The electronic musical instruments market is very large nowadays, so the device selection can become a problem for beginner musicians who decided to give up virtual plugins and get a hardware setup, as it is difficult not to drown in the variety of options and find affordable instruments with wide functionality. We have analyzed the market and are ready to provide you with our view on the ideal inexpensive digital setup, which is suitable both for live performances and for the studio.

Two DIY synths – a new Arduino-based unit and a Gilbert module inspired by Roland sound, Malekko Varigate 4+ gets updated introducing some CV capabilities, a Theremin-style Altura launched by Zeppelin, a Kickstarter project by Chroma Coda which is represented with a MIDI floor controller, and the Acid Simona VCF which is a limited edition of Erica Synths Black Polivoks VCF.

Roland has made a new demo video telling how to approach their new creature; video blogger Hunart and his review; Polish news source Musoneo; Roland TB-03 and CR-68 in Japan (vintage style); Rezzonator 1.04 updated

That drum machine wave which drifted the 80s into history as the time for cult dance music instruments brought a lot of units which would be copied and imitated after with enormous zealotry. But while musicians of that epoch had to enjoy vintage synthesizers the future was preparing for them big announcements of legendary drum machines being revised to fit the modern world. Analog renaissance of the XXI century keeps on flourishing and expands adding more and more of new possibilities. Here we’ll take a look at the great drum machines of the past (LinnDrum LM-2, Sequential Circuits TOM, Roland TB-303) as well as contemporary analog beat creatures - Dave Smith Instruments Tempest, Elektron Analog Rytm, and recent Arturia DrumBrute.

Analog generator waveform is far from being perfect – it’s unstable and suffers from inevitable voltage-brought deformation. Many of the analog filters are unsteady – you might hear some noises, phase shift or self-oscillation. But these very drawbacks make the signal so brisk, lively – well, actually, alive indeed. Digital developments helped to tame analog sound, cut it into samples, increase polyphony, give you a synthesizer equipped with the functions which were simply unobtainable in analog instruments. In 1990s instrument manufacturing companies got highly interested in analog modeling technologies development – they were eager to re-create those smallest details of electric musical instrument circuit behavior.