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

Polyend releases super-flexible sample and MIDI groovebox. The company’s new sample- and MIDI-based groovebox could be more to your tastes.

Play promises to be easy to use yet deceptively deep

Promising an ‘open sandbox’ approach to playing, performing and sequencing, this includes more than 30 sample kits to start jamming with right away, and offers eight audio tracks and eight polyphonic MIDI tracks. So, as well as being a standalone groovebox, it can also serve as a controller for other gear.

Fire up Play mode, choose a sample – more than 3,000 are included – and you can simply place it on the 16×8 step sequencing grid and start making a track. You get familiar controls for your samples, and for each track you can choose one of 35 different play modes.

The Smart Fill option will fill any area you choose with an entire beat, a random placement of steps or a Euclidean spread, while steps, tracks, track pages, variations and patterns can easily be copied and pasted. There’s scale filtering, as well, so only notes within a specific scale are outputted.

In Perform mode, you can make non-destructive changes to your tracks with a number of performance effects. You can record live automation or change individual step values on the fly and record MIDI from an external controller. There’s instant save and recall of patterns, and customisable pattern chaining enables you to map out entire sequences on the grid and perform them live.

Due to each track in Play can have independent length, BPM speed, playback mode and swing values, it should be easy to create polymetric and polyrhythmic sequences. Additionally, there are over 30,000 track variations; each of the 128 patterns can hold up to 16 tracks, with each track holding 16 variations.

As well as the sequencing grid, Play also features a 4×8 control grid for mute, solo, variation, select and keyboard note input. It has a split-screen display with 15 touch-capacitive knobs, and can be powered via USB-C (including from a power bank). In addition to MIDI I/O, you also have a microSD card slot. Users can expect regular firmware updates, as well.

Features:

• Compact standalone workstation, designed to have immediacy and simplicity at its core
• 8 audio tracks and 8 polyphonic MIDI tracks
• 30,000 track variations available, thanks to 128 Patterns holding 16 tracks, with up to 16 variations in each individual track.
• Track Length ranges from one to 64 steps, while each track can also benefit from different BPM-related Tempo, and even Swing values, as well as various types of playback.
• Control external synths and drum machines on individual tracks, with the ability to output a separate set of MIDI values per track.
• Flexible MIDI CC mapping per track for its individual rotary knobs, so users can connect an external controller for MIDI note input. It is possible to output chords, arpeggios, program and bank changes, pitch bend, clock, and more.
• 16×8 step sequencing grid
• Algorithmic or percentage-based probability
• Randomize
• Step Repeater (capable of making short stutters, pitch effects, volume fades, and more).
• Smart Fill tool
• Simple Select, Copy, and Paste controls make moving data — steps, tracks, track pages, variations — easy.
• Scale filtering to force Play to input and output only notes that fit the selected scale.
• Play’s Perform mode makes non-destructive changes to tracks via performance effects, including Filter Cutoff, Resonance, Microtune, Overdrive, and more.
• Master FX, including delay, limiter, reverb, saturator, and sound enhancer
• Live record automation (using the onscreen Live Rec button) or change individual step values on the fly
• Record monophonic or polyphonic MIDI data (using the Note knob, the View controller function, or an external controller).
• Customizable chaining of Patterns permit mapping out entire sequences anywhere on the grid for live performance,.
• Save and Reset patterns

The Polyend Play is available to preorder, priced at €799.00/$799.00 and will be shipping in July.

Find out more on the Polyend website

At Superbooth 2022, Gamechanger Audio announced the newest version of their electro-mechanical desktop synthesizer, Motor Synth MKII. A new version of the instrument that was released in 2019.

The Motor Synth is powered by a unique motor oscillator engine, a system of electro-motors that are able to instantly change their rotation speed and produce musical notes. These motors can produce sine, saw, square and M waveforms, the latter being created by a set of electromagnetic pickups that are placed next to each motor’s rotating inner coils.

New in Motor Synth MKII includes separate multimode analogue filters, a redesigned modulation section, an additional digital voice equipped with a separate envelope, a portamento section, and a digital multimode filter. There are two separate Motor voices with four electro-motor oscillators each, with each voice capable of operating in mono, unison and four-note polyphonic modes.

Motor Synth MKII is designed to appeal to the musician who wants something a little different, both in terms of sound – expect “unusual tonal and timbral qualities” – and visuals.

Features:

• The MOTOR Synth offers two separate MOTOR Voices, with 4 Electromotor oscillators each – both voices can operate in mono, unison or in four-note polyphonic mode.
• Both Motor voices are equipped with a separate analogue multimode filter section with adjustable DRIVE, CUTOFF, RESONANCE, ENVELOPE SHAPE & AMOUNT and FILTER TYPE.
• There are four analogue filter types – 24 dB LP, 12 dB BP, 12 dB HP, 12 dB AP (All-Pass). The new analog filter circuits have increased headroom, improved envelope response speed and a very precise analog Keytrack mode with adjustable depth, direction and filter “glide”.
• The MOTOR Synth MK II features an additional third voice – a digital engine that can be used either independently, or to augment the raw sound of the MOTOR Voices. The Digital engine (DCO) can be used to produce various classic waveforms (with waveshaping), or as a noise generator.
• The DCO is also equipped with a separate, fully controllable AMP ENVELOPE, PORTAMENTO section, and its own Digital multimode Filter designed to reproduce the 4 analog filter modes.
• The MOTOR Synth has a single output jack that can be configured either as mono, or as a stereo output – thus routing the synth’s two motor voices into separate channels. The digital voice can also be routed to the V1 or V2 outputs, or to both.
• Dedicated center indent potentiometer for creating amplitude cross-modulation with either Voice 1 or Voice 2. The Detune / Drift knob gives you two kinds of oscillator detune effects.
• Powerful modulation section that includes 3 individual LFOs with adjustable positive and negative depth controls. Each LFO can be easily assigned to almost any knob or encoder value on two independent modulation slots A and B.
• Five independent modulation waveforms available for each LFO – each with a detailed waveshaping engine.
• Powerful arpeggiator engine offers detailed control over a large variety of parameters, including note accent, pattern shift, note repeat and more.
• Multiple independent motion Record lanes assignable to all sound parameters.
• A built-in monophonic sequencer engine with controls for micro-timing, probability, ratchets, pattern length, pattern saving and chaining and much more.
• Non-velocity sensitive 8 key keyboard with 4 pitch shift encoders – this is a small but powerful note input system with a lot of performance tricks up its sleeve. Alternatively, the MOTOR Synth is fully MIDI and CV compatible and can be used with all of your favorite keyboards (incl. poly-aftertouch), controllers and sequencers.

Details on pricing and availability are to be announced.

Find out more on the Gamechanger Audio website.

At Superbooth 2022, Synthux Academy has launched Simple, a new platform that promises to make creating your own ‘perfect’ custom synthesizer easy.

Simple is a platform for synth design. The sole purpose of it is to help musicians and makers design and build professional instruments.

The platform is built out of three parts – a community, educational resources and DIY kits.

What is the Simple Kit?

The Simple Kit is a synth DIY kit that is designed to make it easy and fun to build electronic instruments, synths, effects, drum machines etc.

Simple is a community project. All the revenues from Simple are invested back in community activities: the podcast, workshops, the Simple platform and other educational content.

The Simple Kit comes in two editions, with pre-order discounts through May 15:

Simply Packed! €289 // Until Sunday 15th €199 ex.VAT

Simply Brainless €159 // Until Sunday 15th €99 ex.VAT

See the Synthux website for details.