Behringer today shared a sneak preview of a new frankensynth, the BX700, that takes parts from classic analog and digital synths alike, adds a drum machine and remixes it all into a minisynth groovebox.
BX700 is also much more original than their straight-ahead knockoff designs.
Behringer describes the BX700 as “a DX7 on steroids, as it has an authentic CS-80 analog filter, a drum machine built in and a few other cool features.”
The BX700 appears to take a 6-operator FM synth engine, based on the Yamaha DX7, and run the output through an analog filter based on the Yamaha CX-80. This is similar to what Arturia did with the Minifreak, combining a polyphonic digital synth engine with a single analog filter, used more as a global effect than as a core part of the synth engine.
The Behringer BX700 prototype also features mute buttons for Synth, Bass, and three Drum parts, so it’s clear that the instrument has groovebox features that will let you sequence 5 parts.
Details on the Behringer BX700 synthesizer are still to come. In the meantime, check it out and share your thoughts in the comments!
Electronic Music Works (EMW) shared this preview of the new T-Sequencer, a Eurorack module that combines Turing Machine algorithmic sequencing and quantizer features.
The original Music Thing Modular’s Turing Machine is a module that creates clocked stepped randomly changing control voltages that can be locked into loops of repeating notes. By combining this with a quantizer, it can create random riffs that often sound very musical.
What EMW say about the T-Sequencer:
“Introducing the T-Sequencer module — a versatile and inspiring tool designed to ignite your musical imagination and push the boundaries of sonic exploration.
The Turing is more than just a traditional sequencer; it’s a dynamic hub for unleashing your creativity and crafting intricate musical patterns.
With its intuitive interface and innovative features, this module empowers you to create captivating sequences that evolve and surprise with every note.”
Manifest Audio (MFA) has introduced X-Ponder. It is like a “musical AI chatbot” for Ableton Live: play it some MIDI notes and it will play some back for you.
X-Ponder sounds like such a good idea for a MIDI device that we’re almost surprised no one has thought of it before.
Although it does not use any kind of machine learning, its developer says that you can think of it “like a musical AI chatbot”. Why? Because if you feed it some MIDI notes, it will give you a musical response based on the pitches, chords, velocities and note lengths.
When used in manual mode, X-Ponder works a little like a looper pedal. Punch in for it to start ‘listening’, and punch out for it to start playing indefinitely based on the material you gave it.
Fixed mode enables you to set specific intervals (in bars) for the calling and responding – useful for improvisation – and Listen mode incorporates a user-defined period of silence before the device responds.
By default, X-Ponder’s memory will be wiped every time it starts listening, but by switching to Long memory mode, new MIDI data will be added to its stored history, giving it an expanded number of notes and chords to draw on.
X-Ponder’s output is constrained within your chosen scale and key, but because it’s MIDI, it can be transposed or used with any instrument you like. A visualiser enables you to compare the input and the output.
Supplied as a Max for Live device for PC and Mac, X-Ponder runs in Ableton Live 10.1 or later and requires Max for Live 8.5 or later.
