Matt Lara of ISOGRID let us know that they’ve been listening to feedback about their recently introduced Korg NTS-1 Eurorack module, and they’ve updated the design to support modular output levels.
Lara’s message:
“First off, we wanted to say thank you for supporting our conversion kit and sharing it with the world. We are beyond grateful. The positive response to our conversion kit has been incredible! We’ve listened to everyone’s feedback, and one request stands out: EURORACK OUTPUT LEVELS.
We want to let everyone know that we hear them, and we’re excited to announce that the next NTS-1 drop will feature an AMPED OUTPUT version at the same price. For our first customers, we are providing a new plug and play power unit which will contain the noise isolator and an amp for them to replace their current power module, it’s the same size and all they have to do is pay shipping.”
The NTS-1 Eurorack Conversion Faceplate Kit is priced at $129. It is currently listed as sold out, but they say that kits will be available in the next few weeks.
Phonolyth (developer Yuri Turov) recently introduced Cascade for macOS (AU+VST3), Windows (VST3), and iOS (AUv3). The Mac version is also a Universal Binary 2, which means it runs natively on both Intel and Apple Silicon.
Cascade is a reverb and diffusion processor that they say has “an experimental edge”. It is designed with expansive modulated supernatural spaces in mind, but also features an extensive set of controls to explore other sonic territories, such as stereo widening, transient smearing, hybrid delay/reverb and chorus/flanger/resonator-like effects.
Features:
Wide range of diffusion textures spanning from subtle smearing and widening to otherworldly reverberation
Lush randomized modulation
Infinity and Freeze buttons for never-ending reverb bliss
Mix Lock for switching presets while keeping the dry/wet mix constant
Freely resizable UI with light and dark color schemes
Cross-platform preset format for sharing across plugin formats and OSes
30 factory presets
Cascade is available now, price at $29 for macOS and Windows, and $7.99 for iOS. A free demo version is also available on Phonolyth website.
This is how synthesizers worked in the victorian age
In the video, David Pantalony, Curator at Ingenium: Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation, demonstrates a 19th century vowel synthesizer.
The instrument is a Hermann von Helmholtz synthesizer, invented in the 1860’s and built by Rudolph Koenig. The Helmholtz synthesizer was designed to explore how additive synthesis can be used to create complex sounds from simple ones, and how sine waves can be combined to create different timbres, vowel sounds and more.
Helmholtz’s synthesizer generates sounds using a series of tuning forks, each pitched to different frequencies, made to vibrate using electromagnets. A keyboard is used to control the volume of each pitch, letting you play the pitches individually, or combine them as overtones of the fundamental pitch to do additive synthesis.
While this is clearly a synthesizer, it was designed primarily as a scientific instrument, rather than a musical one.
