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Tone2 Warlock VST synth plugin promises simplicity and sonic sorcery.

Tone2 Warlock is a new power synth with a beginner-friendly interface. It is designed to marry powerful features to a reduced user interface, thus creating an instrument that is suitable for beginners as well as experts.

And Tone2 Warlock also looks like a synth that is been designed to offer pretty instant gratification – you get 2,140 pro-designed factory presets and are promised “true high-end sound quality”. The streamlined GUI is said to enable a fast and efficient workflow, and you also have the option of hitting the Random button to generate a completely new patch.

In addition, there are two oscillators, each of which can choose from 84 types and 14,000 waveforms. The filter section offers 38 different types, and there are two modular effect slots that can access 18 different types. Modulation comes courtesy of an LFO and three envelopes, and there are flexible routing options.

Tone2 Warlock is available now for PC and Mac as a VST plugin, however there is no AU version.

Warlock costs $69/€59.

Find out more on Tone2 website.

Moog Music has introduced the Moog Sound Studio, which it is calling “a new semi-modular synthesizer experience”. Designed as a gateway into the world of modular, this combines a pair of Moog instruments and everything you need to start making music with them.

The lavish Moog Sound Studio kits could bring modular synthesis to the masses, just add headphones and that is all you need.

The two new beautiful bundles give you everything you need. There are actually two Sound Studios to choose from- one contains Moog’s Mother-32 patchable analogue synth and DFAM percussion synth, while another includes the more experimental Subharmonicon polyrhythmic synth and DFAM. Which one you choose will depend on the kind of experience you want to have.

In addition, each Moog Sound Studio kits also contains an audio mixer and power distribution hub, a two-tier rack mount kit,  patch cables and a patch cable organizer, guided exercises and patch book, educational materials, games to encourage experimentation, and custom artwork.

Moog Music also says that the Sound Studio concept was inspired by seeing people playing and learning with its gear at public events. It’s also a response to public feedback.

Moog Music has released a 7-track EP, Explorations in Analog Synthesis, on SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Each track was created using one of the two Moog Sound Studio combinations, and artists featured include Bonobo, Peter Cottontale, Julianna Barwick, Dan Deacon, Madame Gandhi, Martial Canterel and Ela Minus, in order to showcase how capable are these packages.

And each bundle also comes with its own custom artwork that is designed to bring the world of analogue synthesizers to life. This comes from Jim Stoten (Mother-32 & DFAM) and Philip Lindeman (Subharmonicon & DFAM), and includes characters, posters, and other interactive objects.

The Moog Sound Studio kits are available.

Mother-32 & DFAM costs $1,399

Subharmonicon & DFAM costs $1,449

Find out more on Moog Music website.

Experimental ivory tinkler Nils Frahm has released a surprise new album today, to celebrate Piano Day 2021.

Having founded the event back in 2015, timed to mark the 88th day of the year. Piano Day celebrates all that is good about the beloved keyboard instrument, which has been the focus of Frahm’s recording career for well over a decade.

Apparently, the new album Graz, actually dates from 2009, and was Frahm’s first for the Erased Tapes label. However, it never saw the light of day; Frahm instead decided to focus on the close-mic’d, dampened piano pieces that ended up forming the basis of 2011 album Felt.

In addition, despite having a more natural grand piano sound, Graz, is still distinctively Frahm, though more tonally conventional than some of his recorded outings.

Frahm had this to say in a press release: “Sometimes when you hear a piano, you might think it’s a conversation between a woman and a man. At the same time, it can hint at shapes of the universe and describe how a black hole looks. You can make sounds that have no relation to anything we can measure.”

Graz is available to stream now, with physical editions available from 21 May.