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

Dream Theater keyboard maestro Jordan Rudess, revealed that he’s in the process of creating a Heath Robinson hybrid that comprises both a 49-note MIDI controller and an electric guitar.

For some, being able to play multiple instruments just isn’t enough – they want to be able to play them at the same time.

Designed in collaboration with Druzkowski Guitars, this might not be the most elegant of solutions, but it does enable Rudess to fulfil his dream of being able to play guitar and keyboard pretty much simultaneously. It’s very much a prototype at the moment, with bits of it seemingly held together with Gaffer tape, but as Rudess reveals in the video above, it’s already playable.

It seems that the idea for the instrument may have been born when Rudess posted a video of him attempting to play guitar and keyboard simultaneously about a year ago. One commenter on the clip, Jedi Council, responded by saying: “Bro. I just had an insane idea. We need a Twin neck, guit-synth. One neck mini keyboard, other neck guitar. Load it up with effects and call it The Wizards Axe [sic]”.

Whether that’s what Rudess’s finished creation will be called remains to be seen, but he’s clearly excited about the prospect of it being built.

“I’m very excited,” says Rudess (told you), “because today I got to look at the very first prototype of a new instrument I’m designing with Przemek Druzkowski, the master guitar builder. This is the first prototype and I’m blown away because I didn’t expect to see it today. You can see that it’s all one piece. It’s totally a prototype and I’m sharing it with you guys so you can be excited about it as well.”

Although it looks a little heavy and unwieldy, Rudess later reassures his viewers that “It weighs about as much as a Les Paul… It’s going to be awesome. It will feature one of Przemek’s guitar designs and it will have a MIDI keyboard below.”
Reports that version 2 of the product will include a foot-operated, back-mounted kick drum and a harmonica on a neck strap are still to be confirmed.

Void And Vista has introduced Strands, a virtual instrument for Native Instruments Kontakt that they say combines expressive, characterful and unique sampling with powerful sound design features and an inspiring interface.

Featuring 32 sound sources, based on the concept of bowed textures both real and imagined, it’s designed to be ideal for contemporary media composers, writers of production music and sound designers.

What they say about it:

“Built around an original set of bowed sound sources (including: acoustic and electric guitar, bass, viola, vibraphone), Strands also features a collection of Effects sounds (such as a bowed cymbals, wine glasses and synthetically deconstructed and processed sounds using eurorack modular and pedal FX) and sampled synth waveforms from a collection of analog hardware.”

Features:

• Nearly a thousand presets
• 5gb of samples
• 32 Sound Sources
• Layered sound design engine
• UI with over 150 controls
• 2 Morph Layers
• Expressive Dynamics
• 2 LFOs & 6 Envelopes
• 2 Multi-Mode Filters
• A customizable Lofi effect
• 3-stage parallel multi-FX
• Convolution with user impulse response import
• Dedicated Send FX
• Custom MIDI mapping page
• Download & install via Native Access

Compatibility:

• NKS / Kontakt Player Compatible – (Available in VST, VST3, AAX & AU)
• Compatible with all major DAWs
• Kontakt 6.7.0 or higher
• macOS 10.14 or above – Natively compatible w/ Apple Silicon
• Windows 10 & 11

Strands is available now for £99 until March 25th, 2023 (will be £129).

Neutral Labs has introduced 2 new Eurorack modules:

• PIP, a dual clocked CV generator/recorder; and
• Nijel, a 4 HP distortion module.

PIP is a dual clocked CV generator/recorder. It offers two morphable CV generators/complex LFOs in 8 HP that can be synced to each other in predefined ratios, unsynced or phase-shifted between each other.

You can choose from a large variety of preset waveforms or random waves. The module also allows you to record, morph and time-stretch your own external CV or knob movements.

Pip is available now as an assembled module or full DIY kit from retailers.

NIJEL is a 4 HP distortion module that enables you change its character by plugging in components like diodes, capacitors or resistors directly to the front panel. Assembled modules and DIY kits come with a set of small components for experimentation. A set of preset cartridges is also available, which gives you instant access to a variety of sounds. The preset cards are also compatible with the Neutral Labs Scrat customisable multimode filter.

Nijel is available now as an assembled module or full DIY kit from retailers. The set of 4 preset cards called Nuts (Acorn, Almond, Cashew and Pecan) is recommended, but not necessary to operate the module and so it is sold separately.