There’s a new analog Moog effect in town. So who better to tell us about it and get us some hands-on time than Moog Music’s Chief Engineer?

Moog’s next Moogerfooger, the Cluster Flux or “MF-108M” if you want to sound more serious, promises to be a versatile analog effect processor. It’s a flanger / chorus / vibrato unit with loads of modulation, meaning you can either go the classic chorus/flange route or go further out with your sound sculpting. Mono in, stereo out, all-analog signal path, coming soon at US$599 list (street should be lower).

That’s the unit. But I often find it’s most interesting to talk to the people who actually design the gear. At our Handmade Music event, presented with Moog and curated by myself and Wilco’s lead keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen, we had gathered a bunch of makers of musical devices, from independent one-off production to, well, Moog. Getting to talk to each other was a real gift; makers confessed what attracted them to electronic music instrument making, and the trial and error necessary to make something. (Yes, there are even trials with experienced engineers at mighty Moog.) Videos of all of that will be appearing in the coming days.

Cyril Lance is Chief Engineer at Moog. He’s the guy who’s led a lot of the work behind the MF-108M and many other recent Moog Music inventions. When he talks about the Cluster Flux, it seems he can barely contain a certain glee at why he’s excited to produce it, and what he believes makes it special. And we had a blast with him, not only talking Moog but playing with everything else in our Handmade Music Lounge.

This isn’t a review; it’s a chance to listen to one of the makers of the box talk directly about why it makes him happy. I look forward to getting a Cluster Flux when it’s ready. Our impromptu sound is, not surprisingly, less-than stellar. So, I asked Moog Music to record for CDM some exclusive audio snippets of the Moogerfooger in action – totally dry, just a Moog guitar, the MF-108M, and an amp. Sounds included via the CDM SoundCloud account below:

Moogerfooger Cluster Flux MF-108 – Exclusive Demo Sounds by cdm

Otherwise, you’ll have to take my word for it: whether this box is for you or not, I have to say, it sounds really brilliant. I spent a big chunk of the afternoon with our MeeBlip open source synth hooked up to the Cluster Flux, and I could get used to the combination. (Glad we could share the MeeBlip with Moog, too!)

Coming soon: videos of some of the other folks we shot at Mass MOCA, conversations about making, and a broader chat with Cyril about what it’s like running engineering for Moog (and, incidentally, why he’s excited about the DIY movement, even if it might make things that compete with Moog’s own offerings).

More on the Moogerfooger:
Moogerfooger Cluster Flux: Flanger + Chorus + Vibrato + LFO; Pricing and Availability Details [CDM]

Coming Soon: The Moogerfooger MF-108M Cluster Flux [Moog Music News]

And some specs/features (most illustrated in the video above):

LFO waveforms: Sine, Triangle, Square, Saw, Ramp and Random

MIDI in, for control of Delay Time, Range, Feedback, Output Level, LFO Waveform, LFO Rate, LFO Amount and Mix

CV control of Delay Time, LFO Rate, Feedback, LFO Amount, Mix

LFO sync to MIDI Clock or Tap Tempo

Send/Return Insert for external processing of BBD feedback loop

Configurable Stereo Out

Spillover mode, for “drones and other feedback effects” (actually, didn’t get to play with this one, so we’ll have to do that in the review … I love me some drones.)

Delay Time, Mix, and Feedback configurable in Chorus

Wide-ranging LFO rate (yeah, this bit is a lot of fun)

Bi-polar feedback for flanging, even or odd harmonic emphasis (again, lots of fun, got to play a little but hope to play more)

Full details on the Moog site; more to come.

“Bi-polar feedback” sounds a little bit like Web comments, so it’s worth saying this: I heard the feedback loud and clear that you’d like to see a wider variety of coverage of this kind of gear. We’re on it. It takes some time, but I’d absolutely love to see this kind of coverage — looking in-depth at the gear and talking to the maker — of more devices. And whatever our name may or may not imply, that includes hardware as well as software, analog as well as digital. (Analog and digital circuitry coexist in most gear these days in some sense – certainly, you can find something digital in almost anything analog since the year I was born, so our name lets us do whatever we want.)

In what is proving to be a NAMM week bonanza for lovers of hardware effects, Korg’s Kaoss Pad Quad may be the best bang-for-the-buck. You can control up to four effects simultaneously, all via the trademark KAOSS-style touchpad, triggering effects you want via single-button toggles. (In fact, this device reminds me in a good way of the superb but sadly now-defunct Entrancer KPE-1 video device, in that everything is neatly accessible.)

