Oh, if only. These are a pair of genius photoshop mockups (by Crystalmsc on the VSE forum) of long-awaited-but-non-existent new products from Clavia. On the right, the Micromodular G2. The original Nord Modular from 1998 came in three flavours - one with a cute two-octave keyboard (also available in lego), a rack with knobs and a display and the micro modular - an almost stomp-box sized unit with four knobs, which was pretty cheap at launch and now sells on eBay for about $300. Then the G2 Modular arrived in 2004 with two wondeful but expensive keyboard versions and the G2 Engine - a faceless 1U rack. So, what everyone really wants is the G2 Micromodular, which would look exactly like the unit above and cost about $700. Crystalmsc also imagines an unbearably cute 2 octave keyboard version, with an x-y pad. What I'd really like to see is a G2 Stompbox: A metal box, a big on-off switch, a few knobs and a 8-way program switch, into which you could download your own effects units using the genius editor software (which you can try out in the free, monophonic G2 Demo). Anyway, none of these products are ever going to appear, because Clavia are making too much money selling stage pianos and organs to worry about us synth geeks...
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Here's a fantastic, grainy clip of Andre Duracell playing in London last year, with more clips here and here (check out the guy stroking his chin, dancing a bit, then getting something in his eye...). Andre uses a drum kit with audio triggers going into a Nord Modular G2 rack, which fire off a load of sequences, letting him play video game soundtracks like Space Harrier. Sometimes, the G2 is played through a Marshall stack. There's a good Flickr set of a Duracell gig here, his MySpace page is here, and his home page is here.
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I scoffed when I read rumours that Arturia, the French company which makes nice-sounding VST versions of classic synths, were about to announce a hardware box, but Origin is real and official. It looks likely to be a very pricey box - with a huge LCD screen and numerous outputs. Details are still rather hazy, but it seems to be a DSP box which runs versions of Arturia's Moog Modular, ARP 2600, CS-80, minimoog and Prophet VS emulations, apparently with the option to build modular synths using modules from those synths. Which would be very cool, and real competition for the Nord G2. The G2 forum are discussing the new box, voicing predictable concerns about whether Arturia can design an interface which is anything more than pretty looking...
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So, my friend Peter lent me his beloved TR-909 drum machine. After a bit of messing about, including tracking down an IEC C9 mains lead (from here), it's working, and is wonderful, particularly when messed about with. I already posted this G2 resonator patch, which is a copy of the effect in Ableton Live. Last night I made this patch (+ audio sample), in which the G2 tries to recreate the sounds it's getting at the inputs, using just a simple oscillator+filter. It sounds really wiggy, but somehow still a bit like a 909. Finally, and least interestingly, here [mp3] is the 909 coming through the spring reverb and VRS-23. Thanks, Peter!
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Trogotronic sell hand-built and customised analog tube gear, like this 'hotrodded' Heathkit oscillator (which must be pretty hot for $600, but does look wonderful). They also do cheaper all-new noise boxes, and 'crude audio controllers' - I particularly like the look of the Iron Cross, which seems to be a bomb-proof old arcade joystick which switches between the four audio inputs. Would be handy for the Nord G2, which has 4 outputs. Speaking of the Nord G2, I just made this patch which you might enjoy. (Thanks, Devin, and previously on Get Lofi)
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Here's Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead playing 'Go To Sleep' on Jools Holland, with his guitar being processed though a Max/MSP patch (the full song is here). It inspired me to plug a guitar into the G2 and come up with this [600k mp3] effect, which stores the input in a loop until it's told to spit it out and start over, with an LFO changing the pitch of the loop. Anyway, here is an interview with Jonny where he talks about Max/MSP ("I love it all: I could fill pages with obsessive stuff about Max/MSP. I've even started lurking in chatrooms"). Sometimes, I worry that Jonny Greenwood is just a modern, high-tech, cool version of Michael Angelo Batio... (thanks, Aidan) UPDATE: Here is my very scrappy Nord Modular G2 Patch.
