Messe Report!

[Yoozer]

Ah, and we're back from a long, exhausting day in Frankfurt.

 

I've compiled the questions in a list, read 'm several times, but sadly lost the list halfway the Messe (and the ticket to pick up my coat, but I solved that, thank goodness.) So here goes:

 

What happened to the Rhodes VII? Anything new?

The Rhodes still sounds and plays fantastically. There's also something new: a 2U rack that picks up the notes so you can MIDI-fy it (or at least, that's what I understood). There's also a combined stand/speaker with 2 big speakers: http://www.rhodespiano.com/rhodes_speakers.htm . I couldn't find an opportunity to talk with one of the stand people there, because they were very busy talking with dealers. This sounds promising .

 

Any news from Waldorf re: Stromberg/Zarenbourg?

 

No such things at the stand (not even the prototype), just a couple of Blofelds and the Q+ Phoenix. Blofeld sounds pretty damn good, though.

 

Would be great if you could find out if there are even rumours about Reaktor 6?

NI wasn't there with a stand .

 

Please let us know if you spot a LinnDrum II. Any video of it with half-decent audio will be highly appreciated.

The LDII was still the NAMM prototype, pretty much non-functional, no sounds. The analog part is supposed to come from the Prophet '08's guts, but specifications are still up to change.

 

Solaris please! As much as you can get!

The firmware in the machine was at 0.4 last year, at 0.8 this year. I've talked with mr. Bowen about this, and there were some serious developer troubles; seems that Antti (famous for the ASynth) suddenly dropped off the radar. He's hired a new dev (from Creamware/SonicCore) who concluced that the existing code wasn't optimized and ordered yet, so essentially it's 11 months of hard work and money gone . But the project will go on.

 

Future Audio Workshop? ( http://www.futureaudioworkshop.com )

I had a chat with (I think) the developer who showed me around on this thing. Where Arturia makes all kinds of bells and whistles and prettily rendered knobs, the Circle is probably the best example of what you can do when you use the user interface properties of the mouse and the screen. It takes a best-of-breed-approach from several pieces of software (Massive, Thor, Zebra) in terms of interface, it looks really clean and is a wavetable/analog modeling hybrid (you choose these with a dropdown, like in Thor). It's not really based on any vintage synth per se, but a lot of the inspiration was taken from the Pro-One. One of the things that presented a continuing challenge was finding the balance between too simple and too complex; lots of modulation options go unused, either because they're just not that common, or they're too complicated to work with.

 

LFO's are drawn the way an oscilloscope does - they leave a fading trail. Envelopes shows a glow when you hit a key, little visual cues so you know what's going on. Modulation is handled by dragging a patchpoint from one place to an empty slot; double-clicking removes it again. Click the patchpoint, and you can adjust modulation intensity. There's a sound categorization system; the entire thing just encourages you to create new patches .

 

Korg/Vox Continental?

Sorry, couldn't find anything like that on the Korg stand.

 

Ken Macbeth / X-Factor prototype

Couldn't find him in the synthesizer corner; there were lots of new and vintage machines there for everyone to play with (older VA's like the AN1x, SH201, Blofeld, Moog LP, a CS30, CS40m, MS20 (I was impressed, the CS30 is nice!), RS09 (I was definitely not impressed by this). The only thing I could spot that looked anything like it was the whiteface M5. I also briefly checked out the new MFB semimodular, but I'm not good enough with patch cables and the Doepfer modules below that were controlling it looked scary .

 

When will the MUSE get Direct install?

Couldn't find them either .

 

When are Korg going to get off their ass and release a 3 VCO Trident Mk 3 analog?

I've asked, but one thing - while Korg is mentioned in the "Big Three", they're small compared to Roland or the giant Yamaha (who had their own building).

 

Realistically, are there going to be new Electribes?

I spoke with one of the people doing demos. Really friendly bloke. He didn't know anything about new ones, but he wished that they'd have a combination of 4x4 pads and 16 steps - he'd LOVE those. I told him he should check out the LinnDrum II, and that I mailed that as a request to Roger Linn . Good to hear I'm not the only one .

