There’s lots of new stuff for musicians. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to leave some of it out, and skip to what’s really interesting.

Neil Bufkin did a great job last year covering NAMM for CDM, shooting some lo-fi, informal videos that got right to the heart of what we wanted to know. So, I’m pleased to share Neil’s work again, since unless you’re following forums (fora?) closely, you might miss it.

He picked out some of our absolute favorites. Highlights: Moog sums up the Minitaur in one, excellent word (“knobby”!), the Arturia shows off its sound shapers, Teenage Engineering flaunt their DIY prowess (hint: you can make your own inputs for next-to-nothing for the OpLab), and we get some up-close highlights of other hardware, too.

Bonus: I’ve included a quick upload from my, cough, phone of the QuNeo hardware. We’ll wait to shoot prettier videos when this gear actually ships. In the meantime, find a really old CRT (maybe from an old Commodore) and plug into that, if you can.

Minitaur: It’s Knobby!

I didn’t get to shoot a video, because I was too busy for the few minutes I had with the Minitaur just playing. The controls are simple, elegant, and – here’s why you know it’s a Moog – absolutely every conceivable position of the parameters sounds brilliant. It’s a bit spooky, or unfair, or something. I’ll have a full hands-on hopefully around April from Berlin. Here’s a tour with the Chief Engineer of Moog.

(For more of why we love Moog Chief Engineer Cyril Lance, see him show us the Moogerfooger Cluster Flux.)

Moog also posted some celeb visitors to their booth jamming away and making this thing sound even better; see other tidbits from their Twitter stream.

Arturia Minibrute

It has a name that sounds Moog-like, and it might be an analog hardware synth, but make no mistake: this synth is all-French, and un-Moog. The feel of playing it different, it has a great rotary-controlled arpeggiator, and the sound shapers and oscillator mix controls can take it into some very different sonic territory. I made repeat visits to the booth just to wrap my head around the feel, and got to really love it.

Akai MAX49

So now that you’re looking for a keyboard with MIDI and CV to go with all these new sound modules, here’s a surprising candidate – Akai. Yes, we’re utterly relieved to see the company that was recently making tiny keyboards for iPhones and things with only USB MIDI on them return to MIDI DIN and CV.

In my hands-on with the MAX49, I was very impressed by the feel. The keybed feels terrific and just springy enough, and the pads are more traditional MPC-style pads shared on the new MPC controllers. They’ve also sorted the velocity response. (That is, they aren’t the pads readers were complaining about on previous Akai keyboards.) Also, the red color that looks so garish in the product photos looks very nice in person; it’s a high-gloss, thick finish that is reminiscent of car paint.

Here’s a more detailed look at all the features via Neil:

Smithson Martin Emulator

It’s likely spendier than what at least some readers will want – especially with the iPad as an everyman’s alternative – but I really enjoy Neil’s detailed look with Smithson Martin at the custom control layouts on the Emulator hardware.

Our friends at The Verge also take a look at the new hardware. (I’ve become a great fan of Joseph Flatley’s general tech writing, so I’m really pleased to see him covering the music tech area … and Joseph, one of these days we’ll be in the same place at the same time.)

Teenage Engineering OP-1 Update, Oplab

While some may resent the gloss of marketing around their work, the truth is, the Teenage Engineers are also doing some great engineering. The OP-1 updates take a synth that was conceptually interesting and make it more musically inspiring and productive, finally starting to realize some of its original potential.

And then there’s Oplab. At $300, it’s not an Arduino – but what it is is a unique, programmable combination of CV, MIDI, and USB hosting (that’s the key) to which you can connect virtually any hardware or custom sensor or hardware creation. Some onlooked misunderstood what it was initially, comparing its pricing to boxes that only to CV-to-MIDI conversion, and missing the advantages of USB hosting.

Here’s a better look at what it actually does, and I can guarantee, having talked to the TE crew, that there will be more details to come. I hope that this will also inspire other DIY projects, even those not involving the Oplab per se, so we’ll document those aspects, too.

Again, The Verge gives us a second look with a nicer camera.

Livid

Livid has been very, very busy of late. And their latest controller, in collaboration with Richie Hawtin and M-nus, is an extraordinary example of what iteration can do for hardware. The first pad-and-fader-and-knob controllers from Livid were very, very good. This is even better. Quietly, Livid is making the kind of all-around controller many musicians will appreciate, even as big makers struggle to find the formula artists want.

Since I hear there’s some association between M-nus, techno, and Berlin, let’s hope we can get a closer hands-on. Anyone interested in that? Show of hands?

Watch This Space

We have more photos and hands-on details of new tech from NAMM to bring you. I’m working through them slowly, as is my speed, so we can go into the stuff we really care about in greater detail. And since I can’t only look at new gear, new music coverage coming, as well. Be seeing you.

Jim Guthrie was a rockstar long before the iPad was. Paired with pixel-intense artist Craig D. Adams (aka Superbrothers) and the co-design and coding effort of a crack team of video game “wizards” at the indie studio capy, he’s made a soundtrack that’s destined to be a gaming classic. But if you don’t want to play it, you can still listen to it. And if you’re playing it, you may find that it feels as though you’re listening to it, and gazing into its artwork.

From the moment you tap to launch it, Swords & Sworcery plunges you into a world that’s part game, part interactive album. Yes, there’s the obvious presence of a spinning vinyl record you can scratch and brake, right there on the title screen. And yes, there’s the conspicuous “EP” in the title, or the just-released LP (a real LP, on digital but also now sold out on vinyl).

But it’s once you navigate the expansive digital forests of the title, once Jim Guthrie’s moody soundtrack taps away at your brain, that you begin to get it. Sword & Sworcery will certainly get the dreaded (or is that coveted?) “arty” title, but it’s the way in which it spins out audiovisual entertainment that makes it special.

It’s pure aesthetic deliciousness, a brew that makes your head buzz.

And it’s finding that aesthetic sense – neither retro nor modern, neither low-fidelity nor slick – that makes this title relevant beyond even the world of gaming. Jim Guthrie’s songs and the lush pixel art graphics are the perfect fusion of old and new. It’s telling that Guthrie himself crafts his tracks in a combination of a PlayStation music game (MTV-branded, no less), GarageBand, and then high-end Universal Audio plug-ins. (See video above, and have fun gear-spotting familiar toys through the jump cuts.) It’s sort of studio garage, in the way digital music can be now. Its unabashedly synthetic instrumentation gives voice to a generation that grew up with computer-produced music. The musical score itself sometimes nods to Philip Glass, sometimes to punk rock, very often a mixed-up, intimate fantasy folk cinema, with sounds both shiny and flat.

But happily, this isn’t just a game with a clever soundtrack, or a release of game music. It’s a real fusion of album and game, music and visuals. And, lest we get to carried away with the Art label – capital a – music and game alike are good fun.

CDM managed to pry co-creators Craig D. Adams and Jim Guthrie from an adoring gaming press long enough to talk to us in depth about the making of the music and release, down to every last technical and artistic detail. They said so much – and crossed two media so completely – that I’ve broken up their ideas into two stories, across Create Digital Music and Create Digital Motion. Their reasoning for committing to those two media has a lot in common, I think, with why we run these two sites and why a lot of you read and contribute to them.

Out now: both an LP music release on Bandcamp and iPad version. Coming this month: recent-gen iPod touch and iPhone versions of the game, too.

Jim Guthrie: Sword & Sworcery LP – The Ballad of the Space Babies @ Bandcamp
http://www.swordandsworcery.com/project/

Let’s begin with the notion of this as musical-visual collaboration. Obviously, some of our favorite game experiences have used music effectively. What’s different about this project?

Craig:The iPhone & iPod Touch, and the iPad to some extent, don’t have an input style that lends itself to precise inputs. So, it seems to me that a lot of traditional video games seem to fall a bit flat on these platforms. The thing is, these machines are great music and video players, so we knew going in that we wanted to make something that was as open and as laid-back as a record-listening experience matched with a naturalistic visual presentation inspired by film, so that was really the starting point. We also felt that a more relaxed, more occasional, less punishing, more interesting experience would be a better fit, something that was closer in pace to browsing the Internet or whatever. Early on we were calling S:S&S EP “a brave experiment in Input Output Cinema.” I/O Cinema is kind of an intentionally absurd nonsense buzzword but I think it’s perfectly apt for this type of entertainment, it’s a heckuva lot more descriptive than ‘videogame’ anyways, in that it gets away from the idea of a program with rules and win/lose conditions and it puts the focus more on the conversation the audience has with the creators while the audience pokes, prods & problem-solves an authored audiovisual creation.

How did you work together, Superbrothers and Jim, to combine music and visually? What was that collaboration like?

Craig: When we looped Jim into the project in we told him the name, described the aesthetic, talked a bit about The Legend of Zelda & Castlevania, and then Jim dug around and found a few songs he thought might fit. I went ahead and tried to generate art & narrative concepts using Jim’s songs or else stand-ins to set the mood. As we started to mix things together we’d evaluate, iterate & improvise. Eventually we’d get into situations where me and Kris, Capy’s creative director and co-designer on S:S&S EP, would have a plan for an environment or a scene or a situation, and we’d get the art & the mechanics together and then pass along a rough build to Jim with some kind of suggestion like ‘go John Carpenter on this one’ or whatever, and then Jim’d work his magic, filter the concept through his music-making mind and barf up something totally beautiful & shockingly perfect. So yeah, it was a messy process, but towards the end we kind of got a feel for it, I think it all worked out super well.

Jim: It wasn’t always clear if the art needed to inspire more music or the other way around, but it was a very necessary process considering the relation the two elements share in the game.

Technically speaking, is there anything unique to the way the music integrates with game play? How did you approach the technical challenge there, in other words?

Craig: For the music integration aspect, we really just made things up as we went along. We tried some things; some of them worked, some of them didn’t. Then we’d iterate on them or revise them as necessary. We tried chopping things up into a million loops and then stringing them back together with logic, and it kind worked, but was kinda rough, so then we’d revise it or refine it. Eventually we started to figure out a bit of a groove – we learned what the limits were with the machines & the quirks of fMOD [the game sound engine]. We’re a whole lot wiser now, but I think it was a positive thing going into something like this a bit naive.

Jim: Technically, there’s nothing in this game that hasn’t been done before. We sort of ‘stood on the shoulders of giants’ and made it our own. It’s more about the mood and atmosphere that the music and art create that is special. Like Craig said, we made things up as we went.

From the beginning, we knew it was very possible that this would be released digitally as an album, but it wasn’t until a little later on that the idea of vinyl struck us as a good idea. You would think it was all planned from the beginning considering how often the image of the record appears in the game but it sort of willed itself in that direction over time.

It’s always tough to describe the process of summoning one’s art. After we had sort of figured out what the first few tracks were going to be, I just let Craig’s art and ideas lead the way and I reacted. It also really comes down to knowing your craft and what tools you use to create with. Once you figure that out the tools don’t get in the way when you’re hot on the trail of a fleeting melody. There’s noting worse than loosing that spark because a technical issue. Computers have robbed me of so many musical sparks, but to be fair, they have given it back tenfold.