Plug in your input from an external source or use the onboard mic input, then control effects from the touchpad with multi-color LED effects for visual feedback. There are four basic modules – looper, modulation, filter, and delay/reverb – each with variations, so that Korg promises 1,295 combinations. (That’s an utterly meaningless number to me, but I’ll take their word for it.)

There’s also a “freeze” effect for each module, so you can lock its settings in place. Some effects:

• Multi-mode looper with reverse and loop slicing.
• Vinyl break.
• Ducking compressor.
• Automatic BPM. But real men and women use the onboard tap tempo instead, so pretend you didn’t read that.
• Pitch shifter, grain shifter.
• Reverb, delay, tape echo.

All that’s missing, really, is MIDI input – it’s intended as a self-contained device, and any sync will be up to its auto BPM feature or tapping in tempos.

If you’re in my house, you’re not allowed to use the fake vinyl break effect. Sorry, them’s the rules. (Keep them for the next time you need to score an MTV reality show.) But otherwise, this looks useful. And at this price, with this kind of ready-to-play control, the whole device looks pretty irresistible. Korg’s ability to keep churning out KAOSS stuff people love is kind of ridiculous.

Kaoss Pad Quad [Korg]

Swedish developer Magnus Lidström is something of a virtuoso of music software, having worked with Propellerhead (Malström, etc.) and releasing his own unique µTonic (MicroTonic) and Synplant instruments. It’s been a bit since we’ve gotten new work from him – little matter, as I find his instruments tend to stand the test of time – but that changes now. MicroTonic, a well-loved drum machine cum drum synth, gets a major update this week, a 2011 New Year’s present to the producer community. (It is indeed a gift if you own a previous version; upgrades are free.) And one more thing – Sonic Charge is also releasing a terrific “real-time pitch-excited linear prediction codec effect” that does wonderful things with audio.

MicroTonic was already a lovely combination of percussion synthesizer and pattern-editing drum machine. New in µTonic 3.0:

• A morph slider which interpolates between eight drum patches – all MIDI-controlled and automation-ready, for crazy performance and production options
• A matrix editor for accessing all eight drum channels’ patterns at once
• MIDI pattern drag and drop, for Ableton Live users (and all major hosts)
• Choke groups, MIDI pitch wheel and program change support, new pattern modes, undo/redo
• Prettier improved skin and UI improvements

And there’s much more, as well. See the full changelog:
Changes in µTonic v3.0

Just as compelling as MicroTonic, though, is a new US$29 effect called Bitspeak. Sonic Charge describes Bitspeak thusly: “It will make you sound like a robot. Robots are cool. Bitspeek is cool.”

But that doesn’t quite do it justice. Bitspeak is vocoder-like in that it works on the same fundamental principle. But it’s closest to the compression algorithm used in mobile phones – it’s a “real-time pitch-excited linear prediction codec effect.” Pitch, volume, and formant data drive an oscillator, noise, and filter. The resulting timbres can sound like conventional ring mods and vocoders, or something quite different – and I’m really intrigued to try this on different sources. As presented here, you really have a gamut of possible effects.

And yes, it sounds like a Speak ‘n Spell turned into an effect. Listen to those sound samples for more.

The two Sonic Charge plugins are available for Windows VST and Mac VST and AU. MicroTonic even supports Mac OS 10.4 and (G5) PowerPC, so it’s an ideal choice for an older machine. (Bitspeak requires 10.5 and Intel on the Mac side, but also supports XP on Windows, so still works on an older PC.)

Full info:
http://www.soniccharge.com/bitspeek
http://www.soniccharge.com/microtonic

What good is a sound app on a phone or iPod, really? Just ask a Filtatron user.

As with plug-ins and desktop software doodads, I find out of the sea of apps on iOS, a tiny handful are genuinely useful. But those select few can prove indispensable. I would count the Moog Filtatron in that category. Sure, in case there was any doubt, the app contains a subtle link to the Moog hardware catalog, an effort to upsell you to the company’s sound gear. And sure, owners of said gear might turn up their nose at the idea of something with the Moog logo on an iPhone.