 

Anything new from Elektron?

They had a really small stand with mk II Monomachines and Machinedrums, so nothing new.

 

Korg DS-10 on Nintendo DS - will it process external audio?

Since the DS doesn't have line-in, it should be on the cartridge, but it isn't; so you're limited to using the microphone. There's a synthesizer in there based on the MS-10, only with 2 oscillators. I think I was talking with the developers of that too - and I might get a DS for just that. It's -that- awesome, beats all Palm/PocketPC sequencers into the dust.

 

Japan only? No - as an important date I've heard July 24th, and they were looking to get it to Europe and the USA, too. There will be an option to hook up 8 DSs, all running the DS-10 software, so you have a multitimbral orchestra. Woohoo!

 

SM Pro Audio stuff?

I missed them; I saw the stand, but forgot to go by there. I'm so sorry .

 

Plugiator

No sign of 'm, just SonicCore.

 

New things from Clavia?

Didn't hear anything about a new G2 update, and the new stuff is the Limited Edition (inverted keys NL2X w/ certificate) and the new revision of the Stage.

 

When is Access going to put up the new OS for the TI with the mangler?

They were demoing the Atomizer (as the mangler is called) there; it uses one of the delay line memories to process the incoming audio. Works on the Snow, too. Had an interesting chat with the developer about the TI - there's no huge legacy codebase ("cruft") in there; but they keep the old oscillator models in because of compatibility. I didn't ask about the release dates, though (I lost my questionnaire list an hour before that).

 

Is there a difference in sound between the Voy OS and the regular one?

Human memory is notoriously bad in remembering audio, which is why double-blind tests are hard to do (but still effective in debunking snake-oil claims ). I couldn't find an immediate difference, except in operation; the OS felt a lot more direct, and while it's too bad the presets are gone if you're playing on stage, it does force you to think about the sound. (I couldn't get PWM to work, wtf). Less bells & whistles, more "prove yourself, sucka".

 

Any news from Crumar?

 

No, just a piano-like controller that was kind of ugly.

 

Get me a shirt (said sizzlemeister).

Sorry, the only thing in textile swag I could score was a bag from Future Audio Workshop.

 

Spot the guy with the "Waldorf Blofeld Test Pilot" shirt.

There were two people with such a shirt there, and I found the wrong guy. Still, had a little chat about things were going at the Messe, was nice .

[Yoozer]

Stuff you didn't ask, but which I'm going to bore you with anyway:

 

 

Celemony Melodyne: I managed to catch a few minutes with the inventor, dr. Neubaecker. I asked him the following questions:

 

Me:

I'd like to ask you a few questions. First of all, a lot of people were absolutely blown away - as you have noticed, of course. Some however have called it scary - of course, that's maybe because it's impressive - but they said something about no longer requiring talent or creativity. Like you'd do a single take with a session musician, and then send him home because you'd fix his errors afterwards anyway.

 

Him:

Well, I don't think that fear is warranted. See, the thing is; if you look at the history of music, you see that it started with an original composition which then resulted in a performance, and people got the idea that music should be those two things. With the option to record music, it has been turned into a third form - a product - and we've gotten used to that idea, too.

 

If there's anything that DNA allows you to do, it's to get away from the "product" and to get back to what music is - the composition. Besides, how would changing a note be scary - it's not like anyone has the same complaint when you change a note in the composition itself! (emphasis mine)

 

Me:

The demos on the site show pretty conventional material - guitars, Rhodes, piano, strings - which is nice, and it really shows off what DNA can do. However, I'm interested in something else too - what happens if you put a "complete" piece of music in there, with all the artifacts? It'd be very interesting to see what would happen with that from an experimental point of view; so not using it just for the notes, but to warp, twist and remix. Could you perhaps make a video for that, too?

 

Him:

You know what - just do that yourself when the plugin comes out. *grins*. You'll be playing around with this a lot, then.

(addendum: one of the videos shows My Funny Valentine which is a more "complete" piece of music, and look how it separates the solo from the rest! )

 

Me:

In the demo video you said "so it may not be possible in theory, but it could be done in practice.". Could you clarify this a bit?