I will give into the temptation to ask one obvious question – what does it mean that it’s an EP? Obviously, it’s a reference to the notion of a game release as being akin in some way to an album, but anything beyond that you wish to say?

Craig:The EP concept goes back to the start of the project – we wanted to put the sound component right out front. We wanted the whole project to feel like a musical composition, and at first we wanted to make something small and acknowledge that this was a tentative first release by a new videogame ‘band.’ The project grew from ther,e and it goes well beyond the 37 minute running-time we had originally envisioned, but everything else fits.

We had always planned to prepare a record release to accompany the project and when the time came to commit to this we basically had to make a vinyl edition, and Jim basically just put that into gear on his own… so that became Jim Guthrie’s Sword & Sworcery LP – The Ballad of the Space Babies. While the record is a smaller component of the project in terms of man-hours, the music on its own is kind of larger than the art and the story we tried to create in the actual videogame, so I think it’s kind of perfect that it’s the LP.

Jim, the music really has a quirky personality all its own, and I think it’d be too easy to describe it aesthetically. How did you approach scoring the music, in finding a voice for this title?

Craig: Several of Jim’s songs pre-date the project, so they informed the aesthetic & concepts from the start. My role early on was to translate the music into artwork & narrative that would fit the general idea of the project. But yeah, beyond that I’ll let Jim fill in the blanks here!

What’s the production process like for the music itself?

Jim: I captured all of the music either on a PlayStation using MTV’s Music Generator and/or
[Apple] GarageBand. For example, on the song, ‘Lone Star,’ I drummed a beat onto a cassette four-track, burned that onto a CD, placed the CD into the PlayStation, sampled and looped in MTV Music Generator,
and then built a song around it using that software. THEN I brought it into GarageBand and added more layers and effects. I also used a [Casio] SK-1 peppered throughout. In terms of plug-ins and soft synths, I used a lot of the Arturia stuff, [Native Instruments] Kontakt, [XLN Audio] Addictive Drums, [Toontracks] Superior Drummer, and a [Universal Audio] UAD-2 card loaded with a bunch of their processing plug-ins.

Not all games are narrative, and I’ve never found conventional narrative to be a prerequisite to art (cough, Ebert). But there is a strong narrative aspect to this title, too. How do you go about telling a story and building a game mechanic at once? (And, for that matter, do you still scrawl things on index cards to get there?)

Craig: It’s funny, we are getting some positive responses to S:S&S EP’s narrative, but really, the narrative only exists to make sense of the player’s experience; it’s not exactly ‘the point.’ We started with the songs, then the art, then the mechanics that would bring it together. And while the broad narrative concepts were always there, it was only in the final stages that the script came together, and really it’s just a way for us to help communicate what’s supposed to be going on. I was on the line to write the script, and for a good long while, it kinda sucked while I was buried under art, sound & design tasks, but I kept iterating on it, editing it for brevity, clarity, and humor, with Jim and Kris and a few others kinda guiding the process.

So yeah, I guess we did some okay things with narrative, and I’m actually super-proud of the mind-fuck tear-jerker heart-breaker finale, but I think the only reason any of it comes across is because of Jim’s music wrapped up in paintings. And really, Jim’s songs are all the narrative I ever wanted.

Now that you’ve become gaming rockstars, what’s next?

Jim: A bottle of vodka?

Craig: Hahahaha… Jim’s already a rockstar, so this stuff is probably old news. I think we’re definitely enjoying our fifteen minutes of fame in this very specific niche, and I’ve been trying – maybe too hard – to keep that buzz going so the project stays visible as we gear up for the all-important iPhone & iPod Touch launch. Once all that’s out of the way, I’m really just looking forward to some quiet time: bike rides, swimming, hiking, and whatever else.

We’ll keep the Sword & Sworcery project rolling along in the background too. We have plans for a gala event here in Toronto in a few months and some other schemes related to the app itself that’ll last the year & maybe into next year. We’ve been given a real opportunity here & we want to continue to honor that.

What are you excited about in gaming – or, for that matter, audiovisual work – at the moment, beyond your own work? Anything you’re listening to, watching, playing (or all three) at the moment?

Jim: Honestly, I went into my iTunes to have a look at my ‘Recently Played’ list and for as far as the eye could see, it’s all stuff I’m working on. No time for art! Just work!

Craig: I’ve been too busy and too exhausted to be paying much attention to what’s happening out there in videogames, film or music. To be honest, what I’m most excited about right now is the prospect of getting some fresh air and some exercise, maybe getting away from electronic screens for a bit sometime, and then after a little break maybe starting on some new creative work.

I had the opportunity to see 2001: A Space Odyssey in theaters a few months ago. I’d seen it a few times before but only on VHS… so that was a real treat, it’s an entirely different film in the theaters, there’s so much more to enjoy. I’m also a huuuge fan of Kanye West’s “Runaway.” I think that’s a genuinely incredible piece of audiovisual work; Vanessa Beecroft’s art direction really shines. Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop and James Cameron’s Avatar blew me away too, for entirely different reasons. I’ve just recently seen my friend Firas Momani’s Fantasia Festival award-winning short film The Adder’s Bite & it gave me all those groovy Cronenberg + Lynch + Kubrick feelings, very inspiring.