But make no mistake: this is a darned useful tool, and a must-download if you have an iPod touch or iPhone. The surprise is, it may appeal most to lovers of other gear. Connect a mobile synth or noisemaker to your handheld, and you have a pocket-ready effects and recording unit. You can add simulated amp overdrive warmth, pop a handy delay on any audio out, and make quick samples on the go. You can plug into a mixer and have sound in a live performance set ready to go should other gear fail or crash. Any notion that mobile software will replace hardware dissolves in an instant. With the Filtatron app in your pocket, every audio jack and strange noise source begins to look like a chance for creative music making. It makes you seek out more gear, not less.

I can say this with more confidence now, as well, having been using the Filtatron for the past weeks. Something about its simplicity, its warm sound, the attention to finger-sized design, and its combination of features makes it ideal. I’ve used it to sample and transform various gear around the house and on the road, and played once with it live as external effect.

Version 1.1 is here, the first update for the Filtatron, and it adds useful improvements:

• You can import sounds to the Sampler, and record and play back samples of any length.
• The VCO pad now allows chromatic scales.
• You can choose to route audio to a speaker, earpiece, or even wireless audio via Bluetooth.
• A settings panel lets you tweak sample rate, audio latency, and control response.

I had no problem making the Filtatron work on my second-generation iPod touch – no minor feat, as that generation of device has a slower processor and often performs poorly with this sort of app. One thing I haven’t been able to test in 1.1 yet (aside from the Bluetooth stuff): I did have issues with the previous version making FTP sync work with longer recordings. I’ll let you know if that appears to be fixed. I was unable to entirely verify the issue even in the previous version.

But I think the Filtatron really is an ideal example of what a mobile music app can be. I’d love it even if it said Brogue on it.

moogmusic.com

See our original (and exclusive) first look from when this came out in October

Kflux looks like a killer patch for Max for Live, a granulator you can drop in for sound-bending effects and, if you’re decent with Max, open up to learn more about how it works or edit to customize for your own purposes. At EUR9,99, seems like a must-buy if you’ve got a copy of Max for Live.

Features:

• Automate parameters on the Live timeline, envelopes thanks to M4L’s functionality
• Make streams of grains, big clouds, textures, and the like
• Multimode filter
• Transposition
• Static, sequenced, and MIDI-triggered modes
• Freeze or bounce tracks
• Unlocked; open, edit, and reuse. GPL-licensed, so you explicitly have the freedom to reuse and modify it. (I think that’s a perfect choice for M4L patches; more on that discussion soon.)

Video overview, plus some sounds via SoundCloud:

Kflux demo : overview from k-devices on Vimeo.

I enjoy some of their creative sound demos:
Kflux samples by k-devices

It reminds me a bit of some of my favorite granular patches from Reaktor, like Grainstates.

You’ll need Live 8 and a copy of Max for Live. The French developers promise more releases in future, too. Buy direct:
http://www.k-devices.com/kflux/

Those of you more hard-core Max for Live users may know of other, similar devices to check out. I’d love to hear about them, so let us know in comments.

With May fast approaching, garage sale season is kicking off in the US. For the DIY crowd, that means a lot of digging through piles of obsolete technology in the hopes of finding something useable, then bargaining with the seller to pay as little for it as possible.

This year, you can add 3.5″ floppy drives and disks to your shopping list, courtesy of Daniel McAnulty’s project Floppy Audio Effects. Dan figured out a couple of neat tricks to create delay/reverb effects by writing audio to the disks directly, then reading that information back using a tape head.

This type of analog/digital collision is an excellent deliberate misuse of an outdated technology. I can picture someone DJing an entire live set from Floppys pre-loaded with recorded loops of sound, queing up each ring of audio and letting them phase against each other like a cross between Richie Hawtin and Steve Reich.

Here’s another experiment, performing a “continuous record” by multiplexing the sound across multiple drives. This is a great hack to get around each floppy’s somewhat limited record time. Note the use of an Arduino to keep everything synched up.

Dan says he’ll be posting more information shortly for anyone interesting in setting up their own floppy-based delay line system. Keep up the good work, sir.

Thanks to Jon Cates for the link.

