sonicLAB has released a major update to it’s Fundamental, a sound synthesis tool based on early electronic music tools.
According to the developer, “Fundamental feels like something Stockhausen, Xenakis and HAL 9000 might have dreamt up after a bender; recalling the past of electronic music through a dynamic modern interpretation of massive German vacuum oscillator.”
Fundamental’s wave engine is a recreation of a vintage Rohde & Schwartz vacuum tube oscillator, used at WDR by Stockhausen. Fundamental leaves behind the limitations of the original device, though, with an instrument design that adds effective modulation possibilities; stochastic distributions addressing the sonic parameters like frequency, gain, panning; and more.
What’s new in Fundamental 3:
Fundamental3 adds a built-in stochastic sequencer driving all its oscillators as sequencer events with sample accuracy.
A stochastic sequencer calculates its event with probabilistic functions to decide their onset time and durations to distribute them on the sequence time line.
The sequence length can be changed with probabilistic means after each cycle.
One can deterministically distribute events as well, multiply the durations / compress or expand the sequence distribution.
One can select and edit the duration and onset time of each event, freeze the current distribution, and quantize the onset and duration values.
Fundamental3 offers oscillator cloning, where each oscillator has a unique clone with custom detuning and unique GEN modulators.
Fundamental3 offers additional set of envelopes which are applied on sequence event apart from the ones on the oscillator gain level mixer.
Fundamental 3 is available now for Windows and Mac as part of the sonicLAB Oscillator bundle for € 183,00.
New bundle is both history lesson and quirky duo of instruments.
Cherry Audio has introduced a collection of virtual instruments that emulate two early electronic instrument: the Novachord and the Solovox.
Both instruments hailed from the Hammond stable. Novachord is based on the revolutionary polyphonic instrument from 1939, while Solovox replicates a related monophonic keyboard instrument that was intended to provide organ-style leads.
The Cherry Audio Novachord is a significantly enhanced that offers 32 polyphonic voices, a resonant bandpass filter network of three resonators, the Brilliant, Deep, and Full tone settings of the original, seven Attack/Decay/Sustain envelope options, adjustable depth vibrato, and an integrated reverb effect with Room and Hall algorithms.
The Novachord built-in amp and speakers have also been emulated, and the look of the original – white Plakson and black Bakelite keys, teardrop levers and cherry wood – has also been replicated.
Cherry Audio Sono Solovix arrives with combinable Bass, Tenor, Contralto and Soprano switches, First Voice and Second Voice two-pole bandpass filters with level controls and variable centre frequencies, Deep and Brilliant tone settings, adjustable glide and fixed-rate vibrato, a mute control to filter harmonics from the oscillator voice, and an integrated reverb effect with Room algorithm and speaker emulation.
Extra authenticity points are earned for the way the vacuum tubes light up and respond to changes in settings.
Taken as a whole, Cherry Audio’s Novachord + Solovox collection also offers 100 combined presets, flexible MIDI mapping, and its focus zoom-in feature.
Novachord + Solovox is available now with an introductory price of $39 (normally $59) and runs in VST/AU/AAX formats. A free 30-day demo is available. Find out more on the Cherry Audio website.
What they shared about Novachord + Solovox:
Manufactured by the Hammond company from 1939 to 1942 and debuting at the World’s Fair, the Novachord contained 163 vacuum tubes and over 1,000 custom capacitors. Its divide-down oscillator architecture combined full 72-key polyphony with an early version of analog subtractive synthesis. The Novachord’s architecture predicted the ADSR envelope, utilized a resonant band-pass filter, and included a vibrato unit.
Despite its historical importance, the Novachord did not enjoy commercial success. Although it resembled a standard organ at a glance, the front panel controls were not well-suited to the performance techniques of organists or pianists of the period. Production stopped in 1942, with Hammond only manufacturing around 1,000 Novachords.
Nevertheless, the instrument was used for decades on many notable era recordings, such as We’ll Meet Again by Vera Lynn and Brother Bones’s Sweet Georgia Brown. It was also prominently featured in film soundtracks including the intermission for “Gone With the Wind” and in the scores of “Rebecca,” “The Maltese Falcon,” and “The Ten Commandments.” It is best remembered for its otherworldly sound as heard in horror and sci-fi genre productions such as “Cat People,” “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms,” “20 Million Miles to Earth,” and “The Gorgon.”
On television, the Novachord remained a favorite of composers including Jerry Goldsmith and Harry Lubin in their work for The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, respectively. Today, fewer than 200 Novachords exist, and it is said that only five remain in operation.
The Solovox, manufactured by Hammond between 1940 and 1950, was another classic instrument of the era. Based on the Novachord’s oscillator and divider circuits, the Solovox with its 18 vacuum tubes was a small monophonic keyboard instrument attached beneath a piano keyboard and intended to augment it with organ-type lead voices.
It consisted of two units: the three-octave mini keyboard, and a tone cabinet for the electronic sound generator, amplifier, and loudspeaker. Like the Clavioline and Ondioline, the Solovox produced a range of string, woodwind, and organ sounds and was widely used in light music from the 1940s and into the 1960s. Unfortunately, the introduction of compact transistor organs released in the 60s marked the end of the Solovox’s popularity.
Jason Hotchkiss of Sixty Four Pixels shared this preview of Le Grand Strum, a new version of their strummable MIDI controller.
Le Grand Strum comes pre-assembled, in a larger format, with high quality 12mm tactile switches and gold plated strum pads.
To play MIDI notes, you hold down one of the chord buttons and touch the tip of the stylus to the strum plate. The contacts on the strum plate are mapped to notes of the chord across multiple octaves and you can create guitar-like strums, chord sweeps and arpeggios by moving the stylus across the strum plate.
Features:
36 chord buttons give you immediate access to 84 different chords (maj, min, dom7, maj7, min7, aug, dim for 12 root notes). You can also play sus4, add6 and add9 chord variations (with some limitations)
The 16 pad, gold plated strum plate has a tapering layout which allows fast chord strums at the top and individual note picking at the bottom.
Two new circular strum areas duplicate notes from the main pads and allow you to play continuous arpeggios by moving the stylus in a circular motion.
Multiple chord modes are offered, including stacked triads, guitar chord voicing, “drone” chords on second MIDI channel and scale mapping for playing melodies
5 pin MIDI socket for direct connection MIDI synthesizer hardware or to a computer (Using a suitable MIDI interface/USB-MIDI cable)
Long life from a 9V PP3 battery (7mA current draw typical). Battery not included
Integral enclosed acrylic base plate with leather stylus holder and acrylic side legs/hand-grips and non-slip rubber feet
Open-source hardware and firmware and hackable design – with PCB pads for attaching a second stylus and external pads or strings
