Synthesist and composer John C.S. Keston has released a new album, Consonant Dissonance, that explores improvising with piano and a modular synthesizer.
The album captures a series of piano improvisations that explore how the human expression of a piano performance can be emphasized or contrasted by feeding it through a modular synthesizer.
He explains:
“For each piece the piano signals are handled in different ways. These include granular synthesis, looping, pitch shifting, reverse, analog filtering, delay, and reverberation, all modulated via a function generator, low frequency oscillators, and a sampling touch controller operated by the performer.”
Universal Audio makes two classic reverbs used by The Beatles, Radiohead and Brian Eno available natively.
Universal Audio has announced that two of its EMT reverb emulations are now available as native plugins, meaning that UAD EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator and UAD EMT 250 Classic Electronic Reverb can be used in any DAW on macOS & Windows without any Apollo or UAD hardware.
Introduced in 1957 by German manufacturer Elektromesstechnik, the EMT 140 was the first plate reverb, an invention that gave studios an alternative to a spring reverb or dedicated echo chamber for the first time.
Released almost two decades later, the EMT 250 was the first commercially available digital reverb, and also offered several modulation and time-based effects. An ultra-rare piece of music tech history, it was originally priced at $20,000 and only around 250 units were built.
UA’s EMT 140 plugin emulates three different EMT units modelled at The Plant Studios in California that can be switched on the front panel, and complements the original controls with additional settings for balance, width and modulation. Each of its three plates can be set to an independent reverb time from 0.5 to 5.5 seconds, and you also get a choice of original EMT or Martech input filter models, a two-band shelving EQ and reverb time modulation.
The EMT 250 plugin is built on an algorithm sourced from a “golden unit” at Ocean Way Recording, and the plugin features six program modes covering Reverb, Delay, Phase, Chorus, Echo and Space. Three of the panel’s four levers are remapped for each mode, controlling decay time and separate LF and HF decay multipliers in Reverb, or coarse and fine delay times and repeat damping in Echo. A front/rear switch gives you access to the four discrete outputs of the original hardware and a Noise control models its noise floor.
“Some sounds never go out of style,” said Bill Putnam Jr., CEO of Universal Audio. “The EMT 140 and EMT 250 have inspired generations of great recordings, and we’re excited to bring them to even more creators.”
Vintage Reverb Tutorial With The EMT 140 & 250:
Topics Covered:
00:00 – Intro
01:36 – Sound Examples
02:20 – Dry Example
03:02 – Wet Example
03:43 – EMT 250 Drums Example Reverb Mode
04:49 – EMT 140 Cabasa Example
05:46 – EMT 250 Guitar Example Chorus Mode
07:12 – EMT 250 Guitar Example Stereo to Mono Chorus
08:11 – EMT 250 Lead Vocal Example Reverb Mode
09:24 – EMT 250 Lead Vocal Example Echo Mode Throws
27:59 – EMT 140 Acoustic Guitar Example Bright & Dark
29:00 – EMT 140 Controls Tour
30:15 – EMT 140 Plate Selection
31:48 – EMT 140 Reverb Time
32:23 – EMT 140 Input Filter
33:18 – EMT 140 Stereo Section
34:28 – EMT 140 Mod Section
35:27 – EMT 140 Equalizer Section
36:51 – EMT 140 VU Meter Section
37:06 – EMT 140 Blend Section
39:04 – EMT 250 Controls Tour
39:19 – EMT 250 Logo Badge
39:33 – EMT 250 Register Section
40:31 – EMT 250 Noise Selector
40:46 – EMT 250 Lever Controls Reverb Mode
42:46 – EMT 250 Dry/Wet Wet Solo Section
43:46 – EMT 250 Lever Controls Delay Mode
45:08 – EMT 250 Lever Controls Echo Mode
46:38 – EMT 250 Lever Controls Chorus Mode
47:27 – EMT 250 Lever Controls Space Mode
48:13 – EMT 250 Lever Controls Phase Mode
49:48 – EMT 250 Front & Rear Outputs Switch
51:01 – EMT 140 & 250 Outro
The UAD EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator and UAD EMT 250 Classic Electronic Reverb are priced at $149 and currently available at an introductory discount of $79, and both are included in the UAD Spark subscription. Owners of the non-native versions are eligible for upgrade pricing.
Fender’s Motion MIDI controllers have finally landed – and they come with a free copy of the Fender Studio Pro DAW.
Fender has announced the launch of Fender Motion, two pad controllers designed to integrate with Fender Studio Pro, the DAW formerly known as PreSonus Studio One Pro.
Unveiled at NAMM back in January, Motion comes in two configurations: the 16-pad Motion 16 and the 32-pad Motion 32. Both models also come with a perpetual license for Fender Studio Pro, which will set you back $199.99/£169.99 if you buy it on its own.
Both Motion 16 and Motion 32 feature RGB FATAR pads, illuminated encoders and touch strips, alongside timeline navigation and session controls. Motion’s pads were developed in partnership with FATAR, an Italian company that’s been supplying keybeds to synth and digital piano manufacturers since 1956, and Fender says they’re the first pad design FATAR has produced.
The pads on both models are velocity-sensitive with polyphonic aftertouch, but each controller has a different layout. The Motion 16 features a conventional 4×4 grid of 16 pads, but the Motion 32 spreads its pads over two lanes to give you two options: Keys, a piano-style arrangement outlined using the RGB backlights, and Blocks, a layout that splits the pads into two adjacent banks of 16 for samples or drum kits.
Both models have eight touch-sensitive encoders and a colour display with its own navigation encoder, but the 32 gets a larger display and two dedicated touch strips for pitch bend and mod wheel, compared to a single strip on the 16.
Motion 32 and Motion 16 also feature two Chord Modes: Famous Chords maps a choice of over 30 progressions from well-known songs onto the controllers’ pads, while Simple Chords generates diatonic chords and intervals from the chosen scale and key. There’s a Scale mode too, with a choice of two layouts: Locked restricts the pads to notes in the selected key, and Guide just highlights them to guide your playing.
Fender says Motion offers “deep native integration” with its Studio Pro DAW. Motion’s dedicated Add button lets you quickly load up virtual instruments, audio tracks or effects during a session, and the eight encoders and touch strips are automatically mapped to plugin controls and mixer functions.
Announced earlier this year, Fender Studio Pro is the DAW formerly known as PreSonus Studio One Pro. Fender acquired PreSonus back in 2021 but rebranded Studio One Pro as Fender Studio Pro 8 in January as part of the launch of a “connected music ecosystem” that also saw PreSonus’ Quantum HD and AudioBox Go interfaces relaunched under the Fender Studio name.
Both models have two 3.5mm MIDI ports and a USB-C connection, which can also be used for bus power to run the controllers from a phone or tablet on the go.
“Since we debuted Motion at NAMM, the anticipation has been off the charts. It confirmed what we already knew: players don’t want a controller that handles one corner of their workflow, they want one built for all of it,” said Fender Electronics’ Chief Product Officer Max Gutnik.
“Motion gets the same obsessive attention to detail we put into everything we build. Pair it with Fender Studio Pro and your sessions, your sounds, your tones and your rig all move together, from the first take at home to the last song of the night.”
