Abakos Free
Substractive Synth
Features:
- 2 VCO with 3 waveforms.
- LFO with multiple waveforms.
- 2 ADSR for sound design.
- Envelope Follow.
- Onboard Delay, Tremolo, Vibrato and Wah Wah.
- Noise Generator.
- Ring Mod.
- Digital / Analogue Filter Modes.
- Internal preset management system.
Download
Sonicstate.com shot a long, detailed video on NAMM about GForce's new, upcoming virtual instrument, MTron Pro. Based on their previous Mellotron emulator, MTron, they developed really a lot: a new, rewritten audio engine, new features like reversing all the tapes and so on. The biggest news inevitably is the sound set: MTron Pro plays not only the original Mellotron soundset but sounds of two other classic instruments from that age, Birotron and Optigan. Enjoy the video here.
Kong Audio, specialist of China's people instruments has sampled a new one, suona. It is something between the woodwind and brass instruments, with a very unique, harsh sound. It came originally from Persia, and adapted in China during the Ming Dynasty. Kong sampled two suonas, a big and a smaller one, in 24/96 quality. The overall size of the package is 380 megabytes which contains several dynamic articulations to maximize the playability. The VSTi costs 68 USD, here.
Digidesign presents two lighter versions of their Pro Tools-only flagship sampler, Structure. First, Structure LE has limited editing functions plus limited sample mapping capabilities if you compare it with the original but costs only 150 USD. It comes with a 3 gigabyte sound library. There is an even-cheaper version, Structure Free which has a sample library of885 megs, and further limitations. It can play four instances at a time, no database handling, partly-adapted MIDI Learn, four parts multitimbral only, only a stereo pair of audio output, and no effects. But still not so bad, isn't it? Check the detailed specs and features comparison table here.
Musicrow has assembled a tiny piano plugin for Windows/VST at a very low cost, and a very low hardware demand. It works with samples - 34 megabytes only -, but their own technology called SCS makes it a turbo-sounding piano beast which rivals the high-end piano products found elsewhere on the market. It is called PianoBoy, and its demos sound really nice, try them, and the software is ultra-fast really, again. It has a polyphony of 22, and costs 55 euro, here.
We already had news about Sonivox's high-end sample packages like Broadway Big Band but now the company targets another market segment with the brand new DVI (Downloadable Virtual Instruments) series. These are low priced (10-50 USD) sample sets with Tascam's sample player engine and they have a lot of them: the list is very long, check it here (Fender bass, Stratocaster, FM piano, Wurlitzer piano, bagpipes, Mellotron - just to name a few). The platform is PC and VST/RTAS, Maci is coming soon.
On the picture you can see Miles'tone, Soundfonts.it's latest news. Yes, it is a virtual modeling trumpet solution with no samples inside at all and performs all the articulation tricks a real trumpet can. The final price will be 39 euro but the introductory summertime price is 29 euro only at the product's page. Check the demos before buy.
John Bowen, who - together with Dave Smith - created such legends like Prophet 5, Prophet VS and Wavestation, worked a lot on producing supersynths for Creamware's Scope platform. On of those software codes now come into reality: the machine called Solaris - though with completely rewritten program lines - based on his VA modular system. Price is not known yet but I expect it into the higher region - just take a look on the photo... To keep you updated check this link frequently.
Wallander Instruments is a newcomer in the market of the ultrarealistic acoustic emulations - their first product, Brass 1 solves the brass problem of the electronic musician completely. Brass 1 is the first part of their product line called WIVI - on their website they write a lot of interesting statements of the brass topic so I won't tell any more but the price: 600 USD. Try the free demo at first, of course.
Both giant soft synth factory decided to enhance their summer sales with incredible price cuts so we will not buy any soft instrument any time but summer. Arturia offers not less than their all synths - the V Collection holds Minimoog V, Moog Modular V, CS-80V, ARP 2600 V, plus the two Prophets, and the very big bonus, the new Jupiter-8V. The full kit would cost more than a Porsche if you buy them as hardware but prefer the software versions and you will top at 549 euro - that's a price of wonder. Order here until 30th September.
Native Instruments has numerous smaller offers instead of a big one - buy Kontakt 2 now for a half price of 250 euro, or the classic keys edition which covers Akoustik Piano, Elektrik Piano plus the B4 II for 349. For more Native offers click here, their Summer of Sound action closes at 31th, August.
IK Multimedia developed a lot on their famous synth workstation called Sonic Synth 2. The new 2.1 version is free for all registered users and runs on Intel Macs also, has a stand-alone application, fully compatible with Cubase 4, has a smoother response on Control Change messages, has BPM-syncable LFOs, got 16 stereo outputs and so on. Check and purchase here.
