At Superbooth 2023, Korg Berlin was sharing a preview of the Acoustic Synthesis_phase5, a prototype acoustic synthesis instrument.
In this video, synth designer and Korg Berlin CEO Tatsuya ‘Tats’ Takahashi shares a preview of the unusual synth with Reverb’s Fess Grandiose.
While most electronic musicians think about synthesizers as instruments that generate sound completely electronically, in the 1850s, the German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz created devices that could synthesize sound electroacoustically, using an early type of additive synthesis. The Helmholtz Synthesizer was designed for scientific research, though, not musical performance.
The Acoustic Synthesis_phase5 builds on similar ideas, but seems closer to the work of Paul Vo, who created the Moog Guitar and the Vo-96 Guitar, instruments that implement forms of acoustic synthesis with guitar strings.
Like the Helmholtz Synthesizer, the Acoustic Synthesis_phase5 is based on electromechanical control of tuning fork, and lets you mix overtones to shape sounds. But Korg’s device is designed to be a musical instrument, so it can be played chromatically. Because it’s built around resonating tines, the instrument can have initial attack qualities similar to a Fender Rhodes. But it can also sustain notes indefinitely and it can feedback like an electric guitar.
While both the Vo-96 Guitar and Acoustic Synthesis_phase5 give you granular control over the harmonics of the sounds they generate, the range of sounds that the instruments can create is constrained by the physical qualities of the instrument. So the VO-96 can create a wide range of sounds, but they all sound guitar-like, and the Acoustic Synthesis_phase5 creates sounds that have a bell-like quality that’s similar to a Rhodes piano.
The phase5 is a prototype, so no details on specifications, pricing or availability have been announced at this time.
HoRNet’s Magnus Lite is a free brickwall limiter and clipper plugin that promises “complete control over the loudness of your audio”
Each of these elements has its own gain control. On the clipper, this adjusts the input level of the audio signal, so you can set the desired loudness level and shape the sound of your audio. On the limiter, the gain control is designed to prevent the audio level from exceeding a fixed threshold of -0.2dB, hopefully ensuring that your sound is clear and free of distortion.
Taken together, HoRNet claims that Magnus Lite gives you “complete control over the loudness of your audio”. The limiter also has a release control, so you can adjust how quickly the limiter releases the gain reduction after the signal falls below the threshold. We’re told that this helps to ensure that you can fine-tune the balance between loudness and clarity.
Magnus Lite has achieves its aims. The interface is as simple as they come (one-knob plugins notwithstanding) and can operate in both light and dark modes to suit your mood or the time of day you’re working.
In order to download Magnus Lite, you will need to share it to either Twitter or Facebook via the HoRNet website, but otherwise it’s completely free. It runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats.
Cut down on your heating bill with Overheat, Sampleson’s free analogue-style saturation plugin.
Saturation is the aurally satisfying, harmonically flavoursome by-product of pushing analogue signals just a little hard. Sampleson Overheat is a new, free option for you to try.
Like most plugins, you can use Overheat for both subtle and more extreme saturation, and on individual tracks or across an entire mix. You can adjust the input/output gain and drive level, and there are a couple of tone-shaping controls, too (Color and a low-pass filter).
Sampleson says that Overheat produces a “more realistic and natural-sounding saturation effect” than some of its rivals because it models the harmonic content of the signal before it undergoes non-linear processing. If that doesn’t mean much to you, the upshot is that harmonics are added in a musical and pleasing way. That’s the theory, anyway.
Overheat runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU formats and is said to deliver low CPU usage. Its parameters can be automated in your DAW, and there’s a scalable HD interface. You’ll need to hand over your email address if you want it, but otherwise it’s completely free.
