MOS-LAB Brings Back the E-mu Modular System, More: Synth Journal
The best of the rest of this week’s synth news.
It’s the return of the mighty E-mu Modular System thanks to MOS-LAB, plus new XAOC Devices, Melbourne Instruments Roto-Control to the Max, Condukt MIDI controller, and Look Mum No Computer counts in German.
Synth Journal
MOS-LAB E-Mu Modular System
Being from the San Francisco Bay Area and having gone to university in Santa Cruz, California, I have a special place in my heart for Dave Rossum and E-mu. I remember visiting E-mu Systems in what must have been 1990 or 1991 in Scotts Valley, and seeing the Audity prototype in the lobby of the building. The fact that Dave and his team built a modular synthesizer in Santa Cruz in the early 1970s has always filled me with pride.
That E-mu Modular System is now back in the world of the living thanks to the tireless efforts of French manufacturer MOS-LAB, who recently unveiled a complete system clone. He’s offering 21 modules, a power supply, and two different cases. You can buy everything separately as you need, create your own modular system, or go with one of the two that he’s suggested.
The E-mu Modular System isn’t nearly as well-known as other modulars, but it certainly deserves its place in the pantheon of great modular synths.
Modules and cabinets are made to order. Visit the MOS-LAB site for more information.
- MOS-LAB E-Mu Modular System product page
XAOC Devices Kamieniec II and Allpass Expansion
I phase, you phase, we all phase for allpass. Or something like that. What I’m trying to say is that XAOC Devices has released an upgraded version of its lovely phaser Eurorack module and provided an all-pass filter optional add-on board to boot.
Kamieniec II revives the 1970s analog phaser-aping original, preserving the classic sound with four- and six-stage outputs, built-in triangle LFO, manual resonance control, and feedback routing modes. It also offers new features, such as voltage control over resonance, a third feedback mode, and an LFO reset input. It can also chain, including with the original Kamieniec.
If you like the idea of more stages but don’t want to hog HP in your case, you can add the Allpass Expansion board, which connects to the back of Kamieniec II and adds up to 16 sweepable stages for a total of 22.
Both Kamieniec II and Allpass Expansion are available now at Thomann*.
- XAOC Devices Kamieniec II product page
- More about XAOC Devices
Melbourne Instruments Roto-Control Max Integration
Melbourne Instruments has announced integration of its clever Roto-Control MIDI controller with Cycling ’74’s Max. This follows on Logic Pro, Live and Bitwig integration.
“With Max now supported directly in PLUGIN Mode, Roto-Control becomes a powerful hands-on interface for creating and using custom instruments, audio, MIDI effects, and performance tools built in Max,” says Melbourne Instruments.
Roto-Control uses Melbourne’s clever spinning knobs based on drone motors plus haptic feedback to aid in control. It’s available at Thomann*.
- Melbourne Instruments Roto-Control product page
- More about Melbourne Instruments
Condukt MIDI Controller App
Condukt is a new MIDI controller app for iOS, iPad and Mac devices that lets you create custom environments to control parameters on hardware synthesizers. It uses the midi.guide database, so check there if your synthesizer is supported before buying.
The app looks really cool. You can add faders to affect parameters individually or grouped like macros, create Recall snapshots that can transition over time in sync to BPM, and use crossfaders to morph between recall states. There are also LFOs plus different step sequencers, including a Turing Machine Sequencer inspired by the Music Thing Modular Turing Machine.
Condukt is $19.99 and available on Apple app stores.
- Condukt product page
Look Mum No Computer “Eins, Zwei, Drei”
In case you missed it, Look Mum No Computer has been chosen as the UK’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. Even as an American, who has very little sense of the cultural importance of Eurovision, I knew that this was a wild choice and something of a win for synth nerds. I mean, Sam Battle is amazing. And not only is he a synth guy, he’s also a DIY hero and all-around legend. I am, as they say, chuffed.
This week, Sam debuted the song that he’ll be competing with, along with a suitably big budget (and characteristically hilarious) music video. Called “Eins, Zwei, Drei,” it’s brash and catchy, and the video is full of his creations.
The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Vienna, Austria, starting on May 10
- Look Mum No Computer homepage
More Information
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- Buy synthesizers at Thomann*
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