If you think Moog’s entry into iPad synthesizers is too new-fangled, something for the kids, and nothing compared to the authentic analogness of … uh … analog, you’ll like this, at the opposite end of the spectrum.

In the same week they unveiled their first iOS synth, Moog has their first 500 series module – and it’s a classic, derived from Dr. Moog’s legendary Ladder Filter design. Engineering audio isn’t quite like engineering bridges and airplanes: it’s actually the unique flaws in what might have otherwise been a forgettable filter design that led to a distinctive distortion, first heard in Moog modules but made famous by the Minimoog. That signature sound is what you get in this module.

I propose we celebrate Ladder Filter Day on October 28 – the 45h anniversary of Dr. Moog being granted the patent for the “Electronic High Pass and Low Pass Filters Employing the Base to Emitter Diode Resistance of Bipolar Transistors.” (I also propose that you greet everyone you see on that day with “Happy Electronic High Pass and Low Pass Filters Employing the Base to Emitter Diode Resistance of Bipolar Transistors Day!”)

Here’s some good reading on the original Ladder Filter:
The Classic Sound of the Moog Ladder Filter [Universal Audio Blog; check out their references at the bottom, too]
Analogue Systems has some good thoughts on what made the filter special, in the commentary for their own module, influenced by the same

But seriously – what’s in this module?

• Low pass and high pass analog filter modes with cutoff
• Attack and release parameters
• Amount (positive/negative), which you can drive hard enough to make compression-like sounds or even reverse filtering, claim Moog
• Resonance, which you can push into self-oscillation
• 2Pole/4Pole: (12db per octave/24db per octave)
• Relay bypass switch
• Modernized design, including XLR (Via 500 rack) balanced line level

Better trade in your 64GB iPad 2 now — US$769, available in December 2011. That our else you need a special relationship with Analog Santa Claus. (Can I actually please have a chat with Analog Father Christmas?)

One downside: it doesn’t play Angry Birds. But you could make a sound like a flock of angry birds – which, by astounding coincidence, is also how I’d describe CDM comment threads earlier this week. Have at it:

http://moogmusic.com/products/500-series/500-series-ladder-filter

When musical traditions meet, handled by people with real mastery of their technique, wonderful things can happen. That can be true of master instrument builders, for one. I got a chance to hear the sounds of the Moog Lap Steel Guitar in June while meeting with the folks from Moog Music. It’s an incredibly-delicious instrument, both in terms of how it’s engineered as a guitar and in bringing the filter from the Moog synth, now itself a tradition.

And you thought bluegrass and synthesis had nothing to do with one another. Think again. -Ed.

The history of musical instruments and of music itself is a story of the search for ever-greater tools for expression, and of an ever-deepening well of ideas to express. Combining innovations by instrument makers from around the globe (and across decades and centuries) with musicians who take a similar approach to their art is bound to produce music that displays a welcome hybrid vigor.

A prime example of this is Billy Cardine and the Moog Lap Steel. A bluegrass virtuoso who has performed everywhere from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center to the Ryman Auditorium and Bonnaroo, he also studied in India and will perform at the upcoming Bangalore International Music Fest with chitravina master Ravikiran. [Ed.: the chitravina is an ancient Indian instrument dating back at least two millennia. It's a fretless string instrument, and can itself be seen as a precursor to slide instruments in places like Hawaii - it's played in the same way, with a slide. Just dig those 21 strings. -PK

Billy was instrumental (pardon the pun) in the development of the Moog Lap Steel and played a prototype at its debut at Moogfest 2010 (see video, below). Combining the unique expressive qualities of the lap steel with the innovative string control abilities of the Moog Guitar – adding an onboard Moog filter – results in an instrument with incredible expressive potential.

And since there is a CV (control voltage) input for external control of the Moog filter, why not bring some modular synthesis into the mix? Against a backdrop of synth drones and arpeggiations, with a sweep of a pedal the MakeNoise René sequencer can be brought in to modulate the Lap Steel’s filter cutoff frequency. The René has two independent clock inputs. In this video (top), only one of them is synced to MIDI clock, resulting in some nice, subtle glitchyness.

Bring this to life with Billy’s unique style… the results… the expressive vigor of hybrids.

And More Sonic Experimentation – With a Fiddle

In another example of electronic expression in unexpected genres… Casey Driessen, violinist with Bela Fleck, the Sparrow Quartet and others visits the ExperimentalSynth Studio to check out some Moogerfooger effects processors.

Ed.: For a change of pace, I have to also embed here a preview Chris shot for the workshop he was teaching for the Moog Foundation. You get some computers here. And actually, I’m impressed by the sense that, in some sense, it doesn’t matter – this Mac laptop could easily jam with the violin, with the banjo, with the slide guitar… That’s important. Working solo in the dark hours of the night is terrific. But it means you can also play – really play, not just get lost in some chaotic soundscape – with friends from a range of musical traditions. -PK

More Experimental Synth:
http://www.experimentalsynth.com/

What can a new digital synth be in 2011? How will it work and sound? And given access to so many excellent tools, how can it stand apart? In place of a press release and some marketing-speak, developer Christopher Penrose (Leisuresonic, Cosmovox) sent us an extended essay explaining his thinking behind his just-released SynthTronica synth for the iPad. Aside from getting into the nitty-gritty technical details, it cuts to the crux of the issue: how to make something personal and new that nonetheless can work for other people, and how that idea can be tailored to a tablet.

