Hasta La Gadget!

When we first played the game known as Auralux, it was back in July of 2012 on a Google Nexus 7 tablet – now this masterpiece has come to iOS. Finally you’ll be able to experience what NVIDIA Tegra smartphone and tablet users have been tapping along with for so many months – Wardrum Studios has brought the minimalistic battle of brightness to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch at last! And it feels so fabulous!

What you’re getting here is a game that was originally released on the NVIDIA TegraZone. That means that NVIDIA helped to optimize the game (as it existed back then) for Android devices working with their Tegra processor lineup. Now that Wardrum Studios has given the world a taste of that iteration of the game, an Apple-hungry twin is born.

Here with the iOS version of Auralux you’re getting basically the same game with the same game mechanics, this time with no restrictions on which processor you’ve got (since iOS is run by Apple, and Apple commands all iOS devices). This game consists of a series of planets, each of them owned by whichever team of colored points of light has taken it over.

Once you’ve taken over a planet, your planet begins to produce more points of light. As you move forward to other planets, you’ll find that your enemies (different colors) will be wanting to command planets as well. Once you and an enemy reach a point where you both want the same planet, you’ll do battle. This whole while you’ll be hearing some rather lovely background music – the battle adds to this ambiance with a song all its own.

This app is available in the iTunes Appstore right this minute for free. The folks at Wardrum Studios make their cash from your need to expand the game once you’ve beaten the first several levels. You can continue to challenge yourself to beat these levels over and over again, of course – if you get that far – or you can pick up packs of levels with in-game purchases. Make with the fun!

Auralux hits iOS: multi-colored points of light go to war! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you like to make your own music and prefer to use synthesizers over analog musical instruments, you will probably be familiar with the name Korg. The company has announced that it has added a pair of the synthesizers to its Kaoss family. They look more like some sort of control panel from the Enterprise than musical instruments.

The new products include the KP3+ Dynamic Effect/Sampler and the Kaossilator Pro+ Dynamic Phase Synthesizer/Loop Recorder. Both devices promise a user-friendly X-Y touchpad interface that responds to the touch of a finger or a swipe.

The KP3+ supports touchpad-based control of over 150 sound effects including all of the original KP3 sound effects along with 22 new effect programs. The device also has a looper, a ducking compressor that puts emphasis on the backbeats, and a “Final Break” effect that simulates slowing down a turntable. Here’s just a small sample of what the KP3+ can do:

The device is also a MIDI controller with three controller signals transmitted from the touchpad and data from the slider.

The Kaossilator Pro+ has 250 sounds inspired by electronic music including 62 sounds inspired by cutting-edge genres. The effects include synth leads, enhanced drum sounds, and highly controllable drum patterns among other features. Korg shows off a bit of the Pro+ in action below:

Both products will be available this April with the KP3+ selling for $349.99(USD) and the Pro+ selling for $399.99.

It’s no secret that Korg creates some fantastic products when it comes to synthesized sound – and music is about to blow through your ear sockets this week with a couple of additions to the Kaoss Synthesizer lineup. What we’ve got here is a couple of new beasts, the first being the KP3+ Dynamic Effect/Sampler, the other bumping up the beats as the Kaossilator Pro+ Dynamic Phase Synthesizer/Loop Recorder. The power is about to be yours once again.

With the KP3+ Dynamic Effect/Sampler you’ll be using touchpad controls to activate a barrage of effects programs – over 150 of them right here in one little monster. These programs include the original KP3 effects, 22 all-new effects programs, and a collection of sounds and features in-between that’ll knock you out. You’ll find user-favorited selections in filters, decimators, echoes and more from Korg products that are on the market right now, as well: the Kaoss Pad Quad and Mini Kaoss Pad 2 have been particularly inspirational.

Using the KP3+ you’ll be blasting with high resolution sampling from sources galore – mic and line inputs are yours to craft with. You can save multiple bands of samples to SD card (with the integrated SD card slot) or transferred to your PC with this machine’s USB port – you’ll also have a MIDI controller able to transmit three controller signals from one touchpad, data from the slider, and more – this beast will run you $349.99 and will be available starting in April, 2013.

With the Kaossilator Pro+ you’ll be rocking with 250 sounds with such excellent bits and pieces as synth leads, enhanced drum sounds, and effects galore – all highly controllable and pattern-ready. You’ll be working with updated drum PCM from Korg’s own Wavedrum percussion synth, and you’ll be encouraged to either work in one of the following genres or create your own (of course!): hip-hop, chiptune, house, dubstep, new disco, electro, reggaeton, and drum ‘n’ bass.

The Kaossilator Pro+ has the ability to record performances that are four tracks deep, each of them placed on a Loop Recorder Bank and overdubbed one at a time. Loop phrases coming correct, you’ll go wild with line inputs and a mic input as well for recording external audio sources on the fly – and you’ll be doing all of this for $399.99 USD starting in April of 2013 – same time as the KP3+ – as well.

Korg Kaoss Synthesizer line expands with KP3+ and Kaossilator Pro+ is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sonos has found a sweet spot in the audio world. Its wireless technology and ability to stream music from almost any source — be it from the cloud or local storage — have given it considerable geek cred, yet its simple setup still offers mass appeal. Of course, none of that would matter if its systems didn’t sound good, but fortunately, Sonos’ Play:3, Play:5 and its Sub have all impressed with the quality of audio they produce. The $699 Playbar is the newest member of the family, and with this product, Sonos is setting its sights squarely on the home theater market. Is it fit for your living room? Read on to find out.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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