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Tasty Chips Electronics has released a major update to its GR-1 Granular Synthesizer, adding new features, updates, and bug fixes.

Here’s what’s new in GR-1 version 3:

New Features:

• Save popup for quick internal storage and naming of all entities: sample, patch, performance, multi, using just a single screen. Only the sample data type will defer to the filechooser.
• The performance list allows you to easily load and save performances internally, without browsing with the file chooser.
• Named performances.
• Boot up with your last used performance.
• Ability to store patches and samples internally.
• File manager: rename, copy, delete files, and create new folders.
• 4 Multi Timbral (MT) presets per performance. When [Play] is off, use [Shift] + [Bank1234] to change MT preset.
• Factory reset – restores default performance, reset system settings, and deletes _all_ user data
• System menu – Shutdown button to safely shutdown and avoid any possible data corruption.
• Are you sure? popups for practically all destructive actions.
• “Busy/working” popups for loads and saves, and “xx% done” popups for copying large amounts of files.
• Text edit – Use horizontal fader to move through alphabet.
• Text edit – Shift + Encoder push to enter space.
• Text edit – Shift + Escape to delete character.
• Mute while loading and saving performances.
• File chooser – Select USB stick + [Shift] + push (Select) -> unmount
• File chooser – shows file sizes.

Changes:

• Performance menu ([Shift] + [Perf]) now leads to 3 sub menus : a list of performances, system settings, and the file manager.
• System settings are now saved separately and system-wide, instead of inside each performance.
• Harmonized look for all menus: all selectable widgets can have a white rectangle around them to select.
• High contrast color scheme, and bigger fonts in menus: much improved readability without sacrificing looks.
• Samba file sharing now has to be enabled manually in System menu. This is done to avoid corruption.
• File chooser speedups.
• Removed incremental saves, as inquiry amongst users revealed this feature is rarely used.
• Slightly faster loads of patches and performances.
• #1039 separately loaded patch can now be undone by pressing preset. only after save will it be permanent.

Visit the Tasty Chips site for details.

“The Alan Parsons Plugin Project” – PSP Audioware helps the legendary engineer to recreate the famous Wobbler effect that he used on Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon.

NAMM 2025: PSP Wobbler is a modulation effect plugin created by the famous brains at PSP Audioware (creator of VintageWarmer, Impressor, Saturator and many more) in collaboration with legendary recording engineer, producer, and musician Alan Parsons.

Parsons himself, of course, scarcely needs an introduction. After engineering for The Beatles on their Abbey Road and Let It By albums, he carved his own particular niche in history as the engineer for Pink Floyd’s hugely influential and multi-million selling Dark Side of the Moon in 1973.

As part of The Alan Parsons Project he subsequently had hits of his own, being nominated for 13 Grammy Awards. Parsons currently owns and continues to works from his own ParSonics Studio, his state-of-the-art recording facility at his home in Santa Barbara.

The new plugin collaboration aims to faithfully recreate the sound of what became known as Parsons’ secret weapon, the Frequency Translator device, a handmade experimental unit built for Parsons by Keith Adkins, the technical engineer at Abbey Road.

The effect was used extensively on Parsons’ contributions to Dark Side of the Moon, most specifically the track Time, where it produces a steady phase and time shifting effect that imbues movement without adversely affecting pitch – you can hear it on the track’s backing vocals in particular.

It’s a sound that’s difficult to describe, but once you’ve heard its legendary thickening and widening properties then you’ll want to add to your arsenal.

Now, via painstaking work by Parsons and the PSP team, that’s possible for the very first time.

“It’s a much more controllable and deeper effect than any phaser I’ve ever heard,” says Parsons

And building on the original Frequency Translator’s controls, PSP Wobbler adds controllable Drive and Age to add warm and vintage charm, Drift and Spread to add an additional, unpredictable ‘live’ quality to the sound, plus the ability to adjust the Rate infinitely or in perfect note values to accurately sync the ‘wobble’ to the tempo of your track.

Features:

• Frequency shift up to ±25 Hz, manually controlled or set as a clock division of your DAW tempo
• Frequency shift can be set to follow tempo changes or stay at a fixed amount through a song
• Wobble amount is controlled via wet/dry mix
• Drive and Age controls let you dial in saturation and character
• Ageing modes for adding Drive / Age to wet signal alone or to both wet and dry signals
• Separate controls for Feedback, thermal and voltage Drift, Phase, and stereo Spread
• Adjustable lower and upper limits for effect frequency range

Watch Parsons put it through its paces below.

A pair of EQ filters control the effect’s frequency range, enabling you to shape the sound to fit your mix and explore modulation effects that PSP promises will be as groundbreaking as the original hardware was.

And in a special offer, PSP Wobbler will be available at the introductory price of $49.99 until 13 February, becoming $99 from 14 February.

Find out more and download a demo on the PSP Audioware website.

2025 NAMM Show News: Korg has a habit of turning up at the NAMM Show with not only its ‘official’ new products, but also a few things that it’s working on but may or may not get a commercial release. And this year, one of those things happens to be a new range of audio interfaces.

The MicroAudio 22 and 722 are “tabletop-optimised” USB-C devices with “easy-to-grab knobs”. Each offers direct monitoring, up to 24-bit/192kHz quality, a Hi-Z input and a phantom power option. There are also built-in effects, including a noise gate and a compressor.

Most of which sounds fairly by-the-numbers, and not really what you’d call – to use Korg’s words – “concept prototypes – products in their exploratory phase that push the boundaries of what’s possible in music creation.” The MicroAudio 722, however, has something special up its sockets – Korg’s 700S analogue filter.

Taken from the MiniKorg 700S, this includes both low-pass and high-pass flavours and is tweakable from the top panel. As such, the 722 definitely has a unique point of difference in comparison to other audio interfaces; whether it’s one that’s useful remains to be seen.

Other concept prototypes include the E1 Air, a slimline digital piano, and the MetroClip, an LED metronome. And, of course, we’ve already mentioned about Korg’s big new releases: a new version of the Kronos workstation, module  and plugin version of the Multi/Poly synth, and the MiniKorg 700Sm, a downsized version of the rebooted ‘70s synth.

Features:

• Tabletop-optimized design – Compact size & easy-to-grab knobs on the front panel.
• Direct Monitoring – Listen to the input-signal in real time with no latency.
• Up to 24bit / 192kHz, a Hi-Z input, USB Type-C, +48V phantom power.
• Dynamics DSP Effects – Process audio with a built in noise gate, compressor and more.
• Software Bundle
•  microAUDIO 722 includes the “700S” Analogue Filter.

Here’s what we know about the MicroAudio 22 and 722, which may or may not be going into production.

You can get an overview of all the company’s NAMM news on the Korg website.