As the geeks are glued to the latest iPad announcement, let’s look for a moment beyond platforms. Great ideas in synthesis endure long past platforms. The specific medium is wonderful in that it gives designers, engineers, and musicians the opportunity to realize those ideas, while presenting certain conveniences for developer and user alike.

All of this is worth reading in this case as it sounds like Christopher has a synth that isn’t like everything else out there – not at all. With audio files of your choosing transforming the timbres of synthesized sound in a graphical, spectrally-displayed filter, it looks like it could be a brilliant canvas for producing unusual sounds. That might help it find a place wired into your desktop PC or Mac for production.

In fact, it reminds me of the kind of creative synth we’ve seen all too rarely. The design feels heavily reminiscent of the ground-breaking U+I MetaSynth conceived by Eric Wenger (of Bryce fame). I was always disappointed other software didn’t run with some of those ideas; seeing it with some new twists, the take of a different artist, and touch input on the iPad looks terrific.

Christopher’s notes are quite long, but worth including in their entirety, especially knowing we have other developers in the crowd.

And, oh yeah, we could ramble on about this all day, but I think most of you will get the idea from this video below. It sounds great, and since you can input different audio files to get different filter content, you may be able to escape both overt recognizability and the disposability of many mobile and tablet instruments.

Here’s Christopher:

Notes on SynthTronica’s Development

Back in January of last year, I had been following the Apple tablet rumors with great interest. When the iPad was announced, I was surprised by both its name and its operating system. But it took me only a few hours to decide that I was going to design a synth for the new tablet.

Context

I have developed music software, with varying levels of attention, since 1988, and much of that effort has been spent developing idiosyncratic DSP algorithms for sound exploration. In particular, I focussed on spectral techniques for mating sounds — taking the characteristics of two (and sometimes more) sounds to create a new one. These efforts haven’t made it out of the Max/MSP, Pd, and Unix shell software ecosystems largely due to the limitations of audio plug-in hosts. “Side-chain” processing implementations are obscure and clumsy.

I am also a composer, and, until recently, my software was largely designed to aid my personal music-making. I can honestly say without pretense that my music is idiosyncratic; even Illegal Art, a label which has released one of my albums, regularly characterizes my music as being on the “challenging” end of the spectrum of their musical offerings. I think that SynthTronica has been a good project for me. While developing it, I have been challenged to corral and focus my motley DSP technologies into a broadly-accessible musical instrument. I took a music making process that combines synthesis and sampling, which I used often in my music making in the last decade, and put it at the core of a keyboard synthesizer. Hopefully, I have been able to distill an elegant instrument design from my personal composition practices.

Synth Architecture

SynthTronica is a hybrid instrument; its synth engine combines characteristics of virtual analog synthesis and digital sampling. For most “traditional” synthesizers, sound evolution is controlled by parametric filters — combinations of VCFs and LFOs. Instead, SynthTronica uses time-varying filter data to provide spectral evolution; an instance of such data is called a “formant”. Formants can be created in several ways, through the iPad’s microphone, importing audio files, and capturing performances of SynthTronica’s multitouch filter. While formants are currently played in strict loops, the maximum formant duration is fairly large — just over 60 seconds — providing potential for significant, albeit prerecorded, variation. The benefit of formants lies with their generality. A formant can be made from sources as disparate and varied as Nord percussion, cellos, choirs, braying donkeys, or the chorus of Katy Perry’s latest single. The latter example is an interesting consideration: a formant can reflect much of the rhythmic and sometimes vocal characteristics of its source sound, while effectively obliterating its pitch. Pitch is instead provided by SynthTronica’s synthesizer front-end. When readily-discernible formant sources are used, SynthTronica provides a unique musical space that lies between the boundaries of pure sound synthesis and referential sampling. Formant synthesis is not explicit like sampling; you play through the Katy Perry groove as if it was your avatar. With SynthTronica, a performer needs to make pitch choices for any sound to be heard.

Multitouch Filter

The iPad’s large touch surface was a serious attraction for this project. The idea for the Dynamic Multitouch Filter immediately came to mind. SynthTronica’s multitouch filter serves as a live and expressive counterbalance to the static character of formants by providing fluid gesture-controlled filtering of the synthesizer’s output. Given the spectral architecture of the synth engine, adding up to eleven touch-triggered filters (eleven per voice, technically, though they currently are used synchronously) does not overwhelm the processor resources of the iPad.

Hold Mode

Perhaps an ambient musician’s dream, hold mode simply allows notes to sustain by a single touch. They can be released singly by an additional touch, or released en masse via the “all notes off” button. Hold mode is an excellent counterpart for the multitouch filter, as the filter can easily be the focus of both hands when notes are sustained automatically.

Multiple Keyboards and Scale Patterns

While there are several ways keyboard control could be further developed in SynthTronica, I took advantage of several possibilities made available by the tablet design of the iPad. It is clear that a touchscreen does not offer tactile feedback, so I sought to implement interface dynamics that would make up for this lack in several ways. I choose to support multiple keyboard designs providing two piano style formats and a unique grid-based design.

