The old CreamWare Scope DSP platform has been given new life… yet again. Things had been suspiciously quiet since Sonic Core acquired CreamWare’s assets early last year, and many long-time users were worried the end was near. It turns out the team was simply hard at work. The company will unveil powerful new Scope hardware and significantly upgraded software at the 2008 Frankfurt Musikmesse (March 12-15).

The big news is the € 2698 ($4200) Scope XITE-1 DSP hardware system. It’s based on Analog Devices SHARC DSP chips, offering 10x more processing power than their previous high-end Scope Professional card. The new hardware is housed in a 19 inch 1U rack case that interfaces to your Mac or Windows box via a PCI-Express (desktop) or ExpressCard (notebook) interface.

German manufacturer CreamWare - best known for their Scope DSP cards and ASB tabletop synthesizers - was declared insolvent on December 18, 2006. Those of you who’ve been following the company for a few years will recall that they hit a similar rough patch in 2004, but re-emerged to release their acclaimed lineup of ASB hardware synthesizers, along with updates to their Scope DSP software.

Luckily, this cloud has a silver lining. The company’s assets have been acquired by two companies with considerable CreamWare experience: SonicCore and InDSP.

SonicCore is a German company run by former Scope developers Holger Drenkelfort and Juergen Kindermann who will continue to develop, support and market Scope DSP boards under the CreamWare name. Drenkelfort made the following statement on the PlanetZ forum this morning: “As we have been deeply involved from the beginning in the development of both SCOPE hard- and software, it’s a very special pleasure for us to provide ongoing support for these great products. Furthermore, we will continue the manufacturing and selling of SCOPE products and devices, as we believe that’s the least this platform deserves. You can be sure there will be some nice offerings to come in the future.”

It appears that rights to the hardware synthesizer technology have been acquired by InDSP, the India-based design company that developed the ASB gear. This arrangement seems ideal, since InDSP is helmed by former CreamWare exec Frank Hund. There’s no word on whether the current ASB lineup will remain in production, but I strongly suspect InDSP will be behind some shiny new hardware at the upcoming Frankfurt Musikmesse.

All in all, this should enable CreamWare technology to live on and flourish.

If you haven’t spent every last penny you own on the latest playourwiibox, your strength hasn’t been taken away from coma-inducing leftovers and you’re in the mood for some jaw-dropping music tech bargains, well just read on dear CDMers because we have the best sales to help you start your new year of music-making off right.

Matrixsynth and sequencer.de have blown the cover on an upcoming series of rackmount ASB synth modules from Creamware. Apparently, €444 will get you a 1U rack unit that contains the heart and soul (well, just the electronic bits…) of either the Minimax, Pro12, or Prodyssey virtual analog synths. Each device features a power switch, blue LED power light, and MIDI/USB connectors on its backside. Presumably, they’ll be programmed using a softsynth-like interface running on your PC or Mac.

I think Creamware might be missing the boat with these — after all, the ASB series is wonderful because each box provides a tactile control surface to tweak sounds the moment inspiration strikes. And, quite honestly, second hand Creamware Scope DSP boards are now so inexpensive that I’d prefer to run the PC-based version of these instruments instead. Still, they could be useful for live performance. There’s no “official” confirmation of these products on the Creamware ASB site yet.

Creamware Klangboxes

We’re pleased to welcome James Grahame to CDM; James is the editor of the fantastic Retro Thing blog as well as the owner of the music electronics company Reflex Audio. James is a master of finding value in vintage gear, even recently pre-owned equipment. Here, he tells us how to get some DSP muscle in our music systems for a lot less money. -Ed.

There comes a point in every electronic musician’s life when they run out of computing power. It usually happens while adding the last track to an earth-shattering magnum opus. Most of us respond by dreaming of shiny new multi-core machines, but there is a clever alternative: Add an affordable second-hand Digital Signal Processing (DSP) card to share the workload.

There are several top-notch DSP audio cards on the market including the TC Electronic Powercore series, the Universal Audio UAD-1e and the Creamware Scope series. Each card offers from one to 14 dedicated DSP chips to generate real-time effects and virtual instruments without taxing your computer’s processor. The only problem is the price – expect to pay at least $1000 for a reasonable combination of hardware and software plug-ins.

Luckily, there are some great second-hand bargains out there.

Oh, boy! It’s my favorite topic: whether hardware or software instruments are “better.” Ugh. Anyway, another month, another trade show, another round of new products that attempt to blur the lines. Let’s see how they’re doing:

Shown: Mystery synthesist from Synthfool

They put Minimoog and Prophet synth emulations into hardware boxes under a grand. Now Creamware has added an emulation of the most legendary organ of all time to its “Authentic Sound Box” (ASB) line, and it’s a lot easier to lift than the original. Could these guys replace your laptop and software synths? -Ed.

Creamware continues its efforts to reinvent classic analog hardware
with the introduction of the B4000 ASB, a clone of the Hammond B-3
electromechanical organ. Like the other ASB’s this one eschews keys
in favor of a space-saving tabletop design but it does have the real
drawbars organ players crave.

As the industry trends toward digital sound and plug-ins (or so we were told), we increasingly have . . . wha? More hardware emulating old analog classics? And now at prices under US$1000?

Believe it. Creamware has previewed two new hardware boxes, the Minimax ASB and Profit-5 ASB. They don't mention the Minimoog or Prophet-5
by name, but the boxes rip off knob layout and even the typefaces of
these classic analog synths. Creamware's plug-in versions of the same
have earned some kudos, but the company is now packing the sound into
compact, inexpensive hardware.

Availability: June (Minimax); August (Profit-5) projected
Cost: US$899 (Minimax); US$999 (Profit-5)
Compatibility: Remote control software appears to be Windows-only, but USB and MIDI interfaces should make them universal
Specs: 6 voices, 128 factory presets, 128 user presets, stereo analog audio I/O
(PDF info)

That's right — a Minimoog clone with USB under a grand. This is all-digital emulation, not real analog, but the price is right.

So what's next for Creamware — a lawsuit? Roland has already sued Behringer over cheap clones of its Boss effects pedals (see Music Thing story),
but Creamware appear to be erring on the careful side. Not to mention, this is no Minimoog Voyager — though it's also half the price. Your landlord would prefer you get the Creamware, thank you.

What's weird here is that, swapping one German manufacturer for another, this story
was almost exactly predicted by Music Thing's April Fool's joke.
Tom at Music Thing tells us "I had to read the date on the Harmony
Central story three times." Tom's imagined product wasn't far off, though Tom's Synthi clone and US$475 price tag won't be out any time soon. Next year, Tom, go more absurd. Or, er, watch out, Cakewalk; Toyota may well be hungry. (And Bob Moog better hope no one rips off his brilliant silence generator.)