8 Superb Desktop Deals of the Week!
This week, we have a pile of fantastic desktop synths and drum machines at great prices
Just recently, I’ve found myself with some cool little desktop units on my… well.. my desk! Kodamo’s brilliant, but sadly sold out, MASK1 EX, Waldorf’s Protein, Teenage Engineering’s RIDDIM & TING and Arturia’s AstroLab 37.
It can be a lot of fun sitting over a little box of fun, making some cool little tunes or beats, so I thought I’d scour through our affiliate partner’s store to find some great deals so that you might be inspired to do the same. Here’s what I found!
8 Desktop Deals of the Week!
Super Selection of Sonicware Deals
Sonicware has been one of the revelations of the last few years, releasing a steady stream of truly innovative desktop synths and drum machines, samplers and sequencers, mostly within their LIVEN range, but also in their smaller but more powerful XT format.
The LIVENs each have their own unique identity, and the more recent ones have focused a lot on ambient, Lo-Fi and soundscaping styles over the more glitchy, chiptune nature of the early models. Suffice it to say, there’s one for every one.
First up, we’ve got CyDrums, a unique dual wavetable-based desktop or portable drum machine that features velocity and pressure-sensitive pads for some unique modulation capabilities. It utilises 22 sound structures for various drum parts and comes with 64 built-in wavetables, as well as up to 256 waveforms to choose from.
There’s an 8-track sequencer, each with 128 steps, and there’s some decent FX in there too, with performance features such as Varispeed, random and drum rolls. You can currently grab this with 11% off!
Also in the handheld/desktop XT format is the LoFi-12 XT, which delivered a much more expanded lo-fi sampling experience than the Lofi -12 (see below). Making use of the SmplTrek form factor, it has much more sampling time and space with the ability to sample at various rates and a lovely, scratchy 12bit mode.
As well as having expanded polyphony, there are many more sound-shaping options, along with a 4-track sequencer, a ton of FX, both insert and master and a small but very detailed screen. You can sample either by the line input of the built-in microphone. There’s also an SD card slot and USB connectivity.
Powered by 6x AA batteries or mains, it’s the perfect companion at home or on the road, with its comprehensive sample editing and sequencing. And you can buy it right now with over 10% off!
Then, of course, we have the one that really started Sonicware’s trip down the gritty, grimy low-fidelity road, the LIVEN Lofi-12. This desktop unit features the same lo-fi sampling engine with 12-bit mode and the ability to play samples chromatically over its button-based keyboard.
There are 128 sample memories, and the unit comes with 80 supplied out of the box. You can create your own samples either by capturing via the line input or via sample import, although this feature is a little tedious and time-consuming.
As with all the LIVENs, there’s a four-track sequencer with the ability to record and then chain patterns into longer compositions, and there’s a good selection of per-track FX as well as master FX. Powered via batteries or mains, it was one of the first LIVENs to feature an easier workflow. And right now it’s at a great price!
Finally, in this Sonicware collection of great deals, is the unit that, in my humble opinion, got everyone taking Dr Yu Endo’s work very seriously. The SmplTrek was their first unit outside the LIVEN range, not counting the quite brilliant ELZ_1.
Designed as a desktop/portable, easy-to-use sample and sequencer tool, the SmplTrek looks, like all of the XT format devices, like a rather large Gameboy, with its D-pad buttons, but this thing is far from a toy. It’s a really powerful and capable music-making device.
With 30 notes of polyphony and a 16bit/48kHz sampling rate, a ton of FX, velocity-sensitive pads, 10 sequencer tracks and three more pure audio tracks, this small box packs one hell of a punch. Portable, fun to use and completely self-contained, it’s great for travelling but equally at home in the studio. And you can have it for a decent price right now, too!
Waldorf M
Ah, wavetables. Once synonymous with real digital crunch are making quite a comeback in recent years and Waldorf’s M is a real homage to the days of vintage wavetables, packed as it is with two wavetable oscillators featuring Microwave I and II wavetables.
This gorgeous desktop synth also features the classic red knob (stop laughing at the back!), not once, but twice! It comes packed with 96 factory wavetables with space for 32 of your own. It’s got an SSI 2144 extended cascade filter for that necessary sound that you expect from German wavetable synths.
A huge number of presets and multis, four envelope generators including 8-stage options, and a stereo VCA for each voice, giving you 4-part multi-timbrality that can be routed to four individual stereo outputs. And it has an SD card slot for easy loading and saving of patches, banks and wavetables.
Right now, you can pick it up with more than 10% off the price at our affiliate!
KORG wavestate module
Yet MORE wavey action with the KORG wavestate desktop module that drops the keyboard and allows you to either rackmount the beast or have it right in front of you on the desktop for realtime hands on twiddling.
KORG took the Wavestation concept and dragged it kicking and screaming into the 21st Century with the wavestate, initially in 37-key keyboard form, then latterly as the wavestate SE, 61-key affair, then the native plugin and now the desktop.
Nobody does wave sequencing quite like KORG, and they found themselves with a smash on their hands with the wavestate, now available as the wavestate Mk.II. The breadth of organic sounds with tons of motion is quite staggering, and you really ought to have at least one model in your collection.
Grab the desktop variant now and benefit from a decent discount!
Vermona PERfourMER Mk.II
The Vermona PERfourMER Mk.II is quite a unique desktop synth inasmuch as it is essentially four mono synths in a box. A rather beautiful and enticing box at that, too! You can operate each synth section as an individual mono synth, or you can combine them into a powerful 4-voice polysynth.
It may look fairly simple, but the sound that comes out of this thing is all of the usual synthy expletives and metaphors you normally find in such articles as this, so I’ll spare you the annoyance of my using them now. Just listen to the demo. It’s just gorgeous.
With two mono, two duo and two polyphonic modes, you can also feed external sound sources into each synth section for some real fun. It’s quite unlike anything else, and right now, it can be had at a very reasonable price.
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