From my iPhone app Cosmovox, I had a large database of musical scales available. I repurposed these in SynthTronica by providing selectable scale mappings for the keyboards. The piano keyboard has a particular design pattern which is accentuated by the contrast of white and black keys. Being a mallet percussionist in a former life, it was clear to me that this color contrast is optional and the key arrangement itself provides enough information to discriminate notes on a keyboard. Thus musical scales can be represented on a keyboard by changing this color contrast pattern. I often desire to escape my habits when creating music, and altering the keyboard scale pattern can be revealing for me. Further, the scale pattern facility allows for the use of a more radical keyboard design: the grid keyboard. The grid keyboard alters note relationships in interesting ways. The keyboard is compact, allowing one hand to access a two-octave range. Large intervals are no longer as physically distant from a given pitch. The keyboard can be bewildering to play if you play by note (which is a positive feature for me particularly as the keyboard is optional), and can reveal fascinating characteristics of scale architecture.

Design

I went with a modernist design aesthetic as I believe that SynthTronica does not have any appropriate analogs in gear. I find that creating interfaces for software that imitate gear introduces problematic usability issues. While I can understand the desire to have every useful performance control accessible on a single screen, there are practical limits to the number of interface elements that can coexist and still remain effective. Virtual knobs use less screen real estate, make a reference to audio gear, but are more difficult to use than sliders. I chose a slider-only interface using color and orientation for contrast. SynthTronica’s multi-screen design may reduce the accessibility of parameters during performance, but I think the architecture of the synth favors pre-performance sound design and emphasizes use of the Dynamic Multitouch Filter for expressive control in live performance.

Christopher also includes some frank thoughts on limitations of the synth for the time being, including some of his concerns about third-party audio interface support generally. This is beyond my area of expertise, so I’ll leave others to reach what conclusions they will – and I suspect we’ll hear some other developer views.

Limitations

While the preset architecture is robust from a database perspective, it can be frustrating for performance in its current state. The design of the reverb processor is one of the culprits. If reverberation time is different between two presets, changing from one to the other while the synth is sounding can produce awkward glitches. It is possible to ignore reverberation settings from presets by adjusting a SynthTronica parameter in the iPad’s settings application. I would like to improve preset change behavior in a future update.

Some goodies that the electronic music literati would desire — MIDI, audio interface support — have yet to be developed. MIDI is actually very high on the list now, as Apple has provided SDK support [Core MIDI] and I have purchased two Akai LPK25s and an Emu XMidi 1×1 for testing. OSC support is minimal at the moment: there are no supported in-bound messages yet, but a few outbound messages are implemented. Full class-compliant audio interface support will not be added until SynthTronica migrates to an iOS 4.x-only architecture, and even then there may be a performance reduction for many interfaces. A rant could be placed here which would be directed at audio interface manufacturers.

What I will say is that SynthTronica is less flexible with respect to audio buffer sizes as it is a spectral synthesizer; it uses power-of-two FFTs. But this is not unheard of in the least for audio processing; there probably isn’t an MP3 player that does not use them. To support audio buffer sizes that are not powers of two would cause a significant reduction in performance for SynthTronica (namely, a 50% reduction in usable polyphony due to CPU spikes). While there may be an audio interface that works out of the box with SynthTronica, I can’t name one at the moment. The class-compliant audio interfaces I have tested refuse to provide a power-of-two buffer when requested. While I am sure their engineers can come up with an excuse, they really should understand that power of two constraints are ubiquitous in computing, particularly for digital audio signal processing; it is bizarre that their hardware forces applications to perform additional buffering to support powers of two.

Anyway, let’s wrap up not with words, but with…

Sound Samples

PlanetMaster by Leisuresonic

HypnoticCaressing by Leisuresonic

PariahEmoting by Leisuresonic

PulseTherapy by Leisuresonic

More

Check out the sites for more. It was a bit unorthodox to include all these thoughts, but I enjoyed reading it and it made me want to spend some time with the synth. Let us know what you think.

http://synthtronica.com/
http://leisuresonic.com/

on the iTunes App Store

Moog Music, they of the normally analog-only gear, have built their first iOS application. We’ve acquired exclusive details of the innards of the app, and I’ve been testing it today on my (second-generation) iPod touch. Blasphemy? Perhaps, but it’s a nicely-designed little application, and with audio input capability, could turn your Apple handheld into a tiny recording and effects-processing unit alongside other gear. (Game Boy plus iPod touch? Casiotone plus iPod touch?)

The application, Filtatron, hasn’t yet been announced. There’s no information on pricing or availability, accordingly.

Divided onto several pages (see screenshots), it represents a set of modules for recording, sampling, effects, and filtering. The controls are cleanly laid-out, and everything makes some sound, making it familiar and fun for people who know how to use it but very “tweakable” for someone who’s never touched something like this before. (There’s no question this could be a gateway drug to Moog’s genuine analog gear for the mass market on iOS.)

What it does:

• Filter + LFO
• Amp (drive) + feedback for distortion
• Adjustable, time-syncable delay
• Sampler with adjustable playback speed, loop points, and live recording
• X/Y pads for tweaking and performance, plus preset sharing.

