the keyboards are actually significantly cheaper than the mk2 models. The 61-key KeyLab Essential mk3 is $269 (down from $320 for the mk2), while the 49-key version of the mk3 is only $219 (down from $269).
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-arturia-keylab-essential-mk3-is-full-featured-eco-friendly-and-reasonably-priced-151520351.html?src=rss
Rumors have been swirling around Ableton’s Push 3 for years. The Push 2, arguably the best hardware controller for one of (if not the) most popular DAWs (digital audio workstation), was released in 2015. Nearly eight years later, it’s still head and shoulders above much of the competition. But there are some modern amenities that it lacks. And Native Instruments changed the game in 2020 when it released the Machine+, a controller for its desktop suite that could also function as a standalone music production box thanks to an Intel Atom CPU and 4GB of RAM.
Considering the long lead times required for product development, it’s safe to assume that Ableton was already hard at work on its new controller when Maschine+ was announced. But I’d also venture a guess that the company watched the reaction to Native Instruments’ box closely and tweaked its plans accordingly.
The result is the Ableton Push – not Push 3, not Push+ – just Push. And it makes a hell of a first impression. It comes in two configurations: a basic controller for $999, and a higher-end model with a processor for $1,999. With a processor it can function as a fully standalone instrument, like the Maschine+. But it still also offers tight integration with Ableton Live 11 when connected to a computer. It has 64 MPE enabled pads, that pair perfectly with Live’s latest updates. It has a built-in battery for truly untethered creation. And, in a pleasant surprise, even if you stick with the controller only variant to start, you’ll be able to upgrade it with a DIY kit later this year for full standalone operation.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
But let’s start with the hardware. Physically the new Push and the Push 2 are very similar. They’re both hulking black slabs that seem like they were ripped out of the control panel of an alien spaceship. The screen appears to be exactly the same. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s a large, reasonably high-resolution LCD with excellent viewing angles. It refreshes fast enough that you actually watch your MIDI notes scroll by in real time as you record them. The UI itself is simple and intuitive but attractive. There’s no unnecessary graphics or anything, just clean lines and text.
The knobs, buttons and pads all feel great. One of the new additions to the controls is a large jog wheel to the right of the screen that is a delight. It’s reminiscent of the one on Polyend’s Tracker, but more noticeable detents. (Another fun feature Push borrows from Tracker is auto generated project names, which comes in handy.) And the pads. Well. They’re the first I’ve encountered that truly give Akai’s a run for their money. I think I still have a slight preference for the feel of an MPC’s larger pads but, those aren’t MPE capable so, Ableton wins? My only complaint about the hardware really is that the pads might be too sensitive. But that can easily be fixed by going into the settings. Which you should probably do anyway to tweak the responsiveness to your liking since MPE can be fickle and unforgiving at times.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
Around back you’ll notice you’ll find a bunch of new connections too. There’s USB-C for connecting to a computer to control Live, a 12v DC connector, and two jacks for connecting sustain pedals just like on a Push 2. But those pedal jacks can also send CV now, so you can control modular gear. There’s also a USB-A port for connecting class compliant MIDI controllers, so if pads aren’t your thing you can connect a keyboard, or play one instrument with the keyboard while knocking out drum tracks on the Push directly. You’ll also find ⅛” MIDI in and out ports.
More importantly, there are two audio ins and two audio outs, plus a headphone jack and two ADAT jacks for connecting to other audio gear. See, the new Push – even without a processor in it – is also an audio interface. Granted it only has ¼” jacks (switchable between balanced and unbalanced), so it's not ideal if you’re recording vocals and need an XLR jack with phantom power. But if you’ve got another audio interface already with ADAT you can connect it to the Push and then suddenly you’ve got eight or 12 or however many inputs to work with. It is now truly capable of being the centerpiece of a recording studio.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
If you opt for the Push with a processor you’ll find an 11th Core i3 inside, with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB hard drive. That might not sound like much, but it’s plenty of power to handle most audio processing, especially without the overhead of trying to handle a windowing system and security software and those 16 Firefox tabs you haven’t closed in about three months. In fact, I noticed far less latency working with live audio on the Push directly than I do on my XPS 15 with a 8th-gen Core i7 CPU, 32GB of RAM and a second-generation Focusrite Scarlett interface. If you’re concerned about your $2,000 MIDI controller / groovebox becoming obsolete, though, Ableton says it expects to make processor upgrades available in the future.