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What is it? It's a hardware controller for Arturia's Analog Factory plugin, which emulates 7 classic vintage synths (Arp 2600, Mini Moog, Moog Modular, Prophet 5, Prophet VS, Jupiter 8, CS 80). £229 / $349. LINK What's good? I love the idea - a piece of software made real.It's a great looking, great feeling little keyboard made in China by CME. The design ticks all the Music Thing boxes - it's (off) white, it has real wood end cheeks, a nice semi-weighted keyboard, really solid, heavy, all-metal chassis, 11 continuous knobs, 4 ADSR sliders (NICE TOUCH!) and a snapshot system pinched from the Nord G2. I like the idea of a tweakable preset machine, like a modern day Matrix 1000, but with 3,500 patches. On each preset, you can change the volume envelope (slightly frustrating if the filter envelope is fixed), the filter cutoff & resonance, LFO rate & amount, and four other pre-selected parameters. Arturia's emulations sound fantastic, though I'm not qualified enough to judge how accurate they are. The Arp sounds raw and clunky with a boingy spring reverb. The Prophet VS sounds gritty and digital. The Moog Modular sounds huge, etc. If you want to know about the software, Create Digital Music and Sound on Sound can help. What's bad? Aaaaagh! It's software. Installing it had me typing a 32 digit number four or five times until it took. I installed it on my laptop, and it's now impossible to move to another PC, without (at least) contacting customer support and buying a Syncrosoft key for €14. Yes, if I'd paid £229 for it, rather than borrowing one to review, I'd have thought harder about where I installed it. But why should I have to? It's lame. For £250 you can buy a new XioSynth, MicroKorg, or Alesis Micron or a used Juno 6 or JP8000. If you're a professional musician, or you're trying to get great sounds in a hurry, or you enjoy tidiness and efficiency, then Analog Factory is perfect. It's quick to use, far better sounding than those cheap hardware synths, and all your settings are saved automatically. If, like me, you're a no-talent tinkerer, who enjoys fiddling with gear and recording bits of music, then the Analog Factory Experience might be a disappointment. But that's just me. If you enjoy software synths, then there are a few relatively minor niggles. The keyboard will output midi, but the controller numbers are all fixed, so you'll have to teach other synths to understand it, rather than vice versa. And there's very audible stepping when you're tweaking some knobs, i.e when tweaking the cutoff frequency on a resonant filter. So... If you get on with software synths, and you want a fantastically sexy little controller for a huge collection of great synth sounds, buy this now. If you want a sexy little synth, don't.
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Inspired by this post and an enthusiasm for gadgets, I just got an Efergy electricity meter. Among other things, I can find out how much my energy my 'studio' uses.
The mains powered bits of my 'studio' consist of: 1 tower PC, 2 LCD screens, 2 external drives, Pod XT, Nord G2, MPC1000, DSI Evolver, MFB Synth II, Emu Audiodock, Dynacord VRS23 delay, Roland TR-909 (thanks, Peter), an old hifi amp and a Anglepoise lamp with a low energy bulb (ha!).
The verdict: With everything on standby, it's drawing 0.035kwh. With everything on, it's drawing .660kwh. With the gear on, but the PC (and screens) on standby it's drawing .192kwh. No wonder it gets warm in there in summer.
The average cost of residential electricity in the US was 9.86¢/kWh in 2006 - let's call it 10¢ for ease of calculation (I couldn't find a sensible average rate for the UK, but this suggests 10p/kwh isn't unreasonable). That means: Keeping everything on standby for a year = $30. Keeping everything on for a year = $578. Keeping everything on for 3 hours, five days a week = $51 (+ standby).
My observations:
1) I thought all those horrible external PSUs would mean standby costing a fortune. It doesn't, really.
2) That computer does suck a lot of power. One more reason to love hardware over software.
3) If I was really worried about standby, an Intelliplug would pay for itself in six months.
4) I wonder how much big old analog synths or valve amps draw?
5) The Fit-PC is pretty sexy (draws 5w of power, no fan, smaller than a paperback, costs £150) but I'm not sure it will play nicely with Ableton...
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I've had the Yamaha Tenori On for about five days now, so these are first thoughts. Summary version: It's awesome that this thing exists, that Toshio Iwai got a chance to make it. It's intuitive (in the pic on the right, Alex isn't just jabbing buttons, he's holding down a function key and selecting sounds). Does that mean you'll want to spend £599 buying one for yourself? Well, I can think of better ways to spend the money. Epic list of pros and cons after the jump. I'd also recommend Sonic State's video review if you want something more in-depth and less opinionated.