You can actually use the app without any input, by transferring files from your computer or another application (with AudioCopy supprot). But connect a mic or line input (or use the internal mic on a device like the iPhone), and the Filtatron turns your device into a live filtering unit.

In case you’re afraid Moog are giving up on gear, there’s a Catalog link on the about page from which you can buy one of the Moogerfooger line. Or, you can just sport this app and a t-shirt. (It’s like owning a BMW lighter but no car. Well, okay, somewhat more useful than that.)

So, what could this be used for? One of the Moog engineers imagined importing audio, processing on the go on the device, then re-importing to your music environment. (Just in case you want to adjust that LFO just right on the bus.) You can use it for real-time effects. Or you can even use it as a really unusual field recorder, recording only in Moogified sounds.

I will say this: my impression so far is that it’s a lot of fun to use. Yes, there are other apps that do things like this. No, it isn’t nearly as satisfying to use as the Moogerfooger hardware – losing the tactile response really loses a lot. But it’s a different experience; something you could easily add to a chain of other devices or use on the go in a way you might not expect.

I also notice that, aside from getting Moog-like sounds, you really appreciate big, simplified controls. That says to me that software generally could learn a lot from hardware, not just in sound or tactile feel, but in design. Review forthcoming, but here’s the full run-down on specs.

Complete Specifications

Audio input will work via any adapter. You can use the headphone/mic jack directly (though to get audio out, you’ll need to use a 3-prong minijack – more on that as I test my camcorder cable with this and other apps). You can also use third-party devices like the Blue Mikey (good if you need a mic) or IK Multimedia iRIG (good for mono instrument/guitar input). I’m also testing the iRIG.

Via an internal design documentation, I’ve got the details on the internal specs for the app. The goal, says the document: “filtatron allows you to combine several sound sources and apply effects to them in realtime. Sound sources include line or mic input, looping sample playback, and an internal oscillator.”

Audio engine: 16-bit, 44.1 kHz. (Some apps, like RjDj, actually use less, so that’s worth noting.)

Filter: modeled 4-pole resonant filter, which Moog intended to be matched to their analog filters. Lowpass, highpass, cutoff, resonance, self-oscillation at high resonance – you know, the usual.

LFO, Envelope Filter: Routed to filter cutoff. LFO: sine, ramp, sawtooth, square, sample&hold. Crossfade/morph between LFO shapes. Bipolar LFO (sweep up or down). Free-tuned LFOs, sync to tap tempo.

Envelope Follower: Route sound inputs to sweep the filter, with adjustable reaction speed.

Tap tempo, separation, mix.

Amp (overdrive) effect with feedback. Also can self-oscillate.

Delay effect. Delay with its own LFO. Adjustable from a short flange to longer delays.

Pads. X-Y pads controlled by multi-touch control parameters for live performance/tweaking. Assignments:

VCF pad controls filter cutoff and resonance, LFO pad controls LFO Rate and Amount, Delay pad controls delay time and feedback. VCO pad controls oscillator frequency and level (amplitude) – if the VCO “Release” parameter is engaged (ENABLE button on VCO panel, main page), then the VCO x-y pad also controls the VCO volume gate — the VCO is silent when you are not touching the pad and sounds a note on each touch. ENV pad controls envelope follower amount and speed, and AMP pad controls amp drive and feedback.

Sampler: Play included loops, record your own samples, or bring in your own loops using either the AudioCopy/AudioPaste API or an FTP connection. Sampler includes play controls, playback speed (-2x to +2x), and tap-and-drag controls for loop start and stop on the waveform.

Record audio into the sampler dry, or record with effects for resampling capability. Recording is limited only by available storage, but playback is limited to 10MB each (ca. 2 minutes).

Preset recall and storage. Includes a number of presets, allows you to save your own, and provides onboard email sharing of presets.

Exclusive CDM Moog April Fool’s Pre-announcement

The Minimoog XL for iOS. All 61 keys, so small you can’t hit them. Still monophonic. Seriously. I want to see it in the traditional April Fool’s announcement, you guys on North Carolina.

More Q&A, More Moog

From comments:
Christopher Wolfe, developer of the superb Jasuto (modular for iOS and now Android), is evidently behind some of the implementation here, collaborating with the Moog design team. Great work, Christopher. So it’s sort of a meeting of Chris’ mobile development experience with Moog’s hardware and design experience, as I see it.

Looping is not something you can do live; that’s not really the focus of the amp. But once samples are recorded, they’re fun to play with.

Apologies for not having a video, but here in the CDM workshop, we have some… other things happening, too. Moog have released a video with Richard Devine, but we can do one that’s quite a lot clearer! (Looks like they only had time for a teaser. I like the Wall of Moogerfoogers, though.)

Oh, and for the record, I’m actually surprised there isn’t much controversy here regarding a Moog iPhone app. But shows that – like them or hate them – people have at least come to expect iOS music apps.

If you do love hardware, though, check out the Slim Phatty, a news story Matrixsynth broke yesterday with a leaked ad. (Thanks, sgnelson.) $799 for a rack mount-style module, leaving the question of choosing which keyboard to use to play it. $800 is a great deal on a Phatty; Dave Smith Instruments, of course, remain a strong (and incredibly affordable) choice in the same price range.

Sing along, those of you who don’t like these iPhone apps moving in on the hardware.

