Gear and software reviews by Synthtopia readers.
2009 Winter NAMM Show update: Korg announced a new black color option for their nanoSeries products. The nanoKey, nanoPad and nanoKontrol are still a bit on the cheesy side, but at least they look a bit cooler.
At the 2009 Winter NAMM Show, Cakewalk announced that SONAR V-Studio 700, Cakewalk’s “ultimate solution for music production”, is now shipping worldwide. Here are the details: SONAR V-Studio 700 matches SONAR 8 Producer with the VS-700C V-Studio Console multifunction control surface and the VS-700R V-Studio I/O, which includes an onboard Roland Fantom VS Hardware synthesizer.… Read More Cakewalk SONAR V-Studio 700
At the 2009 Winter NAMM Show, Numark announced Stealth Control, a new professional DJ controller that comes with Native Instruments Traktor LE and MixMeister Fusion Live software. Stealth Control is based on Numark’s other popular control surfaces, such as Total Control and OMNI CONTROL. Its layout mirrors traditional “two decks and a mixer” setups, and it’s housed… Read More Numark Stealth Control DJ Software Controller
2009 Winter NAMM Show: Cycling ’74 and Ableton have announced Max for Live – an alt/electronica synthgasm. Max for Live permits users to create devices that extend and customize Live by creating instruments, controllers, audio effects, and MIDI processors. In other words – it lets you make up bizarro electronic music stuff and put it… Read More Max For Live
2009 NAMM Show: Celemony Software introduced Melodyne Editor, the first product with Direct Note Access (DNA). DNA technology allows, for the first time, the editing of individual chord tones in audio recordings. Melodyne editor provides all the editing functions of the existing editions of Melodyne. With the integration of DNA, though, the harmonies in an… Read More 2009 Winter NAMM Show: Melodyne DNA
This video provides an overview of the L.L.Electronics Rozzbox. The RozzBox V2 poly w/ tube filter is a 5-voice polyphonic synthesizer with digital oscillators, digital and analog filters on each voice, and one additional all tube filter. In addition to the the classic design of a 4-oscillator polysynth with analog filters, the RozzBox features some… Read More The L.L.Electronics Rozzbox
2009 NAMM Show Update: Focusrite introduced its first collection of VST/AU plug-ins, the awesomely titled Focusrite Plug-in Suite. The Focusrite Plug-in Suite offers a high-end collection of EQ, compression, reverb and gating VST/AU plug-ins for tracking and mixing: The Compressor and Gate have been modeled on Focusrite’s hardware devices, using the measurement of Focusrite’s custom optos… Read More Focusrite Plug-in Suite
2009 Winter NAMM Show: Korg is working its M50 line, adding a new 73-key keyboard version. The M50 features an angled control panel for easy access to its TouchView interface, a new stereo piano, a collection of vintage keyboards and “60’s era tape playback strings and flute.” (Mellotron). The 61-, 73- and 88-note Korg M50 Music… Read More Korg 73-Key M50 Music Workstation
At the 2009 Winter NAMM Show, Access announced the immediate availability of the Virus TI2, an update to its popular Virus line that’s cold, sexy and 25% more powerful. In addition to greater calculating power, the Virus TI2 is lighter and comes with OS3, which features new FX, including Tape Delay, Frequency Shifter and several new… Read More The Access Virus TI2
2009 Winter NAMM Show: SONiVOX announced the release of Playa – a Hip Hop Virtual Instrument for MAC and PC. Playa’s user interface is designed to bridge the gap between MPC style beat creation and computer based virtual instruments. Features: Over 400 SONiVOX Instruments, including fat synths, basses, drums, leads, orchestral instruments, ethnic instruments, guitars, strings… Read More SONiVOX Playa – A Virtual Instrument For Hip Hop