On the video game side I’m still intermittently playing Motorstorm: Pacific Rift for PS3, a 2008 effort from Liverpool’s Evolution Studios that I think is basically perfect, plus I’m digging in to Monster Hunter Tri on Wii. I’m playing Monster Hunter co-operatively with a couple friends every Sunday morning… we’re still just scratching the surface but it’s easily the most intricate and deep video game I’ve ever played, which takes me way outside of my comfort zone in an interesting way. I’m also cautiously optimistic about L.A. Noire, Uncharted 3, and The Last Guardian… we’ll see how they work out in the end.

On the music side, I’ve been listening to Jim’s Sword & Sworcery LP… even though I’ve heard these tunes so much in the last two years that my ears hurt, the record itself still comes across as beautiful & fresh, the songs still evoke all kinds of imaginings. That record aside I’ve got a heckuva lot of catching up to do… but first I have to give my ears a bit of a break. That said, I’m amped for the Beastie Boys record that’s hitting in the next little while.

All images courtesy Superbrothers and Jim Guthrie. Used with permission.

Do let us know what you think of the game, folks – or whatever audiovisual creations, in the form of games or otherwise, inspire you.

More on the art, the design, the coding – and why Superbrothers went iOS-only.

On our sister site:
Inside Handheld Game Art: The Art Style and Making of Swords & Sworcery, Superbrothers Pixel Cinema [Create Digital Motion]

And, oh yeah, don’t forget to get the game:
http://www.swordandsworcery.com/

Ever wished you could pack the sonic goodness and programming power of a soft synth into a hardware box? Dreamed of software that lived in a road case and had the stability and power-on capability of your outboard gear? You’re certainly not alone. That meant many of us were intrigued when soft synth emulator house Arturia showed off the Origin, a DSP-based hardware box that put their emulations in a box that wasn’t a PC.

Dave Dri knows touring with gear, as the founder of Seque and a live electronic festival vet. We got his impressions from across the Pacific in Australia. He’s upfront with everything he loves and everything that annoys. To bring a different perspective to Planet CDM here, I’m pleased to welcome Dave as a guest.

An Origin Of Sorts

Founded in France in 1999, Arturia has gained a solid reputation for the quality of its emulations of classic analogue synthesizers. If the soft synth emulations of the classic Moog Minimoog and Yamaha CS-80 have made Arturia a name in the industry, the news of its development of a hardware DSP system made for enjoyable speculation and furious Google searches for videos, news and reviews. While units in Australia are somewhat scarce at present, an Origin was supplied for review by Musiclab in Brisbane, Australia. Where the initial review was for music press print media, there is so much more to this module that we can take a deeper look and share with the CDM community some of the issues and notable features of the Arturia Origin.

Man, Meet Machine

The initial impression of the unit is typical of any large synth module with a host of knobs and blinking lights. The Origin can be rack-mounted or run as a table-top unit, with supplied wooden ends screwing in for the all-important retro aesthetic. There have been comments about the time it takes the unit to boot up, which takes a while. Once you have booted, though, it’s a treat to use, and the LCD screen is both large and bright. As ever, first impressions gained by scrolling through the individual and multi presets give a feel for the possibilities and examples of programming inside the box. A range of usable bass and synth sounds nestle amongst the abstract sweeps and blips, showing plenty of sonic diversity. The Origin is, after all, billed as being “the most powerful synthesiser on the market”.

Origin is essentially a modular environment for programming custom synth modules with a collection of oscillators and filters. It draws upon Arturia’s stable of analog gear models, adding new, original content from the Arturia team. With those synth sounds now in a physical case, boasting external signal inputs and a three-layered step sequencer, the Origin is impressive on paper. Its sound is equally impressive, but one would expect no less from Arturia based on the quality of their software. The presets might attract the same “heard it all before” criticisms from anyone who has been around analog synths for a while, but that can be perhaps considered a complement to the analog modeling. One needs only to play up and down the range of notes of a Minimoog patch to realise that the coherency of the lower and higher notes is superior to lesser Virtual Analogue products. This is especially pronounced in the lower note ranges, though the manual goes into details about avoiding upper frequency aliasing and a “no names” criticism of some other “leading softsynth”. If you’re a soft synth developer, it might be you! Uh oh!

Get With The Program

The first issue that one is likely to run into is delving into the much-talked-about modular programming environment. Whereas the similarly modular Nord G2 includes robust programming environments in computer software for their hardware synth, Arturia have chosen to limit the Origin’s programming to be an entirely inside-the-box affair. Indeed, the USB port and supplied software are merely for archiving and transferring patches. Quite why this process takes such an excruciatingly long time is a mystery, but the lack of any ability to edit file names of archived patches is simply lazy programming. At the time of writing, Arturia haven’t replied to confirm if there is an editor on the way, but one would consider it likely that such a revision will be released with an OS update shortly.

Not that programming on the Origin is anything near impossible. Merely annoying. There are two modes to view the programming process, which amounts to dropping modules into slots and opening each module to connect to another. Frustratingly, there appears to be no way to intelligently “insert” modules into the signal path. This, in addition to no method of “swapping” modules in and out, slows down the rate of programming and limits the kind of creative and random experiments that make actual modular synthesis interesting. Similarly, deleting a module inline will break the signal path, and require re-patching. Despite these quirks, the process is relatively fun and the availability of up to 9 oscillator instances and 4 filter instances will surely yield some interesting results.

Ed.: This is one I’m definitely interested in following – I’d be willing to make some sacrifices for in-box programming, which is an impressive feature, especially with this modular structure. But these do sound like significant obstacles. Other folks want to chime in? -PK

These modules are sourced from the modeling of the Moog Minimoog, Yamaha CS-80, ARP 2600 and Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, as well as additional Arturia originals. Each has its distinctive quirks and allows for some interesting combinations, with features like self-oscillation on the Moog and the smooth response of the Jupiter filters. The manual becomes useful here, with examples and reference points for understanding the characteristics of each.