`Cause I’m the Slim Phatty, yes I’m the real Phatty /
All your Moog iPhone s*** are just digital crappy /
So won’t the real Slim Phatty please stand up /
please stand up, please stand up

Y’all act like you never seen an iPhone app before.

Finally, the headline from the terrific Tara Busch and AnalogSuicide.com says it all:
Moog to Release New iPhone, iPad app, “Filtatron”. Embrace it!

Tara also makes no apologies for focusing on Moog at the moment. (Don’t worry, CDMers, we can and will also cover Smith, Linn, Chowning, Mathews, Roads, and company. All in due time.)

Soundhack, the free audio tool for the Mac developed by audio wizard Tom Erbe, was long a beloved tool for doing strange and wonderful things for sound. It was followed by Spectral Shapers, Mac and Windows plug-ins that built on some of those ideas to do more “timbral morphing” with recorded audio. That includes “timbral filtering” and noise-reducing expansion with spectralcompand, drawn morphing filter shapes with morphfilter, audio positioning with binaural, and a terrific spectralgate for creative dynamics processing.

In what can only come as great news to lovers of patching in the free and open source Pure Data (Pd) and commercial Max/MSP environments alike, those tools are now in beta as objects to include in your own patches. These patching environments really do feel like the virtual modular studios they are. Included:

+binaural, +morphfilter, +spectralcompand, +spectralgate, +decimate, +chebyshev, +matrix, +compand, +delay, +pitchdelay and +bubbler

This release promises a few bugs, so use at your own risk and write good, precise bug reports if you hit any trouble. Windows Max support isn’t there yet, but Mac Max support is, and Pd users can enjoy the software on Mac, Windows, Linux, and even 64-bit Linux. More updates coming later this summer.

http://www.soundhack.com/externs.php

A chap named Nick Ciontea has created a channel on Vimeo collecting odd videos folks have made with or regarding Moog products. I know about this, because two of my videos made it in. It’s a grab bag, but a lovely tribute to how much people love this gear.

My favorite selection is the video here, because it’s not what you’d expect sound-wise from either Yamaha’s Tenori-On or Moog filters. Artist “Smith” says:

This first test is a prepartory work to a series of solo pieces inspired by John Cage’s experiments for prepared piano and Conlon Nancarrow’s player piano studies.

Yes, things you don’t normally expect to go together: Cage/Nancarrow, Moog, Tenori-On. And he successfully erases the Tenori-On’s beautiful if predictable signature sound. This is what I imagine music boxes would sound like on Alpha Centauri. In other news: I can’t afford this rig.

- 2 TENORI-ON(s)
- MI Audio Pollyanna Octave Synth
- Moog Low Pass Filter (MF-101)
- Moog Ring Modulator (MF-102)
- Moog Bass Murf (MF-105b)
- Jomox M-Resonator
- Rotary Ensemble (Boss RT-20)
- Boss FV-500L (as expression pedal for LPF Resonance)
- Boss FV-500L (as expression pedal for RM Frequency)
- Boss EV-5 for Rotary Ensemble speed

But, involved as that is, it’s further evidence you can push sound in new ways. And if online videos do nothing else, they can lay the gauntlet down in terms of what you think possible – both by demonstrating the generic and the unusual.

What do you say when it’s all been said? We felt it was time for a fresh perspective on the MPC phenomenon — one a normal review couldn’t provide. So we got the opinion of our friend, samplist/producer and Segue member Dave Dri. And the verdict: there’s still something about an MPC — even if it suggests why there’s also something about software, too. But it involves dust. Here’s his op-ed:

Recently I had the task of reviewing an MPC5000 for a local street press magazine. The MPC part of it was fine — the word limit was trickier. Over the last decade I have reviewed the MPC2000XL and the MPC1000, with a lot of time and gigs passing between them. From early days in a live breaks act to my current progressive house act, an MPC has been right under hand. In the week that I reluctantly handed the 5000 back to Musiclab, the drummer that guested in my band at the Big Day Out festival asked me to play keys and samples in his band at a local festival. [Ed.: Our own Jaymis filmed the Big Day Out gig if you want to check it out.] I found myself in a chance conversation with a friend from the live breaks act Bitrok and the very next day, somehow, I’m on stage with his MPC2500 — a unit which I have since bought. So why did reviewing an MPC5000 lead to me buying an MPC2500 after years of happy service from an invincible MPC2000XL?

If you’re reading this, you probably know what an MPC is, and you can readily review any number of link-bait Google results for the product mentioned in the title of this post. [Ed. Hmmmm, link-baiting MPC's, huh? "10 Ways an MPC is Like a Cupcake"? "15 of the Best MPC YouTube Videos Featuring Hot Women MPCers?" perhaps? -PK]

What you probably want to know is what it’s really like. So I will tell you.

Changes, Rants, and Internet Haters

It’s big. Really big. In fact, it’s so large that it couldn’t fit on the Jerker desk that forms the core of my studio rig, and spent its review loan period on a keyboard stand. In a particularly amusing moment I happened to glance at a nearby MacBook with an Akai MPD-16 controller plugged in to it and formed an unfounded suspicion that the sheer size was simply a ploy by Akai to appeal to some demographic that might use the MPC5000 as the core, if not entirety, of their studio. Would Akai deliberately oversize their hardware to appeal to bling-savvy producers?

