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Klevgrand promises to “redefine what a drum sampler can be” with OneShot 2.

Klevgrand has announced an update to its OneShot drum sampler, introducing a sophisticated Motion engine, expanded sound library, new effects and multiple workflow enhancements to an instrument that the company promises “redefines what a drum sampler can be” – empowering anyone to create timed cymbal swells, shaker patterns, foley textures, and virtually any rhythmic movement imaginable.

While OneShot is based on a drum engine designed for single hits, OneShot 2’s Motion engine has been designed to create phrases that “breathe and evolve” by morphing through multiple samples, such as cymbal swells, brushed textures, shaker figures or foley elements. The engine can be controlled via an advanced envelope editor or MIDI CC, or even using your iPhone’s accelerometer via the new Motion controller app.

OneShot 2 expands the instrument’s sound library dramatically, and the collection of factory sounds now includes more than 20,000 samples, 780 slots and 310 presets.

Among the new content is a broad range of drum kits and percussion sounds equipped with multiple velocity layers and round-robins, including a new Studio Kit designed for “modern productions that call for expressive acoustic drums” and a Jazz Brush Kit “rich in subtle tone and articulation”.

Alongside the additional sounds, OneShot 2 has been kitted out with three new effects: Reverb2 is an easy-to-use reverb based on the algorithms from Klevgrand’s recently released Walls plugin, and Transient Adder draws on the company’s Fosfat plugin to add bite, punch and character to percussive sounds. Joining these is Unstereo, a utility for narrowing sounds with too much width in the stereo image.

OneShot 2 also brings a number of additional features requested by users, including Stack triggers, which allow the user to trigger several sounds with a single MIDI note, and workflow improvements such as smart batch preset import/export, effects copy/pasting, and Note Off functionality for one shot triggers.

OneShot2 is priced at $119.99 until the end of April, and upgrade pricing is available. The plugin is available for macOS and Windows in VST/AU/AAX formats.

Find out more on Klevgrand website.

Isla Instruments LLC – makers of the S2400 sampling workstation – have announced that they have permanently ceased operations.

Their site has been updated to note:

The online store is closed and no new orders can be placed.

Customer support resources and the user forum will remain available here for existing customers.

Future products designed by Brad Holland will be released separately and information will be announced elsewhere in due course.

We have not seen any official announcement on this, but it sounds like Isla will be returning, but with a new name.

On the Isla Instruments forum, SteamRadio commented that Isla founder, Brad Holland, has relocated from the US to the UK, and that the US-based ‘Isla Instruments’ will be operating as a new UK-based entity, Isla Electronics.

Tembo is a new instrument that grows with you from beginner to master, A musical instrument for playful music making promises “unforgettable family jam sessions”

It’s difficult to know where to start if you’re planning on introducing your kids to electronic music-making – most DAWs, grooveboxes and hardware synths aren’t exactly child-friendly, presenting a steep learning curve that’s likely to put off even the most determined youngster.

But if a seven-year-old can pick up a guitar and get a headstart on their journey into musicianship, why shouldn’t they be able to do the same thing with a drum machine? That’s the ethos behind Tembo, a new instrument from American manufacturer Musical Beings that’s designed to “enable everyone to create music from the very first touch”.

Tembo is a drum machine and sampler aimed at kids, young adults and anyone that’s new to music-making, and though it’s designed to be simple, intuitive and easily accessible, it’s actually more powerful than it looks.

Tembo’s wooden chassis is dominated by a five-channel, 16-step sequencer, and step input is achieved by placing circular magnets, or Beats, on the chosen steps.

Each step in the sequencer has two “sub-steps”; placing one Beat inserts a step on the first sixteenth-note, stacking two triggers both, and you can flip a Beat over to add a step on the second sixteenth-note only. Tempo, swing and pattern length are dialled in via the knobs in the bottom-left corner.

Tembo has five channels for samples, and each channel has its own pitch, volume, and send routed to return channels for the delay and reverb effects. These are joined by four additional channels that can play longer loops.

The instrument arrives with eight sample packs onboard, but you can also sample external instruments with Tembo’s combo XLR/TRS input or the built-in microphone, or resample Tembo’s sample channels into the loop channels to build up more complex arrangements.

Tembo has dual USB-C MIDI connections, so you’re able to hook it up to a DAW and sync up with external gear, and sessions can be recorded via USB audio, a stereo output, or through a companion app. Power is provided by a USB-C rechargeable battery and there’s a built-in speaker too.

“We’re amateur musicians ourselves, and parents, and we’ve seen how quickly that initial spark can fade when trying to learn an instrument. It takes so long to get to the fun part, to the part where you feel free, creative, and expressive,” says Tembo co-creator David Davidov.

“We wanted to bring that feeling into the very first steps of the musical journey – to help people experience music as something they do, not just something they listen to.”

Tembo will be launching on Kickstarter on March 11th, with pricing between $350-$450 depending on the chosen tier.

Visit Musical Beings website to find out more.