Comments on: Messe Roundup: New Doepfer Standalone, Little Akai, PreSonus DAW, More

By: WhiteNoise

WhiteNoise — Sun, 03 May 2009 07:32:43 +0000

@Peter Kirn: hah, your line about DAW’s: “Why not support OSC or build in clever new networking features or change the interface paradigm?” almost exactly describes what I’m working on. ;)

http://www.genomestudio.net/?page_id=2

By: Euphonix MC Transport « Paul Willams Tha Kid Official Site

Euphonix MC Transport « Paul Willams Tha Kid Official Site — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:32:11 +0000

[...] Via: Createdigitalmusic [...]

By: gerrard

gerrard — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:44:23 +0000

@Panic +1 on your thoughts on their drivers. My firebox is a cheap, decent sounding piece of value gear but the drivers are garbage. At least once every two hours it stops making sound and needs to be restarted. At least three times the drivers have become corrupted and I’ve had to re-install. Presonus knows that a lot of their users are having this problem and has said nothing…guess they were busy writing code for this DAW.

By: nick

nick — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 10:20:42 +0000

About the Doepfer (and the coloring) you could of course buy an A-100 minicase (about $110 powered and empty) and put quite a variety of modules of your choice in it – especially now that they have a narrower MIDI interface module. The only thing you’d lack is the USB to MIDI interface and Emu for instance makes them for around $30.

Though this is a smart move for Doepfer in that they can place the Dark Energy in more mainstream retailers plus tempt people over to their modular gear for expansion.

About sound quality, you’ll have to be the judge. This is one of the few times they’ve actually repackaged something, though what they’ve re-packaged is brand new too. I’m always surprised when people characterize the Doepfer sound because it’s coming out of so many different modules that are not the same circuitry. Not that some will or won’t meet the sonic needs or someone.

By: Puffer

Puffer — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:13:59 +0000

I fully agree with you on the PreSonus Studio One, Peter. “Erm… okay, we need this why?” Not to mention the potential headache supporting yet another host is going to be for independent developers. Actually, I can’t imagine NI is all that thrilled about it either.

I love the side-jack of Micron respect. I picked up one at a pawn shop and have been nothing but impressed – a really fun and deep VA. I’ve taken to running it through my evolver which gives it an extra layer of analog-esque synth goodness.

By: lowlife

lowlife — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:55:02 +0000

Any info on the L.L. Electronics Oddulator would be appreciated.

By: gwenhwyfaer

gwenhwyfaer — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:46:33 +0000

rub: chips – 8 of these in fact, one per voice. I guess at some point, someone at Alesis must have thought “you know, I bet one of our FX chips would make a swell monosynth…”

I love mine too :)

By: rub

rub — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:22:38 +0000

Cool to see some folks actually digging the MiniAk. Different strokes, eh?

But I still say that Micron owners got a snow job….by the same folks (technically) who are unveiling the MiniAk.

Long live the Micron sound chip. It’s superphat all right. But what’s with Korg and Akai’s door stop chic? Oh how I love to hole up with my weirdo alien Micron on the bean bag and drop off into synfinity. You get those hexagonal led’s winking at you while chugging along on some beasty patch, and it’s love.

Could it be love with a MiniAk? Not with that clawfoot bottom digging into my knees!

Note to Alesis/Numark/Akai: You should have kept up with the Ion and Micron. Your user base loves these synths! But we hate how you snowed us. Or at least, I do. :-)

By: galapagoose

galapagoose — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 23:50:59 +0000

I totally agree with your comments on the MPD18 Peter. It seems like they saw the effectiveness of a minimal design in the monome, then sent it to the design department and it came back looking like every other tank-like box that akai sells these days – with a single fader just to upsell you to the MPD24.

If only Akai would carry the minimalist idea through to its logical conclusion. That being said – if it does sell for $99 it’s not too crazy to think of buying one and transplanting it into a smaller DIY enclosure.

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:36:21 +0000

Oh yeah, I am more impressed now that it’s clear the MPD18 is $99 list. My gripe, though — why is there all that blank space around the edges? If it’s basically going to be pads alone, why not reduce the footprint? (even if it increases thickness slightly) Does it need that space for the giant AKAI logo? Did no one learn anything from the Korg nano phenomenon?

It’s an awful lot of blank space just to add one fader (which you may not really need) and buttons for scenes (which could be places above or below). There’s not that much to doing the hardware layout for these things; you could put the circuit for the USB jack underneath. It works on the monome, and it’s far more complex (i.e., way more touch points)