WORLD OF MUSIC ; PORTABLE KEYBOARD - Latest Portable Music Keyboards, Synthesizers and Music News

Last week, CME told us that it was working on a Bluetooth MIDI keyboard/step sequencer – SWIDI – that was inspired by Behringer’s Swing, which itself is very similar to Arturia KeyStep. Now we discover that the whole thing was a wind-up, but now – as of 1 April – it is real.

Now they’ve updated their page with the heading “Rip-off or Kick-off?”, asking customers to decide the fate of the new controller.

Apparently SWIDI is now an actual thing – or “the joke that isn’t a joke about a clone of a clone that isn’t a clone,” as CME puts it – or rather it will be if 3,000 people register their interest to get a 50% discount during the presale. The target retail price is $79.

CME is calling SWIDI a “crowd creation project,” which means that it’s inviting feedback on what features it should have. You’ll be able to offer yours once you’ve registered.

Questions that the company is asking customers do decide include:

Do you want it to be wired or wireless?

Do you want CV/gate or USB ports?

Do you need polyAT? Do you require battery power or wireless charging?

Do you prefer wired or wireless?

All we know for sure is that the controller will feature CME’s WIDI technology, a highly configurable, low-latency wireless Bluetooth MIDI standard.

That’s assuming that SWIDI really does become a reality, at this point.

If you’re interested in sharing input on the development of the SWIDI, see the CME website.

Novation has announced major firmware updates for its Summit and Peak synthesizers.

Firmware v2.0 adds a variety of features that expand your synthesis options, including stereo controls, modulation, unpredictability and effects.

What’s new in Summit and Peak Firmware 2.0:

• Stereo – New spread modes, panning per voice, and panning in the mod matrix give additional control and allows for sound design in the stereo field. Now you can create bigger, wider, and more intricately textured soundscapes.
• Modulation and unpredictability – Create deeper and more experimental sounds with new mod destinations, noise as a mod source, and additional LFO 3 and 4 parameters. Animate Envelopes and Arpeggiator Chance open more creative performance possibilities.
• Effects – New effects, including Chorus Modes, Flanger, and Phlanger add new tonalities. Additional effects modulation destinations open up more experimental sound design. A new Lo-Fi delay mode enables a more vintage style sound.
• Bug Fixes – The firmware update v2.0 also includes a number of bug fixes. The full details can be found in the release notes.

Novation will also be hosting a live stream today (Thursday March 31st, 2022, 9pm UK time), embedded below, where the new v2.0 update features will be demonstrated live:

Summit and Peak owners can download the v2.0 update now from Novation Components. View the Novation website for more info.