WORLD OF MUSIC ; PORTABLE KEYBOARD - Latest Portable Music Keyboards, Synthesizers and Music News

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At the 2024 NAMM Show, STG Soundlabs founder and Knobcon organizer Suit & Tie Guy has announced that his latest creation, the muSonics Vanilla Synthesizer, is now shipping and available to order.

The Vanilla Synthesizer is a small-batch analog synthesizer in what Suit calls ‘American format’, aka Moog format via Synthesizers.com. He says The Vanilla Synthesizer is “chock-full of highly optimized 1970s circuitry and tone in a beautiful walnut cabinet.”

The synth is fully modular, but also features default patch routing, which lets you play it without the need to use cables between modules. The synth is an original design, but takes inspiration from Tom Oberheim’s classic Two Voice Synthesizer.

“I started working on this project a year and a half ago,” Suit explains. “Originally, my thought process was to make a new American format synthesizer that could be sold as modules, kits, and bare boards. I was concerned about the future of the format, and I felt a new line of basic modules and infrastructure at a variety of price points was important.”

“I abstracted the Two Voice into a family of modules,” he adds, “that cover every function of it, and go no further.”

An overview of The Vanilla Synthesizer, via Sonic State:

Suit has shared the full ‘origin story’ of the new synth in his STG Soundlabs newsletter.

The Vanilla Synthesizer is available now for $2,500.

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Roman Filippov of Black Corporation, creators of high end analog synths like the Deckard’s Dream, announced today a new venture, Source Of Uncertainty.

The new company specializes in reissues of Buchla 200 series modules from the 1970s. Source of Uncertainty is the official store for Buchla Classic Reissues.

These are full-size reissues of Don Buchla’s original designs. The line lets Buchla 200 owners expand their systems, and already includes enough modules to start a ‘new vintage’ system.

What they say about them:

“BUCHLA CLASSIC REISSUES SIGNIFY A RETURN TO PRODUCTION OF THE ICONIC COMPOSITIONAL AND PERFORMANCE TOOLS, using original parts wherever possible, plus minor adaptations for greater low-noise performance and reliability and component availability.

We ship worldwide, direct from the engineer.”

Buchla has been working with Filippov since 2022, when they first announced their 200 series reissues.

Source Of Uncertainty modules are available now.

*Note: Many of these designs are also being released in more affordable versions in the smaller Eurorack format, through a partnership between Tiptop Audio and Buchla. The SOU versions are full-size reissues of the originals.

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2024 NAMM Show: Fatar’s Studiologic brand was introduced when the company started creating MIDI keyboards, but in recent years, it’s become just as closely associated with the Numa pianos and stage keyboards. Now they have two new models, Numa Compact SE and Compact X SE – the successors to the Numa Compact 2 – which take four sound engines from the Numa X Piano and put them into more compact and portable form factors.

These 88-note, portable pianos have built-in speakers and four dedicated sound sources, and promise to break new ground in their product category.

The two instruments appear to be rather similar, the main difference being that the Compact X SE has a dedicated set of drawbar controllers but the Compact SE doesn’t. Each has an 88-note semi-weighted keyboard, programmable metal sticks and an OLED display, and is said to have a “contemporary vintage look”. Whether that explains the yellowish tinge to the keys, we’re not sure – it could just be the way they’ve been photographed.

As you would expect, acoustic piano sounds are front and centre; the latest Numa X engine features new samples and offers more control over the strings and duplex resonance. The damper noise is adjustable, as well.

The Electric engine handles electric pianos by combining “a mix of samples and effects to emulate the realism of Numa X Piano physical modelling technology.” And, there are new tine sounds and FM emulations here.

There’s a dedicated organ engine – obviously, the X SE gives you the best level of control over this – which includes new rotary, chorus and vibrato effects. More intriguingly, the new synth engine is powered by virtual oscillators that can generate “any wave”, and can operate in both monophonic and polyphonic modes.

The Numa Compacts have built-in speakers, which could be useful for home use, and can send audio over USB. You can use up to six effects at a time and, in comparison with the Numa Compact 2, you get 60% more polyphony (200 as opposed to 128 notes) and 60 more sounds. In addition, a dedicated software application looks like it’ll enable you to manage these sounds and add more.

Given Fatar/Studiologic’s heritage, we’d expect these new Numas to play very well. And we’re keen to find out how they sound, and to discover if they really do offer “a list of functions never found before in any instrument of [their] category.”

The Compact SE prices at £622 and the Compact X SE prices at £826, with availability coming in the first quarter of this year. Find out more on the Studiologic website.

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