We've brought together six new desktop tools for shaping audio, from classic synthesizers to fresh takes on the drum machine, ambient drone generators and a granular synthesis powerhouse.
Labyrinth from Moog Music
The Labyrinth is the latest machine from synthesizer legend Moog Music. Designed for ‘endless sonic exploration’, this semi-modular analogue synthesizer is all about finding fresh paths through a maze of options, diversions and experimentation. It offers ‘an endless journey of sonic rabbit holes,’ thanks to a new approach to circuit design from Moog machines of old. ‘It’s like having a compositional companion that navigates through a labyrinth of sound, constantly reconfiguring and surprising you with new sonic landscapes,’ says Moog’s Rick Carl, System Architect and Lead Hardware Engineer on the project.
Described as a ‘parallel generative analogue synthesizer’, the Labyrinth includes twin generative sequencers and a number of voices, allowing patterns to weave in and out of one another. Moog hopes it’ll function both as a studio machine (with a rack-friendly format) but also a standalone performance device, enabling skilled synthesists to twiddle away to their heart’s content to create interlocking and ever-evolving soundscapes.
Moog Labyrinth, $599, MoogMusic.com, @MoogSynthesizers
More new synthesizers and sound tools
Cymaforma ALT
ALT is an analogue soundscape synthesizer with a pin matrix control surface. The ALT's five voices can be pitched and shaped and manipulated with a filter, massive delay module and a Battleship-style pin matrix that directs and links the LFOs with the voices, along with a random step generator. With practically infinite sonic choices at your fingertips, ALT also has light sensors and a built-in microphone to add further limitless options for making noises. Hand-made in Paris, Cymaforma’s ALT is a bespoke sound tool that can be integrated into any genre.
Cymaforma ALT, more information at Cymaforma.com, @Cymaforma
Audio Tempera by BeetleCrab Audio
More adventures in the unpredictable world of granular synthesis can be had in the hands of Prague designers BeetleCrab Audio. Their new Tempera works by taking a sample and breaking down into new sounds via effects, resampling, and different playback options. As a result, intricate textures can be created.
The Tempera has an 8x8 grid of touch-sensitive pads for triggering and manipulating a piece of sampled audio. Samples – or grains – can be blended and combined in various combinations, together with onboard effects and editing.
BeetleCrab Audio Tempera, €670, PlayTempera.com, @BeetleCrab.audio
CRUM2 by Analog Sweden
CRUM2 is an upcoming 'generative percussive harmonic device', developed by Analog Sweden alongside Albert Nyström and idiosyncratic electronic instrument maker Love Hultén. With its distinctive retro aesthetic, this is a device that looks as good as it sounds, transforming the traditional drum machine into a highly styled performance instrument.
The combination of old school console design with six onboard sound engines make this a welcome tool in any electronic musician’s arsenal.
CRUM2, more information at AnalogSweden.com, @AnalogSweden, @Nystrom.Music, @LoveHulten
Bullfrog Drums by Erica Synths
Another beat machine, this time courtesy of Latvian instrument maker Erica Synths. Best known for their learning-focused collaboration with the artist Plastikman (Richie Hawtin), Bullfrog Drums continues the educational approach. Simple in form thanks to a stripped back, bare minimum aesthetic, Bullfrog Drums is nevertheless intended to school newcomers on the basics of beat building and sampling.
Bullfrog Drums, more information at EricaSynths.lv, @EricaSynths
LIVEN Ambient Ø by Sonicware
A compact desktop machine from Japanese maker Sonicware, the LIVEN Ambient Ø has been designed purely to create droning ambient soundscapes. By layering synthesized output with a set of ‘nature sounds’, all sequenced and output through a mighty reverb engine, the battery-powered device is affordable, intuitive and capable of creating massive sounding ambient tracks that can be tweaked and built in real time. You can also add your own samples into the mix.
LIVEN Ambient Ø, €279, Sonicware, Sonicware.jp, @Sonicware_inc
