The new Vestax VCI-100 is “a highly professional MIDI controller” that was on display at the NAMM show. While many of us delight in exposing highly cheesy marketing verbiage, I do have to say that in the process of trying to nudge it to get a better photo, I discovered that the VCI-100 is much […]

Tim Clark writes to point out the Magical 8bit Plugin from the awesome Japanese game console virtuosos YMCK is now Intel Mac-ready: YMCK Plug-in Download Page What wonders does YMCK offer? 5 waveforms (square, pulse (2 kinds), pseudo-triangle, low-resolution noise) ADSR envelope assignment for volume Supports pitch bending, bend range variable Frequency sweep function Sure, […]

I spend most of my performance time with electronic musicians, and suppose most CDMo readers would be in a similar situation. I don’t think it’s necessarily that live electronica requires a VJ to be visually stimulating (Ponyloaf prove this gig after gig), but those whose music making time is centred around synths, samplers and laptops […]

Josh Jancourtz took some great photos for us from the floor of the Anaheim Convention Center at the NAMM show, because you can never see drool-inspiring gear from too many angles. We’ll be catching up with new NAMM announcements all week and will do our full CDM wrap-up in the next few days, but in […]

The Clavia booth showcased the new Nord C1 combo organ (the product says C3, but they’re changing it to C1), featuring two sets of digital drawbars for the keys and a third one for bass pedals—in this case a Roland PK-7A connected via MIDI. Emulations include the B3, Vox Continental, and Farfisa, which are based […]

Tascam showed a FireWire interface developed with Frontier Design Group that combines a 24/192 stereo audio interface with MIDI I/O in a streamlined design that also features transport buttons and 8 short cut keys (plus a shift key). In the crowded field of stereo interfaces, the FireOne’s added control and ergonomics may provide a welcome […]

Want signs the music tech blogosphere is happening? How about a blog devoted to nothing other than the EMS Synthi, the classic, portable analog modular synth from the 70s used by the likes of Eno and Fripp? Pin writes to tell us of his new creation, which already has patches, specs, and sounds for the […]

Waldorf’s Zarenbourg electric piano was on display at their NAMM booth. Beholding its grand, future-retro design, you’ll immediately wonder: are there tines and pickups under the Zarenbourg’s hood, or a digital sound engine? The answer, alas, is the latter, which will be appreciated by keyboardists who value the ability to use multiple built-in sounds and […]

Why should you get excited about Nexsyn, the hybrid soft synth/sample player available starting today from KeyToSound that was developed by Max Groenlund, creator of the Studio 9000 for Koblo? While I could ramble on about Nexsyn’s true stereo signal path, its 4 Gig Big Fish Audio sample library, its ability to load a 400MB […]

In this case it was “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” as the folks at Moog backed up their promise of ANOTHER DIMENSION with an intimate solo theremin performance. A sizable crowd enjoyed this breath of fresh air in a convention jam packed with high energy live gigs. Ed.: Moog Music has an incredible group […]