KORG Gadget Jumps to the PlayStation 5, New Modules from Pittsburgh Modular, More: Synth Journal
The best of the rest of this week’s synth news.
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PlayStation 5 owners, you can now get your KORG Gadget on in your TV! Plus new modules from Pittsburgh Modular, Unknown Devices, Qu-Bit Electronix, and more.
Synth Journal
KORG Gadget for PlayStation
KORG Gadget has to be my favorite DAW on the iPad. The long-running music-making application gives you a variety of original synths and drum machines, plus a simplified sequencer to put your songs together. It sounds great, and if you own any of KORG’s other iOS apps like the Wavestation or Mono/Poly, they’ll also appear in Gadget. The company has since ported the program to Mac, split the instruments out as plugins, put it on the Nintendo Switch, and most recently done it as VR. Now it’s available on the Sony PlayStation 5.
According to the company, KORG Gadget for PlayStation uses the Unreal Engine, “one of the most powerful game engines available.” It places the instruments in an immersive 360-degree environment, somewhere between the VR and Switch experiences.
Korg Gadget for PlayStation is available on the PlayStation Store for $49.99.
Mac and PC users, take note: KORG Gadget 3 for Mac and KORG Gadget 3 Plugins have both been updated, adding the Osaka drum gadget.
Unknown Devices Eisei Quad Satellite System
This is a special one. Eisei is a new Eurorack module from boutique company Unknown Devices. Dubbed a Quad Satellite System, Eisei (which means ‘satellite’ in Japanese, by the way) is hard to describe. Even the developer admits as much. But I’ll try.
A digital module, it starts with a Datum, a spectral sample captured by either sampling in audio or feeding it a live signal. This then excites the four satellites, which orbit around the Datum like playheads on a record. Each contains a 20-bank filterbank and pulse wave oscillator. It can filter, process, harmonize, shape and resynthesize the sound. There’s even a touch control surface arranged around the circular screen to scrub the satellites. It’s pretty wild and maybe a little hard to imagine, so it’s best to check out the demo videos.
Unknown Devices Eisei is available to preorder until July 8, at which point they’ll start making the first batch, which they hope to ship in fall 2025. Available in black or white and costs €409 (regular price €490).
Qu-Bit Electronix Bloom v2
Qu-Bit Electronix is back with a refresh to its 2019 module, Bloom. Called Bloom v2, it updates and adds to, while not moving too far away from the original idea of the fractal sequencer, which uses algorithmic variation and probability to dynamically resize and rotate sequences.
Bloom v2 is a three-channel, 64-step CV and gate sequencer that allows you to apply clock-synced ratchets per step, use the Mutation range for random note variation, and save and recall individual Branches with your sequence. There’s also a new modulation-focused output that stays in sync with your melodic CV and rhythmic Gate outputs.
Qu-Bit Electronix Bloom v2 costs $499 and is available from the Qu-Bit Electronix site.
Ewan Bristow Halica
If you don’t know the name Ewan Bristow, consider this your invitation to check out this genius plugin developer. Ewan makes weird and wild audio processors and other tools for Plugdata, a free and open-source plugin host built on Pure Data. Think of it as a plugin for plugins.
Ewan’s latest is Halica. Described as a “real-time particle playground,” it’s actually a granular synthesizer that uses physics to control how the grains (or particles) behave. You can set mass, air resistance and max speed of the particles and then process them with six effects, including spectral resynthesis/filtering.
Although the Plugdata host is free – and many of Ewan’s tools are as well – Halica costs £15, although if you buy soon, you can get an automatic discount.
Pittsburgh Modular Safari Series 9
Pittsburgh Modular, maker of the fabulous Taiga and Voltage Lab, has just released three new Eurorack modules, what the company is calling Safari Series 9.
First up is the Crow 3 Filter, which pairs the famously smooth Pittsburgh Filter with drive for a sound that can be either beautiful or brutal – or both if that’s how you swing. Costs $199.
Next up is the Double Helix Wavetable Processor, a 9-bit digital wavetable oscillator that recently emerged from a decade-long prototype sleep after getting outed on SonicState. Yours for $299.
The third is Local Florist 2, an experimental module with output ranging from flanging and chorus to “plucky string sounds.” Available for $199.
Pittsburgh Modular considers the Safari Series 9 modules to be experiments, so you can only get them direct from the company in limited quantities.
Pittsburgh Modular products are available at Thomann*.
ERINAQ Glen Scott Special Edition Redemption
Custom MIDI keyboard controller maker ERINAQ (Israel Criado Martín) got in touch to tell us about his latest creation, a job for musician Glen Scott. Called the Glen Scott Special Edition Redemption, it recreates the feel of a Hammond organ with two 61-key Fatar keybeds and two Native Instruments B4D drawbar controllers, all in a gorgeous solid oak case. It all works with a Hammond plugin, usually the stock Logic one or Native Instruments’ Vintage Organs running on Kontakt, but “it can be used to control any organ plugin as long as the Native Instruments controllers are selected in the VST options,” he says.
This is not ERINAQ’s first work for Scott. He previously combined a Creamware Minimax ASB with a selection of Eurorack modules for the musician. We also featured him once before for his Soma Labs build for Richard Devine.
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