Aside from its dashing SciFi movie prop looks, the AlphaSphere is capable of generating MIDI
notes, triggering samples, controlling step sequences, or acting as a serious controller.
The pads are surprisingly squishy and can be deformed quite a distance in, and of course, the distance is another control parameter.
Geeks of any flavor will be happy since it covers all the bases: MacOS, Windows, Linux and OSC support
The Akasha Synth seems to be the personal art project for JoMoX. I spent a fair amount of time with this and walked away with a foggy idea of what it does.
When you use your finger to bridge the gap between panels it sums the signal in same fashion. Each panel is a different sort of processor and it can be assembled in different ways.
This was in the same booth as Metasonix and got very close to the dreams of The Packrat.
Even though S-2000 is an incredibly tame name by Metasonix standards, it's a very cool self-contained tube synth.
The ribbon controller on the front can perform like a theremin or it can quantize to notes.
The unit is only 1" deep so it could easily be mounted flat into a desk.
Don Lewis had LEO (Live Electronic Orchestra) set up in Hall E and was playing and talking about his experiences.
I had no idea that he was involved with the design of some of Roland's early drum machines.
The fact that many of the pioneers in electronic music are still alive underscores just how far we've come in such a short period of time.
The Base control combines touch faders and 32 MPC-like pressure sensitive pads.
With an extruded aluminum frame and no moving parts, this ought to stand up well to the rigors of live performance.
The Drift Box modules are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. I can't seem to find a
web site, contact information or anything that indicates that these are, or will ever be available.
Even though this thin keyboard is velocity and pressure sensitive, I could see it being useful as a dedicated keyswitching keyboard for sample libraries.
It seems counterintuitive that inflating a bunch of pillows hung from the ceiling could affect a hall's
low frequency reverberation time very much, but Flex shows some impressive measurements.
Typically you'd inflate these to tame the room for amplified music and deflate them for acoustic music. Very clever stuff.
I was intrigued by the Neveton Quad mic which has a separate output for each of its four diaphragms.
Record all four and you can later combine the signals to create X/Y stereo, Blumlein stereo, mid-side stereo, quad or anything in-between.
Ribbon mics are not known for being particularly robust, it's just not that hard to destroy a thin corrugated strip of metal.
These ribbon from Sandhill can take sound pressure levels of up to 160dB, which is a good deal more than you can.
With the built-in speakers and subwoofer, the Hi-Fi Chair makes you feel like you've got it cranked up without pissing off your family, pets or neighbors.
Instead of using strips of tape pulled across heads like the Mellotron, the Birotron
used an 8-track tape loop which could play indefinitely. Unfortunately the Birotron never really made it into production and was one of the earliest examples of vaporware.
Gear Lode is a web site that lets you list your gear for rent and connects you with the prospective renters.
If this takes off, it could create an entirely new justification for buying more gear. "But honey, I will make money when rent it out."
These "stomp boxes" are sound generators, not processors.
The Drum Thing has a transducer in it and the Opto Theremin is a photo-sensitive Theremin-like device.
Lots of fun noise either way.
There are so many sound processing and sound generating iOS apps out there, why not attach the devices right to your guitar?
I mean, other than the obvious aesthetic reasons.
The Orage Magnétique (or Magnetic Storm) is a lovely modular synth whose parameters are all labeled with astrophysical terms.
Of course they're in French so they're all Greek to me.