 

Him:

Well, what I meant was that in theory, there's no way to separate an instrument completely from the other, because you have the phenomenon of overtones, and there's no way to separate those if they overlap.

 

Me:

So you could say there's other frequencies "bleeding" through?

 

Him:

Yes. However, if you change the melody and put it in an existing piece of music, it won't be obvious anymore - it's sort of lost in the rest of the mix.

 

Me:

You mentioned that you've been working with this idea for 3 years, and you wished it would've been available 7 years ago when everything started. What was the barrier - research or CPU power?

 

Him:

It wasn't so much CPU power; the analysis would just take 3 minutes or so on an older system. It was however very important to me personally that I had a computer fast enough to do this; when I was developing and "tuning" the software, I wanted to have immediate feedback so I'd know that I was doing it right - to get a good "feel" of how it reacted. So, the extra CPU power has certainly helped, but it wasn't a barrier.

 

Me:

Alright, thank you for your time, and thank you for this amazing invention.

 

Addendum: The DNA-technique right now is still in a lab phase, but they were very excited about this, which is why they released the demo video and had a presentation about it. I have 2 movies showing off demo stuff; when dr. Neubaecker did the "poly" trick to split the notes for the first time, he got a big applause.

 

They'll try to pour this in the plugin shape first; projected release date is in Autumn 2008. The idea was mainly to allow you to expand and re-use your sample libraries and loops. It IS possible to play chords with a MIDI controller to control the overall scale and pitch - major/minor/and a dozen others (lots of classical music sounds amazing with a Spanish scale!). So, you can play like you would on an arranger, and the entire loop/fragment changes.

 

Video part 1 - sorry for the quality and the rest of the sounds, but Steinberg decided to go all out with the volume with their demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLOHyxnMl1U

Video part 2 - this is with a "complete" song (Chet Baker's "My Funny Valentine"). You see that it separates the trumpet solo from the rest; so it -can- do that! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt5o5zlrq4Y

 

SOS video w/ interview, better quality:

[Yoozer]

Pianos: Odd but true; I'm looking for an acoustic piano because I want to take up lessons again. Several times the topic has come up here (and on Musicplayer) about digital pianos and acoustic ones, and the what and how. I only have synthesizers at home - 61 keys, plastic, and only the JX8P, X-board 49 and DX7II is semi-weighted (of which the DX feels the best, but the keybed's sort of noisy; they should've kept the black felt the DX7 mk 1 had. I wonder if there's a way to get it in there anyway.

 

Anyway, I started with an August Foerster grand piano. I was just absolutely delighted with how it sounded and how the keys felt - I felt my creativity and expression somehow increased just because of the way the piano reacted. (and I'm not that great of a player).

 

Every digital piano was a sore disappointment after that, except for one. Yes, I've also tested the Fatar NUMA. While the iPod scrollwheel is nice, it looks a bit ugly, and the keys are plastic, which was a turn-off. So, what felt better? Well, the Roland RD-700GX. Made me forget the NUMA pretty fast.

 

Seriously, the keyboard feels really, really good. While it was still not comparable with a grand or even a simpler upright (I've also played the Yamaha Radius and b-series, and I'm going to get either that or a good secondhand U3 or U1), it blew all the other weighted keyboards away, easily. It just felt really, really good. Did I mentioned that it's really good? . If I had to get a digital, it'd be that one.

 

The included pianos and EPs have been sampled - lots of piano sampling, which took several years, with several lid positions, and the EPs are very good, too (but those of the Stage are a bit better and the real Rhodes Mk VII is still better than that - obviously).

 

Rob Papen: I managed to talk a while with Rob Papen about his new plugin; he's also got a DVD with a synthesizer tutorial masterclass coming up in April. He uses several synths to demonstrate some of his techniques - several people I know have attended the masterclass in his studio, and it's a great way to get insight in this stuff; it consists of several lessons and a small coursebook plus the video on the DVD.

