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

Behringer today introduced Radar, a contact & pickup mic module for Eurorack modular synthesizers.

The Behringer Radar appears to be closely based on the Mutable Instruments & Music Thing Modular Ears module.

What Behringer say about it:

“The RADAR sports a pickup microphone placed right underneath the surface of the module. Simply tapping or scratching the textured surface will convert those into signals that can be patched into any module of your choice to create ambient, echoey sound effects, creepy bangs or any sound you can imagine!

The pickup on the RADAR is even sensitive enough to capture any surrounding acoustic waves be it a knock on your modular case, a snare hit from your drummer or even sounds coming out of loudspeakers. Those sounds can then be converted into gate or envelope signals and tweaked with the Gate Sensitivity or Attack and Decay controls respectively.”

[ad#ad-1]

Features:

• Pickup microphone to generate wide range of sonic pulses and impulse combs
• Create unique sounds by scratching and tapping the RADAR surface
• Collect acoustic waves surrounding your modular case including loudspeakers
• Connect external microphones, electro-acoustic instruments such as guitars or line-level signals
• Amplifier with up to 50 dB of gain for a wide range of signal sources
• 3 indicator LEDs to monitor input clipping, envelope follower level, and gate detector activity
• Gate detector with 3 sensitivity levels translates taps into gate signals
• Envelope follower with 3 attack and release times converts tap profile into an envelope CV
• 4 controls and switches give you real-time access to important parameters
• Eurorack specs: 6 HP,10 mA +12 V, 5 mA -12 V

The Behringer Radar is shipping from their factory now, with a list price of $79.

There are many effect plugins out there are being designed with more descriptive section names to make them easier to understand. Ujam’s new UFX Reverb is a case in point. Add a sprinkling of ‘AI’ and this could be the most ‘2023’ plugin out there.

The main modes in UFX Reverb might not sport familiar names then, but they do contain everything you need from a reverb. Mode has the main Reverb type, with a drop-down menu containing 10 reverb engines including Room, Hall, 80s, Reverse and Gated.

The Dimension Mode is all about reverb times, so you get controls for Predelay, Time and Size, while Character is about the physical room interaction with Diffusion, Damping and Modulation controls.

The standout area could well be the effects section to the right of the UI though. Here you get 25 filter effects ranging from standard EQs to distortions, bit crushers and lo-fi effects that will take your reverbs in many a new direction.

The Finisher section contains 50 more abstract effects that can take your reverbs into completely uncharted waters under five section headers called Basic, Move, Delay, Glitch and Beyond.

A quick tour of UFX Reverb

The neatest part of UFX Reverb is how easy it is to create your own reverbs, with everything set up so you can’t really go wrong. There’s even a ‘Surprise’ option that enables you create reverbs using random values – the parameter ranges of which you can customise – which presumably uses the AI side of the plugin to come up with results that always work.

UFX Reverb looks like being one of the widest-ranging and wildest sounding reverbs we have come across, with potentially enormous flexibility.

UFX Reverb priced at $48.99/£51/€57, and 30 days free trial available.  Find out more on the Ujam website.

Developer Michal Macura has introduced sqsl Canvas, a free app that’s described as a ‘control voltage playground’ for iPad and Eurorack.

sqsl Canvas – paired with a DC-coupled audio interface – turns your iPad into a touchscreen controller for your Eurorack modular system. Currently supported interfaces are Expert Sleepers ES-8 and Expert Sleepers ES-9.

Features:

• 8 touch strips for setting voltage level sent to outputs (1-8);
• 8 frames (memory slots) for storing level settings;
• Crossfading and switching between frames with optional external CV controls;
• Levels randomization with optional external CV control (gate);
• Global gain (inverting) with optional external CV control.
• Output voltage range is switchable: +-5V or +-10V (sliders range is 0-10V).
• Input voltage controls are clipped to +-5V range.

sqsl Canvas is available now as a free download from the App Store