A Synthesizers.com modular is one of my "if I won the lottery" wish list items. I have enjoyed playing around with their Synthinvent application building 5 figure dream machines. 
  
So I will be getting this  but if that lottery win comes in I will still be after the real thing. 

Glyn - the Dotcom synths are things of much wondrousness and sound absolutely fabulous. I see no reason why anyone would lust after some £8,000 ARP2600 or £20,000 wheezing old Moog modular or even a few £grand for an old MiniMoog these days when these things exist and £1,600 will get you a system that'll match a 2600 or Moog System 15 without breaking a sweat and sounds equally as beefy (if not more so) as those old things without the repair, renovation and maintenance costs.


Assuming you can make a case to house it, you could build this for £600...






It would be pretty pokey though you'd need a MIDI-CV device. And the beauty is you could gradually expand it as budget allowed.


That said, as you're (I think) in the UK, the customs, shipping costs and other nonsense could/would add to that. Sadly!


But worth it.


And no ... I don't work for Dotcom, just really impressed. Best synth I've ever owned (and I've owned a LOT ... MiniMoog, Prodigy, Wasp, ARP2600, Odyssey, Axxe, Jupiter 6, MKS80 and more)!!


In the meantime, my Toolkit could ease the pain. 


The Modular Toolkit could become a series, BTW.


And thanks for the kind comments.


Cheers,






Stephen

I'm pleased to announce that a new Music Laboratory Machine is now available - 130p.

Our intrepid explorers have once again uncovered some old piece of junk which we have re-fashioned for our own sonic amusement...



With some fiddling and the intoxicating waft of virtual solder, we've created seven oscillators per voice generating asymmetric and rectified true analogue sine and sawtooth waves which are individually mixable and tuneable by way of sliders and thumbwheels respectively. These wave shapes can be detuned with one simple control as well as spread in stereo and balanced before passing to two resonators lifted from our own Novalite ... and we've added a simple LFO to modulate them for retro phase shifting sweeps. There's also FM, AM and bit crunching/sample rate reduction on the oscillators for some lo-fi grunge if you wish.

We've also included our 'Serendipity' button for generating patches at random which you can use as the starting point for your own sounds and 130p also allows you to control 'articulation' - that is, use real-time controllers to shape or phrase amplitude much like a Theremin or Ondes Martenot.

There's also a comprehensive effects chain comprising distortion, speaker emulation, chorus, flanging, rotary cabinet, echo and convolution reverb featuring a wide range of custom made impulses from spring and plate reverbs to rooms, halls and luscious ambiences...

 

AUDIO 1

AUDIO 2

130p is available now for £8.

DETAILS

For Kontakt 4 (or later). This will work with the free Kontakt Player but only in 'demo' mode and the session will be time limited. The full version of Kontakt 4.2.4 (or higher) is recommended)

Cheers,


Stephen

Hmmmm... seems it's been quite a while since I dropped in here.

A few new things from Hollow Sun Towers...

CATHOTRON




ADVANCED NOISE GENERATOR






BASS6










VITAL ORGANS






Cheers,




Stephen

I just purchased this - it does sound VERY organic and so worth the few dollars I paid for it!
There are 13 instruments I think - all good starting places for further experimentation!
As with all Hollow Sun stuff these days, excellent value for money and always INTERESTING!
And I  got the latest SFX release which if I remember correctly was all of 2 pounds - also very good.
Cheers
Nigel

Once again, we have requisitioned an ageing relic which we have re-fashioned for our purposes.

This time, from a 1950s of the future where science fiction and science fact were somewhat blurred ... a portable communications device intended for an over-ambitious and abandoned manned mission to Mars... 



With two oscillators offering a wide variety of true analogue, ring modulated waveforms which can be tuned and mixed, modulated further by a multi-wave LFO and envelope as well as FM and AM modulated, there's a broad palette of sounds to play with and mix and match before these pass to an ADSR envelope and an array of speaker simulations and lo/hi cut filters to create a wider range of antiquated, retro sci-fi sounds that could have originated in an old black and white B-movie or the early experimental electronic music studios of Europe.

