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

Ultimate Patches has released the microKORG 2023 Ultimate Patches, an all-new patch library that celebrates the synth’s 20th year on the market.

The patches are also compatible with microKORG S, microKORG Plug-in VST, and MS-2000 series synths.

microKORG 2023 Ultimate Patches features 300 new patches, covering futuristic digital, authentic vintage analog, classic leads, basses and evolving pads, and traditional non-synth instruments, including B3 and Vox organs, classic 60s, 70s and 80s Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, orchestral instruments, world percussion, 80s guitars & basses and more.

The collection spans the genres of modern and vintage pop, synthwave, cinematic, orchestral, latin, futurestep, classic 70s rock, vintage and modern hip hop, country, reggae, retrocade, trap, chiptune, 70s soul, dubstep, reggaeton, deep house, vaporwave, trance, techno, tech house, futurepop, experimental, modular and jazz.

microKORG 2023 Ultimate Patches is available now, with intro prices of $14.99 per Volume (100 Ultimate Patches) or $29.99 for all 3 volumes (300 Ultimate Patches). A Free Patches Pack from the collection is also available.

Developer Igor Vasiliev has introduced GlitchScaper, a rhythm machine with six sound generators, each controlled by a two-layer cycle sequencer, designed for making “glitchy patterns and scapes”.

The developers say that “GlitchScaper is great for creating simple beats with an interesting and unusual sound, but it was originally designed for digital distorted patterns with longer steps that blend perfectly with the rhythms of classic drum machines and sequencers.”

Each generator has separate options for making sequences and tones. The parameters of the new sequences and tones are set randomly, but are guided by several user-defined options, which in outline define the steps of the sequence and the type of tone or noise.

This allows you make a quick draft of a pattern and then simply tweak it to get the final sound. The advanced copy function gives you ability to quickly make a new preset by copying sequences and tones from existing ones.

The tone generator makes bright and rich sounds ,based on 12 complex waveforms or various types of noise, and can also use an external input as a signal source. Effects transform the tone from smoothly varying to full of squeaks and rattles. Each effect is modulated by a special envelope generator with different shapes that change throughout the sequencer step.

The sound generators have individual spatial effects, as well as a common reverb space for all generators that adds an ambient layer to the final mix. The final mix can be even brighter and heavy or pumping with the built-in harmonic exciter and bass enhancer.

GlitchScaper is a universal application for iOS and macOS. It can work on iPhone and iPad as well as Mac / MacBook with M1 chip (and later). GlitchScaper works on iPhone and iPad standalone, as an Audio Unit or Inter-App Audio module, and supports Audiobus and Ableton Link. On MacOS, GlitchScaper can works both as a standalone application and as an Audio unit (AUv3) with DAWs and audio unit hosts like Ableton Live, Logic Pro, GarageBand, MainStage, Cockos Reaper, Plogue Bidule, Hosting AU, and other hosts that support AUv3 plugins.

All application features are available on iOS and macOS, including MIDI support (with a MIDI learn option) and audio unit parameters. GlitchScaper has a built-in detailed description of all parameters also available as PDF file on the application website.

GlitchScaper is available now for $15.99

The classic loop reimagined with multiple tonal variations – A drummer has recorded 75 new versions of the Amen Break for you to use in your music.

The Beat Shed has introduced The Amen Break Re-recorded, a new loop library that offers 75 new takes on the famous ‘Amen Break’.

Don’t mess with classics, they say, and drummer Merlin Mathews – co-founder of drum and percussion loop/sample library The Beat Shed – is happy to agree that you can’t improve on the “perfect” Amen break, which is regularly cited as the most sampled drum loop in history. But what if you could hear it differently, with subtle tonal variations?

This idea inspired Mathews and his business partner Kimberley Rew to create The Amen Break Re-recorded, a new sample library that features 75 new versions of the classic loop. This was created using three kick drums, five snares and five ride cymbals, each of which went through a recording setup designed to achieve the “maximum possible sonic contrast”. The break was then performed using every possible combination of these sounds.

The sample pack contains 77 drum loops, all of which clock in at 136bpm, and there are also 11 additional percussion loops. It’s available in multiple different formats – WAV, REX2, Apple Loops, Stylus RMX and full multitrack – and prices range from £22.50 to £29.50. You can find out more about the gear used and the recording process on The Beat Shed website.

The producers note that, because the Amen break is such a ‘busy’ groove, you may hear audible artefacts if you decrease the tempo by more than 10bpm when using one of the ‘sliced’ formats, which may be something to be aware of.

If you haven’t heard of the Amen Break, the original Amen Break is a six-second, four-bar drum solo performed by Gregory C. Coleman in the Winstons’ 1969 song Amen Brother, a B-side to the single Colour Him Father. It’s been sampled in thousands of songs, and is one of the foundation of several electronic music genres , such as drum & bass, and jungle.

If you do not want to use a sample, another option would be to re-record the break yourself. The Amen Break Re-recorded is available now, priced starting from £22.50.