The Unique Synths Of Dune 2 To Be Featured At ContinuuCon 2024


Organizers of ContinuuCon 2024, the sixth international Haken Continuum conference, have announced that the event will feature a panel discussion focusing on some of the unique synths featured on Hans Zimmer’s Dune 2 soundtrack.

The event is scheduled for April 26–28 in the Pittsburgh suburb of Carnegie, Pennsylvania. Continuum and Osmose players and interested musicians can look forward to a reception on the opening night and two full days of presentations, workshops, and demonstrations by some of the world’s foremost authorities on the Haken Continuum and EaganMatrix.

Zimmer hired ContinuuCon organizers and EaganMatrix developers Edmund Eagan and Christophe Duquesne to design and perform sounds for the soundtrack, along with Expressive E’s Guillaume Bonneau. The above image captures, from left to right, Christophe Duquesne, Edmund Eagan, Hans Zimmer & Guillaume Bonneau in Zimmer’s studio.

At ContinuuCon, Eagan and Duquesne will play audio examples from the film and reveal programming techniques used on the Dune: Part Two soundtrack.

In addition:

  • Eagan will provide instruction on EaganMatrix programming.
  • Continuum inventor Lippold Haken will discuss the Continuum’s most recent updates and unveil plans for the future.
  • Duquesne will demonstrate his latest experiments in additive resynthesis.
  • Electronic musician and ContinuuCon organizer Russ Hoffman will discuss Chick Corea’s treatise on best practices for playing music in an ensemble.
  • Thereminist and Continuum expert Rob Schwimmer will discuss Continuum performance technique.
  • Canadian composer Tony K.T. Leung will demonstrate an expressive controller of his own design that allows a string player to control eight dimensions of the EaganMatrix using familiar performance gestures.
  • Engineer Mark Smart will explain how to control a 3-dimensional laser show using the Haken Continuum and Native Instruments’ Reaktor software.
  • Paul Dempsey will present the HC-One plug-in, which allows VCV Modular software to interface with EaganMatrix hardware devices.
  • David Gerard Matthews will discuss and demonstrate the Ondes Martenot, a precursor to the Continuum.

Ticket sales for the annual electronic music event are ongoing, with early-bird pricing ending on Monday, March 25. Conference tickets are $280 until that date and $320 thereafter. See the event website for details.

 

Noise Engineering Announces Opp Ned, A 4-channel Eurorack Arpeggiator


Noise Engineering has announced Opp Ned, a 4-channel arpeggiator for Eurorack modular systems.

 

What they say about it:

“Opp Ned was created out of our desire for a simple and immediate arpeggiator. The idea was simple but the development was not as we strove to make the product we all wanted. It was a labor of love — who doesn’t love arpeggios?! — and we are very happy with the result.

Opp Ned features 12 factory presets of some of our favorite arps. Users can edit these and create their own, saving into one of the 12 slots. Factory presets are easily reset at the Noise Engineering Customer Portal.

Four channels of arpeggios are individually triggerable, with CV over pattern, direction, and range. We also added a transpose input that can transpose all channels by the same amount.”


Features:

  • Arpeggiator with four outputs
  • Save and edit up to 12 different arpeggios
  • Swap between arpeggio patterns with CV
  • Fully CV-controlled interface
  • Simple controls make pitch sequencing easy
  • External transpose input for integration with other sequencers

The Opp Ned is available now, in black and silver, priced at $347.

SynthCube Acquires Mod Wiggler Synth Forum

SynthCube has announced that it has acquired Mod Wiggler, a popular synth forum.

 

What they say about the move:

“This was not only a business decision, but a gesture of support for an important community platform. We can influence its future in hopes that it remains in the ‘synth world’ by preventing it from moving into a digital marketing agency.

We honor the legacy of its founder, Mike McGrath, by preserving Mod Wiggler as a welcoming place for synth enthusiasts to connect, create, and thrive together.

For those who don’t know, Mod Wiggler is an online forum and community dedicated to synthesizers. It serves as a platform for the enthusiasts and friends to discuss, share knowledge, and collaborate on all things related to synthesis and electronic music and noise. If you’re new to the forum, we invite you to join us and become a part of this vibrant community!”

What Mod Wiggler manager Rob McGrath say about the change:

 

“When I started managing this site after my brother passed away, I did so with the goal not to just keep the site alive but to keep the community thriving, both for the community’s sake and as part of Mike’s legacy that his children could look at and be proud of.

I’m proud with what I’ve been able to do these past 4 years – re engineering the site to be far more reliable and responsive, dropping operating costs, while keeping this an accessible and welcoming place that is the de-facto home for modular synth know-how.

But there is only so much one person can do. Securing this community for the long term means it can’t be owned by a single person. It means letting it go so it can be better managed by an established team that has respect for the scene and MW’s place in it.

That’s why today I am proud to announce that MW will be joining the synthCube family.

This decision was not taken lightly, and is the result of much discussion between synthCube, myself, and the rest of Mike’s family.

When Mike’s family was approached with a generous offer for the site from an advertising firm, I couldn’t bear the thought of killing the community with banner ads and SEO pages that ruin the user experience. I knew we needed someone in the community to make a counter offer.

SynthCube came to mind immediately, as they have a long history in our community, and have been essential to funding MW’s operation in the past. In working with them, it is clear to me that they know exactly what MW is and respect how important our culture is to the site’s success.

Fortunately, they jumped at the chance, and immediately understood the weight of the situation.

This does not mean things are changing. SynthCube enjoys MW for what it is and while there may be some new options and offerings in the future, it is important to all of us that the core member experience remains the same.

Nor will I be going anywhere. I’ve promised to stay on board for at least the next year, with the same day-to-day responsibilities. I’ll just be sharing those responsibilities from here on out.”

Full details are available at the forum website.