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

A South Korea car manufacturer KIA, in collaboration with Brazilian synth designer Arthur Joly, has released a free software synthesizer, move.ment, that’s inspired by pink noise and the sounds of movement in nature.

Pink noise or 1/f noise is a ‘color’ of noise where the intensity falls as frequency rises. Compared to white noise, pink noise could be described as “deeper” or “less hissy”.

Many natural systems, like surf and wind, create variations of pink noise. Pink noise has also been shown in some experiments to be soothing, to improve focus and to help people fall asleep, because of the way it masks sounds and mimics natural noise sounds.

What they KIA, say about the free software synthesizer:

“The sounds of movement in nature produce what’s known as pink noise. This increases the alpha waves in the brain, inducing the flow state of consciousness, the state in which the brain is at its most creative. These natural sounds were recorded all over the world and used to develop the one-of-a-kind instrument, that we call move.ment.”

KIA move.ment features:

• Sample-based natural sounds
• VCO with four classic waveforms
• Noise
• Reverb
• Filter
• Dual ADSR envelopes
• Output tone control
• Touchpad keyboard controller

In addition, they released a collection of tracks made with move.ment:

The KIA move.ment is available now as a free download for Mac and Windows.

SynthNes is a free ROM that runs on an Everdrive N8 Pro flashcart, and a companion PC app that transforms your vintage NES into a MIDI-capable synthesizer.

Features:

• Control all five NES audio channels via MIDI or included virtual keyboard
• Expandable by connecting more NES’s
• Easy to use PC interface
• PDF manual
• Modulation
• Automation
• Presets
• Polyphonic operation
• Unison mode
• Animated graphics
• Hidden surprises

The ROM is available now as a free download. Donations to help support future development are welcome by the developer.

*Note: If you need a hardware solution for the NES, you can check out Super MIDI Pak.

Spitfire Audio has released free Philip Glass Piano plugin.

New LABS instrument was recorded in Glass’s New York home: get the sound of the composer’s baby grand in your DAW.

The new Glass Piano plugin – a collaboration with composer Philip Glass, looks rather appealing. Powered by samples that were captured at Philip Glass’s home in Manhattan, NYC, and released to mark his 85th birthday, this gives you the sound of his baby grand piano, which has been in the same premises since the 1990s.

Glass Piano comes with six presets that cover everything from ‘standard’ grand piano tones to more atmospheric and warped sounds. The simple interface and control set means that both beginners and more experienced players can use it.

Discussing his baby grand, Philip Glass says: “My piano has been my piano for 30 years. I have a tuner who makes it sound the way I want it to sound. When I’m writing music, and if I play it, it’ll be on this piano.

“It’s not just the piano and its sound. It’s the room it’s in, it’s the density of the walls and floorboards and the temperature. It’s how young or old a piano is. My piano has a heavy action. It’s even how the keys are varnished. Just like people, pianos have personalities.

“Especially the low parts of the piano tend to be pitches that are very clear to me. If you look at all 88 keys, the piano is different in different places. The lower octaves of my piano are not meant to be bold and aggressive. They are meant to be beautiful and spiritual, and that’s how they sound.”

Glass Piano is available now from the Spitfire Audio website. It runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats.