Among the highlights of the product releases last week, Roland has a new virtual analog synth (the SH-01) and shoulder keyboard (AX-09) that look friendly and relatively affordable (especially once you account for street price, not list). They have that convergence of certain selling points that I think will make them popular – maybe not with everyone, but with enough people that you may soon be seeing them around. And that makes them worth a little further research.

I got to have a long conversation with Vince LaDuca of Roland US about the new gear, so we could answer some questions readers raised and talk about some of the technical details. Here’s what I came away with following that chat, starting with the SH-01.

GAIA SH-01 Synth

The most important message I got about the SH-01 was that this really does seem to be a new generation of synth from Roland. It’s not directly equivalent to the SH-201; it takes advantages of newer Roland tech in DSP and specifically in power savings. That’s what allows you to unplug the SH-01 and run it on 8 AA batteries for, according to Vince, somewhere around five hours.

Unlike the previous SH-201, too, the SH-01 has a rich set of great-sounding effects. (The effects section was, for me, the real weak point of the 201.)

Architecture: The SH-01’s virtual analog engine is indeed mono-timbral; it’s all on channel 1. You do get three virtual analog tones, though, so you can put together some fairly sophisticated patch designs. (Vince and I couldn’t think of a three-tone Roland synth, ever, but if you know of one, shout it out in comments.

There are some twists, though:

Oddly enough, the SH-01 packs a full-blown General MIDI+ sound chip for GM soundfile playback. (I can’t dream of ever wanting that, but I know there are folks out there who still play SMF files on GM banks.) So, that PCM engine responds on channels 2-16. You probably don’t care, but now you know. And if you’re wondering what that meant when you read the specs, you weren’t hallucinating.

You get two LFOs for each of the three tones. There’s also a separate, assignable LFO for modulation. There are additional modulation options accessible from the front panel, too. For instance, you can adjust panning depth modulation for both LFOs by holding down the shift key.

Between tones 1 + 2, you have the option of ring modulation and oscillator sync. So, combine the three tones and the modulation choices, and you have some pretty rich sonic options on a pretty cheap board – there are certain advantages to virtual analog.

What happens when you switch tones and adjust a knob? A couple of readers asked about this. Let’s imagine you move a parameter knob from three o’ clock to nine o’ clock, then switch from the first tone to the second tone. Once you touch the knob again and move it, it will jump to its new value for the second tone. To me, it’s probably the only reasonable compromise; you want the tactile feedback of knobs, but you wouldn’t want the complexity of waiting for a knob to pick up a value.

The good news, though: you can select multiple tones at once and adjust the parameter on all of them at the same time.

Preset storage: The SH-01 has 64 preset programs, plus 64 user programs onboard. That’s plenty for me, but since some readers asked, if you add a USB key, you get an additional 64 programs, for a total of 128 user programs (or a grand total of 192).

Sonodyne has been selling to the Far East for many years but now, with the support of distributor The Audio Pros, it's found a route into Europe.

The SM100 is the mid unit of a three-speaker range starting with the smaller SM50 and ending with the larger SM200.

Straight out of the box the all-black units feel substantial and look very well put together. The cases are matt black aluminium and the front sports two ports, one either side of the one-inch silk tweeter and a 6.5-inch Kevlar woofer. There is a blue mains indicator LED next to the power switch and the only other thing on the front panel is a continuous volume control to the bottom right.

The rear panel houses the amplifiers (an 80W for the low end and a 40W for the high), the IEC mains socket, XLR and TRS input sockets and a recessed panel with another volume control (+/- 6dB) and a set of dipswitches for bass and treble roll-off and tilt. The finish is excellent and there are even pin diagrams for the connectors on the back panel so you don't have to check in the manual.

In use

The fun part of reviewing a new pair of speakers is hooking them up to your system and digging through the CD collection. We tried the SM100s with every style of music available to us and, frankly, we were stunned by them.

If we had to sum them up in one word it would be detail. The midrange is quite incredible. Crisp, precise and extremely tactile. They project out into the room and give you a real sense of the space around the music. We heard things in some recordings that we'd missed before.

"Whether mixing, playing or recording, the SM100AKs hit the spot every time."

The bass response is also superb. It's very even and extends a good way down despite the size of the drivers and cabinets. Cranking up some heavy dance tunes filled the room and these boys pack a punch at volume too. There is a tendency with a lot of modern speakers to over emphasise the really high frequencies but not with the Sonodynes. Ultra highs are smooth and crisp but never get in the way of the mids and bass, which is where the music is.

So, having decided that we liked listening to other people's work on them the real acid test was to stoke up the computer and try recording with them. Again, the Sonodynes impressed: whether mixing, playing, or recording, they hit the spot every time. Getting the sound was straightforward, no dead spots and no moments of indecision (above and beyond the normal ones that is!). Everyone who's heard them has liked them and enjoyed the experience of playing to them. Their superb precision tells you right away if you've picked the wrong mic or the wrong EQ.

In these days of ever diminishing budgets workflow is king and anything that helps you move things along a bit faster is worth its weight in gold, or at least hard cash. These speakers come highly recommended.

One of the coolest things about Absynth is that you can draw custom waveforms. The waveform editor is simply fantastic. Custom Waveforms are not just for oscillators. They can also be used for LFO’s.

1) Click the button next to the LFO wave shape to open the waveform selector. 2) Click the “Edit” button

This opens the waveform editor. Use the editor to create a unique waveform to be used to shape your LFO.

