Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 is something unique in music hardware. It’s got a form factor inspired by the Casio VL-Tone series – you know, those cute little 80s-vintage synths. It’s a sampler. It’s a synth. It has an FM radio. It will have a variety of sequencers. It has, we’ve just learned, a multi-track tape mode that lets you do beat-synced virtual splicing as a performance technique. It is expected to integrate and interoperate with a design lifestyle including, if you like, a luxury-priced, meticulously-machined desk lamp, and according to one rumor I heard, perhaps even a specially-designed electric bicycle. (Seriously.)

I got to spend some hands-on time with the current prototype of the OP-1, and hanging out with the guys from Teenage Engineering. I do mean “the guys” – I had expected to go out to dinner with the CEO and found myself with almost the entire team of 9. (One was sleeping off Sweden-to-California jetlag.) The company has a pedigree in sound engineering, including the legendary drum maker Elektron, but also in marketing, advertising, industrial and product design.

The OP-1 is real, it’s coming, and it’s far enough along in the prototyping phase that I think we’ll see real details on getting one soon. Pricing will be under US$1000 – perhaps a goodly amount under, depending on the final details of manufacturing. There’s no availability date, but progress appears to be accelerating. I poked fun when the OP-1 was introduced, only because it seems like something too cool to be real. I am surprised, though, that people are now complaining that the OP-1 is taking a long time – I think some people don’t realize how time-consuming hardware development really is, and we only just saw an under-glass prototype last spring. The fact that the OP-1 does integrate hardware and onboard software tightly and does do things in new ways is a testament to having a single, small team that works on the whole product.

KORG has a way of coming up with hardware that’s fun to use. The KORG KAOSSILATOR, a simple, cheap AA battery-powered box packed with sound-making functionality, had already won some hearts over. Touch its X/Y pad, and the KAOSSILATOR responds with built-in synth programs and arpeggiators, all mapped cleverly to the touchpad to stay in the key range you desire.

The KAOSSILATOR Pro really appears to be a hybrid of the KAOSSILATOR and KORG’s KP3 effects/sampler box. In fact, it’s really closer in appearance and function to the KP3. Like the KP3, the “Pro” has phrase sampling capabilities and effects, so you can route in an audio source or mic, and store banks of sampled phrases on SD card. It simply combines that with the playable instruments of the KAOSSILATOR.

The upshot of all of this, of course, is that you get a box you can play like an instrument, use as an effects box, use as a sampler, or a combination of all three. And while that sacrifices some of the simplicity of the KAOSSILATOR, that could be a potent combination. For effects, you get gate arpeggiators for rhythmic effects and vocoders that work with your mic. I’ll need to get a rundown from KORG on the exact specs — it looks like the KP3 is still a beefier sampler and effects box than the KAOSSILATOR Pro. But even if that’s the case, it could be more than worth the tradeoff for getting the instrument in there, too. I know plenty of users, casual and advanced, addicted to the KAOSSILATOR; the ability to plug in a mic and use a vocoder is likely to win more.

KORG, you just won a spot on our NAMM booth itinerary. And yeah, this could be a fun box to have around or even plug into a laptop.

Sure, it seems like the easy way out – take two things people love, squish them together, and people will love the result. That can’t work, can it?

Two words: cheese fries.

Check out the full specs:
KORG KAOSILLATOR Pro

Updated: remember how I said this isn’t a KP3? Readers in comments have begun digging into some of those limitations. The “Pro” KAOSSILATOR loses some of the fun of the non-Pro model: it’s bigger, clunkier,and it isn’t battery-powered. That’d be fine, if the payoff were greater editability. But the Pro KAOSSILATOR is more fixed in its functions, even a little limited compared to the KP3. That may not dampen your enthusiasm entirely: this is still a box that does phrase sampling, some effects, and the KAOSSILATOR’s touch-playable synths. But you can see why some folks want a “KP4″ – a combination of these two devices with more functionality, not less, than the two alone. I’ll talk to KORG, probably after NAMM, to get the exact run-down on the difference between the three models, as we’re all just reading spec sheets at this point. But you can consider that a collective snap-reaction in the meantime.

Drum machines may have no soul, but thanks to an update, Native’s soft drum machine has a lot more meat.

As the year comes to a close, inevitably thoughts turn to writing “best of the year” stories and round-ups. For computer musicians, this year has been dominated by Ableton on one hand and mobile apps on the other. But one of the big software releases of 2009 was also unquestionably Native Instruments’ Maschine. The hardware/software combination returns to some of the traditional drum machine workflows, but in a way that integrates nicely with your software setup. I got to see a prototype while in Berlin in the fall of 2008, and thought it had terrific potential. It’s not that it’s radically different from other things we’ve seen so much as the hardware-software integration, combined with a beautiful implementation and lots of NI sound goodness, made it fun. But, as often happens with 1.0 releases, the first shipping version had some missing pieces – like full-functioning MIDI integration – which could be deal breakers.