That Intel NUC Compute Element does chew through the battery pretty quickly, however. Ableton estimates that Push can get two to two and a half hours out of the battery, which lines up with my anecdotal experience so far. The Push is kinda big and heavy at 8.7 pounds, I wouldn’t exactly call it portable. But it’s actually been great to sit down on my couch at night, after the kids go to bed and chip away at this review without an elaborate setup or being tied to an outlet.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
Hardware is all well and good, but what is really going to make or break the experience here is the software and, well, so far so good. A few intriguing things to note at the top, the Push is running Linux. Which means that, technically, Ableton Live 11 has been ported to Linux. I don’t think you should get your hopes up about an official port being made available for that Mint box you’ve been building, though. I’ve also been told that VST support on Push is technically possible, though obviously that would require getting developers on board and converting their plugins.
There is one way of getting third-party instruments on Push, though: Max for Live, a development platform inside the DAW. Support for Max is huge as it can really open the possibilities of the Push as a standalone instrument. Ableton even recently released a pack of building blocks and tutorials to encourage people to build their own Max for Live devices. And there’s companies like Fors that build incredible commercial products that run on Max. Support right now can be spotty since the controls need to be properly mapped for Push. And even some of Ableton’s own Max devices like the Inspired by Nature series don’t work properly at the moment.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
But don’t worry, Ableton’s built-in devices are excellent. And while I might be sad not having access to my favorite softsynth in standalone mode, you can easily build a complete and highly polished track using nothing but the default Live instruments and effects. But if you do need more variety, you can install Ableton sound packs directly over WiFi. You can also drag over your own sample library using the Continuity feature in Live 11. You’ll see Push showup in the sidebar when connected to the same wifi network. Though, oddly, you can’t transfer over USB.
In addition to dragging over samples you can pull over presets, collections and favorites. I highly recommend, by the way, that you use the Collections in Ableton to organize your goto sounds, effects, et cetera. While the jog wheel is certainly an improvement, it can still be a bit of a slog navigating through long lists of presets and samples. Organization – not my strong suit – is clearly key to getting the most out of Push as a standalone instrument.
One incredible feature of continuity, though, is being able to connect to your Push and pull a project you started in standalone mode into the desktop app for final arrangement. Which is kind of essentially because, while Push seems great for jamming, live performance and sketching out ideas, you can’t do fine tuned arrangement editing or mix down to audio.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
Obviously, the price is going to be an issue, though. The standalone configuration costs $1,999, while the controller only variant will set you back $999. The DIY upgrade kit is expected to ship later this year for $1,049. That's a lot for a MIDI controller, even one as nice as this. And while I'm fairly certain there aren't any DAWs in a box as powerful as what Ableton has put together, they're also not nearly as expensive. Even Maschine+ is only $1,199.
I’ve only had Push for about a week and am still coming to grips with the workflow. So this is really more of an extended hands-on than a full review. While Ableton is my DAW of choice and I own a Push 1, the differences are significant. Plus there are still some software kinks to iron out. I’ve encountered a handful of bugs, especially when trying to edit MIDI notes in the piano roll. And once the entire unit froze up on me. But the Push is currently running prerelease firmware and requires a beta version of Live 11 to take advantage of Continuity. I plan to continue testing Push and revisit it for a longterm review.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-new-ableton-push-is-an-mpe-enabled-standalone-music-production-powerhouse-081118260.html?src=rss
Roland’s synth lineup seems a little odd at times. It doesn’t really offer much in the midrange. Its only two pure synthesizers in the $500 to $800 space are the 13-year-old Gaia SH-01 and the eight-year-old (and objectively hideous) JD-Xi. The company has mostly been focused on its miniaturized classics in the Boutique range and building out its groovebox lineup for the last few years.
The company’s SH-4d doesn’t perfectly fill this gap in the lineup, but it’s a big step in the right direction. It’s a synth-focused desktop groovebox with lots of hands-on controls, a rich sound engine, and a more than reasonable price of $650. The question is: In an increasingly crowded field of experimental digital synths and well-established analogs, has Roland done enough with the 4d to carve out a niche for itself?
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The heart of the SH-4d is built around Roland’s Zen-Core engine, but it’s not actually Zen-Core compatible. Instead, the company took the building blocks and arranged them into simplified oscillators. This is great news because, at least in hardware form, Zen-Core has primarily shown up either as overly complicated and menu-divey, or as a glorified preset browser. Here there are 11 different oscillators that range from emulations of classic Roland machines like the Juno-106 and SH-101, to metallic FM tones, PCM samples and 31 different wavetables. And there are enough hands-on controls that you can actually do some serious sound design without having to dig seven layers deep in an incomprehensible menu system. This is the closest Roland has come to knob-per-function in a long time, and the company deserves credit for that.
