“What if you had to take just one software instrument with you to a desert island?” It’s not an entirely silly question, with so many choices in software potentially distracting you from real music making. I say, cheat: take a tool that lets you build your own tools, specific to the job. Reaktor immediately springs to mind.

On the Kore @ CDM site, one of my goals has been getting deeper into making musical tools in Reaktor. We’re lucky to have Peter Dines onboard, who had already been dabbling with documenting the basics of Reaktor construction before we got some support from NI to do more. It was important to my own music making to be able to quickly assemble some of the tools I was imagining, so it’s been a real treat to get this rolling.

A sign that it really works – there’s already a free drum machine up on the User Library based on Doc Dines’ useful foundation sequencer, designed to be reused in your own patches. I’m assembling some of the steps here partly for my own musical/educational purposes!

Here’s a guide to what we’ve got so far, in the rough order I’d suggest to start learning:

The Bob Moog Foundation is still urgently seeking support so it can work to preserve not only Bob Moog’s legacy, but his massive archives pertaining to the history of music technology in general. Propellerhead is donating money and came up with the lovely idea of sharing a free ReFill for Reason 4 for the occasion. Reason 4 users, have a go and enjoy, and to everyone, the foundation really could use your support.

The ReFill sounds like nice stuff. Vintage synth gurus Mark Vail (Keyboard), Craig Anderton (EQ), and Gordon Reid (Sound on Sound) contributed 20 patches in Reason 4’s Thor synth. Propellerhead explain — as though they have to explain who Bob Moog was — that “each time you use a sawtooth waveform in Thor” you’re experiencing his legacy. I’d say it’s in quite a lot more than just that sawtooth. Moog’s archives are some of the only documentation we have of those heady days, not only of his work but all the composers, musicians, and technologists around him.

Propellerhead and the Moog Foundation
Free ReFill Download
Official Moog Foundation Website, including online donations (which, nicely enough, come with free swag!)

Reason 4 users, let us know what you think, and if you have some Moog-inspired patches of your own you’d like to share, by all means, send them our way!

Previously, we spoke with Craig Anderton about Moog’s influence on the way he thinks about sound, about the Foundation’s work, and a sound set along these lines for Cakewalk’s Rapture:
Craig Anderton’s Tribute to Moog: Rapture Presets, and a Call to Save History

The iPhone and iPod Touch are getting their share of metronomes, guitar tuners, sonic toys, and even one fairly full-featured sample-based drum machine / arrangement tool (BeatMaker). But what about live synthesis? Noise.io (short for Noise for iPhone) claims to be the “first” synth. (I believe, technically, that honor goes to Einar Andersson’s iPhone synth, but that isn’t yet an official iTunes app, and it’s relatively basic by comparison.)

We’re waiting for a video demo and audio samples, and the developer warns that even the image above is an “ugly beta,” not the real thing. But we do know that the synth will incorporate:

ESFM technology - Enhanced Subspace Frequency Modulation. It’s an improved version of FM which has been developed especially for iPhone, the architecture has been redesigned to allow maximum user-friendly approach to creating new sounds.

(The developer explains what that means below.)

There’s also preset storage, tap BPM sync, and gestures for real-time sonic modification. There’s a curious-looking grid (shown at bottom) for modulation.

Noise for iPhone [Official Site. Warning: disturbing, nightclub-style black and pink color scheme]

Price: US$6.99

Availability: Real soon now

Many readers, particularly some loyalists to earlier, less-hyped PDAs and mobile devices, have dismissed some of the recent iPhone creations as “toys” – and in many cases, I agree. But, while I’ll believe it when I see it, I’m encouraged that this instrument is doing something unique with its interface and synthesis method – that is, making the touch interface something interesting and essential to the sound. That’s the kind of territory I hoped would be explored that’s been mostly untapped so far.

And if you don’t have an iPhone, don’t feel left out: the developers promise a plug-in version soon, for computers – with lots of natural advantages, like the ability to drop right into Ableton Live or route through effects. (Hey, I knew there was some reason we were carrying around those 6-pound laptops, eh?)

