All the synth, modular and music tech news from July 2024 in a perfect round-up of what should be floating your boat this summer.
Moog Labyrinth – semi-modular generative synthesizer with filter, wavefolder and two competing 8-step sequencers.
https://www.moogmusic.com/news/introducing-labyrinth
Buy from:
- Thomann: https://thmn.to/thoprod/592223?offid=1&affid=1460
- Perfect Circuit: https://tinyurl.com/perfectcircuit-labyrinth
Luna for Windows – free audio and MIDI daw with unlimited tracks, vintage tape emulation and console stuff, huge rompler synth that looks fantastic.
https://www.uaudio.com/luna.html
FL Studio 2024 – Plugins and samples in FL Cloud that contain stuff from all sorts of manufacturers for a single subscription. AI mastering and online distribution. 24-hour emergency license for old projects. It comes with 100 instruments, stem separation, and internal modulation
https://www.image-line.com/fl-studio/
Simon the Magpie Round Robin – four-voice synth that plays them in round-robin mode. You choose 4 waveforms from a long line and morph between them. Organ mode, arp mode, drone mode, filter, touch strip, automation/recording on knobs. Cool beans.
https://youtu.be/ojyZPOz-JF4
Sonicware Liven Ambient Zero – 4 layers of tone and texture – drone, pad, atmos and noise. Blendwave modulation synthesis designed to push stuff around. 8-second sampling, noise blending, lush reverbs, tape delay, chorus and a sequencer for each layer. Sounds a bit glassy rather than warm.
https://sonicware.jp/pages/liven-ambient
Buy From:
- Perfect Circuit – https://tinyurl.com/perfectcircuit-ambient0
- Thomann – https://thmn.to/thoprod/595581?offid=1&affid=1460
Cherry Audio Wurlybird 140B is a sample-based electro-acoustic instrument based on the 1964 Wurlitzer 140B electric piano. It has felt hammer-striking reeds—more sawtooth to the Rhodes sine wave tines—and fabulous effects.
https://cherryaudio.com/products/wurlybird140b
Gforce OB-1 – Angry and awesome synth with bags of character and extreme resonance. Hard sync, cross mod, noise and colour, looping envelops and a cool analog arp/sequencer. Vintage knob, chorus, delay and reverb, macros, and up to 16 voice poly. Great patches.
https://www.gforcesoftware.com/products/ob-1/
Korg Collection 5 – Delves into their associated back catalogue with the New ARP2600 and Vox super continental and EP-1 electric piano. An eclectic mix of instruments.
https://www.korg.com/uk/products/software/korg_collection/
Behringer Proton – doubles everything up with 2 vcos, 2 vcfs, 2 vcas, 4 envelopes and wavefolder. Powerful LFO. 2 sub oscillators, lots of great stuff. Huge patch bay – a bit busy crammed into the little case.
https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=0718-AAO
Buy From:
Aodyo Anyma V – virtual instrument version of the Anyma Phi physical modelling synth. Simulates acoustic sounds like strings and reeds and then resonating structures such as wood, glass and metal. Sounds fantastic and looks hideously complicated, but they do their best to hide the complexity, which is cool – weirdly interesting interface with a retro plugin vibe.
https://aodyo.com/product/anyma-v/
Tre modular – working on elements of the CS-80. They’ve sent me the Replicant VCF and weird envelope. But also Soviet Alisa 1377 VCO – interesting stuff
https://tremodular.com/
Donner D1 drum machine – First saw it at Namm 2023 – 12 track drum machine with 4gb of samples and will take your samples (doesn’t sample) with effects. Realtime and step recording, colour-coded ui, touch-sensitive encoders. It could be like ModelSamples, CircuitRhythm, etc. Comes with beats, fills and sample management software.
https://uk.donnermusic.com/products/donner-essential-d1-digital-drum
G-Storm Electro GODSPEar – it’s the Oxford OSCar filter in Eurorack form. Multi mode, keyboard tracking, separation, 2 inputs, it’s 2 filters in series and the separation control pushes the cutoffs apart to give two peaks. Great CV control. Sounds awesome.
Hainbach Moon Echo – bounce your audio off the moon. This plugin emulates that journey and connects to nasa to check the moons distance. It’s very lo fi and curious, but if you pull it into realtime it’s a very interesting lo fi effect with melocolic noise.
https://youtu.be/yxBC6XzuMPs
Congburn Stacks – Maker of Strokes free form groovebox. Stacks is a 4 track granular looper sequencer and synthesizer. $ voice wavetable and FM. 3 filter modes, low pass gates. Complex polyrhythmic ratcheting chord sequencer. Huge reverb, huge modulation matrix. Self contained performance environment runs as a plugin and can take audio input. It’s all about looping and layering. You build a sound and sequence and then record it into one of the 4 tracks – then you create something else. You can bounce for more room, slice and granulate. Cool and complex – needs some colour.
https://www.congburn.co.uk/stacks
Krypt Modular – an interesting array of spookily themed modules just arrived on a modular grid. Banshee is a screeching filter, Hurricane is a fidget spinner modulator, and Bat Cluster is a fab-looking 8-channel mixer with mutes and keyboard warrior, which is simply 8 keys with 8 trigger outs.
https://kryptmodular.com/collections/all
Superbooth releases:
Knobula Echo Cinematic – Eq, delay and reverb with two LFOs and 30 seconds of knob recording. The eq is essentially a resonant filter with low/high/notch and comb modes and can be patched into the delay feedback loop or the signal as a whole. Clockable delay up to 2 seconds and 2 assignable cv inputs.
https://www.knobula.com/
Buy From:
- Perfect Circuit – https://tinyurl.com/perfectcircuit-echocinematic
Befaco Oneiroi – weirdo drone synth looper experimental thingy. It has a sine wave, a wavetable/supersaw and a looper of joy that then gets stuffed into a multimode filter, resonator, delay and reverb. It’s a machine for alien landscapes and post apocalyptic meanderings. The supersaw by itself is immense so you feel a huge amount of impending doom. Divkid is very perky while he’s playing with the sound source of demonic possession. I’ve got a kit to build.
https://www.befaco.org/
Buy From:
- Perfect Circuit – https://tinyurl.com/perfectcircuit-oneiroi
- Thomann – https://thmn.to/thoprod/592874?offid=1&affid=1460
OXI Instruments Meta – looks like a load of fun. It’s an effects box full of scenes and transitions with a single knob of power (or two). It has all those exciting DJ style dance floor smashing effects like DJ filter, riser, looper, delay, reverb and gater-roller. Off button! Flippin’ fantastic
https://oxiinstruments.com/meta-performance-eurorack-transitions-effects/
Buy From:
- Perfect Circuit – https://tinyurl.com/perfectcircuit-oximeta
TinRS Geometric Anomoly – launching this Friday. It’s a full synthesizer with two oscillators, two subs, two filters from the Fenix, glide, weird cross modulation, envelopes, VCAs the whole show. Based on the Rectangular thing merged with Fenix technology. Ultimately a quirky TINRS analogue dual oscillator synth voice where everything messes with everything in delicious ways.
https://www.thisisnotrocketscience.nl/eurorack/geometric-anomaly/
