Nils Frahm releases new album for Piano Day 2021

 

 

Experimental ivory tinkler Nils Frahm has released a surprise new album today, to celebrate Piano Day 2021.

 

Having founded the event back in 2015, timed to mark the 88th day of the year. Piano Day celebrates all that is good about the beloved keyboard instrument, which has been the focus of Frahm’s recording career for well over a decade.

 

Apparently, the new album Graz, actually dates from 2009, and was Frahm’s first for the Erased Tapes label. However, it never saw the light of day; Frahm instead decided to focus on the close-mic’d, dampened piano pieces that ended up forming the basis of 2011 album Felt.

 

In addition, despite having a more natural grand piano sound, Graz, is still distinctively Frahm, though more tonally conventional than some of his recorded outings.

 

Frahm had this to say in a press release: “Sometimes when you hear a piano, you might think it’s a conversation between a woman and a man. At the same time, it can hint at shapes of the universe and describe how a black hole looks. You can make sounds that have no relation to anything we can measure.”

 

Graz is available to stream now, with physical editions available from 21 May.

 

 

This custom made Korg Minilogue Synthesizer looks amazing

Love Hultén

 

Renowned Korg Minilogue masher-upper is creating another custom version of the synth.

 

Love Hultén latest instrument, the custom Korg Minilogue synth looks so good and apparently attracts the Hollywood celebrity’s eyes. A revision of his Montesynth / VOXARRAY 61, which apparently had issues and this instrument has been specially built for a client, and features a broken-apart Minilogue stuffed into a gorgeous custom wooden case. In addition, there appears to be a tape-delay in there, as well, plus built-in speakers that turn this into a self-contained instrument that is bound to turn heads.

 

In fact, the synth has attracted the attention of Hollywood star Michael B Jordan, who commented with the words “Need one lmao” when Love posted a video demo on Instagram.

 

 

Expressive E Osmose Synthesizer

 

Expressive E provides an update on the Osmose, its forthcoming super-expressive synthesizer and reveals another of its unique features.

 

Announced in 2019, Osmose is designed to be one of the most expressive keyboards ever created. Osmose keyboard looks similar to that which you do find on a standard synth, the difference is that each key offers three dimensions of control.

 

In addition, the instrument contains Haken Audio’s EagenMatrix sound engine, which it developed for its Continuum Fingerboard. This combines digital, additive, FM, virtual analogue and spectral synthesis, topped off with some physical modelling.

 

In the latest Osmose development post, the company indicates that development and manufacturing of the Osmose was delayed due to Covid19, but the good news is that it currently anticipates that the first mass production units will be available in June this year.

 

Expressive E has also posted for what is to come by posting a new video that demonstrates the Osmose pressure-weighted portamento feature. Previously exclusive to the Haken Audio Continuum Fingerboard, this enables you to define a pitch interval within which two keypresses are interpreted as a legato line instead of polyphonic playing. Unlike regular portamento, pressure-weighted portamento reacts to the pressure ratio between the two notes. The pitch will dynamically glide between the notes in real-time, reacting to how the player distributes pressure.

 

The upshot is that you can control the likes of pitch slides, glissando and vibrato effects directly from your keyboard. Expressive E describes it as – the ultimate powerful performance pitch wheel that does not even require a second hand to play it.

 

The Osmose is set to cost €1,799 . Find out more on the Expressive E website.