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

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

As we discovered when the elevator broke at the 6th-Floor Handmade Music party last month (ahem), actual analog gear is heavy, to say nothing of expense. There’s nothing quite like the real thing, in terms of sound, behavior, and tactile feedback. But the “next best thing” has some definite advantages. And competition for virtual alternatives is heating up. IK Multimedia and Arturia pack an unprecedented number of analog models into a single package for a pretty low price; Arturia now even throws in a keyboard to seal the deal.

Arturia’s Virtual Experience vs. IK’s Moogs: Fight!

The approach of each product is different. IK uses their sample engine, Arturia uses their “TAE” engine from their other virtual vintage products. IK has some additional multi-effects and sound-warping power; Arturia has arguably more hands-on control. IK is entirely focused on Moog and even endorsed by Moog Music; Arturia has a cross-section of classics. And, oh yeah, Arturia is also throwing in an actual hardware keyboard (pictured a little later on).

Hmm… if only we could read the spec sheets for these tools simultaneously. Wait — we can! Go, go, gadget HTML table!

Who woulda thunk it? Early 2007 has brought one big synth announcement after another. We’ve got some official details of the Nord Wave synth from Clavia, and this new keyboard looks like it may please long-time Nord fans and newcomers alike.

Clavia has released “Musikmesse preview information”, so specs may change. But here’s a basic look at what they’re promising:

1. Sampled waveforms: Oscillators can now use full waveforms (not single wavetables, Clavia hastens to add), while still routing through fully-analog circuitry.
2. Oscillator models: Virtual analog, FM, wavetable, sample-playback can be applied in combination (which I hear is all the rage these days). And you can load in custom waveforms, as well, via fully user-definable memory areas (so you can delete samples you hate). Clavia even promises it’ll offer additional, free waves on their website. An included software sample editor lets you tweak samples.
3. Morphing: Morph “almost any parameter” via mod wheel, expression, velocity, or pitch, with assignable “morph scenarios” and morph “timelines.”
4. Filters: 24db analog-modeled resonant filters, low-, high-, band-pass filters with envelope and velocity control, combinations of filter types, and formant filters.
5. Effects: EQ, delay with tap tempo, tube-style amp with overdrive, reverb.
6. Pitch stick: Clavia’s signature wooden pitch stick allows precise bend and vibrato.

Sequential … Korg Wavestation … the original Korg OASYS … Creamware SCOPE … if you don’t know the name John Bowen, you’ll know the instruments he produced. CDM’s James Grahame got to talk to John Bowen on the eve of unveiling the new Solaris synth. (See Matrixsynth’s scoop on the new product, then hear what the creator has to say.)

Perhaps the biggest surprise at the 2007 Frankfurt Musikmesse is the Solaris keyboard synthesizer from industry ‘old timer’ (his words, not mine) John Bowen. The Solaris is set to turn the electronic music world on its ear as the first hardware synth inspired by a softsynth.

Solaris started life as a semi-modular software synthesizer for CreamWare’s Scope DSP cards, and it quickly gained a reputation as an unusually versatile device. I caught up with John a few days before Musikmesse to chat about his new instrument.

After conquering the world of software emulations, Arturia is finally thinking inside the box with the announcement of its first keyboard, the Origin Keyboard. Like the previously announced but yet-to-ship Origin, the synthesizer is completely modular, allowing you to build patches by combining modules from Arturia’s versions of the Minimoog, CS-80, ARP 2600, Moog Modular and Prophet VS.

While, personally I’d rather have the tabletop version, the 61-key keyboard appears to be no slouch, combining aftertouch and velocity sensitivity with a ribbon controller, joystick, the requisite mod and pitch wheels and plenty of knobs for tweaking. Ed.: Glad you’d rather have the tabletop, Lee. I’ll take one keyboard, then, Arturia — thanks! -PK

While only a rendering exists, it appears that the front-panel can be tilted to accommodate your playing style (like the Minimoog or the Korg Radius). A 5.2″ color screen means you won’t miss your laptop when playing live. In the studio, software integration comes in the form of an AU or VST plug-in that allows editing on a computer, with all processing taking place in the Origin hardware. The Origin has a complete selection of on-board effects including a phaser, chorus, delay, reverb, and distortion and a 16/32 step sequencer.

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

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

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

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

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

A funny thing has happened this year: just as multi-core computers are making software more powerful, DSP has gotten easier and cheaper. Result: new hardware that behaves like software. Look no further than long-time software-only, analog emulation house Arturia, who have unveiled a new hardware synth called Origin that builds on the legacy of their soft synths.

The Origin builds in the components of Arturia’s emulation of the Moog modular, minimoog, ARP 2600, Prophet VS, and CS-80, now in hardware form, but allows you to mix and match modules via an on-screen, plug-in-like interface. Now, of course, you can already mix and match all kinds of synthesis methods in software, but Arturia claims that the Analog Devices TigerSHARC DSP chips in the Origin allow greater audio fidelity and performance than even high-end dual-core CPUs. That certainly seems likely; even as CPUs become faster, they’re still rarely as efficient as dedicated DSP. The big question to me is, have Arturia — new to the DSP game — sufficiently molded their instruments to the new hardware? We’ll just have to wait to hear the results.

Arturia Origin

Quick specs:

1. 500 presets, plus preset compatibility with “most” of Arturia’s software presets
2. 32-voice polyphony
3. True Analog Engine (as found in Arturia’s software); up to 24/96 audio


4. Plug-in support: hardware integrates with plug-ins on your machine (Mac/PC)
5. Lots of I/O: 2 audio ins, 10 audio outs. Digital: SPDIF out, USB 2.0, MIDI in/out/thru
6. FX: Phaser, Chorus, Delay, FX Reverbs, Distortion, Param Eq, Compressor, Bitcrusher
7. 16/32 step sequencer
8. Modulation control: Macro, Advanced LFO, modulation modes, Advanced Joystick modes

Arturia’s going to have a lot of competition, from software running on Core Duo laptops to new virtual analog hardware like the Waldorf gear. It’ll be interesting to watch this one shake out.

In the meantime, Arturia hasn’t stopped doing software:

Jupiter 8-V

1. 32 voice polyphony - 2 oscillators per voice; 18 osc total, 2 LFOs, 2 filters, 2 envelopes
2. FX: Dual Delay, Phaser, Flanger, modulation via any audio source
3. VST / AU / RTAS Mac/PC


4. 400 presets

As usual, Arturia isn’t just emulating; they’ve added twists like X/Y digital effects, an advanced “Galaxy” modulation section, easy MIDI assignment, and a step sequencer. The downside here: the “TAE” engine Arturia can sacrifice accuracy in the name of versatility; I’d really like to see an obsessive model of the Jupiter. We’ll know once we test it — especially once Jupiter lovers pull it apart.

(Bad news on the Jupiter is that apparently they’re using a hardware key aka dongle for copy protection.)

The NAMM of the DJ? Don’t worry, synth lovers: beloved, long-lost synth maker Waldorf are back in a big way with a lineup of new synth hardware products. Drool over them in a gorgeous PDF brochure filled with mock-ups, but here’s the full lineup. (As reported by Sequencer.de and Music thing, but now publicly confirmed by Waldorf; we should have live photos from the show if they’re on display.)

The limited-edition exterior visuals are the work of Axel Hartmann, the talented designer of the (unfortunately failed) Neuron Synth, and Waldorf promises the new products are “handcrafted in Germany.” Here’s the lineup:

Hardware synthesizers are wonderful, especially when they’re homebuilt. Jarek Ziembicki’s AVRSYN started life as an experiment to see if it was possible to cram a complete virtual analog synth into an affordable off-the-shelf microcontroller chip. He succeeded in creating a dual oscillator MIDI-compatible synth that even includes a knob-based user interface. Paul Maddox quickly saw the potential of this little device, ported the design to the more powerful Atmel ATMEGA16 processor and created a ready-to-build circuit board. These days, the project is helmed by Australian Laurie Biddoph who offers AUS$18 PC boards and AUS$86 component kits.

The AVRSYN is impressive because of its incredibly low cost and complete reprogrammability. In essence, it’s a user-programmable synthesizer experimenter’s kit. Even the digital to analog circuitry is unusual. Rather than using an off-the-shelf DAC chip, Ziembicki implemented a 16-bit discrete resistor network using precision resistors. This approach is inexpensive and introduces a little bit of uncertainty, since every unit will sound unique because of manufacturing differences. The project is slowly taking on a life of its own: AVRSYN enthusiast Daniel Kruszyna has updated the software with full ADSR envelopes and additional waveforms and I recently managed to get rudimentary PWM oscillator modulation working on my test rig.

AVRSYN Monophonic Virtual Analog Synth Kits

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

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

Creamware Klangboxes