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Today's meeting was the pilot of a new format for Synth Club; I took some inspiration form the CRAS AES Monday night meetings and decided to put a spin on their format.
First, we went over planned "special event meetings". Next meeting is on 11/25 also known as Black Friday, and the plan is to have a "Black Friday Bash". We will go over every single possible Black Friday and discuss and rate each deal.
After that we had Industry News.
The MiniMoog Model D was Re-released for $5000. This icon could be one of the most recognizable synths of all time, so a re-release is definitely of note. The last time Moog re-released this synth was in 2016.
The Sequential Trigon 6 was released. This synth is supposedly the best of the Prophet 6 and OB-6 all wrapped into one. It retails for $3500, and again, a release from a synth manufacturer as big as Sequential is definitely of note.
The Eventide H90 was released. It is a guitar pedal that is a lite version of the H9000 Rackmount Processor. The price difference between the H90 and H9000 is also very interesting. The H90 retails for $900, and the H9000 can get as expensive as $8000. There is also an even more stripped down version of the H90 called the H9 that retails for $600.
KORG Announces Minilogue Bass. There doesn't seem to be too many differences between version of the Minilogue and the standard version, but a release from KORG is definitely notable. I am exited to see the product release.
Waves to release a free plugin on Black Friday. Not much info on this one, but definitely be on the lookout.
Izotope Audiolens free for a limited time. Audiolens is an audio analyzer similar to Voxengo SPAN. You can use it to visualize your tracks and you can also compare your levels to chosen reference tracks.
Waldorf Streichfett plugin version just released. This one is kind of a big deal, Waldorf very rarely, if ever, creates plugin versions of their hardware. Also, on top of that, they very rarely will make plugins whatsoever, so a plugin version of a current Waldorf hardware module for such a low price is very notable. It is currently available on their website for €33
Next was Manufacturer Spotlight. Today we took a dive into the wonderful world of Arturia. What is Arturia? Well, Arturia is an audio production company that offers hardware and plugins. They were founded in 1999 by Frédéric Brun, Gilles Pommereuil. They are most well known for creating their own synths, and remastering different vintage hardware synths and effects and turning them into plugins. Some notable Arturia hardware is the Polybrute, Minifreak, and Audiofuse 8-pre. Some notable software is V collection, FX collection and Pigments.
I then talked about the Arturia Microfreak and why I think it is one of the best value-for-money hardware synths on the market right now. There are 3 main reasons, price, functionality, and differentiality.
First with price, is it extremely cheap for a hardware synth. I can be had brand new, retail for $350. Not only is that also cheap, but with the release of the upgraded Minifreak, they can be had for even cheaper on the used market.
Next is functionality; not only is this synth cheap, but it packs a punch too. It comes with 17 different oscillator modules; 7 Arturia engines, 7 modules from Mutable Instruments, and 3 modules designed with Noise Engineering. All of these modules are very nice, but the Mutable Instruments modes take the cake, and starts to segue into the differentiality of the Microfreak.
Mutable Instruments is known for being quite expensive; they come in modular synth style modules, and not only do you have to learn modular synthesis to even use them, but be prepared to pay hundreds for just one module. The Microfreak solves this problem by just having them as typical digital synth modules built right into the synth engine. Another difference is the keybed of the micro freak. It uses a capacitive keybed instead of typical piano keybed. The end result is a very expressive keybed that is not only very different from a typical keybed you probably already own, but it is also quite a rare sight too. I don't know of many other synthesizers that feature this type of keybed.
I then did a quick demo showcasing different synths and effects from Arturia's V Collection and FX Collection. I showed off the Prophet 5, Prophet VS and DX7 from Arturia's V Collection and the Matrix-12 Filter, MiniMoog Filter, and VCA-65 (DBX-165) from Arturia's FX Collection.
After that, we went over the TC Electronic Icon series. The Icon series is a collection of hardware plugin controllers modeled after famous TC Electronic digital effects modules such as the TC Electronic 2290. I had recently purchased a TC Electronic TC8210-DT Hardware Plugin Controller and wanted to demo it, as it was very interesting, yet cheap hardware device. The TC8210-DT normally retails for $100, but has been on sale for quite a while for only $30. The controller interacts with the corresponding TC8210 plugin in several different ways.
One is the faceplate buttons and lights. You get lots of control from the hardware device from changing reverb type, to even bypassing the plugin. The lights and 7 segment displays on the unit also display information pertaining to the plugin. Another cool feature that can be confusing, is some of the other ways the controller interacts with the plugin. The controller itself contains the plugin license, but you do not need the controller attached for the full functionality of the plugin. You also do not need to buy the native version of the plugin for a reasonable workflow without the controller plugged in. If the controller isn't plugged in, but was plugged in the last time you used the plugin, a 60 day countdown starts, and the plugin will have full functionality just like the native version. If you wish to stop the counter, plug the controller back in at any time. If the controller is unplugged again, the counter will reset to 60 days. The counter will not resume where it left off; it will always give you 60 days from the last controller unplug to use the full functionality of the plugin. If you don't want to deal with this feature, you can always purchase the native plugins, and you will no longer have to worry about a countdown.
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