Blackbox is a new standalone sampler/sequencer/looper from 1010music – known for their powerful and flexible eurorack modules. It can play back samples chromatically and polyphonically, so you can play it like an instrument (including using single cycle waveforms) and it … Continue reading 1010Music Blackbox: Review and full workflow tutorial
Digitone Keys from Elektron has the same synthesis engine as the “regular” Digitone, but as it quite clear from the first time you look at it, something is very different: Elektron added a three octave keyboard, as well as the … Continue reading Elektron Digitone Keys – what’s new? Review, tutorial and comparison to Digitone
SWN – Spherical Wavetable Navigator – is a six voice stereo wavetable synth, and what makes it special is the way it stores wavetables and the “spherical” way it moves between them. Typical wavetable synths morph between a series of … Continue reading SWN by 4MS: Tutorial and Review of Spherical Wavetable Navigator
Moog’s Spectravox was Moogfest 2019’s Engineering Workshop synth. It’s not available commercially, at least not yet. The only way to get one is to have built it at the workshop (or buy it on eBay…). To see what it’s like … Continue reading Moog Spectravox – detailed overview, and How Vocoders Work
“Generative Music” is a term coined by Brian Eno to describe music that is always different and changing, generated by a system but led by creative guidelines, rather than typical music which follows a set of predetermined notes intended to … Continue reading Create Brian Eno style generative music: 20 ideas and tools for Ableton, Eurorack, DAWless and VCV
If you’ve seen my Eurorack videos, Plaits from Mutable Instruments is in many of them. It’s a very flexible module with 16 different sound engines and three control knobs for each. In MicroFreak, Arturia have taken 7 of the 16 … Continue reading Arturia MicroFreak Review and Massive Tutorial, including all 12 sound engines
Buzzzy is a Kickstarter Synth that has quite a few interesting traits in a tiny little package: it’s a 4 part multi timbral, stereo, digital MIDI module with up to 16 voice polyphony. This review is of a prototype, but … Continue reading Loopop Review: What is BUZZZY?
Morphagene from Make Noise may seem like a simple module, but there’s a lot going on beneath the surface. This video walks through 20 tips and ideas for using Morphagene, including using it as a mono and “poly” granular synth, … Continue reading Make Noise Morphagene Tutorial: 20 ways to use it (includes firmware v155)
NLDR (pronounced “Noodler”) from Conductive Labs is quite a sequencer, if it can be called that at all. If I had to summarize what makes it different, whereas with a typical sequencer, you enter notes to express your ideas – … Continue reading Loopop Review: What is NDLR?
This video looks at two cool uses for Eurorack samplers as custom and rhythmic CV modulators rather than just for audio playback. Typically, LFOs and multi stage envelopes are what you’d use for modulation. This video discusses two other ways of creating … Continue reading Eurorack trick: 2 ways to use a sampler as a CV mod source