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

Mixed In Key believes that it’s come up with a way for producer and machine to work together. Its new Pilot Plugins software is designed to facilitate a “back and forth” working relationship between human and artificial beings, enabling you to create MIDI and audio files that respond to your feedback.

Mixed In Key says that it wanted to create a plugin where the music producer makes the important decisions and the AI helps to generate ideas based on their input. In fact, there are actually three plugins – Pilot Melody, Pilot Bass and Pilot Arpeggio – which are designed to work together.

Pilot Plugins is launching with a set of musical styles known collectively as Futurism Vol 1. This is geared towards melodic techno, progressive house and other sub-genres of electronic music, but more expansion packs (covering more genres) will be released in the future.

Each Futurism Vol 1 style is represented by a retro-futuristic avatar inspired by classic sci-fi. Once you’ve selected one, you can customise it with a variety of knobs that control parameters such as rhythm, density and shape. It’s these tweaks that trigger the AI and influence the generation of the MIDI and audio files – twist a knob and you’ll see new MIDI notes appear in the central preview section.

Every style has its own UI and control knobs, and you can switch to a new idea immediately by pressing the Regenerate button. The history feature means that you can go back and review previous ideas, as well.

Once you’re happy with your MIDI, you can either export it to your DAW in that format or generate an audio file using the engine from Kilohearts’ Phase Plant synthesizer, which is included into Pilot Plugins. The sound library takes inspiration from both classic and modern synths, and each preset has its own custom-designed 3D image to represent its ‘mood’.

Pilot Plugins is available now for PC and Mac and is currently on sale for $49.50. You can use it on its own or in combination with Mixed In Key Captain Plugins.

Find out more on the Mixed In Key website.

myVolts has launched a Kickstarter project for Candycord Halo light-up patch cables.

The cables are designed to be used with modular, semi-modular, CV controllers and even guitar pedal expression ports. They have illuminated rings around the plug, with bi-color LEDs that react to the amplitude and polarity of your CV signals.

Candycord Halo cables are available in a wide range of lengths and colours, plus some specialty options like right angles and curly cables.

Candycord Halo cables are available to project backers, starting at about $20 for two cables.

*Note: Crowdfunded projects can involve risk. See the project website for details.

Add some ‘plip, plop, pop’ to your sound with AudioThing’s Bubbles filterbank plugin. The creative and experimental effect gives you 10 band-pass filters and adjustable delays.

AudioThing has unveiled a “sparkling” little plugin known as Things Bubbles, a filterbank with a difference.

Bubbles enables you to use up to 10 band-pass filters, which are represented by a row of dots towards the top of the GUI. You can set the number of filters being used with a single knob, and adjust the global cutoff and resonance.

Each band also has its own delay with feedback, the result of which is a plugin that should give you plenty of experimental options. AudioThing suggests that you “spread the cutoff, resonance, delay time, and delay feedback across each band to get very creative effects, from odd sounding echoes/reverbs to impossible sequences.”

As per the ‘plink-plonk’ nature of the sounds in the video demo above, the onomatopoeic name of the plugin seems entirely appropriate. The control set looks rather simple, as well, though you can randomise the settings if you do not want to do the tweaking yourself.

Things Bubbles is currently on sale for just €9 (regular price €19), but it’s also being given away for free with every purchase made during AudioThing’s Black Friday sale, which is happening from now until 4 December. It runs on PC, Mac and Linux in VST/AU/AAX/CLAP formats, and there’s a demo version for you to try before you buy.

Find out more on the AudioThing website.