1.1 changes that, finally bringing the necessary ingredients to make Maschine an essential part of your music-making process. New features in this version (see video demos from NI after the jump):

• Proper MIDI output: You can use Maschine to output MIDI to play software, and to play hardware. That makes Maschine a powerful sequencer you can drop into any host – including NI’s own KORE, making the KORE + Maschine combination finally workable. And you can use it to sequence that Minimoog Voyager / Sega Mega Drive synth you have lying around.
• Proper MIDI input: Finally, you can trigger Maschine from your host, so you can, say, drop Maschine into Live or Numerology and sequence it.
• MIDI scene switching: In addition to triggering notes/sounds, you can trigger scenes from a host, ideal for recording arrangements.
• Drag-and-drop pattern export: Export patterns as audio into a host by dragging and dropping.
• Metronome and record count-in: Yes, as I’m not a robot, this will help me actually play my patterns live.
• Use REX loops: Propellerheads’ REX remains a standard for pre-sliced audio, making it easy to import your loops.
• Better hardware integration: Navigate and adjust groups, sound volume, panning on the controller, and save files.

Native Instruments released a slew of soft synth updates today – thanks to everyone who sent this in. The big news is that Absynth, the alien-sounding synth that has become a darling of sound designers, gets a big update. But with so much to cover, here’s the in-a-nutshell version so you can grok it all in one place.

The other big news – Komplete’s price is down to EUR499/US$559, with cheaper upgrade pricing to match. That makes the suite much more aggressive, and certainly as far as software instruments, as much as you can get in any one box, anywhere, for that amount of change. It’s not all good news, though – there were some cuts of instruments from the lineup. Correction: These products are in fact discontinued. Pro-53, Akoustik Piano, and B4 II are being terminated, though unlike the previous vocoder and spectral delay, it sounds as though the replacement is effectively sample libraries in Kontakt.

Disclaimer: I’m reading this from a press release and peppering it with what either might be considered my expansive experience and finely-honed instincts or, in technical terms, “randomly made-up speculation.” Less review, more fauxview. Expect more once we’ve used these in the flesh.

Absynth 5

The synth Jim Aikin once described to me as a “rabbit hole” has just gotten deeper. New in this release:

• Supercomb filter for “physical-modeling-type” sounds – think exquisite new resonance.
• Cloud filter for granular-based modulation.
• Filter feedback paths for “gritty” “unpredictable” …well, you know, filter feedback.
• “Aetherizer” for breaking up and rearranging sound particles, apparently derived from granular models but implemented in an unusual way.
• More presets, in case you want a guide exploring the stuff above.
• Mutator for morphing presets based on musical keywords – an alternative way of navigating presets.

Those new filters and processors sound really extraordinary to me. I have a small selection of “desert island” synths. Absynth might qualify for when you move to a different planet.

Kontakt 4

Here’s a surprise. You see, Native Instruments only updated its flagship sampler to 3.5 as recently as July. That was no minor update, either, featuring 64-bit memory support (on Windows) and greater 32-bit memory (up to 32 GB on Mac), plus improved from-disk streaming, multi-core support, MIDI learn, and other enhanced features and compatibility. In less than a month and a half, they’re back to announce version 4.

And it does sophisticated live convolution of samples. Somewhere, someone is thinking of realistic purposes for that. I’m thinking Absynth may have company on that alien planet.

Updated: See http://createdigitalmusic.com/snowleopard for a running report.

Apple’s “Snow Leopard” 10.6 ships Friday, which means it’s time to start compiling information about the new OS flavor. Just don’t upgrade too fast, as always.

Want to push an operating system to the breaking point? Ask a musician. Between the demands of real-time performance and the complex ecosystem of mix-and-match hardware, software, and plug-ins, odds are your local audio geek will break an OS faster than anyone else. Not every operating system upgrade is going to have a big impact on music software, but keep in mind that even subtle changes can cause issues that may interfere with your work.

Of course, all of this means music users should treat any OS update with caution. :

• If you’ve got a critical, primary production machine, your best bet is often simply to wait. Confirm that software works before you upgrade rather than after.
• If you’ve got some time to invest in an upgrade or have more than one machine, be sure to do a full backup and system image so you can revert to the previous, known working OS.
• Best solution: Boot off an external hard drive. Don’t commit to installing internally until you’re sure everything is working. Once you are, go enjoy. (as noted in comments, and yes, I should have said this initially… still, the latest 10.5 build is still the preferred OS for now.)

So, sit back. Enjoy life. Go for a walk on a beach. Recline in your favorite chair with your MacBook running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Isn’t it great? Need to waste time? Plants vs. Zombies is out for Mac.

What? Still want to upgrade?

Fair enough. We’ll be tracking changes to Snow Leopard and which of them may impact audio.

The short version: Snow Leopard introduces only small changes, but if a developer hasn’t been on top of those changes, you could see issues. And as for the 64-bit mode that’s attracting most of the attention, the short answer is, you can’t use it for music yet.

Native Instruments and Plogue have each responded to CDM with information on their software.