Mini-Interview with Developer

Amidio’s Ilya Tretiakov tells CDM about what the heck ESFM is (okay, doesn’t involve a flux capacitor or hyperdrive, as I theorized), how the synth performs, and what the plug-in will be like:

If you’re hungry for some patch content, the download-rich PatchArena has you covered, with a massive library of free, user-created content:

PatchArena Downloads

There are particularly large sections for the all-in-one studios EnergyXT, FL Studio, and a number of others. (Correction: Intua BeatMaker for iPhone/iPod Touch is promised, as well, though I got my categories confused — no files there now, so we’ll check in if some get posted! But it could be a great place to upload BeatMaker presets; see the thread on PatchArena’s forum.)

Francesco Silvestri writes CDM to let us know about his latest addition, a huge set for Cakewalk’s awesome soft synth Rapture. He says:

I’ve released Muz3um, a free set of patches for Rapture the virtual synthesizer by Cakewalk.This collection is built on waveforms from vintage synthesizers.

It features:

• 661 presets organized in categories (Basses, Keys, Leads, Pads, Sequences)
• 573 waveforms
• 36 impulse responses, taken from amp sims, cabinets and lo-fi speakers, providing additional colors to the set

It’s great having those impulse responses alone – meaning even if you’d rather program your own sounds in Rapture, this could be a must-download.

Update: This also works just fine with Rapture LE, meaning lots of Cakewalk customers can use the pack. (Thanks, Chad!)

Have a go and let us know what you think, Rapture users!

Rapture Muz3um OS X

Rapture Muz3um Windows

The faux-Pan Am logo. The sleek, mod, curved white casing. The elegant controls. Yes, this is indeed a synth that would look at home in the space station in Kubrick’s 2001. Technically not the future so much as the 1960’s version of the future – but surely we’re getting around to reshaping our future to look more like that, right? At least for synths?

The synth in question is the Omega 8, a “luggable” 20-pound, 8-voice analog synth with individual stereo pairs for each voice. It’s really, truly, old-school analog, with discrete analog oscillators, voltage-controlled filters of the 24dB and 12dB variety, multi-stage envelopes, and all the extras. In the “new-school” category, though, it is MIDI savvy, with MIDI destinations for just about everything (including the envelope breakpoints) and even breath controller support. How do I know this? Why, off the top of my head, of course; I’ve got three. Erm. Okay, I read it on the old Omega 8 page, then lost half an hour dreaming of my new lounge-style studio where I adjust envelope breakpoints from a giant aluminum sphere like the one in Sleeper.

All of that luxury will set you back US$4700. (If you can do with fewer voices, you can get down to a more Earth-bound US$1679. But that’s only 10 pounds, so it must make half as much sound.) But normally, the Omega ships in a pedestrian-looking synth case, like every other synth. Enter the Orion rendition.

2008: An Orion Odyssey Teaser Page

Studio Electronics News

As the manufacturers say:

what is this? it is art. it is light. it is glorious design brought to life by Antoine Argentieres, the man, who sagely let his fondness for Stanley Kubrick’s past century enigmatic odyssian vision of the future (and re-visioning of pivotal past events) inspire a house fit for the majestic voice and verve of the Omega8––a cathedral of transformation; the great work of the synth; a mind before matter mystical alignment of awareness: light and sound waves that reveal the ORION GALAXY, expanding and growing and luminous.

I’m not sure it’s art, but it is spectacularly groovy. Studio Electronics also promises a special sound bank befitting its forward-looking body.

I’ve heard varying answers to what availability will be from “I can’t conceive how expensive this is” to “rumors say it’s a one-off.” For their part, SE says it’s

available now for those who "have the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission.

There you have it. You just have to believe. You have to think really, really hard about how you want it, and believe in why it matters, and you’ll own it.

Okay, it must be really, really, really, really expensive.