Thankfully, Roland also blessed the SH-4d with the larger, higher-res screen we’ve seen on machines like the Jupiter-XM and MC-707, rather than the painful two-line displays on the TR series and the VerseLab, so navigating the menu is less aggravating. In general, the menu system also feels more streamlined than on a lot of other Roland devices. I’d stop just short of saying it’s intuitive, but it also didn’t send me into a rage spiral.
There’s only a handful of things that felt like they required an unnecessary amount of menu diving: the effects, the matrix and the mixer, most notably. There’s obviously a limit to how many buttons and knobs Roland could fit on the face of the already pretty crowded SH-4d, but I’ve seen mod matrix patching handled more elegantly by both Arturia and ASM. The four faders can be used in a mixer mode, which is great but you have to switch to pattern mode, then hit the sound button to access it, when it should really be a single button press away. And the effects section only exposes two parameters directly, everything else requires going into a menu.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The effects in general are pretty great, at least. The delay and the chorus are excellent. The reverbs are a bit lackluster, but there’s a whole suite of other effects (95 in total) ranging from an absolutely incredible bit crusher, to lo-fi vinyl warbles, to the DJ looper from the SP-404. And the fattener is so good I kind of wish it had its own dedicated slot like the reverb, delay and chorus do.
Brief aside: Why is there so much noise in the Juno chorus emulation, Roland? It’s basically unusable until you go into the menu and turn it down (or off), at which point it’s excellent. What’s truly wild is that it’s set to 30 by default and goes all the way up to 127! At full tilt it’s just a white noise machine. Great for the synth nerd who has trouble sleeping, I guess.
That one gripe aside, the SH-4d sounds incredible. Truly. I am not always the biggest fan of the Roland sound. I think its modern synths have a tendency to be a tad cold and clinical. But the 4d mostly avoids this (unless that’s the stated goal, such as in the Wavetable or PCM oscillator). The presets do an excellent job of showing off the unique characteristics of each model and even take some of them in places you might not immediately think of. Sure, the SH-101 is great at bass and leads, we all know that. But did you know it can also shine while playing mellow pads? Well, thanks to modern technology blessing us with a polyphonic emulation of one it can.
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Roland includes nice touches here, like graphically representing the layout of the Juno-106 and SH-101, or showing a ring modulator diagram on the screen. In general, the oscillators themselves feel carefully polished. The two knobs directly below the screen, the four faders and the four buttons below those have immediate and obvious uses usually that are reflected in some way on the display.
The middle two buttons under the faders are how you turn on and off the saw and square wave in the Juno model, for instance. And in the Cross-FM engine you can draw an envelope using the faders. Oh, and speaking of drawing, there is a drawing oscillator. Here you can create a completely custom waveform by using the four faders, by recording as you move a knob in real time, or step by step with incredible granularity. It is loads of fun and a quick way to get something that is completely your own. Another twist of the knob and you can square off the edges to get something that sounds like it’s straight from an Atari 2600. Then feed that through a bit crusher and *chef's kiss*.
From here the signal goes through a simple high pass filter and a resonant multimode filter. The multimode filter is decent enough. It doesn’t self-oscillate, but it’s still pleasantly aggressive. I do wish the filter drive a bit stronger, though. It adds a little extra oomph, but doesn’t reach the giddy destructive highs of what Roland has in the SP-404.
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All of this leads us to the sequencer, which is what makes the SH-4d more of a groovebox than a true synthesizer. There are four polyphonic synth tracks and one rhythm track that you can use to create loops up to 64 steps long. The sequencer is reasonably feature packed and mostly easy to use. Each part can have its own length, playback mode (forward, reverse, forward and reverse, inverted or random), shuffle rate and more. There’s also probability and substep options, though you do have to do a little menu diving to get there. And, while the keyboard on the SH-4d is not velocity sensitive, you can connect an external controller or dial in velocity manually on a per step basis. The only major limitation is the lack of pattern chaining or a song mode.
There’s a handful of performance-friendly features as well, like a master effect channel for buildups and breakdowns. Plus, you can mute parts and even individual drum sounds on the dedicated rhythm track. One thing missing is the Step Loop function found on even its cheaper instruments, like the recent Aira Compact S-1.
I’ve got to say the rhythm section is great, too. I was initially kind of skeptical of it. I really wanted Roland to just focus on making an approachable and affordable synthesizer, rather than continue its “everything and the kitchen sink” approach. But, it really is excellent and not an afterthought at all. There are 26 instruments in each kit, which can combine two different waveforms, with their own pitch envelopes and EQ settings. Roland probably could have gotten away with just tossing some 808 and 909 samples in here and calling it a day. But the rhythm section has its own rich and powerful sound design tools.
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Unfortunately, Roland didn’t stop at a five track sequencer with a surprisingly rich drum machine. There are a few features here that are a bit of a head scratcher. The biggest one being D-Motion where you can assign parameters to an X and Y axis, then tilt the instrument to change them. It’s gimmicky and pretty unnatural on something that’s over 14 inches wide and weighs just shy of four pounds.
The visual arpeggiator is in a similar boat. It has a handful of modes that allow you to control playback by bouncing notes, playing pong or drawing in a sequence Etch-a-Sketch style. I wanted to like them. But the reality was they were not particularly useful, not even for idea generation, and I grew bored with them after a few minutes. I’d have rather Roland used that D-Motion button on the front for something more immediately useful like quick access to a mixer mode, or Step Loop for creating quick fills.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
On the whole, though, I think Roland has a winner on its hands. I’d love to see a version in the future with a proper keyboard – perhaps one with aftertouch. And I still have my struggles with the Roland workflow. But this is my favorite instrument from the company outside of the SP-404MKII, which is an entirely different beast.
The SH-4d has plenty of hands-on controls, a rich palette of synth engines and it sounds great. Add to that a solid build, the ability to be powered by a handful of AAs, and a much cleaner interface than many other Roland instruments. The top notch drum machine and multi-track polyphonic sequencer are just icing on the cake. This is easily my favorite Roland synth in a long time. And the fact that it only costs $650 only makes it that much more appealing.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/roland-sh-4d-review-an-overdue-return-to-great-synths-for-the-masses-143305194.html?src=rss
The idea of an acoustic synthesizer might sound like an oxymoron, but it's exactly the sort of unexpected concepts that Korg Berlin was created to pursue. This independent, R&D-focused division was cofounded in 2020 by Maximilian Rest and Tatsuya Takahashi, the man behind the Volcas, Minilogue and countless other modern classics. But it has remained pretty quiet since its inception. That changed this week at Superbooth where the team showed off its first prototype the Acoustic Synthesis_phase5.
Unlike a traditional synth that uses oscillators, the phase5 uses tuned metal forks. Those forks are specially designed to produce specific fundamental notes and overtones. And since the core sound generation here is an acoustic resonator, it has certain qualities a normal synth does not. For instance it will feedback like a guitar when held near an amp and ring when struck on its side. Takahashi told Fess Grandiose of Reverb, "we're trying to kind of capture this rawness of instruments, while being at the same time, controllable like a synthesizer."
So that's the "acoustic" part: metal tines that ring, resonate and decay, almost like a Fender Rhodes. The synth part comes from the magnets inside the phase5 that allow it to sustain just the fundamental note, or the fundamental and the overtones, or just the overtones. The overtones can also be modulated with an LFO creating a sound that can only be described as a sea sick bell.
In general the sound it generates in the short demo video above is quite unique. It does have a ringing, vaguely Rhodes-like quality to it. But it also kind of sounds like what you might expect of a singing bowl patch on a '90s sample-based synth. It's a touch otherworldly.
Right now the phase5 is just a prototype and it's likely to stay that way. Right now Korg Berlin is simply gauging interest in the technology. And if it seems like there's a market for this sort of strange hybrid acoustic synth, then it will explore ways to develop it further into a finished product.
The idea of an acoustic synthesizer might sound like an oxymoron, but it's exactly the sort of unexpected concepts that Korg Berlin was created to pursue. This independent, R&D-focused division was cofounded in 2020 by Maximilian Rest and Tatsuya Takahashi, the man behind the Volcas, Minilogue and countless other modern classics. But it has remained pretty quiet since its inception. That changed this week at Superbooth where the team showed off its first prototype the Acoustic Synthesis_phase5.