It’s got a new screen. Getting past the size, the next comment is usually on the screen. Long-time MPC users with older models are delighted with the display being adjustable in both position and contrast. As one might imagine, navigation and editing benefits immediately, and the old Shift+Number menu system is replaced with context-sensitive Mode and Window buttons. By this point things are getting off to a great start. All the basics work as they should, and getting around the unit is old hat to anyone who has touched an MPC.

It’s a synth – but will it replace other synths? Then we find ourselves exploring the onboard synthesizer emulation that Akai claim “eliminates need for external analog synth modules or buggy software based synthesizers.” We will touch on the concept of buggy software in a minute, but I think we can safely ground the private fantasy jet that Akai seem to be flying around in with the notion that their VA emulation is somehow a replacement for external analog synth modules. As you would expect, the preset patches have a liberal use of the word “Moog” and sound nothing like one. Even worse, it soon becomes clear that you need to load a patch into memory to even preview it. As Just Blaze says on his MPC5000 rant, this is 2008. Having to spend studio time loading a synth patch just to preview to it is ridiculous, and was something that Yamaha seemed to avoid with their RM1X back in the mid to late 1990’s.

As to the marketing claims of “avoiding buggy software”, this is, of course, a point of instant ridicule for anyone who has owned first-generation Akai hardware. If there is any company deserving of an award for consistently disappointing software programming it would be Akai. Optimists like to say that 1.0 OS implementations are likely to have a few issues that soon get fixed, but that kind of logic in the automotive industry would cost lives. In the same sense, broken functionality or crashing operating systems can limit creative output. For a device that costs as staggering an amount as the MPC5000 (MSRP US$3500), it is inexcusable to release such a flagship product without appropriate testing and debugging. It’s not like the world was clamouring for a massive, heavy, expensive hardware sequencer with onboard virtual analog synth emulation. Again I will point to hip-hop producer Just Blaze and his rant at Akai for the state they released the MPC5000. [Ed.: This is not an official CDM comment or my comment on Akai's reliability, because, frankly, I haven't used one. So if anyone wants to add to the rants here or question them -- and perhaps comment on how firmware updates have settled -- I'm all ears; please do so in comments! -PK]

In Australia right now, for the same price as the MPC5000, one is able to purchase a rig such as an Asus laptop, Motu Ultralite audio interface (site | on CDM), Ableton 7 and an MPD drum pad MIDI controller interface. Then again, you couldn’t simply turn it on and start making music out of the box. Despite the need for hardware that simply works, Akai simply cannot afford to rely on Roger Linn’s (on CDM) clever idea from the 1980’s any longer without actually following through on their product promises. Akai commentary aside, this isn’t an outright attack on the MPC5000. Not by any means. The parent company may attract comments on internet forums like “they be smoking crack mangz”, but their products do have a place in the market. This is where anyone left reading can take a deep breath and bask in some hints of genius.

MPC5000′s Brilliant Bits

The MPC5000 does indeed have enough promise to warrant its place on the shelves of your favourite music store or in the database of your choice of online retailer. For a start, the filters and Q-link faders are stunning. Noticing the in-built pre-amp (that Akai have finally copied from their competitors) included in the MPC, I hooked my trusty Vestax turntable and randomly grabbed a record – in this case, one of those James Last records you can’t but trip over in Australian record stores. With it spinning, I pushed record, grabbed a good 20 seconds, mapped the sample to a pad and the pad to a program. Going into sample edit mode, I enjoyed the large screen and multiple faders for adjusting start and end points without the 2000XL style scrolling or shift fader. On a whim, I bumped the resonance on the filter. It took about 5 seconds for me to fall in love with the potential of these filters. Sweeping low, I turned Tijuana trumpets into a resonant sub bass that swept up with my fader movements into the kind of pitched build-up that is still all over progressive house. Sample transformed.

Grabbing other samples from sources less dubious, I began to simply enjoy the hands-on creativity that sampling so effectively enables. Whether you’re a fan of the Sonalksis TBK filter or run your samples through an old Korg MS-20, there is something to be said for the creative aesthetic that comes with a simple sampler, some records and some decent filters. Do I see some heads nodding in agreement over in the French House corner?

Conclusion: Dusty Fingers

So, after a lengthy rant, I managed to say some nice things about the filters and the aesthetic of the MPC. Unfortunately, all specifications and feature sheets aside, the legacy of the MPC series is and always will be the elusive concept of feel, aesthetic, and groove. Once upon a time, this might have been currency to spend on lengthy, impassioned essays to enraptured audiences. These days, the proponents of the tradition of MPC groove tend to get short thrift amongst their contemporaries, who program the same boom bap beats in Fruity Loops, on Roland Grooveboxes and — lest we forget — Madlib’s infamous Roland SP303. There’s a certain element of buying an MPC that’s just down to being down with the MPC format. Plenty of internet forum arguments are waged over hardware versus software, Akai versus Roland, this versus that, purple versus magenta.

