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

Behringer has announced a Roland Juno-60 knockoff, the ‘Neptune-80’.

Behringer Neptune-80 copies the synth architecture and look of the Juno-6/60, but reduces the size of the control panel and uses a 4-octave keyboard, instead of the 5-octave keyboard of the original. It appears that Behringer may be basing the Neptune-80 dimensions on the Deepmind 12’s form factor.

The original Juno-6/60 has a simple voice architecture, with a single Digitally Controlled Oscillator (DCO) per voice. But, while its voice architecture is basic, the synth is very well designed, sounds great and has an extremely user-friendly interface.

It looks like the Neptune-80 will retain much of what has made the original popular, while adding MIDI and upping polyphony to 8 voices.

What Behringer say about the Neptune-80:

“So, for years you guys have been urging us to build one of the most sought after synths. We managed to resist for a long time, but we finally gave in;-)

Here is the fully working prototype of our Neptune-80, an 8-voice polyphonic synth with original analog matrix, BBD chorus and modern user interface such as LCD Display, USB/Midi etc.

We modeled it after the best sounding 6/60 version and we absolutely love the sound.”

Behringer Neptune-80 pricing and availability details are still to be announced. The synthesizer in the teaser images is an engineering prototype, and manufacturing is dependent on Behringer being able to obtain parts in production quantities.

Check out the images and let us know what you think of the Behringer Neptune-80 in the comments!

Are you looking for a quick, easy and free way to generate a new kick drum sound?

Get your kicks for free with this effortless online bass drum generator. Heads on to muted.io website, the answer could be awaiting you over at muted.io.

The Kick Drum Generator does exactly what its name suggests. Tweak the tuning, pitch decay, release, distortion, bitcrushing gain and compression parameters and you will hear previews of your sound as you go.

A built-in limiter should prevent any clipping, but if things start to get out of control simply click the reset button to return to the default settings. You can also reset parameters individually by double-clicking them.

Once you are satisfied and happy with your sound, clicking the download button immediately generates and saves a WAV file that you can take into your DAW, sampler or any other application or piece of hardware in your studio.

This is just one of many musical tools available on the muted.io website. Others include music theory charts and guide, a simple sequencer, a beat maker, a mini music machine and a chord player.

Roland has released Version 3.0 for the Aerophone Pro, an update that adds Intelligent Harmony and Scale Tune, and lets FANTOM owners import tones created with the synthesizer, including recorded samples.

What’s new in Aerophone Pro 3.0:

• The new Intelligent Harmony feature turns performances into diatonic arrangements. Set the key, and the harmony will follow your playing, layering up to four notes at a time. And you can connect a footswitch, like the FS-1-WL, to turn the function on and off and set the key.
• The Scale Tune Function allows you to set various scales with the choice of pure temperament, equal temperament, Arabic scales, plus your own temperament. You can use a footswitch to set the temperament key as well.
• The Version 3.0 update also gives you the ability to import new sample types several ways. FANTOM owners can create tones within their synth with user samples and transfer them to the AE-30 via USB. You can also connect a mic to FANTOM, sample acoustic instruments or other external sounds, and import those samples into the Aerophone Pro. Then, export the user scene to a USB flash drive and share it with others.

Details are available at the Roland website.