Unlike a traditional synth that uses oscillators, the phase5 uses tuned metal forks. Those forks are specially designed to produce specific fundamental notes and overtones. And since the core sound generation here is an acoustic resonator, it has certain qualities a normal synth does not. For instance it will feedback like a guitar when held near an amp and ring when struck on its side. Takahashi told Fess Grandiose of Reverb, "we're trying to kind of capture this rawness of instruments, while being at the same time, controllable like a synthesizer."
So that's the "acoustic" part: metal tines that ring, resonate and decay, almost like a Fender Rhodes. The synth part comes from the magnets inside the phase5 that allow it to sustain just the fundamental note, or the fundamental and the overtones, or just the overtones. The overtones can also be modulated with an LFO creating a sound that can only be described as a sea sick bell.
In general the sound it generates in the short demo video above is quite unique. It does have a ringing, vaguely Rhodes-like quality to it. But it also kind of sounds like what you might expect of a singing bowl patch on a '90s sample-based synth. It's a touch otherworldly.
Right now the phase5 is just a prototype and it's likely to stay that way. Right now Korg Berlin is simply gauging interest in the technology. And if it seems like there's a market for this sort of strange hybrid acoustic synth, then it will explore ways to develop it further into a finished product.
Last year during Superbooth Roland unveiled the Aira Compact series – its first true competitors to Korg’s wildly successful Volca line. Now, the company is back for Superbooth 2023 with a new addition to the family, the S-1 Tweak Synth. Like the T-8 and J-6, the S-1 uses Roland’s Analog Circuit Behavior (ACB) technology to recreate the sound of an iconic instrument from its past, the SH-101. While the core of the S-1 is ultimately quite familiar, in true Roland fashion there’s a lot of modern features packed in as well. And in even truer Roland fashion, many of them are buried in a bewildering array of indecipherable menus and button combinations.
I’m going to get this out of the way right now, because it’s a recurring theme in almost every review I write of a Roland product. The interface here is truly mind boggling once you get beyond the immediate hands-on controls. Almost every knob and button has at least one shift function. Many of them aren’t labeled. And the only visual feedback you’re given for anything is via a four-character, seven-segment LED display. A seven-segment LED display in 2023! I dare anyone to tell me what the hell “Nod.d” means without looking it up in the manual. And what about the D-Motion button suggests that this is where the probability and substep options are located? I’m not trying to suggest that I should be able to figure out every feature on an instrument right away without reading a manual. But I also shouldn’t feel like a lost ball in the tall weeds. Especially not when we’re talking about an entry level $200 synth.
The clunky interface here is particularly frustrating because the S-1 is otherwise kind of great. It actually has a decent amount of hands-on controls. It offers far more depth than any of the previous Aria Compact entries, even if you never touch the shift button. There’s an LFO with six different waveform options, including random. The oscillator section allows you to blend together a saw and square wave with pulse width modulation, as well as a sub oscillator and noise source. And, unlike the original SH-101 which was monophonic, the S-1 is polyphonic so you can play actual chords (up to four notes).
And the oscillators sound great. I’m not always the hugest fan of Roland’s ACB sound engine, but it shines here. Thick bass, acid leads and 16-bit JRPG arps are all easily attainable and satisfying. This is the best sounding member of the Aira Compact family.
The filter is excellent too. It stops just shy of self oscillation, but still gets pretty sharp and can certainly endanger your eardrums if you have your headphones up too loud. But at the lower end of the cutoff spectrum you get a surprising warmth and silkiness from this dirt cheap emulation of a classic analog circuit.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
Roland even threw in a delay, seven reverbs and four chorus options. The reverbs are merely ok, but the delay is a perfectly solid digital effect. You can even set the delay time to 1/128 and crank the … Anb(?) reverb model to get howling metallic textures that are out of this world. The choruses, pulled from the Juno and JX-3P, are truly excellent. It’s just a shame they’re buried in the arcane menu system because I want to turn them on for almost every patch I make.
There’s a solid arpeggiator, and you can even record directly from the arpeggiator into the 64-step sequencer. That’s pretty handy for laying down glassy high notes then going back in and overdubbing some bass to accentuate the chord changes. I will say though, I haven’t quite figured out how to get to 64 steps. By default sequences are 16 steps, there is no obvious way to go beyond that and I was not provided a manual with my review unit.
