Archive for June, 2024

Win Minimoog Model D + Support The Bob Moog Foundation

4 Jun, 2024  No Comment


In celebration of Bob Moog’s 90th birthday, the non-profit Bob Moog Foundation has announced its latest fundraising raffle, featuring a Minimoog Model D reissue, signed by Jordan Rudess.

The synthesizer, donated by Moog Music for the raffle, features a beautifully distinctive Appalachian Cherry cabinet. It has been customized with pulse width modulation in and LFO out modifications, and builds upon the revolutionary legacy of the Minimoog.

The Minimoog featured has serial number MD-01730. The synthesizer was produced at the Moog Music factory in Asheville, North Carolina, and has an estimated value of $5,000.

The three-oscillator, monophonic, analog synthesizer is housed in an Appalachian Cherry cabinet and hand-finished aluminum chassis.

Sounding as vibrant and deep as ever, its legendary low-pass ladder filter, powerful oscillators, and rich saturating mixer retain the exact component placement and through-hole design of a 1970s-era Minimoog Model D.

The Minimoog Model D reissue includes a series of popular functional modifications that expand this legendary instrument’s sonic capabilities. These modifications include a dedicated analog LFO with triangle and square waveshapes, a premium Fatar keybed with velocity and after pressure available via top panel CV jacks with onboard trimpots, MIDI integration, and a mixer feedback modification which allows the Minimoog Model D to overdrive and scream with the turn of a knob.The Minimoog Model D reissue also features a spring-loaded pitch wheel with center deadband, allowing for improved playability. This newest edition also includes updates to the MIDI functionality, allowing for improved modern studio integration.This modified Minimoog Model D reissue also features two new CV jacks.

  • First, the onboard LFO now has a dedicated output jack. This jack will allow you to interface your Minimoog with external equipment or the new pulse width modulation modification (PWM) CV input.
  • The PWM input is routed to the pulse width modulation modification oscillators 1, 2, and 3. PWM offers new timbres not found on stock Minimoogs. This modification was performed by Moog Music engineer Tim Johnston.

“The Minimoog became an organic friend to me because it’s designed in such a way that you can put your hand down on the key, you can turn a knob and things happen, and all the different interactions between the knobs became my world,” notes Rudess. “When I’m playing the Minimoog, I feel this like deep, organic brain-solid connection not only to the way it’s designed, but to the way that it sounds. The Minimoog was my first love when it came to synthesizers, but even now, when I have the perspective of playing so many different synths, I still go back to it fifty years later.”

The raffle is open now and ends on June 17, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. (EDT), and is open internationally. Tickets are $25 each, 5 for $100, 12 for $200, or 35 for $500. The winner will be announced on Friday, June 21, 2024.

Funds raised from the raffle will be used to expand the Bob Moog Foundation’s hallmark education project, Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool, which has inspired over 30,000 elementary school students through the science of sound. The raffle will also help support the Bob Moog Foundation Archives and the Moogseum, an immersive, experiential facility located in Asheville, North Carolina.

Behringer Syncussion SY-1 Drum Synth is Now Shipping, Priced At $199

3 Jun, 2024  No Comment

Today, Behringer announced that its Syncussion SY-1 – a knockoff of the vintage Pearl Syncussion SY-1 – is now shipping from its factory.

The SY-1 offers two drum synth voices, with six oscillator modes, each with a different character and timbre. You can choose from single oscillator, FM, dual oscillator mix, dynamic oscillator mix, FM/noise mix, and pure noise. Each mode can be shaped by adjusting the tune, decay, and filter cutoff controls. This lets you create a range of ’70s synth drum effects.

The Behringer SY-1 can be triggered by drum pads or sequenced via MIDI or analog gate signals.

Features:

  • Copies original Pearl Syncussion SY-1 circuitry
  • 6 oscillator modes featuring single oscillator, FM, dual oscillator mix, dynamic oscillator mix, FM/noise mix and pure noise
  • Tune, decay and filter cutoff controls for a wide range of percussive sounds and effects
  • Pitch sweep with speed, range and up/down controls for dramatic pitch dives and rises
  • LFO with square and triangle waves for unique vibrato effects
  • Sample and hold control for random pitch changes with each hit
  • 30 controls for direct and real-time access to important parameters
  • Module can be transferred to a standard Eurorack case
  • Trigger via MIDI or Trig inputs

The Behringer Syncussion SY-1 is shipping from the factory now, priced at $199. It can take a month or so for their shipping items to be available at retailers.

 

Aberrant DSP Introduces Lair Reverb Plugin

3 Jun, 2024  No Comment


Aberrant DSP is the maker of some of our favorite software tools. The company has announced a new product Liar.

We had high expectations, and Aberrant hasn’t let us down. Described as an “occult reverberator”, Lair is one of the weirdest reverb plugins we have come across in a very long time – this is without a doubt the only plugin release we’re aware of that’s been accompanied by a mysterious short story that describes the maker of the plugin sacrificing his ring finger in order to gain access to an interdimensional portal.

Beyond the occult theme, Lair is a capable reverb plugin, equipped with three reverb modes: Artifact is a spring reverb, Mirror offers something similar to a plate reverb, while Rift is something else entirely, generating “mystical echoes from other planes”. Each reverb mode has two unique modifiers that apply effects to the sound such as pitch-shifting and parameter randomization.

You’ll also find tone controls to filter the reverb that behave differently in each reverb mode, and a modulation control equipped with three waveforms. There’s also a drive module with three different modes, one of which is said to incorporate a “broken compressor” and the other applying a heavy flavour of distortion to the output.

In addition, Lair is equipped with the global controls you’d expect from a reverb plugin, including mix, reverb level, sparsity and pre-delay, alongside various controls for stereo width and ducking. Plus, there are 77 factory presets onboard with some rather imaginative names, such as Dusted Artifact, Secret Stairway and Mithril Foundry.

Priced at a discounted $24, Lair is available now for macOS and Windows in VST3, AU, and AAX formats.

Find out more on AberrantDSP website.

 

« Previous Page « Older Entries Newer Entries » — Next Page »