Better Living Through Synthesis

Beyond creating your own patches, the unit comes packed full of preset programs. Each program contains one synth structure as well as up to three effects settings and one sequence. Up to four Programs can be combined as a Multi, allowing for multi-timbral sound module use with MIDI note, channel and split functionality. The synth structure can be either a user-built modular environment or a template synth. At time of writing, the Origin is shipped with only the Minimoog supplied, with no clear date from Arturia when they will supply the rest. This does seem a curious omission given not only the cost of the unit, but the idea that all these units are already modeled in other Arturia software, requiring only a programmer to port the modules to the Origin. Add another thing to wait for in “the future”.

Room For Improvement

There are quickly a list of issues and concerns a programmer will have with the unit. Where the Arturia software emulation of the Minimoog shows numeric values for tuning settings, the Origin does not. Indeed, all parameters are merely displayed as a graphic representation of a knob, leaving only a visual cue as to the settings. This becomes an issue when tuning the semitones of a number of oscillators for instance, which coupled with the lack of editing software or a touch screen, makes programming the same patches on the Origin a slower affair then Arturia’s own Minimoog V.

Other issues include the use of only a single instance of the Delay, Chorus, and Reverb effects, out of a maximum of three effects able to be run at any one time. The limited palette of effects including Distortion and a Phaser are similar to those found on a Novation X-Station at five times less the expense, and pale in comparison. The Delay and Reverb lack depth of character, and one might find themselves checking that the Distortion is, in fact, actually turned on. The restriction to singular use of the more CPU intensive Delay and Reverb is an indication of conserving processing power for the actual synth patches, but these issues quickly creep into the potential capacity of a Multi patch. In an era where the cheapest entry level laptop has processing power to spare, it is relatively disappointing that a module advertised as “the most powerful synthesizer on the market” would have any processing restrictions whatsoever. If you intended to run the world’s most ultimate 9-Oscillator Trance super saw Multi with full effects and blazing filters, think again. Outside of CPU and “I can’t believe it doesn’t have a touch screen” interface issues however, much of what currently detracts from the overall desirability of the Origin could well be fixed with a timely OS update.

Things Are Looking Up

Those niggles out of the way, it’s time to reaffirm that the unit does in fact sound fantastic. As said before, so it should. It’s Arturia doing what Arturia do. Coupled with the rather interesting, if quirky, step sequencer, the unit has the potential to become a boutique brain for a relatively well-funded live act. Where programming may feel like a festival of clicks, the Origin is perfectly suited for performance and allows for an incredibly well-planned customization and mapping of knobs to this end. External inputs offer the chance to create inspired filter programs and the unit hasn’t neglected a healthy array of midi ports. The unit is heavy at around the 8kg mark, but the build is impressively solid and all the knobs have the same smooth feel that makes units like the Waldorf Blofeld such a joy to tweak, grab and perform on.

It is, however, the quality of the sound that will emerge as a common point of conversation regarding the Origin. It is very expensive and will perhaps emerge as a limited and desirable boutique unit for some. For others, the comparison to the Arturia software will be a pressing factor, with all the synths on the Origin available as part of Arturia’s acclaimed “V Collection” at a price over four times cheaper than the Origin. Of course, these are not available in modular form, which invariably brings up again the question why the Origin is shipped without a software editor. Sure, the Origin sounds amazing, but the question is whether it sounds that much more amazing than the same software, and whether the potential for programming is currently worth the restricted workflow of doing it all inside the box.

To Origin, Or Not To Origin

Some of the best music technology in history has been quirky and difficult, and there is little argument against calling the Arturia Origin exactly that. For all its difficulty, however, it sounds incredible. For all the niggling feature complaints, it suggests a well-timed OS update in response. For its price though, there are no easy answers. Comparing the recommended retail prices in Australia at present, the Arturia Origin costs only a few hundred less than one would spend purchasing both a Moog Little Phatty Stage II and a Dave Smith Prophet 08. Both being genuine analogue synths in their own right. Whether the market is ready to pay this price until Arturia address the features left wanting is entirely up to the producers and acts with the money and passion for incredibly sounding and very specific modular emulations. For everyone else, the software awaits.

For another – similarly skeptical – take on the Arturia, here’s Music Thing from last year:

Review: Arturia Origin. It’s bit, it’s expensive, it’s sexy. Why don’t I want one?

Jay Smith of Livid Instruments may be in the business of making controller hardware himself, but that doesn’t stop him from appreciate the knob-laden goodness of the NAMM show floor. Jay’s own gear reveals a not-so-secret love of knobs and buttons and faders, and if you’re into that sort of thing, this year’s NAMM music trade show had plenty to love – Akai’s APC40 controller for Live, Akai’s MPK keyboard, the Alesis MasterControl, Arturia’s Factory Experience controller for their soft synth emulations, and even another brutish-looking computer-in-a-keyboard, now with pads, from Open Labs.

The shots give you a particularly good feel for what the Akai APC40 is like up close and personal. It’s no accident that Jay himself is a VJ. I really imagine that a number of these devices might be brilliant for running live visuals, though we still have yet to find out exactly how the APC works. I assume it’ll run as a standard MIDI controller outside Live, but I’m unclear on the specifics of what that will mean.

Thanks to Jay for sharing these photos with CDM.