Ignoring the actual conflict, it’s obvious that there is something passionate about the range. For me, the MPC5000 reignited a passion that had fallen behind with the 2000XL’s user experience, compared to my workflow in Ableton and Battery. Despite relying on the old grey box for live shows, I had forgotten the unique outcomes of dusty fingers, hands on vinyl, samples on sampler. And it managed to do that in spite of its size, cost, weight and bugs. Once Akai iron out the last of the issues, there is no doubt that this will be a success amongst those producers who are set on hardware sequencing in the box with all the trimmings. For me, the MPC range has been an extension of DAW workflow more than an alternative. In that light, I am content in the MPC2500 bringing crate digging and sampling enjoyment back into my studio and replacing my trusty 2000XL in the flight case at gigs. If the idea of the MPC5000 appeals to you, then I would urge you to test it out for yourself. If you already have then let us know how you found it in the comments below!

Dave Dri is an MPC-wielding Samplist and Producer from Brisbane, Australia. He has been involved with a variety electronic acts running the gamut from Breaks to Jungle. His current project is Segue.

Hot dog purveyor Gray’s Papaya in New York is beloved for its “Recession Special”: two dogs and a drink. Their champagne is made from coconuts. And you don’t just scarf these down in bear markets; you enjoy them any time.

Dave Smith’s monophonic Mopho synth is perhaps the greatest recession special in the history of synthesis. It’s got the soul of a single voice from the Prophet ’08 analog synth, but with sub-octave generators, distortion that they claim ranges to “extreme skronk,” and the ability to process audio input. Interestingly, that means its “skronkiness” and input processing address some of the complaints I’ve heard from people who didn’t immediately take to the new Prophet. The whole, 7.5×5″ package, with the 100% analog signal path mono synth, the Curtis analog low-pass filter, and a Mac/Windows editor, costs just US$400 street.

And then there’s that mysterious “Push It” button.

If you want some hands-on experience, our friend Chris Randall of Analog Industries (and Audio Damage) just got his:
Honky Mopho

I’m about the last person to mention the Mopho (I was out of town when it launched), so I went to the good peoples of Dave Smith to get a little more information. DSI’s Andrew McGowan responds.

And yes, we get to hear something about the ever-mysterious upcoming Dave Smith – Roger Linn LinnDrum II, which this is not.

Peter: Why a “Push It” button? Is it assignable when you’re designing your own patches?

Andrew: The Push It button is a manual trigger. It can act just like a key (push it plays, release it stops) or it can latch on with one push and off with another. Because Mopho has a gated sequencer, that means the Push It button can also play or latch a sequence. There is also a trigger mode where pressing the Push It button (or a key) can step through a sequence, so it’s actually possible to play a simple melodic line without a keyboard. And that’s all configurable per program.

Peter: The signal path is basically the same as one voice on the Prophet 08, correct? Aside from the sub-octave generators, are there any other differences — subtle or otherwise — or is it best to think of this as a single voice from the Prophet in a box?

Andrew: The voice architecture is the same. The additions are the sub-octave generators and the feedback loop. The feedback loop is made possible by the Audio In, which is not present on the Prophet. Both of those things can give it a pretty distinctly different character from the Prophet.

Peter: Is 14-bit control possible in the MIDI implementation?

Andrew: It responds to double-byte NRPNs, as some of the parameters (filter cutoff, for example) have a range of more than 128 values.

Peter: The audio input/filter capability — in which you can take any external audio input and run it through the Mopho — is unique to the Mopho? It’s not on the Prophet ’08?

Andrew: The Evolvers have audio inputs, but not the Prophet. It’s a little trickier on a polyphonic instrument. (The Poly Evolver skirts the issue somewhat because it’s essentially 4 Evolvers in a box.)

Peter: I see it’s made some trips out to some celebrity synth users. Anything to share from their experiences?

Andrew: From Felix Martin of Hot Chip: “We’re very proud to be the first official owners of the Mopho! It certainly is a powerful little box with a incredibly immediate, rich sound. The first time I got it hooked up and run through a big PA, I cranked up the Sub Oscillators and they sound absolutely amazing – gives Joe’s Voyager a run for its money! I have already programmed some sounds and sequences which I will be running for the first time tonight in Dallas, will send over a photo of it in my little machine world once it is fully integrated. I hope it’s a success and that it finally convinces people to stop paying hundreds of $s for bashed up tb303s.

“I really do like this little machine, it’s a great thing to have on the tour bus and on stage as well.”

Andrew Everding from the band Thursday also wrote to say he had already used it on their new album. As far as I know, he’s the first one into a studio with a Mopho.

Peter: Will we see any of the spirit of the Mopho in the upcoming LinnDrum II? Now that the Mopho is out the door, does that mean DSI’s attention turns to the LinnDrum while the rest of us (ahem) sit in eager anticipation?

Andrew: Well, the attention never really turns away from the LinnDrum II. Dave worked on both the Prophet ’08 Module and Mopho during those times when Roger was working on aspects that required less of Dave’s time. I’ve known Dave for nearly 30 years, and he’s not really one to remain idle for long. He’s always working on something. The LinnDrum II will have the analog voices and processing and will use the Curtis chips that we use in our other products. I’m not really at liberty to say much more than that right now. It’s gone through some pretty major changes and I think it’ll definitely be worth the wait. I’d like to get my hands on one, too!

