Archive for February, 2024

New Virtual Instrument Created With Aska Matsumiya


New Virtual Instrument features Ethereal Sound Of Crystal Bowls.

Spitfire Audio has introduced Aska Matsumiya – Crystal Bowls, a new virtual instrument created from the vibrations of high-purity quartz crystal bowls, created in collaboration with composer Aska Matsumiya (Home, After Yang, Betty).

What they say about it:

“Traditionally known for their use in meditation practice and sound therapy, we’ve transported these otherworldly instruments into the cinematic realm by capturing a detailed and diverse range of performance styles in the resonant acoustics of the Hackney Round Chapel, London.

Mix and move between a wide spectrum of textures within our intuitively designed plugin to create intense atmospheric soundscapes — from percussive, shimmering shorts to deep, long-lasting resonances, as well as a range of contemporary warped presets. Designed to breathe new life into any genre of music — from ambient minimalism to ethereal cinematic scores.”


Features:

  • A 7-piece set of rare crystal singing bowls made from high-purity quartz
  • Tuned to C, D, E, F, G, A, and B at a frequency of 432 Hz
  • Recorded in the expansive acoustics of London’s Hackney Round Chapel, with a clear and resonant reverb
  • Presented in an elegant, user-friendly interface equipped with intuitive controls
  • Four controls to help shape your sound – Attack, Release, Offset and Reverb (using an IR captured in the Round Chapel)
  • 5 Crystal Bowl playing styles
  • Mix between a range of six traditional and contemporary beaters – Brushes, Soft Mallet, Sticks, Rubber Mallet, Plastic Mallet, Hot Rods
  • Two tuning fork sounds for higher, sharper tones
  • One signal created from a mix of Close, Room, Gallery positions
  • Six warped sounds made by running the crystal bowls through guitar pedals and granular synths
  • 1 GB

Aska Matsumiya – Crystal Bowls is available now for $99.

Corsynth Dual LFO for MU Modular Systems

Spanish modular synth manufacturer Corsynth has announced a new Dual LFO for MU format modular systems (5U/Moog Format).

They describe it as “a dual LFO, with some interesting features.”

Features:

  • Two LFOs in one space.
  • LFO1 range : 20 seconds per cycle to 20Hz (can be extended using CV).
  • LFO2 range : 40 seconds per cycle to 10Hz
  • Each LFO has an independent Sync input that will reset the LFO.
  • LFO1 is voltage controlled. It has a FM input with attenuator.
  • LFO2 triangle wave is normalized to the LFO1’s FM input. This connection allows to create complex modulations without any patching. The normalization will be broken if a patch cable is inserted into the FM input.
  • LFO1 has two waveforms available simultaneously Triangle and Saw
  • LFO2 has three waveforms available simultaneously, Triangle, Sine and Square.

The Corsynth Dual LFO is available to preorder for a limited time for 10% off the final price of €220 +VAT.

 

 

 

DIY MIDI Controller Roland JD-Xi


Maker and musician Oliver Hagen has designed a custom MIDI controller for the Roland JD-Xi synthesizer, the DivingBoard.

The Roland JD-Xi has a very powerful synth engine – boasting a basic analog voice, a drum machine and a 128-voice digital synth – but is minisynth, with limited controls, making patch programming slow. Developers have created multiple JD-Xi patch editor options, as a result.

The DivingBoard, though, is a home-made MIDI hardware controller. It’s designed “to solve the lack of parameter accessibility on the Roland JD-Xi synthesizer,” notes Hagen. “It differs from other solutions I’ve seen, in that customizability and potential ease-of-use are greater, and general use with a range of synthesizers is possible.”

It is a DIY project, and materials are estimated to be about £60-£70. Find out more on the project website.