Control Voltage Modular Synth Fair 2013

A few months back HavestWorks hosted a fun gathering called Control Voltage down at South Street Seaport. I was there on that incredibly HOT day to take in some of the sights, sounds and synths on offer from various designers, and performers - in video form via my iPhone

Unfortunately I didn't get to attend the performances later that night as I had work very early the next morn. Still, it was cool to check out. Here's a quick walkthrough of what was on offer - apologies for those I left out or synth manufacturers I couldn't recall or didn't know the names of. Corrections are always encouraged(!).

New Compact Synth from Arturia

Every now and again I have my synth-gear-slut moments, and this may be one of them. Gotta say: The Arturia MiniBrute looks intriguing. It's great to see manufacturers coming out with new instruments that push the boundaries of architecture in a compact space. Their website had this to offer on the subject of presets:

"MiniBrute comes with no electronic presets. You build yourself every sound you hear. Believe us, this is fun, this is creative and this helps make better music (and honestly, this is not harder than browsing sub-menus)."

I love this statement - as I have always been a firm believer that if one if forced to program new sounds from scratch whenever using a device, it pushes one's brain to (a) learn the machine that much better, and (b) always come up with novel ways of using it, and (c) adapt its sound/function to what you are making at that moment. My first synthesizer was a Roland Juno 6, and it had no presets - and I am so grateful for that fact! It taught me to program my new toy very quickly, and really get the most out of it - an experience I wouldn't trade for all the presets in the world.

The specs on this little gem are truly impressive - if your'e into that kinda stuff. Extensive mod section, great LFO options, and arpeggiator (thank goodness!!!)... and Aftertouch Modulation? Thank you!

Here's a cool video which highlights it's features.



More info here: Arturia MiniBrute

DM1 The Drum Machine V2.0 - Music app for iPad

So - they've updated a rather nifty piece of drum machine software I've been exploring on my iPad - gotta say: overall it's quite impressive... new updates make it even more-so. I really appreciate the fact that nearly all software updates on APPs are free(!). On my budget, that's the right price.