Now I can’t wait to get another look at Livid’s own controller line and what may be next for it; see its wooden crossfader below. Previously:

Hands-On: Livid’s New Ohm Controller, Custom Control Geared for Visualists

The NAMM show brought a cluster of new soft synths from some beloved synth makers. The interfaces are noticeably conventional, but there are some tasty sonic features in store. Most of these are promised as “coming soon,” not available now, but here’s a quick look at what to expect.

By the way, if you’re one the people complaining that you’re sick of everyone talking about Ableton and want something else to be excited about, I have one word for you:

D.CAM.

Let me sum it up in one line first:

minimoog V 2.0: Rewired circuitry, automation recording vocal filtering, and weird 3D preset browsing mean if you like minimoog, you’ll like it more.

Brass 2.0: physically-modeled brass stuff you can play more easily with controllers, now with a sax model and fully spatialized and harmonized.

Trilian: Even more of the synth that gives you more bass than you need – and now your Intel Mac can run it in place of Trilogy, for free.

Largo: It’s a Waldorf synthesizer, but it’s software. You can’t afford a Blofeld, but you can afford this, and then use it in a coffee shop.

D.CAM: Synth wishes granted: thick parallel-waveform performance synth plus vintage-style string synth plus big, modern FM plus and environment to put them all together.

(added!) impOSCar 2: Features aren’t confirmed yet, but an early look at the OSCar emulation suggest a very big sequel indeed.

And you can add that to the coming Operator 2 and Collision in Ableton Live (either a la carte or the suite). In fairness, these are exactly the sort of synths that make people wonder why they should pay for Operator – but one look at the clean interface in Operator, and how much it can do in that compact interface, and I think it fits in just perfectly. Collision, meanwhile, gives us physically-modeled percussion, which I really want to see more of.

By the way, in comparison most of the hardware announcements (microKORG XL, new V-Synth OS) at this show were, to my mind, more incremental than the goodness that shows up in the software stuff. True, D.CAM is the one new entry here, but, well, technically it’s four entries on its own, and there’s quite a lot in the upgrades, some of which you get for free.

Certainly, what we have is a ton of sequels to some of the biggest soft synth hits (Arturia minimoog V, Trilogy, and impOSCar in particular).

Arturia minimoog V 2.0

It’s an odd version number – five two? Okay, that’s “two” as in the number, “V” as in virtual, not the Roman Numeral. But for fans of Arturia’s flagship Moog emulation synth, 2.0 brings some interesting new features. Sound MAP is an odd, graphical way of exploring presets, although it strikes me a bit like what would happen if you took a preset browser and dumped all the presets on the floor. (For me, this brings back flashbacks to Apple’s HotSauce, an experimental 3D interface for metadata on the Web. Thanks, Mattbot. Everyone else, don’t ask.)

All of this would be gimmicky and useless, except that you can use this strange, 3D interface to morph between preset ideas. If you could also use it to select interpolate between random parameters, I’d go nuts – I’ll leave that to someone else to implement.

The other features are more likely to please everyone:

• A vocal filter feature with an X/Y morphing interface with different formants (not new to synths, but certainly new to Minimoogs, real or emulated)
• Circuitry and modulation destination improvements
• Automation with real-time recording

Together, it looks like a worthy upgrade for fans, some of whom I know just live inside this synth.

Arturia minimoog V 2.0 [Product Page]

Elsewhere: The folks at Future Music were especially excited about the new features, particularly that browser and the way the Vocal Filter sounds. (I didn’t follow, though, was the uberfeature the Sound Map or the Vocal Filter? We really have seen these sorts of things before, which is not to take away from Arturia’s cool implementation here.)

And it’ll cost $299/EUR229 to upgrade from the current – wait? What’s that?

No, it’ll be completely free for existing users. Now there’s a reason for some customer loyalty.

Arturia Brass 2.0

Arturia also refreshed their physically-modeled brass synth, which now has a saxophone model – the tenor Buffet-Crampon. (Nice choice! And I’m partial to tenors, as I grew up with my father playing tenor in his college pep band.)

Also new: harmonization features, spatialization, MIDI integration features (ideal for, say, the newly-shipping Akai EWI USB wind controller). There are also pre-composed riffs by genre, if you’re feeling lazy, though I heartily recommend doing things the hard way.

The minimoog is slick, but I actually think Brass may be a bigger upgrade – and while you’ll find other moog-y sounds, Brass is a really unique sound source. IRCAM, Paris’ legendary sound research center, is responsible for the sounds inside, meaning you can imagine slightly unshaven, French students in white lab coats every time you use it, which has to be worth something. (I actually wear a lab coat when I’m designing sounds, I know that.)

Brass 2.0

Elsewhere: Sonic State grabbed a video demo of Brass 2.

And it’s also free to upgrade.

Spectrasonics’ All-Bass Trilian

How is it that some readers are more excited about Trilian than any other soft synths when all it does is bass sounds?

Well, perhaps because this is successor to Spectrasonics’ Trilogy is the uber-bass plug-in. Upright ? Check. 5-string? Yep. Roland 303? Why not?

Now, normally instruments based on lots of sampling leave me pretty cold, but the STEAM engine – used in Spectrasonics’ Omnisphere – gives you synth-like controls. And I think Trilian’s narrower focus on just basses might earn it more attention than Omnisphere got. (The latter was hyped like crazy on announcement, only to be oddly forgotten, relatively speaking, by the time it came out – maybe because it’s so huge, none of us can fit it on our hard drives.)

And by the way, talk about earning good will: if you own Trilogy and have an Intel Mac, Spectrasonics will give you Trilian for free (shipping only, in place of the usual US$99 upgrade price). So, sure, Apple burned you by switching CPUs, and Spectrasonics could profit – but they’re not.

