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

Anukari Music has released Anukari, a software synthesizer based on the idea of creating a network of small masses (like little ball bearings, or marbles) connected by springs.

The masses can be vibrated by striking them via MIDI input, or they can be vibrated directly via audio input, so it can act as an effect processor or reverb plugin.

Features:

• Radically New MIDI Instrument – Create a 3D instrument made from masses and springs, and then use your MIDI keyboard to trigger mallets, plectrums, bows, and traditional oscillators.
• Hook up virtual microphones to pick up the sound the 3D instrument makes. You can keep it simple, or build sprawling systems of hundreds of masses.
• Powerful Effects Processor – Anukari can accept audio input signals, either as a sidechain input alongside MIDI or as the primary input. Create 3D audio signal inputs and connect them to the parts of the physics system you want to vibrate, and then pick up the resulting sounds with virtual microphones.
• Full MPE Support – Works with both “legacy” MIDI and Midi Polyphonic Expression (MPE), so you can use a regular MIDI keyboard or your Linnstrument, Roli Seaboard, Haken Continuum, or other favorite MPE controller with Anukari. All MPE inputs can be custom-mapped to modulate arbitrary physics parameters, or left alone with their satisfying defaults so you can just play.
• In addition to the basic physics objects, there are a ton of options for modulation. Powerful sample-accurate LFOs which can operate all the way up to audio frequency for FM. MIDI-triggered envelopes. Envelope followers. The modulation matrix is simple to understand: it’s displayed via physical connections in the 3D world. And nearly every parameter can be modulated.
• Unleash the Power of Your GPU – Anukari processes audio on your graphics card (GPU), so massive compute power is available to you, leaving your CPU power available for other plugins.
• Plugin and Standalone Mode – You can run Anukari in your favorite DAW on Windows or MacOS as a VST3, AU, or AAX plugin, or run it in standalone mode to play it as a MIDI instrument without the complexity of a DAW.
• Anukari only uses a fraction of your GPU’s resources, so you can easily run multiple instances of the plugin in your DAW.
• Tactile Real-Time 3D Interface – You create the instrument’s physics layout in an intuitive 3D editor, and then see how it vibrates, flexes, spins, and moves in real-time as you play it.
• ‘Unbelievable’ Reverbs – Run external audio sources through any shape of spring system you can think of. Tune the parameters to get dark industrial caverns or crashing plates. Modulate the physics parameters with an LFO to get swirling reverb, and add delay lines for slapback or feedback effects.
• Custom 3D Visuals – Anukari has support for loading fully custom skyboxes and 3D models. Using 3D modeling software like Blender, advanced users can completely replace the 3D visuals, including the animations.

Anukari is now available as a beta release, with a discounted price of $70 (normally $140).

AJH Synth has introduced the Matrix VCF, a new Eurorack module that features sixteen different filter types and two different resonance options on each, for a total of 32 assorted resonant filters.

They say that the Matrix VCF may be the most versatile VCF ever, offering an unparalleled degree of sonic flexibility in a single 14 HP analog Eurorack module.

Each filter and filter type selection can be controlled manually through CV control, and an LED matrix provides visual feedback on current filter selection. The module also includes an integrated VCA, with dedicated input and output controls, a peak level LED and CV control of resonance.

“After two years of development we have finally released what we consider to be the most versatile Eurorack VCF & VCA ever,” said Allan Hall, founder of AJH Synth. “As with our many other modules, we used the very best vintage analogue circuitry as the starting point for the design. Then we chose to emulate the filter from the rare and highly desirable Oberheim Matrix 12 synthesizer, while vastly expanding both the sonic pallet and feature set.”

The core circuitry of the Matrix VCF is based on the rare Oberheim Matrix 12 synthesizer. The Oberheim Matrix 12 VCF originally offered a total of 15 filter types, but the AJH Matrix VCF expands this to 16, with the addition of AP4: a full four pole all pass phaser mode.

A switch on the front panel imparts a highly resonant distortion circuitry, by the filter from the Soviet Polivoks synthesizer — which has been updated and improved with vintage analogue components. Best of all, this Polivoks-inspired distortion character can be applied to all filter types on the Matrix VCF, completely altering the sonic character for a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ effect. The resulting waveforms are harmonically rich and wide-ranging in scope.

