Dave Smith Instruments MoPho grows a keyboard! 3 Feb 2010, 4:58 pm

Fans of DSI's kick butt Mopho analog synths will be thrilled to get their hands on the keyboard version the all-analog Mopho synth. Coming in March at just $799 (price may change), this should prove to be the bargain of the century in self-contained analog synths. We'll be accepting pre-orders very soon- stay tuned!

SoundToys Decapitator 22 Jan 2010, 6:13 pm

High-end supermangler plug-in maker SoundToys was showing Depitator, a gourmet saturation plug. In their own words: "Decapitator is the sound of great analog gear and the ability to push it way too far." Sounds good to me. Shipping very soon, price TBA. Available in Native and TDM formats, Mac/Windows.

Away In A Manager 22 Jan 2010, 6:00 pm

Chicken Systems showed their latest sample management software, Instrument Manager which offers an "iTunes-ish" experience for browsing sample libraries with extensive drap and drop support for software samplers such as Kontakt and Structure. Instrument Manager also implements some major cleverness in re-linking bad links within libraries. Neato stuff! Coming soon (check back, will be on the audioMIDI site pronto).

TC Polytune. Who needs ears? 22 Jan 2010, 5:43 pm

So check this out... TC Polytune guitar tuner is kind of insane. Instead of individually checking each string, simply strum all six open strings, and Polytune's LED display shows which strings are sharp and flat. Follwing this, you can fine-tune each string with Polytune automatically detecting that you're doing so and changing its display mode accordingly.

Truly amazing, kind of scary, and likely to help out hacks and talented musicians alike. Coming next month at $99.95, just like Earl Scheib. Pre-order now, will sell like hotcakes.

Teenage Engineering Wasteland 22 Jan 2010, 5:05 pm

In case you heard about Teenage Engineering's OP-1 yet, every bearded Silverlake/Echo Park hipster in attendance could be seen drooling all over this guy, no doubt pontificating about the ironically cool jams they were gonna create while awaiting their next laundry load at Sunset Junction next to Circus of Books (ok, ok, I confess, I lived there for a bit, but I NEVER grew a beard).

We all knew it had eight different types of synthesis built in (!), a "right now" sampling feature and onboard sequencer, but the thing that had everyone talking at the show was this:

An onboard virtual four-track tape machine emulation with extensive reel-time (heh heh) track solo/mute, and forward/reverse/speed up/slow down manipulation of the reels of steel (the puns keep coming). A truly magnetic experience (enough already!).

Ship date remains, "uh, soon", and price is probably around a grand, but could be less. Should be worth the wait!

SM PRO DiDock Live... Finally I Can Stop Building iPod Racks... 22 Jan 2010, 3:26 pm

I've been playing in bands with backup tracks for years- first it was DAT machines, then miniDisk, and now iPods. Typically, the tracks are created with click hard-panned left and music hard-panned right, then the iPod out gets split so that music goes to house and music+click go to a headphone mixer for the drummer. This usually entails a rat's nest of cables and adapters and equals confused drummer... who usually finds me, technically adept guy, to deal with this mess. Which would be fine if I wasn't busy plugging in synths in the four and a half minutes alloted for setup...

I finally built a rack with a mixer and a custom presoldered panel on the back to simplify this whole ordeal. But the rack is kinda big and heavy, and everyone always wants to borrow it from me (which is why I've built two more of them for other bands). Imagine my delight when I saw SM Pro's DiDock Live before at NAMM. It was one of those moments where I looked at it and thought "Is this what I think it is? Did someone actually get this right?"

Well, they did. Drop your iPod into the dock and you're off and running (iPod only. Doesn't fit Zune. I'm talking to you, Icky Skodis. No one uses Zune.). Here's the back:

Balanced outs w/ground lift, an aux in routed to headphones, phones out and switch to charge the iPod. Lovely. (wish they would've put the headphone jack on the front though)

Using the mono button and L-R balance knob, Mr. Drummer Man can hear both click and music and dial in the balance between the channels while staying in mono (because you don't want click in one ear and music in the other), all without affecting output to house sound. Oh yes, and they come in black too. I need 26 of these! $179.

Should be shipping now, we're checking on it- I'll update as soon as I know.

Universal Audio drops sweet new plugs for UAD-2 18 Jan 2010, 9:14 pm

Universal Audio has developed new alliances including Manley Labs. UA will soon release a virtual version of Manley's revered Massive Passive parametric EQ and EMT's Plate 140. There's more analog goodness on the way, but if we told you uh, well... stay tuned.

Super Piano, Nord Style 18 Jan 2010, 9:07 pm

Seems everyone's releasing a high-end stage piano these days; this is the Nord's entry into the fray and includeds multiple pianos, electric pianos and harpsichords. Sounds are stored in 512mb flash RAM, and they've gone to a great deal of effort to realistically implement string resonance (i.e. the sympathetic resonance of the instrument as a whole). Coming soon, should be about $2700.

Akai APC20, for those who need 50%... 18 Jan 2010, 8:58 pm

Akai followed up last year's APC40 Ableton Live Controller with the APC20, a compact Ableton controller for those on a budget. It can also be used as an expander for APC40 owners (APC60 anyone?). Shipping soon at just $199.

Akai IPK25+Synthstudio, Super Cool iPhone Accessory 18 Jan 2010, 8:49 pm

Akai showed this little gizmo, a two-octave keyboard controller/iPod doc compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch with included Synthstudio music creation software. A very nifty way to create music on the go indeed. The best news is it's only $99. Ships in May.