This means even as I chide Novation, Spectrasonics earns the “Good Sense Wins Over Accounting” award.

Other specs:

• Big, new library of acoustic, electric, and synth basses
• Arpeggiator
• All the original patches, refreshed
• Gobs of articulations in the design, for live performance or scoring
• Modulation with FM, timbre shifting, and some unique modulation deliciousness
• 64-bit support
• A name that subtly references the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Too many other things to list, so just check out:

Trilian Announcement

Spectrasonics does some really incredible stuff. It’s mind-boggling overkill in some ways (ridiculous sampling plus ridiculous synth design), but there’s nothing wrong with that – especially when it serves nothing but bass. And there’s just so much control in there, it really is a sound design dream, not just a big pack of sample files.

US$299, due in May.

Waldorf Largo

It’s a Waldorf synthesizer, but it’s software.

I don’t really have to say much else, but suffice to say, it runs on Windows, it runs on Mac (VST and AU), and it’s all that lovely Waldorf-ness in a virtual rack. The software interface gives me deja vu relative to a number of Logic synths, among others, but then I think there’s just one guy who designs all UIs for all software. (Okay, maybe there are … two guys.)

• Voice architecture from the Q / Blofeld
• Three oscillators, two with sub-oscillators, modeling analog waveforms plus PPG, Waldorf Wave
• Ring mod
• Multi-mode Waldorf filter (“Taste the difference” seems to be Waldorf’s message, if you believe them)
• Modulation matrix, fast, syncable LFOs
• One arpeggiator per layer
• Effects

If you’re in synth overload, I’d say move along, but I know there are some folks who have been coveting Waldorf in software, and now you’ve got it.

Largo [Product Page]

I just wish they hadn’t given it a name that makes it sound like a notation product, but I guess that’s forgiveable. Pricing? Availability? No word yet.

Fxpansion D.CAM Synth Squad

D.CAM is a bunch of modeled-analog goodness. Now, the FXpansion boys want you to believe this is all about emulating the goodness of analog, but to me the real story is that you get loads of digital synthesis power that bring together some of the best old stuff with the best new stuff. The products read a bit like a wish list for synths, and then the Fusor product lets you put them all together in semi-modular fashion.

The marketing is a little muddled, and seems to feature evil dystopian overlords with giant red eyes. But who cares? The synths look fantastic. I, for one, welcome our new dystopian overlords.

Strobe is a “super-oscillator” performance synth with parallel waveforms, sub-oscillators, a filter with drive, voice stack/detune – think thick.

Amber is a vintage string synth, which takes classic divide-down string synths and adds new absurd modulation. Delicious!

Cypher has lots of knobs and lots of arrows! Okay, basically the idea here is audio-rate FM with lots of shaping and filtering and still more modulation. FM is back, for sure.

Fusor is an environment in which you can layer your D-CAM synths and modulate them. There’s an arpeggiator and step sequencer. This might seem like overkill given the number of environments out there that do this stuff, but in this case you get a consistent interface and semi-modular capabilities. It’s no Reaktor, but it’s a bit like what I’d imagine a set of one really brilliant person’s Reaktor ensembles might look like.

http://www.synthsquad.com/

Elsewhere: Gearwire has a nice write-up that sums this up with one line: “This trio combines the most sought after features in classic synthesizers with the synthesizers of tomorrow . . . today!”

In other news…

Zebra is now up to 2.3, which I believe is also NAMM news (or announced at the same time). “Point 3” in the crazy, synthtastic world of Urs Heckmann means things like a skinnable UI, sideband modules, MIDI program changes, Mac RTAS, a resizable editor, compressor modes, comb filter, and … okay, I can’t actually list it all. The sideband alone sounds fantastic. Whoever out there has time to program Zebra and reskin it, I salute you.

Other soft synth news I’ve missed? Let us know.

And what has you most psyched?

impOSCar 2

I missed this important preview, as it wasn’t really an official release at NAMM – the features shown aren’t even fully confirmed. But one of the best vintage emulations out there, impOSCar 2, is up for getting some improvements. Interestingly, some of the directions GForce’s Dave Spiers is taking (like more modulation routing, ring modulation, and more particular synth controls) parallels some of the other stuff we’re seeing added to modern soft synths. I do like the sound of chord mode, polyphonic aftertouch, and portamento spread – this could be a very playable synth.

My usual caveat on this sort of thing is, I tend to personally shy away from synths that focus primarily on emulation of a previous model, just because that sort of thing doesn’t hold as much appeal for me. But GForce – not unlike Way Out Ware’s emulations, also distributed by M-Audio – certainly manage to be the better in this category.

If you are interested in impOSCar 2, this is the one case in which the folks on the NAMM floor have the definite advantage. Check out SonicState’s video below, and further details from the gang at Computer Music (via MusicRadar):

Computer Music: GForce impOSCar 2! See it, hear it, pull funny faces!

SonicState with the instrument’s creator:

Thanks, michel / bliss! (I had wanted to cover this and … yep, forgot.)

20 of the 200 presets are available for immediate, free use; if you like them, the whole set is US$39 (EUR29).

Musicrow Modular Dreams

I have to say, as much as I loved the tactile feel of patching on a real Moog modular, and as much as the software sound falls slightly short of the real thing, you can’t beat the fact that you can transport a laptop and save presets! Photo by Erikadotnet.

As we discovered when the elevator broke at the 6th-Floor Handmade Music party last month (ahem), actual analog gear is heavy, to say nothing of expense. There’s nothing quite like the real thing, in terms of sound, behavior, and tactile feedback. But the “next best thing” has some definite advantages. And competition for virtual alternatives is heating up. IK Multimedia and Arturia pack an unprecedented number of analog models into a single package for a pretty low price; Arturia now even throws in a keyboard to seal the deal.