 

He also has a new plugin called RG - Rhythm Guitar. Basically, 3 (Stratocaster, 12-string and another 12-string, sample-based) models that use strumming, up and down strokes, ghost notes, plus a part of the Predator filter and effects. Clocks in at 129 euros and is meant for the times when you don't have any session guitar player at hand. I asked him how he got the idea - since he's mainly the synth guy with a Mini, Andy, JP8 and other juicy stuff, and he said that he really liked doing this but wanted to automate the job a bit; and it's useful for several genres.

 

ADAM Audio: there's a new smaller speaker called the A5. My A7s look better, though . Couldn't find mr. Bryce there .

 

M-Audio: I asked where Ableton was; M-Audio was no longer a distributor, after the Avid/Digidesign deal, and the only thing know was that Ableton had a conference somewhere, but for dealers only. I asked if there was anything new in terms of MIDI interfaces, and I assumed that M-Audio stil distributed Ableton - so I wanted to ask why they didn't team up to get a good tight MIDI interface (think AMT for Logic, Midex for Cubase - since both of those are sort of dead, leaving only MOTU). There will be new 4x4 and 2x2 interfaces - anniversary ones, which won't require any drivers anymore for Vista, XP or OS X (something about device class).

[ElectricPuppy]

Excellent work, Yoozer, thanks!

[hogberto]

thanks yoozer.

 

will read this tomorrow.

[Yoozer]

Here's the Crumar, btw:

 

Worst kind of job on the Messe, except for probably cleaning the toilets is to wipe every lacquered surface (pianos, mainly) with a soft cloth .

 

And the ADAM A5:

 

The Rhodes MIDI thingy looked very much like a Receptor, only completely in black, and I don't have a good picture of that. I didn't take that much pictures anyway - most of the stuff I've seen was already photographed by other people, so you're really not missing much.

[girevik]

Danke well, Yoozer! U is da man!

 

The Nintendo DS doesn't have a Line In, but it does have a headset jack, into which you can plug a mic+earpiece headset. Most DS users only use the headset to train their virtual dogs in Nintendogs though. Electroplankton uses the mic/headset for rudimentary sampling. Very excited to hear confirmation of plans for US and Europe release for the DS-10!!!

 

I hear ya on the grand piano. I'd love to get a baby grand, but not for the house I'm buying (it's small). Definitely the next house.

[carbon111]

Damn fine work there, Yoozer!

[ElectricPuppy]

There's no substitute for a real piano, get one!

[flattop]

Well done. It's nice to see someone really going out and attempting to gather that much info for people. Kudos, sir.

[ChasIII]

Thanks Yoozer for spending the time to report what you saw.

[mildbill]

[sizzlemeister]

WHAT! NO T-SHIRT?! YOU LOUSE!

[Mintbeetle]

circle looks really nice. I'm glad to see softsynths getting away from the 3d rendered knobs. Excellent oscillators and modulation a-plenty too. Gonna have to pick that one up when it comes out.

[ElectricPuppy]

I'm glad to see softsynths getting away from the 3d rendered knobs.

And about time, too.

[LameAim]

Thanks for the full report!

[drxcm]

Great work Yoozer, thanks for the lengthy report, much appreciated!

[Woody4]

Thank you

 

Well done sir

[boose44]

Wowzer, Yoozer. Thanks much!

 

-bruce

[kennychaffin]

Thank you sir!!!

 

KAC

[flat earth]

Thanks Yoozer!

[b3keys]

Thanks for the update! Did you get to hear the Roland Fantom G? Thouhgts?

[Don Solaris]

 

. . . . . . .

 

 

Roland anything?

[Yoozer]

Nothing you haven't seen

[Qwave]

... Spot the guy with the "Waldorf Blofeld Test Pilot" shirt. There were two people with such a shirt there, and I found the wrong guy. ...

The other was Georg. Better known a "swissdoc". I was at the Waldorf booth many, many times But not when you were there. But I was told you were there.

I made 3 of those shirts for the "Three Blomigo" pictures published on the Waldorf Mailing List and Matriysynth.blogspot.com in early January 2008.

 

I was asked two time where to get these or if these are made by Waldorf.

Maybe I should use a selfmade picture of my Blofeld and and offer these shirt online

 

Anyway, maybe we meet next year at the Messe.