But I do believe in the mission. Steampunk’s over, folks. So is arbitrarily sticking cheap knobs into a cardboard box and rendering a “polished aluminum sheen” on the case by using duct tape. Let’s get back to the future with our synth designs. (I’m encouraged by the fact that our friend Nostromo found this for us on the SDIY list, by way of the music bar list.)

You still have time to do something for 2010.

See also: Music thing (hmmm, Tom got the jump on me, so maybe I shouldn’t have gotten so lost in that reverie of owning the thing…)

Update: Music thing also points to some artistic inspiration in the same vein.

Gustavo Bravetti has put together a free, exclusive FM8 drum kit in Ableton Live for CDM readers. More on the kit, FM8, and how to make the most of it, plus our download, at the Kore@CDM NI minisite:

Free Exclusive Download: FM8 Drum Kit for Ableton Live from Gustavo Bravetti

Here’s what the kit sounds like, using the demo clips included with the package (naturally, you’ll want to make your own patterns):

fm8kit.mp3

I love that it’s a synth kit rather than a sampled kit, as you can do things like this — just a quick demo I whipped up, same clips, modified only using synth and effects parameters in FM8, to "mess up" Gustavo’s pristine kit:

fm8kit_2.mp3

A quick survey revealed quite a few Live users I know who use both Operator and FM7 or FM8 from Native Instruments, proof positive that you can never have too much synthesis or too much FM. I know I regularly swap between the two, plus Image-Line’s Sytrus.

The kit is calling out for a Koresound and a full Live Drum Rack, so I’ll see what I can do. But I really do enjoy fabricating drum kits with synths. Whether I do it terribly well or not, I always feel closer to the resulting sounds. (Previously, Gustavo made bass drums and snares with Operator in video tutorials, though I prefer the FM8 sounds he’s done, personally!)

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A reminder to those in the NYC area: CDM again joins up with Etsy.com and Make Magazine for Handmade Music night, a relaxed meet-and-greet of music technologists and people who make noise with things they’ve made. Currently expected:

• Chiptune / game music stuff, including Peter Swimm’s littlepiggytracker setup, Harsid4U SID (a la Commodore 64) synth
• Wii control (I’m bringing a Balance Board)
• Gian Pablo Villamil’s DIY synths, including the brand-new Mutation Synth. (See the previous Rhythmic Synth causing all manner of havoc with Nancy Garcia at the helm, playing with Thurstom Moore at NY’s No Fun Festival. An instrument that may actually inspire fear.)
• New handmade instruments from Ranjit, maker of all kinds of wonderfulness (like robotic Theremins and ironing board instruments, in past episodes of this event)
• A new addition – Roger TSAI and team’s “Groovy Hands” gestural glove for DJing, seen in videos here!

Come join us on the Facebook event page, and drop an rsvp@etsy.com email, but the event is free:

Handmade Music @ Facebook

Gestural DJing Preview

Designer/DJ Roger has created a set of interactive gloves for DJing that I really enjoy, not least because they have a great sense of humor. He built them as part of an NYU ITP class project in collaboration with Tommy TSENG and Eric Chiu.

Groovy Hand Project Site

Here are some videos of the gestures he can produce:

We’ve been eagerly awaiting the LinnDrum II since it was called the BoomChik. We called the non-functional prototype one of the best products of this January’s NAMM – reasoning being that, based on what we heard from showgoers, a silent LinnDrum still beat more evolutionary blandness from the rest of the industry. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say some of us were getting a wee bit impatient waiting for some kind of news. Now that news appears to be here — a rough estimate on availability and pre-order details. (Updated: Specs had been posted previously, as Cory observes in comments, but let’s savor them one more time.)

Availability: Late 2008 (“our best estimate,” so that’s not set in stone)

Cost: US$1400 for the all-digital LinnDrum II, or $1800 for the LinnDrum II Analog with the addition of four analog voices as seen in the Prophet ‘08 and Evolver, plus 32 dedicated encoders

Pre-order list: No commitment, no money down; just email support@rogerlinndesign.com and you’re in. Will there be a baby shower at some point?

Dave and Roger have also posted updated specs on the two units. Highlights include: