Synthesizers

About four years ago Lester Hall identified a completely unfilled market niche in the synthesizer world: inexpensive miniature modular synthesizers based on the breadboard system. In that time, emSynth as he calls the project, has grown in fits and starts and is now beginning it's third generation of revisions.

Fenix II Modular Synthesizer - The Fenix II is a high end modular synthisizer built in the Netherlands by electronic instrument designers Marc Paping and Bert Vermeulen. This Fenix II was built for in late 2011 after being on a wait list for over 3+ years. The "new price" for a Fenix II is approximetly $5000 USD after import tax/customs fee's and shipping from the Netherlands to the United States. Bid on this now at Ebay.com

In this first Geo Tutorial, I show how you can quickly and easily sample something in SampleWiz and move it to Geo Synthesizer! Get it now from the iTunes App store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/a...

Everyone is going bonkers over the the Animoog synth itself. Not much focus on the incredible job Moog did on the polyphonic keyboard and XY controller. Its easy to over look, but watch and listen for independent control of volume and pitch for each note. So you can have a fast attack touch at the top of the bar, or start at no/low volume and fade in for slow attack. Addtionally, you can bend the pitch note to note for smooth runs.

A while ago Rob Papen visited my Apollo studio. Together with his crew he was filming some footage for his upcoming book and DVD about sound design on synthesizers. While they were filming in my studio I filmed them with my own camera. So this short movie is sort of a 'making of'. More info about the DVD will follow on http://www.robpapen.com

Interesting vdeo of a very simple analogue neuron circuit modded for synth use. In this clop, the neuron is fed Tri waves from 2 CGS LFOs. The output is used to modulate the cutoff in a vari-BW VCF. Schematic is here - http://www.sdiy.org/pinky/da...

Corona is a 32 and 64-bit, virtual analog and wave synthesizer for Audio Units, VST hosts featuring 3 VA + WAVE oscillators, up to 14 combine modes between oscillators resulting in extensive timbres, 8 destination matrix modulations, 3 LFOs, 3 ADSR envelopes, unison, chorus, delay and limiter effects with high-quality sound and analog modeled filters using a straightforward and easy to use interface.

JEN SX3000 Kontakt instrument based on the strange little Italian mono synth of the same name. The Graphical user interface has been designed by renowned GUI designer Anders Hedstrom (Flavours of Lime) who has done an amazing job creating the front panels and user interface.

Whoah that was fast. Last week VirSyn announced their new Addictive Dynamic Wavetable Synthesizer for iPad. There was no promise of a release date. Today they have announced it's release with an introductory price of $5.99. Nice. Addictive Synth is available now through iTunes.

Din Sync shows how to use the Free SyncKontrol app from Korg with your modular synth. He explains that at the very least you will need to amplify the output and ideally use something like a Maths to control the pulsewidth of the clock, though it will work without one if amplified. It's really just a click sound. The signal is not very strong though so if you a feeling ambitious you can use the included schematic from Din Sync shown below to build a DIY noninverting amplifier.

VJ Franz K recently reviewed the new Korg MonoTribe in only the style that VJ Franz can do. The emphasis in these videos is on sound and tweaking. Throughout the videos is embedded text explaining features and what VJ is doing. Probably a good thing then to watch and listen to them and ask VJ questions later. Should you have any. He does a great job at showing the MonoTribe's potential beyond the mere tweak and toggle that all the other videos show.

Syntheticbits posted his latest video demonstrating among other things a multitasking beta version of the Little MIDI Machine app for iOS with FunkBox app handling master clock duties. The multitasking beta of Little MIDI Machine is synced up on the same iPad and sequencing two hardware synth parts on an SE Omega 2 synth using CoreMIDI through the iO Dock. To top it off he's got the Korg MonoTribe synced using Korg's SyncKontrol app on an iPod Touch, and is sequencing itself. Nice track. We hope to see more apps that support multitasking in iOS real soon.

SampleTank® for iOS is the mobile version of IK’s SampleTank for Mac and PC, the leading virtual sound workstation for the studio, now available for your favorite iOS mobile device and designed for live performance. It is a 4-part multi-timbral instrument with a sound set of over 1 GB of samples for over 500 acoustic, electric and electronic instruments (including a selection of the best workstation sounds from SampleTank, orchestral sounds from Miroslav Philharmonik and synths sounds from SampleMoog) plus a selection of over 1,000 melodic and rhythmic patterns that span every musical genre. SampleTank for iOS brings the power of the most popular computer sound module – which has appeared in thousands of award winning records from world-class artists – to your iOS device

VirSyn has introduced another new synthesizer for the iPad. Addictive Synth is a dynamic wavetable synthesizer. VirSyn's announcement offers the notion that it was never so easy to create beautiful sounds and driving loops. The unique dynamic wavetable synthesis allows you to explore an unprecedented wide range of sonic territory. From acid loops, crystal clear percussions, realistic human choirs to complex musical soundscapes nothing seems impossible with only a handful parameters to tweak.

Check out this nice slick video announcement about the new iRig MIDI from IK Multimedia. iRig MIDI is an ultra-compact standard Core MIDI interface for iOS that connects any MIDI compatible device to the iPhone®, iPod touch® and iPad®.

Just how whacky can folks take the synth world? Apparently with creativity and the ability anything can be made into a synth. TECH|DISOBEY|LAB created this spud powered synth and video showing a potato powered transistor oscillator with light dependent resistor, which gets its power from potato battery. Low power circuit is based off Forrest Mims light-dependent oscillator. More info and videos can be found at http://techdisobeylab.wordpr...

EpicSynth is a polyphonic synthesizer supporting CoreMIDI and Line6's Midi Mobilizer MIDI interface. EpicSynth was inspired by legendary analog synthesizers of the 1980s. It's designed from the ground up to be easy to use, powerful, and fun!

Whether you are an experienced musician or don’t have a musical bone in your body, you can make great music on your iPad Aurora is our pattern based musical sequencing software. By simply choosing a musical scale every note you play is in perfect tune, leaving you to make your own great sounding music.

Kyle Evans aka Yaktronix posted his latest video about his continuing progress on a digital synth project that he plans to start producing very soon. The synth will be reprogrammable from any computer and the code can be easily bent or created from scratch. It also has an LFO controlled analog resonant lowpass filter to fatten up the sound.

Sonivox get's it's Dubstep on by introducing Twist - Spectral Morphing Synthesizer, an innovative new approach to synthesis and sound design from SONiVOX's Nemesynth Audio Research Group. TWIST offers unmatched, yet almost effortless control over some of the most unique sounds you will ever design.