These days it’s hard to put in perspective how revolutionary the Fairlight CMI (Computer Music Instrument) was as a musical instrument when it was introduced in the early 1980s. A brief history...
I’ve written about vocoders in previous issues of Tape Op, so I won’t go into a lot of theory here, but check this review for more of the basic operational theory of vocoding. Arturia...
In the category of alternate controllers, the Sensel Morph is one of the best I’ve seen to date. By alternate, I mean as an alternative to your ASCII keyboard, mouse, trackpad, and piano-style...
Frustrated because your stock Sennheiser MD 421 clip broke and you’re finding out that a replacement for the poorly designed original clip will cost you more than several gourmet pizzas to go?...
This is an ingenious and very useful $25 accessory for anybody who owns Sennheiser MD 421 microphones and is perpetually frustrated at the poorly-designed mic clip/mount, the one that results in the...
The golden age of plug-ins is happening right now. Initially, most audio plug-ins aped existing analog gear such as EQs, compressors, and existing effects units like plate reverbs and tape delays. I...
I’ve always been a big fan of Chameleon Labs’ gear. They were one of the first companies to bring classic audio designs into the realm of affordability. I’ve owned a pair of their...
This is the newly updated and keyboard-less version of the venerable Buchla Music Easel. The original Buchla Music Easel was one of the earliest analog synthesizers. Originally released in 1973, it...
A few years ago I reviewed Arturia’s Beatstep Pro [Tape Op #111] and was really impressed by the functionality of that unit. Their new MIDI/CV sequencer/controller KeyStep Pro takes things up...
Let’s get this out right up front: Waldorf’s Iridium is a deep, complex instrument and processor with tons of new technology under the hood, both in terms of its synthesis engine and its...
In the world of both hardware and software synthesizers, there is a lot of focus on classic instruments like the Minimoog and their time-tested analog subtractive synthesis method. That's all fine and...
A few years ago I reviewed Arturia’s Beatstep Pro [Tape Op #111] and was really impressed by the functionality of that unit. Their new MIDI/CV sequencer/controller KeyStep Pro takes things...
I reviewed the original Symphony system previously [Tape Op #87], and we recently covered the new Symphony I/O Mk II [#118, #128] in different configurations, so I'm not going to dive deep into an...