Finally, since a VCA is hard-wired to the output stage, users can simply patch in envelope or an LFO to the VCA input and connect a VCO to the audio input for a complete synth voice (with a choice from 32 different filters) using only three modules.

The official user guide:

The Matrix VCF includes the following filter modes, each of which can be altered via the P-Vox switch for a total of 32 different filtering options.

• Four Pole Band Pass
• Three Pole High Pass combined with One Pole Low Pass
• Three Pole All Pass combined with One Pole Low Pass
• Two Pole Notch combined with One Pole Low Pass
• Two Pole Low Pass
• Four Pole All Pass (Phaser)
• Four Pole Low Pass
• Two Pole Band Pass
• Two Pole High Pass combined with One Pole Low Pass
• Three Pole High Pass
• Three Pole All Pass
• Two Pole Notch
• One Pole Low Pass
• Two Pole High Pass
• Three Pole Low Pass
• One Pole High Pass

The AJH Synth Matrix VCF is available now for £310.

Pro audio effects creator Soundtoys today announced the release of SpaceBlender, an experimental reverb that they say lets you create unreal and imaginary spaces, with shapes, textures, and tones that would be impossible in the real world.

Described as an “imaginary space machine”, SpaceBlender is an experimental reverb that brings together a unique and innovative approach, inspired by the tape looping techniques used by pioneering ambient musicians, with a nod to vintage digital reverbs such as the Lexicon 224, Ursa Major Space Station and Eventide DSP4000.

Whether enhancing a track’s sense of space or creating dynamic, evolving effects, SpaceBlender is a fun and intuitive tool for sound designers, musicians, and producers looking for creative yet easy-to-use spatial processing.

Unlike many reverb plugins, SpaceBlender isn’t based on feedback delay networks or convolution, but a newly-developed algorithm inspired by swarm synthesis. As such, Soundtoys says the plugin is far more than “just another reverb”: it’s a sound design tool that lets you “create imaginary spaces and effects that don’t exist in the real world”.

Despite its unconventional approach, SpaceBlender has a simple and intuitive interface, centred around an interactive visualiser. Displaying incoming signals in purple and reverb in blue, the visualizer lets you shape the reverb’s envelope by dragging a cursor across the display: the X axis controls the envelope shape, while the Y axis adjusts the amount of envelope shaping applied.

The dial below the visualizer adjusts reverb time, which can stretch from 100ms to an entire minute and sync to your DAW’s tempo. Here you’ll also find a Warp button, which modulates the pitch and speed of the reverb and introduces classic tape echo-style smoothing when the Time control is tweaked.

The Color knob controls how the tonal balance of the reverb changes over time; turning it clockwise makes the sound grow brighter as the signal passes through the reverb, and vice versa. The Texture dial adjusts reverb density, much like a diffusion control, and the Mod control adjusts the depth of SpaceBlender’s lush, chorus-like modulation effect (the shape and rate are set at fixed values).

You’ll also find a Freeze button that captures and loops the current sound – ripe for ambient experimentation – and a Mix knob that does what you’d expect it to. SpaceBlender arrives with a healthy selection of presets, and the interface is resizable, something many Soundtoys fans have been requesting for a while.

SpaceBlender is unique, inventive and – despite being relatively light on controls – hugely versatile: it can do expansive ambient spaces, snappy gated reverbs and fun reverse effects, while also handling more conventional applications. It also sounds phenomenal – check out the preset demo video below:

Features:

• Interactive control – move between gate, reverse, decay, and bloom reverb shapes and everything in-between, in real time.
• Visualizer – see your sound move through the reverb shape as you adjust its sonic envelope.
• Simple control of spectral evolution; reverbs can get darker or brighter over time.
• Deeply embedded modulation creates rich, constantly moving ambient effects.
• Smoothly change the reverb texture from dense and lush to sparse and grainy.
• Extreme range from super short 100-millisecond nonlinear effects to absurdly long 60-second meditations.

Soundtoys’ SpaceBlender is available now for free – a $99 value – through May 22 at this link.  SpaceBlender will be available for purchase from authorized resellers worldwide for $99 US beginning May 23.

Learn about Soundtoys’ system requirements and host compatibility here.