The Arturia MiniFreak is a new hybrid polyphonic synthesizer that features 6 voices, 2 sound engines, a 37-note slim keyboard, built-in stereo FX, and numerous creative modulation and sequencing features.
As ever, Eliraz shares a comprehensive look at the synth, including comparing it to the original microFreak and close to an hour of audio demos.
Watch the video, and then share your thoughts on the MiniFreak in the comments!
Strymon has introduced the BigSky multidimensional reverb plugin for Mac and Windows, a direct port of their popular hardware reverb effects pedal.
While originally designed for guitarists, the BigSky has been popular with synthesists, because its a stereo effect at, as one reader pointed out, “You could fart into the Strymon BigSky and it would sound great.”
Now Strymon is making the same 12 high-end reverb algorithms available in software form, meaning that it’s easier to record with, you can run as many instances of the plugin as you like and you can save the settings in your DAW session.
What they say about it:
“It’s a direct port of our award-winning hardware, so you can count on precisely the same pristine sound quality, sonic uniqueness and true creativity you’ve come to expect from BigSky. Featuring the same twelve world-class reverb machines as the pedal version, you can now use Cloud to bloom up a keyboard pad, use Shimmer’s two voices to thicken a set of backup vocals, or use Magneto as a diffused tape-based reverb to lengthen that fingerpicked acoustic guitar pass. The possibilities are immense, and now natively available inside your digital audio workstation for the first time!
We also took full advantage of the computer-based user interface to make it even easier to get to your favorite sounds – we made the plugin UI dynamic, meaning that it changes depending on what reverb machine you have selected. That way you always see the controls that you need to tweak, and those controls stay put until you change them, even if you select another reverb machine. All of the uniqueness and clarity of the pedal version is perfectly recreated in the plugin – the long exotic tails and thick tones, the recreations of classic studio machines like springs and plates, and the ease of use are all there.”
Cycling ’74 – developers of Max, Max for Live and other media tools – is teasing something new.
They have released a series of videos, showing audio applications running on a variety of devices. The first video, above, features sound from a Blokas Pisound/Raspberry PI.
The second video, below, shows audio being processed on a laptop with what appears to be a custom VST3:
The latest teaser shows a web based audio application, tagged #madewithrnbo, running on an iPad:
You can try this yourself by checking out the RNBO Twitter page. ‘RNBO’ is a recently registered trademark of the company. Got any ideas on what they are introducing? Share your thoughts in the comment!