Try experimenting with the “Transform” function to shape your wave

Click on the LFO to rename it so you can reference the wave shape and apply it to other modulations

Another cool feature in Absynth is that you can apply LFO to segments of an envelope. Just click on the LFO tab when working with an Envelope then click on the node at the end of the segment where you want to apply LFO. You can even apply the custom wave shapes you have created.

In the not too distant past Apple introduced a Mac Mini Server.

It eliminates the DVD drive in favor of housing two hard drives, comes with Snow Leopard Server installed and 4 Gigs of RAM right out of the gate. It also has the larger 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

Steve’s idea is to remove the system drive (one of two 500 Gig internal drives) and install the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise Class SSD 100GB SATA 3.0GB/s Solid-State Drive in it’s place. Then you’d have a speed demon of a system drive and a second internal drive with which to record and mix your tracks, all in one little enclosure.

Nice idea Steve! Hmmmm…

Let’s look at how the price compares to our last example.

In Steve’s configuration we don’t have to buy the extra RAM and we don’t need a second, external drive, so there are some savings there. Here’s the break down.

The Mac Mini 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo: $999.00

100 Gig Internal SSD: $399.99

TOTAL: $1,398.99

And here’s the breakdown of my original idea…

The Mac Mini 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo: $599.00

Additional 2 Gigs of RAM: $57.99

100 Gig Internal SSD: $399.99

50 Gig External SSD: $299.99

23″ HP Widescreen Monitor: $229.98

TOTAL: $1,586.95

Steve’s machine would certainly be a tough little workhorse. I will point out that with my configuration you’re also getting a second SSD with which to record and mix your tracks as well as a nice 23″ widescreen monitor – all for only $200 more.

Good on ya’ Steve for this killer idea for an alternative configuration!

The crew over at Rickshaw Records has been known for (among other things) their DIY Austin Ribbon microphone project.

Now they have a companion DIY project for making a suspension-style shock mount for it. I’ll bet it would fit a few other mics as well! Have a look and enjoy giving it a try if it strikes your fancy.

Chairman and Co-Founder Victor Wong explains the new Open Labs' Custom Shop and all that it entails. Also covers the new Legacy Upgrades and the exclusive 24 Karat Gold Polow Da Don Special Edition NeKo.

Beat Kangz, the upstart drum machine maker out of Nashville, has been cooking up a new device for some time. That creation, the Beat Thang, is finally nearing production. It may not have a nameplate like Akai or Roland, but I can testify that this independently-designed gadget may nonetheless be one to watch. The hardware feels fantastic, appears to have the right pieces falling into place, and promises release soon. The founding team behind it blends backgrounds in areas ranging from hip-hop to computer science, and even production legend Bob Ezrin (that’ll be the Pink Floyd: The Wall Bob Ezrin). I got a look at the hardware in a private meeting at a hotel in Anaheim last week.

But even those aren’t the reasons you should check out the Beat Kangz. Why was this a highlight of my NAMM trip, even when it wasn’t actually at NAMM?

It’s made out of ionized zinc.

It has buttons for “freak,” “bang,” and “blang.”

No ports get left off.

It lights up like something Tron would install in your car if he were hosting “Pimp My Ride.” (Look out, ENCOM.)

The SOS allows for an infinite number of overdubs or alternate takes to be recorded. Each track, take or overdub is recorded as an individual CD-quality 16-bit/44.1kHz WAV file, and saved directly to a microSD or microSDHC card. Accurate BWF (Broadcast Wave Format) timing information is embedded in each track, meaning all tracks will automatically line up when imported into a computer-based DAW system for further editing, mixdown and final playback. The SOS can record up to 200 songs in the traditional linear manner, or be set to loop a specific section. Memory consumption is roughly 100 recorded minutes per GB.

Onboard are 100 effect programs derived from Korg’s REMS modeling system, divided into Guitar and Bass, Microphone and Master categories. Nine of those effects provide real-time control using the LCD touchscreen. Additional features include built-in guitar, bass and chromatic tuners; 50 internal rhythm patterns (with four variations each); Sound Stretch™ function that can alter the playback speed without affecting the pitch; backlit touchscreen display; unlimited Undo function; and free software provides basic audio editing and easy CD burning.

In addition to the internal microphone, the SOS provides a 1/4-inch balanced instrument input, an 1/8-inch mic input and an 1/8-inch stereo line input to accommodate nearly any source recording. A stereo headphone output is also provided.

The recorder will be available April 2010 with an MSRP of $400.

A professionally dithered 16-bit version of the full library

472 premium kick drum samples arranged by tone (deep, punchy, solid, processed, 808, and FX)

251 snare drum samples arranged by type (classic, layered, punchy, processed, and noise)

594 percussion samples created with sought-after studio gear and divided into such folders as "Blips & Pops," "Toms & Tones," "World," "Analogue Synth," "Driven Digital," and "Miscellaneous"

125 claps and snaps

141 hi-hat and creative noise samples

75 glitch shots devised from exclusive analog circuitry

62 minimal stabs and chord hits

88 sound effects samples

26 layered crash cymbal sounds

58 drum creation tools, including snaps and sub enhancers

Ableton Live 8 pack (requires the latest version of Live)

13 drum kits, including sampler patches for Battery, Kontakt, Reason NNXT, HALion, EXS24, and SFZ

42 bonus TB-303 licks

Drum Tools 01 – Minimal Techno & Tech House is available at www.wavealchemy.co.uk.

MPCs' are padded hardware that are used as drum machines, you can sync these hardware with your computer to make samples right on you mpc. the term mpc stands for Music Production Center. The mpc is mainly used for hip-hop and r&b styles.