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

Korg has unveils its latest and is also one of the most unexpected – a new portable record player, Handytraxx, that takes inspiration from the Vestax Handy Trax, a take-it-anywhere turntable that was doing the rounds in the early noughties.

This has since become popular in the ‘portablism’ space, which is filled with people who DJ using easily transportable gear. And so, sensing an opportunity, Korg enlisted the late former Vestax president, Toshihide Nakama, who sadly died last year before this project could be completed, to advise on a new version of the Handy Trax with additional features.

So, not only is Korg’s Handytraxx turntable a scratch-friendly portable deck, but it also comes with creative filters and a built-in looper with variable playback speed function. A cue function and monitoring mean that you can play the looper while listening to your record in your headphones, creating a unique kind of DJing setup. A crossfader with reverse mode enables you to flip between the two sources.

The new Handytraxx will be able to run on AAA battery or USB-C power and come with built-in speakers. You can also expect it to have a detachable control panel, replaceable crossfader and MM cartridge support.

There’s no word yet on when the Handytraxx will be released, but we do know that a non-playable prototype will be on display at the 2024 NAMM Show.

Audient heads into immersive territory with the Oria audio interface and monitor controller. ‘Atmos just got easy’, it can handle everything from everything from stereo to 9.1.6 setups.

You might familiar with Audient via its range of excellent budget and mid-level audio interfaces, but let’s not forget that the company began life as a manufacturer of high-end studio gear, and it’s this market that it appears to be targeting with its new Oria immersive audio interface and monitor controller.

Designed for use with multi-speaker arrays – everything from stereo setups to 9.1.6 setups – Oria isn’t an interface that’s likely to entice the project studio owner, but if you have a larger-scale facility there could be plenty here to grab your attention. As well as being a USB-C audio interface with 16 outputs, it can also integrate into your existing studio setup as a standalone monitor controller via its ADAT Inputs or the Optional Dante Card.

Room calibration is another notable feature; Audient has partnered with Sonarworks to offer support for the latter company’s SoundID Reference profiles. This means that, in theory, you can measure and calibrate your room in under an hour, a task that’s made simple thanks to the inclusion of a Sonarworks Reference Measurement microphone and a 60-day free trial of the SoundID Reference for Multichannel software.

Once the calibration is complete, you can take charge of your stereo, surround or Dolby Atmos setup via the dedicated desktop software and remotely on an iPad. Integration with the Dolby Atmos Renderer is also on the way.

“As immersive audio continues to become more prevalent across music, film, TV, game and VR production, our goal was to design a purpose-driven and affordable solution for those wanting to work in the immersive space,” says Audient’s Andrew Allen.

“Oria is designed to prioritise immersive audio workflows, giving you onboard room and speaker calibration DSP, true immersive monitoring control and professional audio performance, alongside intelligent integrations with Sonarworks and Dolby Atmos.”

Oria will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2024 priced at $2,625/£2,520/€2,885. The optional Dante card will cost $625/£600/$625. Find out more on the Audient website.

u-he is releasing the cutdown version of its new synth before the full-blown Zebra 3.

It’s not just hardware synths that get launched at the NAMM Show; sometimes, we see new software instruments, as well. That said, u-he’s Zebralette 3 is a little unusual in that it’s a cutdown version of a synth plugin that hasn’t even been released yet.

Set to appear in beta in Anaheim, Zebralette 3 is a single-oscillator version of the synth that will eventually be released as Zebra 3, the latest version of u-he’s most enduringly popular products. It also features one Zebra MSEG and, according to u-he’s Urs Heckmann, “a bit of surrounding stuff, made up from standard modules we have”.

Writing on the KVR Forum, Heckmann goes on to explain that “It works as its own synth because the oscillator is pretty capable on its own. In the past 10+ years I’ve been on and off able to work on a new version, which increases the consistency between visual editors, and vastly expands sonic possibilities.”

As for the “tingling question” of when Zebra 3 will be ready, Heckmann says that it’s hard to put a precise date on that. He is making positive noises, though: “once Zebralette 3 is finished, the largest chunk of work on Zebra 3 is done as well. Also, our team has been making big progress in areas that are not part of Zebralette. We’ll know more once we get there.”

This being a beta version of Zebralette 3, Heckmann says that it’s “feature complete but still a bit buggy,” which is to be expected. It’ll go in front of the public fairly soon after NAMM, though, and Heckman is confident that it’ll be “one of the most comprehensive wavetable generation tools available, and like its predecessor, it’ll be free.”

Keep up with developments on the u-he website.