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

Added to its DJ software in October last year, Serato Stems is one of several current technologies that enable you to break mixed audio apart into its constituent parts (vocals, drums, bass and melodies). And Stems has now found a new home in Serato Studio 2.0, an updated version of the beatmaking DAW.

Stems is now included in Serato Studio’s sampler, enabling you to instantly create acapellas and instrumental tracks that you can then use as you wish. “Serato Stems is the biggest moment in sampling since the MPC,” says Grammy Award-winning producer/DJ Cookin Soul, while beatmaker Boston Cherry believes that “the fact that we can get acapella is a huge, huge cheat code for DJs and producers everywhere”.

DJ Khalil, who’s nominated for two Grammys this year for his work on Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, claims that “With this update, Serato Studio is the centre of my universe. This is a big moment for music production.”

Serato says that Stems is powered by a “one-of-a-kind machine learning algorithm” that gives it the edge over the competition, and that it offers “unbeatable sound quality and performance”.

You can download Serato Studio for free, though once you’ve had your 14-day trial period, this is limited to a single audio track and has quite a few other limitations. The full version costs $10 a month or $249 if you want to buy it outright.

Find out more on the Serato website.

Montréal-based synth maker Hexinverter Électronique announced late last year that it will be closing in 2023, because global supply chain issues have made it impossible for them to manufacture and sell enough modules to be viable.

Today, they announced that their Mindphaser and Mutant Brain modules will live on, through a partnership with Erica Synths.

Here’s what they say about it:

“Erica Synths will be handling manufacturing, sales, distribution and support of Mindphaser, the Mutant Brain, and some others to come!

If you’ve been kicking yourself for missing out on the very limited run we had of Mindphaser complex oscillators, we’ve finally found a way for them to become available again.”

The Mutant Brains module is already available at the Erica Synths website. ETA on Mindphaser is to be announced.

Hexinverter says that it’s shipping the final units available of some its other modules; find out more on the Hexinventer website.

Good News! Arturia is now letting anyone buy its MiniFreak V as a standalone product.

Arturia has announced that MiniFreak V – the software version of its MiniFreak hardware synthesizer – is now available as an independent product for everyone.

When Arturia initially announced that its new MiniFreak  hardware synth would come with an accompanying like-for-like software version, there was some disappointment. It was only available as a freebie for owners of the MiniFreak hardware. It’s now available to everyone.

MicroFreak V is described as a “like-for-like software emulation of its hardware polysynth counterpart”. It is a six-voice, twin-engine synth. Each engine can operate in multiple different modes, and you can use the engines individually, stacked, or to process each other’s output for “unique compound sonic behaviour”. While the hardware MiniFreak has analogue filters and VCAs, these are emulated in V version.

Further sound design takes place in the modulation matrix, which offers the likes of polyphonic ADSR envelopes, customisable multi-segment LFO shapes, FM & ring modulation, and ‘Spice & Dice’ randomisation

The MiniFreak V’s controls are spread across multiple pages: the front panel keeps things relatively simple with a stripped-back set of parameters (you can tweak the two oscillators, filter and FX), while the Advanced panel adds access to the mod matrix, shaper and more. Finally, there is a dedicated page for the sequencer and arpeggiator.

MiniFreak V comes with the same preset selection as the hardware, and sounds can be exchanged between the two versions. It runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats. All users can enjoy limited-time discounts on MiniFreak V itself and is available now for the introductory price of $99 until 2 February 2023 (the regular price, as of 3 February, will be $199). It’s also currently being given away for free to anyone who buys V Collection 9. Find out more and download a demo on the Arturia website.