Roland also added motion sequencing to S-1, so you can tweak settings as you’re recording to slowly increase the amount of delay over the course of a pattern. Or even go into the menu and turn on and off the chorus, or change the sub-oscillator tuning on a per-step basis. It really opens up a lot of possibilities on an instrument this small and affordable. You can ratchet notes, set per step probability, and there’s even Step Loop for quickly mangling your sequence into new riffs on the fly, though that is far more useful on a drum machine.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
If the feature list for the S-1 ended here, that would be perfectly fine. But Roland added more. So. Much. More. Maybe too much more.
There’s a draw and chop function, which allows you to create custom waveshapes for even wilder tones. Then use the multiplier on your freshly drawn waveshape, or the comb on your chopped wave for hard-synced and dissonant metallic noises. You can also turn the noise source into a sort of pulsing riser effect. Though, I was unaware of this when I accidentally activated it while messing around one afternoon and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was going on. This is one of those many unlabeled features hidden behind a seemingly arbitrary button combination. (For the record, you hold down shift then press 1 and 2 simultaneously to cycle through a few different riser modes.)
The one last feature worth mentioning (I think), is a bit of a head scratcher. D-Motion allows you to change parameters by picking up the synth and tilting it about. It’s a fun novelty for a few minutes, but it doesn’t feel practical. Though, at least it makes more sense on the small, battery-powered and portable S-1 than it does on the SH-4d.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
Beyond that the S-1 resembles the rest of the Aira Compact line. It’s plastic, has a rechargeable battery built in and weighs next to nothing. There are 3.5mm MIDI, sync and audio jacks for connecting other gear. And USB-C for charging, but also for sending audio and MIDI to computers, phones and tablets. My one other minor gripe, physically at least, is that the mushy keys are painfully small. Playing chords on this thing is a bit of a headache. But not much more so than on any other instrument of this ilk, like the Modal Electronics Skulpt or a Volca Keys.
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The S-1 Tweak Synth is both the most compelling and most frustrating member of the Aira Compact series. It has plenty of hands-on controls, sounds great and is deceptively powerful for the price. But it is also, perhaps, too complex. It tries to do too many things and ends up feeling cluttered and confusing. Which is the exact opposite of what you want from what is essentially a $200 music toy.
What made Korg’s Volcas so successful wasn’t their laundry list of features, it was their simplicity. They sounded good enough, were affordable, and unintimidating. Roland seems to have gotten the first two parts of the equation down. Now it just needs to work on the last ingredient.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/roland-s-1-tweak-synth-is-the-most-compelling-member-of-the-aira-compact-family-070014423.html?src=rss
I routinely state that the Arturia MicroFreak is one of my favorite budget synths. But honestly, I’m doing it a disservice. I think the MicroFreak is one of the best synths out there at any price. That has as much to do with the versatility of its sound engine as it does with Arturia’s relentless updates. Since being introduced in 2019 this little synth has seen countless updates, most of them adding fairly significant new features.
The forthcoming update to firmware version 5.0 is arguably one of the biggest. It adds a sample playback engine and three different granular engines. That brings the total number of synth engines on the MicroFreak to a frankly absurd 22. Sure, not all of the engines are as usable as the others, and some are relatively similar to each other. But still, it’s a lot of versatility in a small $350 package.
When the new firmware drops around May 30th (unfortunately there are still some kinks being ironed out) there will also be an update to MIDI Control Center that will enable users to upload their own samples (up to 24 seconds in length) for playback through the four new engines. The total number of preset slots on the MicroFreak will expand to 512, and there will be two new modulation options added to the utility menu – random per-key and snap.
Since the MicroFreak had a wavetable engine to start, and in 2021 Arturia added support for custom user wavetables, sample playback should be simple enough since the wavetables are just .wav files. And if there’s sample playback and wavetable support, then granular isn’t too much of a stretch since that’s just chopping up a .wav file and playing it back in little rearranged bits. Still, granular synthesis is pretty hard to come by in a hardware instrument so it’s worth celebrating here. (Side note: I would expect to see more in the near future as granular seems to be gaining popularity and processors are powerful enough now to make building them trivial.)
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The sample engine is relatively rudimentary. You can change the start and end point and set a loop point, but that’s it. There’s no time stretching or anything (that I’m aware of), pitch changes are achieved simply by speeding up and slowing down playback. But there’s something about the way that is handled on the MicroFreak that sounds incredible. It’s got an almost late ‘70s, early ‘80s digital vibe that speaks to my love of grit. And many of the included samples at least remain usable over a wide number of octaves. In fact, I’d say that at the lower extreme’s they’re not just usable, but fantastic sounding – especially that PGTS Keys sample. And then, obviously, you’ve got the rest of the synth at your disposal to add filtering and modulation.
