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FabFilter may be best known for its mixing plugins, but FabFilter also has a decent synth in its portfolio. The Twin was first introduced in 2005, with a second version arrived in 2009.

After the release of version 2, now, the update arrives 14 years later. FabFilter Twin 3 has landed with a completely redesigned GUI and workflow, more and better oscillators and filters, a revamped modulation system, an all-new FX section and more.

The new interface has been designed to make Twin more accessible and easier to navigate than ever before. You can now add and remove individual filters and oscillators as required, and the filters can be tweaked on an interactive EQ-style display. There are also per-oscillator oscilloscopes, a spectrogram, and full visualisation of modulation signals throughout the signal path.

Twin 3’s oscillators – it now has four in comparison to its predecessor’s three – have been completely overhauled and, thanks to their new ‘drift’ feature, which introduces random pitch and phase fluctuations, are designed to sound more ‘analogue’ than ever before. The oscillators also offer pulse width modulation, hard sync and phase sync.

Polyphony has been doubled to 64 voices, with the Per Oscillator polyphony mode stepping through oscillators with each incoming note. Twin’s filter count has also been doubled – rising from two to four – and there are new vintage-style bell, shelf and notch types.

The FX section, now includes six processing modules – compressor, drive, reverb, delay, chorus and phaser – and every parameter is available as a modulation target. The new arpeggiator offers host sync, groove/legato and rate/offset controls.

Finally, a new preset browser replaces the menu that was in previous versions of Twin. This offers freely editable tags for filtering within the search engine, and options to ‘favourite’ presets and assign them author names and text descriptions. Anyone who has FabFilter 1 or 2 installed will see all their presets show up in version 3.

Twin 3 is available now priced at $129/£109/€109. It runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats and you can also download a 30-day demo. Existing customers can log in to their accounts for Twin 3 discount offers.

Find out more on the FabFilter website.

Casper + Bastl have introduced a new Eurorack module, Aikido.

Aikido is a unique mixer, VCA, and compressor and the latest collaboration between Peter Edwards, aka Casper Electronics, and Bastl Instruments. The module is a spiritual successor to Bastl’s quad VCA module Quattro Figaro (released in 2015) and Casper’s concept module Party Mix, demoed at Superbooth in 2018.

Aikido is a performative quad VCA mixer, with flexible submix routing and two styles of integrated envelope followers. Clever normalization allows ready-to-go sidechain compression, expansion, and rapid routing experimentation.

Clickless mute switches and level faders make for immediate performability, while dedicated attenuverters on each channel make it a powerful and flexible quad VCA.

The main mix output is accompanied by individual VCA outputs, with patch-programmable cascading mix routing. The Side Chain envelope follower offers 3 different response curves, while the Spectral Follower cane set to focus on treble, mid or bass frequencies.

In a modular system, Aikido can become your central mixing hub or a powerful utility. Thanks to the envelope followers, it allows signals to interact and mix in new ways. Because the VCAs are DC coupled, Aikido can be used for flexible modulation routing as well.

Features:

• 4 VCA channels, each with:
  • clickless mute with light indication
  • level fader with 6dB boost
  • CV input with attenuverter
  • input (DC coupled)
  • output (DC coupled) cascaded mixing
• Mix output (AC coupled)
• Side chain envelope follower
  • input (normalized to A input)
  • output (normalized to CV inputs) – switch to select response tim
• Spectral envelope follower
  • input taken from Channel D output
  • patchable output
  • switch to focus the follower to low, mid, or high frequencies
• Backside jumpers
  • select whether direct VCA outputs are pre/post Mute
  • cascaded mixing input and output (joins 2 Aikidos to 8 channel mixer)
  • main mix input and output (for chaining the normalized MIX outputs),
  • chainable with BUDDY

Aikido is available now, priced at €245 excluding tax.

K-Devices has introduced Magma, described as a “memory warper and propagator plugin”, as an AUv3 for iOS.

What K-Devices say about Magma:

“Magma is an audio effect that generates sound textures by blending past and present: at the very crossroad between a micro-looper, a granular engine, a sustainer, and a sound warmer, Magma can squash sounds with reverb-like big shaking auras, or sprinkle air and make lines ethereal.

Magma continuously records the incoming signal in a short buffer, it then plays back the content by blending different moments in time, creating a texture. User can set the density and the persistence of the texture, that can sound as a reverb, an infinite sustain, a sort of spectral shadow, creating everything in between dark drones, shimmery textures and weird percussive timbres.

Several parameters let user sculpt the texture: an EQ section, a Temperature knob (a specifically designed distortion adds a noise-based amplitude modulation on higher values), and a Mid/Side knob to handle its weight in space.”

Magma is available now with the following pricing:

Launch price: €3.49 /$2.99 (until March 31)

Regular price: €7.99/$6.99 (after March 31)