The good things: 1. It's unique. Almost every part of it - the shape, the look, the interface, the sound - is unlike anything else I've ever seen. 2. It's fantastic that Yamaha used a tiny slice of their profits from selling electric pianos and workstations to let Toshio Iwai get his dream manufactured and into the shops. Even if it's only in a few record shops in Britain at the moment. It must have cost them a lot, and it's the kind of thing that's normally left to passionate enthusiasts. 3. It's a complicated, sophisticated little machine. It's self contained, with a real operating system, a detailed display and so on. I LOVE that it has batteries and speakers. It's slightly unfair to compare it with the sexier, cheaper Monome, which is essentially a bunch of switches and lights in a pretty box, with all the heavy lifting done by the computer. 4. 16x16 step sequencing is great - very fast, intuitive, fun way to enter beats and chords. 5. It uses a clever key/scale system, which makes it even easier to enter notes. You can really just doodle with your finger and make something which sounds roughly like music. 6. In the dark, it looks incredible. The lights on the back look ace. Play it in the evening near a window and watch the reflections. 7. Many of the sounds are great - there's a definite Toshio Iwai sound, if you liked Elektroplankton, you'll like these. Warm and organic and original. 8. It's great while running on batteries - very compact, quick to load, nice to sit on the sofa and fiddle. The weight of 6xAA batteries also makes it feel a bit more sturdy. 9. Choosing presets with one key for each sound = Very nice. (I can see where Art Lebedev is coming from)
And yet... the bad things: 1. No getting away from it. It looks and feels like a toy. The main buttons don't feel great, and they all rattle. It may be deliberate, so you can run your fingers across a row, but it feels cheap cheap cheap. 2. I think the main chassis is aluminum, but coated in so much plasticy varnish that it looks and feels like plastic. 3. Maybe a third of the 256 sounds are non-great General Midi sounds - piano, strings, bagpipes(?). 4. There's no touch sensitivity, and I haven't found any easy way to add any dynamics apart from track mixing - which can only be automated in the 'record song' system. 5. There's no hardware volume control. You have to fish in a menu to change it. 6. It's designed for people with four thumbs. If you're holding the thing in both hands, you can reach the 'shift' buttons, but then can't reach the main buttons, so you have to put it down. 7. It's absolutely not a synth. You can't modify any of the internal sounds in any way - no filters, envelopes etc. They're mostly very short one-shot samples (some loop, and a few evolve interestingly). There are no musical sequences or loops. 8. Every note is fixed length across the sequence. You can't have a long and a short note together in any sequence. You can't slide or tie notes together in any way, even in the real time 'draw' mode. 9. It feels a bit churlish to say it, but the effects are hopeless - a reverb and a chorus/flanger, both master effects on the mix - and both on by default. 10. The MIDI out works - it was quite fun hooking it up to four channels on the Nord G2 and triggering sounds. It sends MIDI clock, but doesn't seem receive it (The manual is ambiguous, says it recieves clock, but also says it only syncs to another Tenori - anyone experimented with this more?). I briefly connected it to the MPC, which would have been great, except the notes ouputted didn't play nicely with my programs, so... it would be a blah to make a workaround. But most of all... It costs £599. That's $1,200. I can understand there are reasons for the price - a limited run, a more sophisticated machine than most boutique gear. But if they're selling this as an ultra-luxe treat for geeks, then it has to look and feel sexy and expensive. It doesn't. Yes, the comparison with the Monome is slightly unfair, but I suspect it would be a simple job to recreate all the Tenori functions on a Monome.
Many of my objections might be fixable with a software upgrade, but I suspect the Tenori is in a tricky place: I don't know if it's really lovable enough to be on every rich kid's Christmas list, and I'm pretty sure it's not geeky enough to be on mine. Which is a real shame. Most importantly, it's a really good lesson for geeks like me. It's easy to complain that big synth companies never do anything innovative or exciting. Then one comes along and does exactly that, and we're left saying 'not good enough'. Which is a real shame. But feeling sympathetic to Yamaha and Toshio Iwai wouldn't make me spend £599 on this.