One trick I quickly fell in love with was using the new per-key random setting to slightly alter the pitch. Combining that with the lo-fi piano sample gets you something that’s never quite in tune, but never so far out that it sounds bad. It does require some minor menu diving, but it’s worth it. And then the key/arp row in the mod matrix becomes another source of randomization. And honestly, I didn’t really think I needed more randomization on a synth that has both sample-and-hold and random options for the LFO, plus the Spice and Dice parameters for injecting chaos into your arps and sequences, but here we are.
I assume that instead of one granular engine, it’s broken down into three separate engines in part because of the limited controls on the front. Scan plays a sample from start to finish (mostly), but it allows you to control the speed at which the grain moves through the file so you can get really lo-fi time stretching effects. But if you modulate the speed at which it scans and set the density (number of grains) reasonably low and the chaos reasonably high, you get this sort of warped vinyl tremolo sound. I especially love the way it sounds on the Braam brass sample. The biggest con here is that samples won’t loop in the scan engine, so you can't get good drones out of it.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
Cloud, on the other hand, is built for drones. It plays back multiple overlapping grains, looping around the file to create alien textures perfect for scoring a retro sci-fi point and click adventure. This is the sort of thing that people immediately associate with granular synthesis. It has a strange character that can’t be mistaken for anything else.
Lastly, the Hit engine is all about percussion. This is where you go to create clicky sound effects and stuttering glitchy rhythm tracks, even if the source material isn’t a drum sample. In fact, I’d say the results are often more interesting when working with what was originally a melodic sample. Though, I won’t pretend it’s not loads of fun to pop an 808 kick in there and just let it create relentless, skull-crushing avalanches of bass.
Photo by Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
It’s rare to see a company continue to add this many features to a product years after its release. Whether we’re talking about a synth, a phone or a camera. But Arturia deserves credit (Novation too, just for the record) for continuing to devote time and resources to even its entry level products. Perhaps the most shocking thing about the MicroFreak 5.0 update is that we haven’t seen its big brother, the MiniFreak, receive a single significant update. Despite costing nearly twice the price, it now has six fewer synth engine options, at least by my count.
While you wait for the free update to drop on May 30th, take a few moments to ogle the new MicroFreak Stellar limited edition pictured at the top of this post. It swaps the original's birds and floral flourishes for a space themed design and swaps out the white keys for a monochromatic all black deck. The MicroFreak Stellar is available now for $399.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/arturias-microfreak-gets-sample-playback-granular-synthesis-and-gorgeous-stellar-edition-150008075.html?src=rss
Just about one year ago Arturia launched the first entry in its Augmented series of hybrid instruments, Augmented Strings. Since then it's grown to include Augmented Voices and Grand Piano. Now the family is getting bigger still with Augmented Brass.
Just like the other installments Augmented Brass combines samples of its namesake — brass instruments — with advanced synth engines and effects to create something wholly new. The core concept isn't terribly different from what Output has with its Analog series, but the results generally hew closer to the real world instruments that inspired them.
From a surface level, not much has changed. There are some minor workflow and visualization tweaks, but you still get the same main interface with a large morph knob in the middle that generally lets you dial in the balance of organic and synthetic sounds you're looking for. Around that are seven macro knobs for tweaking the timbre, dialing in effects levels, and adding delay and reverb.
Arturia
There is also the advanced tab for those that what to dig in deep on the sound design. Here still, the UI is clean, easy to navigate and unintimidating. But there is a lot of power to be found under the hood. Here you can freely choose your four different layers of synths and samples, customize your filter selection and the effects, and even add complex modulation. If you do dive into the advanced tab, don't overlook that modulation section where you'll find two LFOs, two function generators, two random generators and you can customize things like aftertouch and velocity effects.
If you never bother to mess with the advanced options, you'll still have a pretty large palette to work with. Augmented Brass comes with hundreds of presets that cover everything from '80s slasher film scores, to early aughts hip hop horns, to sci-fi dirges. If you've read any of my reviews in the past, it should come as no surprise that I was immediately drawn to the nostalgic warbles of the Muted Tape Orchestra preset. But I loved the Full Brass Orchestra patch which was clearly made for scoring endless Game of Thrones spinoffs.