These then pass to a comprehensive chain of effects comprising distortion, chorus, phase shifting, echo and a convolution reverb featuring a wide range of impulses.

Furthermore, touch the 'scope/sonar/radar in the centre of the panel and Altaerion will come up with a randomly generated sound for you. Not just that but touch it in the effects page and it will generate a new effects configuration at random. Between them, Altaerion will create good starting points for you to tweak and take you in creative directions you might not have thought of. All good fun!

Altaerion is available now for £10

DETAILS

Altaerion audio demo

Cheers,


Stephen

Hello all,

Brought this out a week ago...













It's a pad monster as well as a pokey synth in its own right!!


Layer sounds together from 64 multi-sampled waveforms and modify them quickly and easily with the unique TONE controls that offer a variation on Z-PLANE filtering. The SIZE controls give quick and easy access to the envelopes.


But you can go deeper by hitting the EDIT buttons where you have access to all the parameters and the sounds can be rounded off with the comprehensive effects section.


DETAILS


AUDIO DEMO


Cheers,




Stephen

Pad man here. I'll check this out.

Yes - this one is the the dog's b*******.

Can you spend less than 5 minuites auditioning each of the presets? Every one just wants to be played.

And when you discover the little randomise button you are going to be there all day.

And here's a link to the Pulstar review I mentioned a few posts ago:
 
http://issuu.com/wusik/docs/wsm_dec2012/41

Kreative

dmbaer


And here's a link to the Pulstar review I mentioned a few posts ago:

http://issuu.com/wusik/docs/wsm_dec2012/41

PAGE NOT FOUND

  Oops! Looks like you followed a bad link.

If you think there's a problem with Issuu, please report feedback.
 

Hmmm ... when I did a Copy Shortcut of the link I originally included, this is what was copied:
 
http://issuu.com/wusik/docs/wsm_dec2012/41%3C/a%3E%3C/font%3E%3C/font%3E
 
Using the URL up to "41" but none of the following stuff seems to work.  Here, I'll try again:
 
http://issuu.com/wusik/docs/wsm_dec2012/41
 
This one works for me.
 
 
 
 

More toys...

It's been a busy time here at 'The Towers' of late with no less than TWO new products on the go ... well, one new product and a major update to an existing one plus a special package.

Our new product is 'Optomotron' and uses multi-samples from the rare Vako Orchestron which used optical disks to make lo-fi and crunchy sounds...



You can layer sounds, tune, balance and shape sounds and there are switches to add some gunk to the sounds - wow and flutter, distorted cab and 'honky' EQ and all this passes to a comprehensive effects section with chorus, phaser, echo and convolution reverb with custom impulses from springs to vintage plates, room, halls and massive ambiences.

One nice touch is that we have not just the scratchy, wobbly stuff recorded directly from the old optical disks but also the original master tape recordings which you can mix freely using the WORN switches.

We've also inluded our usual random patch generator...



Optomotron is available now for £20

DETAILS

Not just that, though, but we've updated Newtron...



We've taken the original and inspired by what we did with Optomotron, brought it up to date with layering where two 'Tron sounds can be combined, tuned, mixed, shaped, etc., before passing on to the echo and convolution reverb effects. We've also added the rare 1/2 speed playback option that some Tronsters of old had done to their instruments. There are also switches to add wow and flutter, velocity (which should be off for authenticity, of course!) and random sample start (as on the real thing when tapes didn't quite return to zero).

It's available now for just £20 (less than the original Newtron) and believe me, as an ex-Tron owner myself, it sounds magnificent - layering 1/2 speed choir with normal speed strings, whatever, is just gusset moistening!! I shall try and make some new audio demos soon ... or get someone talented to make some!

Newtron III is available now for £20

DETAILS

Furthemore, if you like the look of these, you can buy the two, Optomotron and Newtron III, as a package HERE for £30 thereby saving £10.

Cheers,


Stephen