Developer Craig Jackson shared this sneak preview of the Thumb Bar Controller – a new synth accessory that offers an alternative to the traditional pitch bend wheel.
The Thumb Bar Controller is designed to let you play your synth with modulation control, using just one hand. With traditional pitch and mod wheels, soloing with modulation requires two hands. The Thumb Bar Controller lets you add pitch bend or mod expression using your thumb, freeing up your other hand to do other things.Jackson also notes that the Thumb Bar Controller can also be used as an enabling technology for people that may only be able to play an instrument with one hand.
The new MIDI controller will fit most 49-key or smaller synthesizers. The video demonstrates how the Thumb Bar offers two axes of expressive control, up and down for pitch bend and in/out for modulation.
Details are still to come at Jackson’s site, but he says that the Thumb Bar Controller will be available in 2025.
Organizers of The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music let us know that the event is returning in 2025, with Number Fourteen & Number Fifteen.
Edition 14 & Edition 15 of an Electronic Music Festival, established in 2016, are scheduled to take place in Birmingham in 2025, with further dates being planned for later in the year.
In February/March 2025 ,the fourteenth ‘The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music’ takes place across three days at The Castle and Falcon. The line-up for #14 includes Teeth of the Sea, TVAM, BUNKR, Zion Train, Transglobal Underground Soundsystem, Polypores, Field Lines Cartographer & more.
In May 2025, episode 15 includes Gold Panda, Baba Ali, Banco de Gaia, Pye Corner Audio, Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan, Kayla Painter, Faex Optim & much more.
Here are the details:
The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music: Number 14
Teeth Of The Sea + TVAM + BUNKR
Friday 28 February 2025
Doors 7.00 pm. Curfew 11.00 pm.
Zion Train + Transglobal Underground Soundsystem
Saturday 01 March 2025
Doors 7.00 pm. Curfew 11.00 pm.
Polypores / Field Lines Cartographer / Kylie Monologue / Cholly / Apta / Sulk Rooms / Lo Five
Sunday 02 March 2025
Doors 2.00 pm. Curfew 11.00 pm.
The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music: Number 15
Gold Panda + Baba Ali
Friday 09 May 2025
Doors 7.00 pm. Curfew 11.00 pm.
Banco de Gaia + Pye Corner Audio + Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan
Saturday 10 May 2025
Doors 6.00 pm. Curfew 11.00 pm.
Kayla Painter + Faex Optim + Giants Of Discovery + Yellow Belly + Swansither + The Mistys + Jilk
Sunday 11 May 2025
Doors 2.00 pm. Curfew 11.00 pm.
All events are at The Castle & Falcon, 402 Moseley Road, Birmingham B12 9AT. Sunday events will be a combination of seating and standing and ticket holders will be given a ‘wrist band’ and will be able to come and go from the venue throughout the day.
Newfangled Audio’s Obliterate started life as a conventional filter before a bug in the code caused some unique-sounding distortion – which the developer packaged into a free plugin.
Obliterate is an idiosyncratic distortion plugin built around dual filters, with a fascinating backstory. Newfangled Audio’s Dan Gillespie was designing a filter when a bug in the code caused some unwanted, but unique-sounding, resonant distortion. For many of us, this would present a problem, but for Gillespie, it presented an opportunity: he’s now captured the “absurd, over-the-top” distortion he stumbled on accidentally and packaged it in a free plugin.
As its name would suggest, Obliterate is bent on destruction, producing a fierce and violent form of distortion that is anything but subtle. It will confidently pulverize any signal, turning synths into sludge and drum machines into digital detritus. Above the central slider for adjusting its obliteration levels, you’re given the choice between setting it to ON or MORE ON – this should tell you everything you need to know.
Obliterate is equipped with two multimode filters, visualized in its central display – here you can drag the skull icon to control the resonance and frequency of its unique brand of filter-based distortion. Filter shapes can be morphed between using the two X/Y pads below, giving you the option of low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, all-pass and notch filters. If Obliterate’s obliteration gets a little out of hand, you’re able to dial the effect back using a mix control.
Features:
Absurd, over-the-top, digital distortion
Perfect for destroyed drums, insane basses, and horror sound design
Distortion has built in frequency and resonance control
Two destruction algorithms: TOO MUCH, and TOO MOST
Two resonant multi-mode filters morphable between Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass, Allpass, and Notch
Click and Drag to control all frequencies and resonances at once
Obliterate will run on macOS and Windows and is available in AAX/AU/VST/VST3 formats. Visit Newfangled Audio website to download Obliterate and check out its Black Friday deals.
