Bastl Instruments Pizza is the company’s first dedicated oscillator module. It has been in development for more than three years.
Pizza is a compact 8HP digital oscillator with wave shaping applied to FM synthesis, and comes with an assignable CTRL knob and CV. Three outputs would give you plenty of patching flexibility.
The company says that Pizza offers a vast sonic palette, and would be a great outlet for anyone interested in hybrid synthesis. Waveshaping on the Main output takes you into additive territory, while the Pulse and Osc Out “speak the subtractive language”.
Additionally, there is a Tune knob that operates the octave transposing or detuning (or standing tuning when you need it).
The first batch of 300 Pizzas will be available for pre-order from 11 May and be delivered in June. The price is €245.
In addition, Bastl Instruments will also be heading to Superbooth with its Softpop SP2 – a subtractive synth with digital control. It turns out that there’s a digital VCO inside Softpop SP2, and existing users will soon be able to switch a jumper inside the unit, update the firmware via an audio file and start using it.
This digital oscillator includes several new waveforms and promises precise tuning and stability. The firmware update will be available once the second batch of Softpops starts shipping in the summer. This one costs €480.
Oberheim is back with the OB-X8, an analogue love letter to its ‘80s synths
Oberheim has officially announced that it is back and it’s releasing a new version of the OB-X synth for the 21st century. The OB-X8 takes the best bits of the OB-X, OB-Xa and OB-8 – manufactured between 1979 and 1985 – and packs them into a new eight-voice analogue synth. You also get all the presets from those OB classics but – as company founder Tom Oberheim explains – the OB-X8 is more than just the sum of these excellent parts.
“I wanted to come back strong with a new design that brings together the sounds of the greatest instruments from across the OB range, together with the distinctive sound and styling of those synths,” he says. “But we took it even further. You can now combine the various OB voice architectures in ways that produce unique and interesting new sounds and capabilities.”
The OB-X8 – and future Oberheim products that we’re told are on the cards – will be released in partnership with Focusrite. The British company also owns Sequential, the brand founded by Tom Oberheim’s friendly rival Dave Smith. And, wouldn’t you know it, Smith had a hand in creating the OB-X8, and will also be involved in future projects.
“We’ve already developed other interesting design ideas with Tom for follow-up products that will allow us to take Oberheim into the future as a synth brand,” commented Smith. “It’s a very exciting time to be a musician.”
Another key player in the Oberheim revival is Marcus Lyle, an Oberheim veteran from the ‘80s. Having gone on to help create the ADAT and Alesis Quadrasynth – not to mention found Line 6 – he’s now back in the fold.
“Synths were my first love and the reason I entered this industry,” comments Lyle. “Tom hired me when I was 19, and I feel lucky to have been a part of the Oberheim design team during its glory days. Now, a whole new chapter in the story of analogue synthesizer-based music is about to get written.”
The OB-X8 has already been shown to a handful of A-list artists, including Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor.
“When I was shown the new OB-X8, I was immediately impressed with the forensic level of detail that went into its design and the respect for its lineage,” he says. “I will be making room in my studio for one and I’m excited more people will be able to experience this classic instrument.”
As a result, the Oberheim OB-X8 is much more than a reissue, it’s a new Oberheim design that offers better synthesis options and expressive capabilities than its predecessors, including:
Additional SEM filter modes add high-pass, band-pass, and notch functions to the classic OB-X filter
Vintage knob allows variable amounts of voice-to-voice variability to emulate the behavior of vintage instruments
Velocity sensitivity adds expressiveness to volume and filter
Arturia V Collection is now firmly established as the go-to software bundle for lovers of classic synths and keyboards, and with the launch of version 9, it is getting even bigger.
MS-20 V looks just like the original, and promises to recreate the hardware’s semi-modular architecture and classic analogue sound.
Up next is the SQ80 V , a reboot of the Ensoniq crosswave synth of the same name. If you like the gritty sound of early digital synths, you’ll love it.
Rounding out the new instruments are two titles in Arturia’s new Augmented range. Augmented Strings (a beefed-up version of the Augmented Strings Intro plugin that Arturia gave away last month) blends sampled and synthetic strings, enabling you to morph between them. Augmented Voices lets you combine the human voice with multiple synth engines in a similar fashion.
V Collection 9 also contains four rebuilt instruments – CS-80 V, Prophet-5 V, Prophet-VS V and Piano V. These updates are designed to bring them bang up to date.
Lastly, there are 14 exclusive soundbanks that are designed to show off what each of the new V Collection titles is capable of.
If you are a registered Arturia user, you can log in to your account to see your special V Collection 9 introductory price. As for everyone else, it is available for the introductory price of €499 (regular price €599).