Arturia’s Virtual Experience vs. IK’s Moogs: Fight!

The approach of each product is different. IK uses their sample engine, Arturia uses their “TAE” engine from their other virtual vintage products. IK has some additional multi-effects and sound-warping power; Arturia has arguably more hands-on control. IK is entirely focused on Moog and even endorsed by Moog Music; Arturia has a cross-section of classics. And, oh yeah, Arturia is also throwing in an actual hardware keyboard (pictured a little later on).

Hmm… if only we could read the spec sheets for these tools simultaneously. Wait — we can! Go, go, gadget HTML table!

That’s just an overview, naturally. See also:

IK Multimedia SampleMoog Product Page
Arturia Factory Experience Product Page

What About Arturia’s New Keyboard?

Glad you asked. Arturia has sent us some shots of their new hardware. The keyboard is built by CME, the Chinese keyboard maker that impresses Thomas Dolby and inspires bizarre advertising music video involving paint. (Classic quotes: “I do not mind other’s eyesight / I am self-determined so be crazy with be / Do not say that I am aggressive / I am self-determined and that’s what I am!” Top that, Roland.)

Anyway, the CME keyboard naturally works out-of-the-box with the software parameters in the Analog Factory software, with 1 clickable encoder, 10 encoders, 4 sliders, 11 switches, 1 modulation wheel, and 1 pitch bend wheel. Now, I hear what you’re saying — couldn’t you do that with any keyboard? Yes. Yes, you could. Then again, hard to argue with it when it seems to be a free pack-in, and CME’s stuff is usually quite good. Could make a great gift to a synth lover for the holidays, I suspect.

Here are some shots of the hardware — just mock-ups; the real ‘board was at AES but I didn’t get a chance to snap any shots, so just enjoy this lovely virtual world.

My favorite: a tour of the Superbooth, an exhaustive mini-expo of modular music tech.

Superbooth @ Hispasonic

Plus another look at the Arturia Origin synth:

In the DJ category, Rane shows off Serato Scratch, which, despite our chatter about Native Instruments vs. Stanton, remains a very popular choice:

Serato Scratch @ Hispasonic

Drumagog is a promising-looking drum replacement plug-in; drum triggering is an area in which we haven’t seen a whole lot of action lately, and the fact that this has potential for driving visuals means you may see it soon on both CDMusic and Motion.

Drumagog @ Hispasonic

And finally, Novation’s cute new NIO 2|4 audio hardware, which I’ll be covering properly later today.

Novation NIO 2|4 @ Hispasonic

Updated: One more from Hispasonic: the Dexter control surface. There are definitely some new widgets that were not on the Lemur.

New stuff with knobs, keys, and touchscreens: yep, it’s Giant German Music Tech Trade Show time.

Our friend Rainer Knobloch got to spend a few hours on the Messe show floor, so we politely pointed him to some of the gear that inspired the most drool. Topping the list, of course, is Clavia’s new Nord Wave, just because Clavia hasn’t yet published anything on their site. (More Nord details coming later today; sorry for the delay.) But we also learn via these photos just how cool the Arturia Origin’s flip-up panel looks, and we get to see John Bowen cradle his new synth, the Solaris. (See our interview.)

Messe 07, by Rainer [Flickr Set]

If you were at Messe and shot some photos of your own, feel free to add them to our Flickr pool. More of my favorites:

After conquering the world of software emulations, Arturia is finally thinking inside the box with the announcement of its first keyboard, the Origin Keyboard. Like the previously announced but yet-to-ship Origin, the synthesizer is completely modular, allowing you to build patches by combining modules from Arturia’s versions of the Minimoog, CS-80, ARP 2600, Moog Modular and Prophet VS.

While, personally I’d rather have the tabletop version, the 61-key keyboard appears to be no slouch, combining aftertouch and velocity sensitivity with a ribbon controller, joystick, the requisite mod and pitch wheels and plenty of knobs for tweaking. Ed.: Glad you’d rather have the tabletop, Lee. I’ll take one keyboard, then, Arturia — thanks! -PK

While only a rendering exists, it appears that the front-panel can be tilted to accommodate your playing style (like the Minimoog or the Korg Radius). A 5.2″ color screen means you won’t miss your laptop when playing live. In the studio, software integration comes in the form of an AU or VST plug-in that allows editing on a computer, with all processing taking place in the Origin hardware. The Origin has a complete selection of on-board effects including a phaser, chorus, delay, reverb, and distortion and a 16/32 step sequencer.

The Origin Keyboard looks like it will offer some serious competition to the Nord’s and Virus’s out there when it drops down the chimney in December 2007 for US$3499.

Not forgetting its roots, Arturia has announced it is shipping the Jupiter-8V in Universal Mac and Windows versions for US$249, its software emulation of Roland’s classic Jupiter 8. Arturia has improved on the original with new modulation capabilities including the “Galaxy” which allows the user to choose from different LFO types and meld them into a single mod source and the use of the included step sequencer as a modulation source. Effects, which include chorus/flanger, distortion, parameter equalization, phaser, and a ring modulator, can be inserted into the signal path on a per voice basis. Chorus/flanger, delay, and dual phaser effects can also be applied to the output. The Jupiter-8V is the first of Arturia’s soft synths to come with an improved version of the TAE (true analog emulation) engine which Arturia says is less demanding of your computer’s CPU, thus allowing for more complex patches.