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

Haxophone is an inexpensive open source ‘hackable saxophone’, based on a Raspberry Pi HAT.

The mechanical keys and custom ergonomics are designed to give Haxophone a satisfying feel. The design is fully open source, hackable and OSHWA certified. This means that you can make Haxophone entirely your own, from changing the type of key switches to making your own note and instrument mappings.

The developer says that the Haxophone is a good fit for musicians who are also hackers, or for hackers looking for a fun musical project that won’t break the bank.

The Haxophone has been designed to utilize standard mechanical key switches as fingering keys. These are cheaper, more reliable and more repairable than the custom molded keys that you find on digital saxophones.

Haxophone is designed as a HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) for the Raspberry Pi family of single-board computers. The HAT includes an audio amplifier, so Haxophone does not need to rely on the amplifier built into the Raspberry Pi 3 and 4. This means the HAT will work with the least expensive of the Pi family, the Raspberry Pi Zero.

In order to keep costs down, the Haxophone PCB (printed circuit board) is an integral part of the physical structure of the Haxophone. Meaning that the key switches, thumb rests, mouthpiece and Raspberry Pi are all attached directly to the PCB. The side keys (left palm and right knuckle keys) are mounted on smaller PCBs and attached to the main PCB via right angle metal brackets. These smaller PCBs are manufactured as detachable panels, bringing down the manufacturing cost. Haxophone is an open source DIY project. See the project website for details.

Features:

• Custom Raspberry Pi HAT PCB
• Software:
  • haxo-rs: This is the driver that detects key presses, breath and converts it into notes. It’s written in Rust, and compiled on the Raspberry Pi into a native application
  • fluidsynth: This is the synthesizer software that will convert notes into sounds
• Tactile-feedback 5-pin mechanical switches
• Mechanical keycaps
• Breath pressure sensor
• Built-in audio amplifier (works with no-audio Raspberry Pi’s like the Zero and the Zero W) with 3.5mm audio out mini-jack
• Serial console for hacking

Italian synth maker GRP Synthesizer has introduced a new compact analog synth, the GRP A1.

The GRP A1 is an analog desktop instrument that can be used as a compact tabletop synth or as part of a Eurorack modular system. Features include a MIDI-CV interface, dual LFOs, VCO, suboscillator, noise, an 18dB VCF and ADSR EG. 11 patch points mean that you can use GRP A1 to process external signals, or integrate it with other Eurorack gear.

What they say about it:

“The Grp A1 monophonic synthesizer can be used as a stand-alone musical instrument or can be used to filter external signals through the Low Pass 18dB VCF resonant circuit. The presence of three internal signals (VCO, SUB and NOISE) ensures timbral power and ease of use. With the two Low Frequency Oscillators – LFOs (the first, integrates a Sample & Hold S&H) and the Envelope Generator ADSR, you can sculpt cyclic or transient modulation behavior.

The instrument can be powered via a USB type C cable connected to any USB 2.5A power supply.

It can also be taken out of its cabinet to be easily installed in any EuroRack modular system; it can be powered using the normal flat cables supplied with EuroRack systems.”

GRP A1 demo video, via SchneidersLaden:

Grp Synthesizer A1 is available now for € 491 plus VAT. via Dave Makoun

The Zen-Core-powered soft synth gets an update. Roland Zenology Pro plugin hits version 2.0: more sounds and a refined user interface

Zenology Pro is the plugin home for Roland’s flagship Zen-Core synthesis engine, which is used to power its finest software and hardware synths. It’s now been updated to version 2.0, which adds a variety of new features.

For a start, there are now 500 additional presets, while the refined user interface promises a new structure view, click-and-drag resizing, visual feedback and more. Zenology Pro’s inflexible GUI has been redesigned to improve the software’s workflow.

Other enhancements include a fully integrated browser view and a new reverb section with eight distinct algorithms.

Besides that, the fundamentals of Zenology Pro remain in place. You start with 4,000 tones and 200 drum kits, expandable to a total of more than 10,000 via sound packs and Wave Expansions on the Roland Cloud. Each tone can be made up of up to four partials, each of which has an oscillator, filter, amplifier, dual LFOs and equaliser.

The synth explores a variety of synthesis types, including PCM, virtual between Partials – Supersaw and Noise. There are 10 filter types, eleven LFO shapes (including tempo-synced Step LFOs with 37 curves per step) and more than 90 effects, some of which are inspired by classic hardware from the Roland archive.

If you own Zen-Core hardware, the good news is that sounds are exchangeable between that and Zenology Pro. Current Zen-Core offerings include the Fantom and Jupiter-X ranges, Juno-X, RD-88 , MC-101, MC-707 and more. Zenology Pro 2.0 is available as part of a Roland Cloud Pro ($10/month) or Ultimate ($20/month) subscription. Find out more and sign up for a free trial on the Roland website.