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

Fors shared this preview of Glänta, described as a Dynamic FM Synthesizer for Ableton Live and Max For Live.

Glänta is a synthesizer with a simple structure that focuses on the fundamentals of FM synthesis, with a 2-operator core. Glänta extends established concepts, according to the developer, with unique twists that are powerful, yet easy to use.

Featuring:

• 2 FM Oscillators
• 1 Flexible ADSR
• 1 Regular ADSR
• With stereo phase modulation, pitch-relative unison, dynamic bipolar feedback, cross-modulation, and polyphonic note slide.
• Up to 16 voices of polyphony.

Each FM oscillator in Glänta has dynamic self-modulation, a type of feedback that is bipolar and frequency-compensated. This allows even a single oscillator to achieve saw- and square-like waveshapes that are consistent and alias-free across the whole pitch range.

Envelopes made for FM

The modulator envelope in Glänta is made with FM in mind. By extending the standard ADSR envelope with adjustable start- and end-levels, the FM envelope is streamlined for getting the timbral modulation right. With a logarithmic attack and exponential decay, the modulation and dynamics sound natural and snappy.

Stereo Modulation & Unison

The stereo mode puts the modulation itself in a phase-shifted stereo alignment which widens the sidebands, creating an FM-based stereo effect. On top of this the pitch-relative unison mode adds two oscillators, one above and one below the fundamental for anything from slight chorusing to harmonic layering.

Glänta is available now for €10 excl. VAT.

The game is afoot for M-Audio, as it unveils new console-friendly audio interfaces for streaming and content creation.

M-Audio has been releasing USB audio interfaces for as long as there have been USB audio interfaces, but with its new M-Game range, the company is showing that it still has the capacity to move with the times and do something a bit different.

The M-Game range includes dual USB model with RGB lighting, and more affordable Solo box. Designed for streaming and content creation, these light-up devices are suitable for both PC and console gamers, offering inputs for your mic/headset and mobile device, and both headphone and speaker outputs.

The RGB Dual model is the flagship; this enables you to plug in two PCs (one for gaming, one for streaming) simultaneously over USB, and gives you an optical input for your console.

Additionally, there is customisable RGB LED lighting, buttons for triggering samples and voice effects, and independent level faders for your mic, game, chat, samples and more.

The central multi-purpose 360 control knob gives you real-time control of your headphones, speakers and vocal effect parameters, and there are mic and ‘censor’ mute buttons for those moments when you need instant silence. And you can plug in a footswitch, which can be assigned to any shortcut hot key or macro.

While the cheaper Solo interface has just one USB input,  LED lighting rather than customisable RGB LEDs, and no LED indicators round the central control knob.

Both interfaces are accompanied by the free M-Game software, which enables you to configure inputs, outputs and other features, and to tweak settings.

The M-Game RGB Dual and Solo audio interfaces are available now, priced at $299 and $199 respectively. Find out more on the M-Audio website

Following Absynth creator Brian Clevinger’s revelation that he was “disappointed” to see the software being dropped from Native Instruments’ product line-up, Native Instruments has released its own statement outlining why the decision was taken.

Native Instruments explains: “we are not able to provide the synth with the attention it needs”

“Native Instruments has made the decision to not include Absynth in Komplete 14, and to additionally stop selling it as an individual product,” NI explained. “We know that this will be disappointing news for many of you who have been long-time users of the software synthesizer during its 22 years on the market.”

The statement continues by saying: “We always aspire to provide the best user experience with each product that we offer in our catalogue. Unfortunately, we must acknowledge that this is sometimes not possible due to constantly evolving user needs and technological standards.

“Discontinuing Absynth was not an easy decision to make, but the resource required to keep the product in line with modern standards has become too much of a challenge. Absynth has also long been in need of updates and improvements, and we are unfortunately not able to provide the synth with the attention it needs.

Due to this, we have stopped all sales and development activities effective immediately. Users who already have a license will not be affected, as Absynth will continue to operate normally. All users with a license will still be able to download and use it on current versions of Windows 10/11 or on Intel Macs up to macOS 12.

“We want to deeply thank Brian Clevinger for being such a great collaborator and inspiring creators over the years, and thank all of you for loving Absynth as much as we have.”

Of course, it is always possible that another developer may step in and continue development of Absynth, but as things stand, it looks like its time is up.

Kudos to Native Instruments for sharing the drivers behind their decision.

Absynth’s retirement highlights one of the limitations of software synths – they’ll eventually be rendered obsolete by technological change. Anyone heavily invested in a particular synth could be stuck maintaining a legacy computer system, if they want to continue using the synth. Absynth had a fantastic 22-year run, but its retirement will also affect a lot of people, as the current version is rendered obsolete by the evolution of computer platforms.

This ephemeral nature of software synths has been especially noticeable in the world of iOS synths. The introduction of the iPad led to an explosion of creative development work on synths and sound tools. But many of these have quickly been rendered obsolete by the rapid evolution of iPad OS.

Absynth users should note that you can still download and install the application, it just will not be updated in the future. See the Support section of the Native Instruments website.