I find kalimbas beautiful and delicate to begin with. Throw in some faux fur and Korg KAOSS Pad effects, and they take on a whole new life:

Other designs add all-new functionality, like the Sampimer, a “self-sampling” thumb piano with integrated 20-second voice recorder, a speaker covered by a lens cap, and a body made out of a jewelry caddy:

I asked Bob a bit more about the designs, and out came still more ingenious re-adaptations of the lowly kalimba. He explains how he got started with this series in the first place:

Partly it flowed from an interest in making found object assemblage sculpture. I had owned and played kalimbas, I had made stringed instruments and percussion instruments. After I eventually made my own thumb piano, I found that a lot of the found object materials I encountered lent themselves most readily to an exploration of the thumb piano concept.

… There is an interplay between “what will this sound like?” and “what will this look like?” The shape of a component — like
soundboard or resonator — can limit how the instrument is held and played, and this can influence the optimal tuning.
At a basic level it is about vibrating materials and how applied structures affect the sound. When you add audio fx into the equation, the thumb piano can be viewed as a controller for percussive effects. I see people using their Blackberry’s or text messaging on their cell phones and it looks like they are playing a thumb piano. Someone with the skills should design a MIDI version. There is something about the responsiveness of a vibrating tine that seems to have a great deal of potential.

[The inspiration from] … cell phones is not only about the use of thumbs to run a controller, but also the idea of a portable pocket size interface.

So far the most functional integrated unit I’ve made is the camera piano:

Fits in the pocket and the tuning is protected.

This one is near the limit of playability, requiring a backing board to be able to play:

This is the smallest with an internal 1/8″ jack:

Anything smaller or thinner would need an external bracket to mount a 1/8″ jack. Another direction related to this is “what is the smallest size kalimba that retains playability with an externally mounted 1/4″ jack?”

Along with exploring the limits of size (scalability?), there is also a give and take between minimalism and complexity. This is an example of a lamellaphone that technically uses no hardware (such as machine screws etc.):

The parts of the unit are all held in place by a large magnet, making things easily adjustable.

Bob also sends along a prototype of the amberCan, which integrates an amp and speaker:

Via the Flickr description:

…in this instance with a Smokey Amp and added rheostat. The Smokey amp has no output control so the rheostat was added to provide volume control.

At low volume the instrument sounds normally electrified but at mid and hi volume the thumb piano becomes a feedback unit as the vibrations of the speaker are cycled into the piezo. Interestingly, at that point the pitch and tone can be altered by gently applying and varying finger pressure on the tines and lid rather than plucking.

For more on that instrument:
amerpCan shot
Exterior shot showing base and lid
Interior shot showing innards

And to hear what all of these instruments sound like, there’s a whole set of recorded tracks:
RP Collier Thumb Piano Project [SoundClick MP3s/streams]

Thanks for these gorgeous designs and insight into instrument-building, Bob. (All photos come by way of his seemingly-endless Flickr photo set of kalimbas, where you’ll find many more designs.)

Thumb piano set @ Flickr, with lots o’ links and more videos, etc.

I’m curious if any one else has approached kalimba amplification or construction, though it would be tough to top these. One tutorial on making thumb pianos:
instructables: Thumb Piano, via MAKE:Blog

For many living in the age of the computer, a performance mixer has gotten more useful, not less. It’s a no-brainer for DJs mixing records with digital, but it can be useful for other electronic musicians, as well. (For some of the readers of this site, that might mean mixing in hardware synths, multiple laptops, circuit-bent toys, Game Boys, and … well, you tell me.) What’s interesting is that, along with this change, the mixer itself is starting to evolve, integrating audio interfaces, control functionality for use with software, and other features. Gimmicks — or features that transform what a mixer does?

Today, Korg formally unveils its KM-202 and KM-402 mixers, each of which integrates a KAOSS touchpad. The KAOSS Pad becomes most powerful, of course, as an effects unit. Added to a mixer, that gets really interesting. (That’s one two-channel mixer with crossfader, one four-channel, in case you haven’t already guessed.) The new KM series boasts a number of nice KAOSS Pad features:

1. Integrated effects with X/Y touch control: Filters, phasers, delays, reverbs, etc., adding up to 100 effects borrowed from the new “pocket KAOSS” we saw earlier, the mini-KP.
2. Loops and synths: Effects are already intriguing, but this also doubles as a real-time looper and synth.
3. Route mic input for effects and even vocoding.
   
4. Tap tempo for BPM sync.
5. Per-channel assignments: Here’s where the mixer comes in really handy. A KAOSS button allows you to freely assign the KAOSS Pad effect to whatever channel you like.