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I've posted in the past about the Latronic Notron, the culty British step sequencer. In one post, I asked: "Can't someone build a software-based Notron Emulator?" Now DSP Audio have released Nortron, a really quite spectacularly complicated-looking software sequencer for OSX, obviously inspired by Darth Vader's toilet seat. Has anyone tried this yet? It's $200, but there is a demo. (via k.e.p on the Electro-Music G2 forum)
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Zachary Vex's latest (well, March 2006) invention is the Ringtone. Unfortunately, it won't make everything you play sound like the Crazy Frog. It's a ring modulator with the carrier signal coming from an 8 step sequencer. That sounds like blah blah science blah until you watch this [QT] wonderful demo video. I was so inspired, I spent a whole 25 minutes making this Nord G2 patch based on the pedal, which doesn't sound or look nearly as cool, but doesn't cost $349, either...
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Openlabs (the people who build really expensive, fireproof PCs into keyboard-shaped boxes) have a teaser on their website for Miko, which looks like being a PC with built in DJ controls (crossfader & triggers), plus video outputs for VJs. Seems like the kind of thing that will make someone rich very happy to retire their laptop & bundle of controllers. The sound card is obviously a Presonus Firebox with the logo rubbed off. I wonder if they're planning to put a Trigger Finger in there and call it an M-PC? UPDATE: They've just announced it will have 37 keys, so perhaps it's more like a Nord Modular G2 with a DJ crossfader...
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Real work = not much time to post, but nice emails = lots of ideas. So... New MPC-1000BK is black, might come with built-in hard drive (babelfish unclear) Sonic weapon designed to repel teenagers Guitar Hero on PS2 - Gibson sponsored music game Record labels try to get heavy with people making mash-up bootlegs Software lets you plan & cost your dream modular synth. Warning! May inspire lust and/or bankrupcy Awesomely noisy VST version of the Death Synth hardware box. (Also my Nord G2 version) Why icebergs sing (if you speed the tape up a bit)
(Thanks Simon, Jonas, Boing Boing, Audio Mastermind, JMaggard, Dave)
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So, last week I completed operation flog-all-my-hardware- and-buy-a-Nord-Modular-G2. It's a pesky time-absorber (you build synths out of lego-style modules on the computer, then play and tweak them in the hardware). Here [1.7mb mp3] is my first creation, a very basic beatbox (just two sounds) surrounded by delays and pitch shifters and feedback loops. There's a great forum at Electro-Music, where really clever people do geeky-but-cool things like recreating the 'Funky Drummer' loop without using any samples. This [85k mp3] is what they arrived at.
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Sure, it probably doesn't sound so great, but it's hard not to love this Bontempi Pop 3 organ. The German ebay page seems to suggest it was designed by Verner Panton, but I haven't been able to corroborate it. It's currently just €22 with a day to go, item #7353602866. ps: Yes, there are lots of shopping-related bits at the moment, because I'm currently selling my Microwave XT, and hunting for a used Nord Modular G2. Please do get in touch if you can help with either...
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Oh, if only. These are a pair of genius photoshop mockups (by Crystalmsc on the VSE forum) of long-awaited-but-non-existent new products from Clavia. On the right, the Micromodular G2. The original Nord Modular from 1998 came in three flavours - one with a cute two-octave keyboard (also available in lego), a rack with knobs and a display and the micro modular - an almost stomp-box sized unit with four knobs, which was pretty cheap at launch and now sells on eBay for about $300. Then the G2 Modular arrived in 2004 with two wondeful but expensive keyboard versions and the G2 Engine - a faceless 1U rack. So, what everyone really wants is the G2 Micromodular, which would look exactly like the unit above and cost about $700. Crystalmsc also imagines an unbearably cute 2 octave keyboard version, with an x-y pad. What I'd really like to see is a G2 Stompbox: A metal box, a big on-off switch, a few knobs and a 8-way program switch, into which you could download your own effects units using the genius editor software (which you can try out in the free, monophonic G2 Demo). Anyway, none of these products are ever going to appear, because Clavia are making too much money selling stage pianos and organs to worry about us synth geeks...
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 5 comments Post a Comment 
I scoffed when I read rumours that Arturia, the French company which makes nice-sounding VST versions of classic synths, were about to announce a hardware box, but Origin is real and official. It looks likely to be a very pricey box - with a huge LCD screen and numerous outputs. Details are still rather hazy, but it seems to be a DSP box which runs versions of Arturia's Moog Modular, ARP 2600, CS-80, minimoog and Prophet VS emulations, apparently with the option to build modular synths using modules from those synths. Which would be very cool, and real competition for the Nord G2. The G2 forum are discussing the new box, voicing predictable concerns about whether Arturia can design an interface which is anything more than pretty looking...