(More videos)

Universal Audio’s UAD-1, a sound processing platform built on DSP hardware add-ons for your computer, has gotten a much-anticipated sequel this week. The UAD-1 was always a favorite choice for sound production, delivering tasty analog-emulating sound tools on a PCI card platform. The UAD-2, on PCI-express cards, offer up to “ten times” the processing power of the original — supposedly even the single-processor model delivers a greater-than-twofold performance gain. The DSP hardware is just the platform, though, and Universal’s main push here is its plug-in developers. Sure, these days your CPU is a plenty-powerful sonic number cruncher, so I think it’d be a stretch to say anyone needs DSP cards. But what the platform can mean is plug-in goodies not available anywhere else, with a no-nonsense approach to sound that may not be as practical in native plug-ins. (And with support from software like Ableton Live, Apple Logic, and Cakewalk SONAR, you can then drop these into your host of choice.)

Here’s a look from around the Web at what people are saying about the UAD-2.

Oliver Chesler at Wire to the Ear notes what could be a real “killer app” / highlight of the UAD-2: a Moog multimode filter.

Here’s a pretty new plug-in for the new Universal Audio UAD-2! It seems to have all the right stuff too: self-oscillation, drive control, stereo tonal shifting, good modulation options and yay a wet/dry knob.

The Moog Multimode Filter for UAD-2 [wire to the ear]

Not to argue with the “classic design” or the genius of Bob Moog, but I do have to observe that the Fabfilter Product Line Oliver recommends, native plug-ins rather than Universal Audio, have more innovative interfaces that were actually designed for software. Don’t get me wrong — I might still have a great time with the Moog emulation — but this illustrates that CPU-based plug-ins remain competitive, and I’m not sure that emulating analog interfaces always makes sense on a computer. Then again, if you don’t have a rack mount Voyager lying around, I can’t argue with the appeal of a UAD-2 plug-in.

For more on why the sound aspect is so appealing, check out UA’s “realism” explanation (propaganda, yes, but worth a look).

TRASH_AUDIO have been eagerly watching this one for some time:

UA is promoting the fact that up to Four of the UAD-2 cards can run in one system, but just ONE Quad card will allow you to have 128 Neve 88RS channel strips open, which essentially gives you a 128 channel Neve console right in your DAW. I am upgrading my UAD-1 the second I find a place to buy the UAD-2.

Universal Audio: UAD-2, Out Now! [TRASH_AUDIO]

Key of Grey notes that UA’s digital hardware (UAD-1/UAD-2) reflects some really fine-quality analog gear:

Universal Audio makes some of the best hardware out there. I’m especially a fan of their 610 and 6176. The warmth of the analog sound makes a big difference when most of your stuff has that digital edge.

… The UAD-2 continues this tradition. Depending on how many tracks you want it to handle, you can pay for increasingly powerful add-on cards, even up to supporting 128 tracks of Neve console. Unfortunately, I don’t have a desktop to put these in but they present fantastic value for those who can’t afford tonnes of analog gear.

Univeral Audio UAD-2 : A much needed upgrade to the UAD-1 [Key of Grey]

But Can You Lift It?

Incidentally, those wondering about portability, a couple of options:

1. Get an SFF PC. I’m kind of curious to try putting a UAD into one of the two PCI slots available on my Shuttle, thus creating a “luggable” system with these sounds.

2. Get an Xpander/Xtenda. UA does make a product specifically for ExpressCard-equipped laptops like the MacBook Pro, so mobile is definitely an option (as it is with the rival TC|Electronics PowerCore). At the moment, I can only find the desktop/laptop bridge Xtenda product on the UA site. Updated: as confirmed in comments, it seems a laptop-compatible UAD-2 project is in the works as a successor to the UAD-1 Xpander product; we’ll keep you posted.

UAD-2 and Compatibility

I’m curious to find more about whether the UAD-2 introduces any new compatibility issues with either plug-ins or hosts. A number of host developers only recently got all the issues with the UAD-1 ironed out. My uneducated guess would be that these should “just work” with the UAD-2, but I honestly don’t know, so it’s on the top of my list to go research. Host developers, feel free to chime in, off the record if you must.

So, readers, who’s getting a UAD-2? Budgets are tight for a lot of us at the moment, but then, the UAD compares favorably with a lot of the pricier Pro Tools plug-ins, for instance. US$500 gets you a ticket to ride, with generous plug-in vouchers as you upgrade so you can build your own bundle. (If you’re feeling poor, stay tuned for some Recession Special coverage coming your way soon … but UAD lovers, I’m sure, will sell their car before they miss a chance for a new UAD.)

Universal Audio Site with all the specs and whatnot

Single Knob Filter [Project Page]
SKF-VST at Google Code [Source, VST Download]

It’s apparently a big improvement on an Ableton forum solution that used 127 different filter instances in a rack.

I’m aware of the goodness of Single Knob Filter thanks to the Aurora open source DJ mixer project (see yesterday’s write-up); they assign an instance of the plug-in on each of the Aurora’s two mixer channels. Aurora’s Matt originally had the SKF plug-in in their Ableton template, but I encouraged them to replace it with Ableton’s Auto Filter for cross-platform compatibility and ease. That said, for plain DJ filtering, this it the One True Knob.

Now, go forth and use it on some crazy experimental noise soundscape you’ve been working on, just to spite cliche.