Host Ziv Eliraz – in his latest loopop video – shares an in-depth review Donner Essential L1, a modern take on the classic Roland SH-101.
While Roland offers its own digital take on the SH-101 and Behringer a hardware analog copy of the original, Donner has created a new synth design based on the SH-101’s synth voice, with expanded synthesis options, original hardware design, and a unique removable keyboard system.
Eliraz says that the Donner Essential L1 sounds good, and is close to the original, and cites the added features as pros. On the cons side, he notes that Roland’s alternatives offer more features, and the lack of presets.
Developer Asep Bagja shared this synth jam, created with the AirBending camera-based MIDI controller.
AirBending is a macOS app that transforms hand gestures into musical expression using computer vision and MIDI technology. It tracks hand movements in real-time using Apple’s Vision framework, detecting precise hand poses and finger positions.
With dual-camera control, you can control multiple MIDI devices using up to two camera inputs, and each camera can have its own preset.
AirBending is one of the nominees in the Accessible category of the 2025 MIDI Innovation Awards, an annual event, organized by The MIDI Association, NAMM, and Music Hackspace. The awards highlight products and projects that use MIDI 1.0 and 2.0 in novel ways.
Another example of AirBending in action:
The developer says that AirBending can make music-making more accessible by eliminating the need for special instruments and devices. Unlike traditional MIDI controllers that require touching keys, knobs, or faders, AirBending transforms the surrounding space into a musical instrument using only hand gestures and built-in Mac camera, without the need for additional hardware.
This provides a new option for people that may not have access to, or may not be physically able to use traditional MIDI controllers.
You can find out more about AirBending at the developer’s site.
The Vintage Audio Institute Italia, a vintage gear collection and recording studio in Florence, shared this ‘shut up and play’ style demo of the rare Logan Vocal Synth.
The Logan Vocal Synth is similar to some ’70s ‘orchestration’ keyboards, which combined combined multiple synthesis approaches – string ensembles, formant-based vocal synthesis, lead synth, etc – into one instrument.
“This instrument is really inspiring,” they note. “So, we also ended up making a couple of songs of which a few are included in this video but some were left out to keep things snappy.”
They shared the following info about the Logan Vocal Synth:
“Most of the performance info and some technical details are in the video already as text but a quick introduction and recap would go something like this:
Logan Vocal Synth
Weight 50 kilos
61 keys and 61 slider potentiometers
The upper panel is dedicated to instrument selection buttons and Voice vowel sound selection, panning left and right, the monophonic and polyphonic synthesizers presets, volumes and modulation controls.
The front of the panel is dedicated to the volumes, attack and decay controls of the instrument sections Strings, Piano and Voice and their distribution to each side of the keyboard split point.
The architecture of this instrument is unique and might have been a bit of a gamble that sometimes worked out great and other times less so.
Our service technician had to slightly change the trigger circuitry to render the triggering of the notes more reliable and generally stable.
We also decided to non-invasively modify the two octaves below the split point to continue down to the lowest note on the keyboard instead of starting over two octaves up – essentially repeating the range of the 2 octaves above it.
This rather odd engineering choice might have been a remnant from a double manual, organ approach to the keyboard that perhaps was scrapped late in the engineering process.
You change to the modified “normalized” note distribution with the foot pedal switch, and it can be disengaged to return to the factory setting.
Our service tech also had a “tester board” with an extension connector cable custom made to more easily test components without having to continuously pull out the boards one by one.
This was a game changer during the long service and restoration.
The Vocal Synth does have an empty card slot so it’s likely it came equipped with a similar tester board from the factory.
We also installed LEDs to each circuit board – that lights up when in operation – to see which card the master oscillator distribute commands to – just like you would to a Yamaha CS60 or CS80 – although they are quite a different animal the technical principle is the same.
Some of the engineering wonkiness was decided to be kept intact and you can hear the fluctuations, a slight tremble, on a lot of the sounds.
If you have further technical questions the schematics are available to download thanks to the internet archive. They’re not exactly straight forward but it’s all in there and we couldn’t really explain things better than in the video anyways.”
For more info about the Logan Vocal Synth’s capabilities, view this video by German synthesis Hainbach:
Finally, check out this Italo-Disco synth duet between Hainbach & Sam Battle, aka Look Mum No Computer.
Watch the videos and share your thoughts about the Logan Vocal Synth in the comments!