The usual KAOSS Pad features apply: a release function so you don’t have to keep your finger on the pad if you don’t want to, plus assignable memory presets so you don’t have to scroll through presets. It’s in a somewhat cramped space, so controls are fairly minimal, but in this case that may be part of the appeal.

And, oh yeah, it is a mixer, too:

1. Digital EQ: 3-band DJ-style EQ, but with six selectable EQ types — so you have different models from which to choose.
2. I/O: Mic in, line, phono; master and booth outputs.
3. Headphone/booth monitoring switch: Set up a cue mix, which is terrific as many computer audio interfaces don’t offer it.
4. Adjustable crossfader curves.

I think this mixer could wind up being a huge hit with live laptop artists, or live performers with mixes of other loopers and sound sources but no laptops, as well as the usual DJ crowd. They’re still another piece of gear to tote, and many will prefer to stick to the laptop for mixing and effects, but there are a number of reasons these should at least warrant additional investigation. Here’s a look at why, plus a comparison with Korg’s recently-announced ZERO4 and ZERO8 mixers:

Worth Carrying?

For DJs, the appeal is obvious: instant effects, X/Y control, and all the basics needed for DJ mixing. But electronic musicians of all styles (and not just the “Dance” label applied by Korg marketing) have long been addicted to KAOSS Pads. By integrating them with the mixer, you can add instant effects, EQ, and even the occasional fingertip synth sound, all with instant-access X/Y control. That may sound like overkill given the sonic capabilities of a computer, but there’s nothing quite like having instant-on, full-mix effects when you’re in the heat of a performance. And I find DJ mixers are ideal for mixing in additional hardware sound sources — DJs .

Now the bad news: as with the mini-KP, there’s no MIDI. Unlike the mini-KP, however, I think the lack of MIDI is mitigated by the fact that this is integrated in a mixer; it’s more likely that you’d use this for hands-on hardware control over the final live mix, and worry about MIDI for all the more sophisticated computer stuff in your laptop.

Korg’s Mixer Lineup

Korg is suddenly in the mixer/DJ business. The idea of the KM series is clearly to do a very simple 2-channel or 4-channel mixer with the built-in equivalent of the mini-KP KAOSS Pad. And that’s all they are: mixer plus KAOSS effects. The Korg ZERO4 and ZERO8 mixers also have mixing and effects, but with some additional features the KM lacks:

1. Computer audio interface. Via FireWire, the ZERO4/8 can input audio and MIDI from a computer, with color-coded dials to tell you which input you’re on. (This is on top of level, phono, and “guitar” high-Z ins.)
2. Controller functionality. The entire ZERO mixer will double as a MIDI controller for software. I hope to examine exactly how this works soon on CDM.
3. 11 EQ curves to the KM’s 5, and eight channels on the ZERO8.
4. Channel-independent tempo: This is something I haven’t seen before: each individual channel can have its own BPM, set by manual input, tapping, or auto-bpm sensing. (Not sure about MIDI sync, but I believe that’s possible, as well, though perhaps not for each channel.) Hey, Ableton, could we have this in Live, please?
5. Integrated BPM sampler with dedicated controls. There is some sampling functionality on the KM, but there are dedicated loop-length controls on the ZERO series, and since you can sample from any channels, the ZERO8 has more complex potential.

That said, the ZERO4/8 don’t just lack the KM’s nifty KAOSS touchpad: they also have far fewer effects. The ZERO’s also have some tough competition, though we expect it to be more expensive, in the form of Ecler’s Italian-designed EVO5, not to mention their previous NUO4. If you’re interested, let us know, and we can arrange a shootout.

I’m very interested to look closer at the ZERO series, and I expect they may work well for a certain audience. The control layout looks clean and friendly, the displays and color-coding are really lovely (not to mention the strangely retro master meters), and I do like the concept of “live control” mixers and consoles.

But it’s really the KM series that I find appealing. Minimalism is something sorely lacking in this business, and that’s what this line really promises. It also looks like a mixer that could easily complement a computer live.

I hope to crash Korg HQ out on Long Island next month, so stay tuned.

Pricing/Availability

ZERO4/8
Pricing US$1300 street (ZERO4); ZERO8 unknown
Availability: May/June
ZERO 4 Product Page
ZERO 8 Product Page

KM 202/402
Pricing: TBA
Availability: June
Not yet on the Korg site at press time; see press release