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 6 comments Post a Comment 
So, my friend Peter lent me his beloved TR-909 drum machine. After a bit of messing about, including tracking down an IEC C9 mains lead (from here), it's working, and is wonderful, particularly when messed about with. I already posted this G2 resonator patch, which is a copy of the effect in Ableton Live. Last night I made this patch (+ audio sample), in which the G2 tries to recreate the sounds it's getting at the inputs, using just a simple oscillator+filter. It sounds really wiggy, but somehow still a bit like a 909. Finally, and least interestingly, here [mp3] is the 909 coming through the spring reverb and VRS-23. Thanks, Peter!
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 4 comments Post a Comment 
Trogotronic sell hand-built and customised analog tube gear, like this 'hotrodded' Heathkit oscillator (which must be pretty hot for $600, but does look wonderful). They also do cheaper all-new noise boxes, and 'crude audio controllers' - I particularly like the look of the Iron Cross, which seems to be a bomb-proof old arcade joystick which switches between the four audio inputs. Would be handy for the Nord G2, which has 4 outputs. Speaking of the Nord G2, I just made this patch which you might enjoy. (Thanks, Devin, and previously on Get Lofi)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 4 comments Post a Comment 
What is it? It's a hardware controller for Arturia's Analog Factory plugin, which emulates 7 classic vintage synths (Arp 2600, Mini Moog, Moog Modular, Prophet 5, Prophet VS, Jupiter 8, CS 80). £229 / $349. LINK
Inspired by this post and an enthusiasm for gadgets, I just got an Efergy electricity meter. Among other things, I can find out how much my energy my 'studio' uses.
I've posted in the past about the Latronic Notron, the culty British step sequencer. In one post, I asked: "Can't someone build a software-based Notron Emulator?" Now DSP Audio have released Nortron, a really quite spectacularly complicated-looking software sequencer for OSX, obviously inspired by Darth Vader's toilet seat. Has anyone tried this yet? It's $200, but there is a demo. (via k.e.p on the Electro-Music G2 forum)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 28 comments Post a Comment 
Zachary Vex's latest (well, March 2006) invention is the Ringtone. Unfortunately, it won't make everything you play sound like the Crazy Frog. It's a ring modulator with the carrier signal coming from an 8 step sequencer. That sounds like blah blah science blah until you watch this [QT] wonderful demo video. I was so inspired, I spent a whole 25 minutes making this Nord G2 patch based on the pedal, which doesn't sound or look nearly as cool, but doesn't cost $349, either...
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 6 comments Post a Comment 
Openlabs (the people who build really expensive, fireproof PCs into keyboard-shaped boxes) have a teaser on their website for Miko, which looks like being a PC with built in DJ controls (crossfader & triggers), plus video outputs for VJs. Seems like the kind of thing that will make someone rich very happy to retire their laptop & bundle of controllers. The sound card is obviously a Presonus Firebox with the logo rubbed off. I wonder if they're planning to put a Trigger Finger in there and call it an M-PC?
So, last week I completed operation flog-all-my-hardware- and-buy-a-Nord-Modular-G2. It's a pesky time-absorber (you build synths out of lego-style modules on the computer, then play and tweak them in the hardware). Here [1.7mb mp3] is my first creation, a very basic beatbox (just two sounds) surrounded by delays and pitch shifters and feedback loops. There's a great forum at Electro-Music, where really clever people do geeky-but-cool things like recreating the 'Funky Drummer' loop without using any samples. This [85k mp3] is what they arrived at.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 7 comments Post a Comment 
Sure, it probably doesn't sound so great, but it's hard not to love this Bontempi Pop 3 organ. The German ebay page seems to suggest it was designed by Verner Panton, but I haven't been able to corroborate it. It's currently just €22 with a day to go, item #7353602866. ps: Yes, there are lots of shopping-related bits at the moment, because I'm currently selling my Microwave XT, and hunting for a used Nord Modular G2. Please do get in touch if you can help with either...
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