Hasta La Gadget!

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.

As Leap Motion dev units have begun shipping out, developers have been toying with the motion-tracking device to find unique uses for it. One developer in particular ended up using his unit to help him out with his music recording. Stephane Bersot used the Leap Motion to play air drums, change the pitch of his guitar, and even control the EQ on his piano keyboard.

Essentially, the Leap Motion is able to change the pitch of the guitar chords based on the position of the guitar’s headstock, meaning that there’s no need for players to use a tremolo bar or bend the strings while playing. The device can also track specially-made drum sticks that allow the Leap to track the end points of the sticks to play the beats.

However, that seemed to be Bersot’s most difficult challenge. He says “it wasn’t easy to play drums with it,” and it actually needs more work to make it more stable. Essentially, Bersot used the velocities and positions of the drum sticks on the X axis, and had it play the note at just the right time during the down motion.

We’re assuming Bersot’s project is just for fun, since it doesn’t seem like he plans to release something like it anytime soon, but it goes to show the potential of the Leap Motion device. While it can be used to track your hands to move objects on a screen, the implications of such a device go way beyond what one might think.

[via MAKE]

Leap Motion sees its potential as a possible musical device is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Despite the increasing number of robotic musical acts, I’m still always tickled by the idea of a band that does away with the human element, and puts robots in their rightful place – to entertain their masters. The latest robot musician – a mechanical bass-playing ‘bot.

Engineering student James McVay created the MechBass as his honors project at New Zealand’s Victoria University. The robot uses a set of four individual bass strings along with a motorized pick wheel to jam out its tunes.

A linear-motion system moves a pitch-shifter that frets the strings by applying pressure to them, and a servo-controlled damper mechanism can stop the strings from vibrating quickly. Optical pickups then capture the sounds, and send them to an audio circuit and amplifier.

The whole system is controlled using MIDI signals and an audio programming language called ChucK, so it can play pretty much any tune that can be played on a bass. A custom controller board using an ATMega328 processor acts as the bridge between the software and the hardware.

But don’t just take my word for how cool this thing is. Here’s a video clip of MechBass pounding out the intense bassline of Muse’s Hysteria.

While I don’t know if it’ll be replacing Flea in the Red Hot Chili Peppers anytime soon, I’m still totally impressed by MechBass’ musical talents.

Check out complete details on the build here (PDF).

[via Wimp]

Late last week, Moog outed its LEV-96 sensoriactuator prototype and offered a glimpse at its latest R&D unit. Even though it’s still in the early phases of beta-testing, we were able to stop by the Moog Music factory for a closer look and a brief glimpse of the gear in action ahead of its appearance at Moogfest. While the unit is installed on acoustic guitars for the time being, the company says that similar tech can be used on other acoustic instruments and eventually to other surfaces — this is just the current manifestation. Since the tech modifies the guitar’s natural harmonics and string vibrations, the LEV-96 is getting cozy on both traditional acoustic guitars and those outfitted with pickups in its present state.

As far as controls go, the entire unit is capacitive touch-enabled from the moment a finger swipe powers it on. Sliders allow for adjusting the intensity, harmonics and note duration while the other buttons enable arpeggio presets and modulation that includes tremolo and random harmonic tweaks. Those sliders remain in play when a preset is activated, serving to enable further adjustments on selected There is a lock button, too, so that you don’t accidentally make a switch mid-strum. All of these finger-friendly surfaces work alongside two pairs of electromagnetic pickup channels per string to wrangle the 96 simultaneous harmonics. Magnets work to either increase of decrease the string’s motion, bringing out vibrational modes that have always been in-play on acoustic instruments, but have never been offered the power needed to make ’em sing. The folks at Moog are quick to remind us that the LEV-96 is still in its infancy, but you can rest assured we’ll be keeping an eye our for what develops. For a peek at the tech in action, head on past the break for a really quick demo that we kept brief due to that fact that this is an early prototype.

Continue reading Moog’s LEV-96 sensoriactuator prototype wields touch control of 96 simultaneous harmonics, we go eyes-on (video)

Filed under: Misc

Moog’s LEV-96 sensoriactuator prototype wields touch control of 96 simultaneous harmonics, we go eyes-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Moog, the company that pioneered commercial manufacturing of analog synthesizers, has shown off a cool new piece of tech. They call it the LEV-96, and it’s a new “sensoriactuator” prototype that “activates and controls naturally occurring harmonics and resonant frequencies on any medium.” Images posted by Moog show the concept device being used on an acoustic guitar.

The LEV-96 places two pickups under each string, which totals 12 pickups. The company says that each “pickup channel is capable of controlling any combination of 8 harmonics within each string simultaneously.” So, in this case, there are a total of 96 individual control systems handling up to 96 harmonics.

The whole system is powered by a processor and is controlled through touch-based sliders by the guitar player. This allows adjustments of intensity, harmonics, and note duration. There’s also other settings that allow you to change the arpeggio, tremolo, and other random harmonics. During playing, the system constantly evaluates “each string’s harmonic content and vibrational behavior.”

Sadly, Moog has only released photos of the device, so we don’t know what this thing sounds like, nor do we get to see it in action. However, the company’s annual Moogfest is coming up, so we’ll possibly be able to finally the see thing work its magic. However, Moog says that it’s only a rough concept so far and that there will be a lot more to come in the future.

[via Engadget]

Moog unveils LEV-96 sensoriactuator concept for acoustic guitars is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.