Arturia's been pretty busy recently, having also just launched Rev LX-24, a plugin that aims to recreate the revered (and insanely expensive) Lexicon 224 Digital Reverb. Like most of the company's plugins, the LX-24 visually tries to hew pretty close to the hardware it's based on. That means a few sliders and buttons, and not much more in the default interface. But, as usual, there's an advanced tab here that allows you to add modulation, ducking and generally make use of the amenities you've come to expect from modern music software. Of course, the LX-24 is still based on a late '70s digital reverb, so expect crust, grime and maybe some gated snares.
Augmented Brass is available now at an introductory price for existing Arturia customers, but will go up to the regular price of $99 on May 11th. REV LX-24 is also available now for $99, though chances are it will make its way into the next version of Arturia's FX Collection.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/arturias-augmented-brass-plugin-is-built-for-synthwave-and-sci-fi-scores-150043349.html?src=rss
Easily one of the most fascinating devices I've had the pleasure of reviewing is the Polyend Tracker. It's hard to overstate what a unique piece of hardware it is. The company followed up last year with the Play, another sample-based groovebox that took a more immediate approach to music creation. Now the company is back, yet again, taking its undeniable sampling prowess mobile with the Tracker Mini.
The Mini takes the core workflow of the original Tracker and shrinks it down to something under one pound, and just 6.7 by 5.1 inches. That's not the smallest groovebox in the world, but quite a bit smaller than something like the SP-404 MKII. It retains full compatibility with the Tracker though, so you can start a song in the studio and finish it on the go, or vice versa.
The Tracker Mini does lack the satisfying jog wheel, versatile pads and FM radio, but it does gain a microphone and a built-in battery. What's more, it actually has more memory and a faster CPU, so the Mini can hold up to eight minutes of mono samples in its pool, up from just two. Plus it supports audio over USB, stereo sampling and even comes with it's own hard case — a must have for protecting your music making gear on the go.
The 4310 mAh batter should last up to eight hours on a charge, though that will largely depend on how you're using the device, obviously. The mechanical keyboard style controls and jog wheel are replaced with gamepad style buttons. It may make navigating the interface slightly more difficult, but many of the shortcut and function keys made the transition. So creating a track shouldn't require to much menu diving or gratuitous button presses.
Most importantly, though, it has eight tracks of audio and / or MIDI, all the same sample editing tools, effects, beat slicing features, granular and wavetable synthesizers. It is easily capable of not just sketching out an idea, but building an entire song or even album. It looks likely to be one of the most powerful and interesting portable grooveboxes on the market when it starts shipping in July. You can preorder one now directly from Polyend or through retailers like Perfect Circuit for $699.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-polyend-tracker-mini-is-a-powerful-and-portable-studio-in-a-box-001656705.html?src=rss
Easily one of the most fascinating devices I've had the pleasure of reviewing is the Polyend Tracker. It's hard to overstate what a unique piece of hardware it is. The company followed up last year with the Play, another sample-based groovebox that took a more immediate approach to music creation. Now the company is back, yet again, taking its undeniable sampling prowess mobile with the Tracker Mini.
The Mini takes the core workflow of the original Tracker and shrinks it down to something under one pound, and just 6.7 by 5.1 inches. That's not the smallest groovebox in the world, but quite a bit smaller than something like the SP-404 MKII. It retains full compatibility with the Tracker though, so you can start a song in the studio and finish it on the go, or vice versa.
The Tracker Mini does lack the satisfying jog wheel, versatile pads and FM radio, but it does gain a microphone and a built-in battery. What's more, it actually has more memory and a faster CPU, so the Mini can hold up to eight minutes of mono samples in its pool, up from just two. Plus it supports audio over USB, stereo sampling and even comes with it's own hard case — a must have for protecting your music making gear on the go.
The 4310 mAh batter should last up to eight hours on a charge, though that will largely depend on how you're using the device, obviously. The mechanical keyboard style controls and jog wheel are replaced with gamepad style buttons. It may make navigating the interface slightly more difficult, but many of the shortcut and function keys made the transition. So creating a track shouldn't require to much menu diving or gratuitous button presses.
Most importantly, though, it has eight tracks of audio and / or MIDI, all the same sample editing tools, effects, beat slicing features, granular and wavetable synthesizers. It is easily capable of not just sketching out an idea, but building an entire song or even album. It looks likely to be one of the most powerful and interesting portable grooveboxes on the market when it starts shipping in July. You can preorder one now directly from Polyend or through retailers like Perfect Circuit for $699.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-polyend-tracker-mini-is-a-powerful-and-portable-studio-in-a-box-001656705.html?src=rss