New Free Plugin Buddy By Modalics


Modalics, the developer behind the pizza-inspired beatmaking plugin Beat Scholar, has announced the launch of a new free plugin and app: Plugin Buddy.

Use Plugin Buddy to create complex chains of MIDI effects, audio effects and instruments that can be run inside a single plugin or standalone app.

Plugin Buddy is a plugin host and utility that does a lot of useful things. As a standalone app, it can host VST3 plugins, so you can use it to open up and play with instrument, effects and MIDI plugins outside of your DAW. But, as Plugin Buddy is also available in AU and AAX formats – and hosts VST3 plugins – you can also use it to circumvent compatibility issues by opening up VST3 plugins in DAWs that don’t support them, such as Pro Tools.

Open up Plugin Buddy and you’re able to load up an instrument plugin via the central panel, located below a display that visualizes incoming MIDI notes and the frequency spectrum. Below this, you can host up to four audio effects and tweak their individual wet/dry mixes.

Nearer the top of the interface you’ll find Quick Controls that can be assigned to quickly tweak specific parameters in any hosted plugin, and space to host up to four MIDI effects. With all of this functionality combined, you can use Plugin Buddy to create complex chains of MIDI effects, audio effects and instruments, that can be hosted in your DAW in a single VST3 plugin.

Plugin Buddy is equipped with a few MIDI utilities that may also prove useful. Velocity Curve applies custom velocity curves to incoming MIDI notes, Transpose will transpose notes by a chosen number of octaves or semitones, and MIDI Monitor displays incoming MIDI data in real-time.

In addition, there is a built-in synth installed in Plugin Buddy, a basic two-oscillator affair named The Bud, along with two effects plugins: a clipper and a low-pass filter. Another fun feature is Plugin Buddy’s randomizer, which lets you randomize all of a plugin’s parameters to create unpredictable and chaotic sounds.

Visit Modalics website to download Plugin Buddy for free.

Build A Custom DIY Effects Pedal With Daisy Seed + Hothouse Case


Synthesist Floyd Steinberg shared this look at creating DIY effects pedals with the Electrosmith Daisy Seed & the Hothouse pedal kit.

The Electrosmith Daisy Seed is a powerful microcontroller for music applications. Cleveland Music’s “Hothouse” DIY pedal kit turns the Daisy Seed into a hardware pedal. The combination lets you create your own DSP effects and digital synthesizers, without resorting to “breadboard” prototyping.

Topics covered:

00:00 hi
01:00 build it
07:05 install the development environment
07:38 compile the examples
11:00 example 01 – mod delay
11:54 example 02 – shimmer delay
12:41 example 03 – tri chorus
13:20 example 04 – tremolo reverb
14:05 example 05 – synth, with mod delay
15:26 bye

The Hothouse kit is available now for $89, and the Daisy Seed is available for $22.05

Synthesis Technology is Back in Business, Debuts New Eurorack Filter at Knobcon 2024

 

 

At Knobcon 2024 – held in Chicagoland September 6-8, 2024 – Texas Euro maker Synthesis Technology announced that it is back in business and shipping their first new module.

Founder Paul Schreiber had announced in 2023 that, after 27 years, he was retiring from the modular synth business and shutting down Synthesis Technology.

We also talked to Schreiber at Knobcon, and he told us that Analogue Haven basically gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse. He plans to release a series of limited edition modules, with AH handling sales and distribution.

“I have been nudged by Shawn at Analogue Haven to get back into Eurorack modules design and limited production,” he explains. “Today, we are announcing the E490 Ladder VCF, a design I first did on the MOTM-490, then the Frac 1490, and now for Euro. This new implementation is based on new dual and quad matched transistors and WIMA polypropylene capacitors. Even though new, careful attention was given to matching all the quirks of the original Moog 904A.”

The Synthesis Technology E490 Ladder VCF is a 10hp, Moog 904a inspired 4-pole lowpass filter using modern transistors, but exactly matching the characteristics of the original. Using new, matched dual and quad transistors allows the E490 to have lower noise and better tracking than the 904a, without changing the ‘quirks’ in the sound.

Audio Demo:

Schreiber already has plans that go beyond E490. He told us that he’s working on the E430 Morphing State-Variable Filter, an evolution of his SEM-inspired filter for the MOTM platform.

He is also considering creating a new version of the Synth Tech E520 Hyperion Effects Processor that would essentially pack all of the original’s effects into a module that’s half the size and cost of the original.

The Synthesis Technology E490 Ladder VCF is available now, via Analogue Haven, for $249. Find out more info on the SynthTech website.