Echo Studio
Price: £45 (retail)
Echo Studio is the first effects plugin from Intuitive Audio – its Chord Composer was featured in this section a little while ago. It is marketed as a multi-tap delay and has up to 32 taps available for very long delays.
The plugin allows the user to control every parameter. Each repeat can have a separate filter, EQ change and pitch shift, among others. This might sound like a lot of control for a single delay plugin, but I find myself using this sort of effect a lot in advanced composition lessons. Could be worth checking out.
Yonac Roxsyn
Price: £9.99 via the App Store
Devices that can convert guitar playing into MIDI or other music data are nothing new. However, most of them rely on pitch tracking, which means the software analyses the frequency and guesses the note being played – naturally, this can lead to errors.
Roxsyn instead apparently analyses the ‘character’ of the guitar playing including things like glides and bends. This is then converted into a wide range of synth sounds. It is a powerful synth with three oscillators, two filter banks and two independent LFOs.
‘Unhappy with cold and temperamental guitar-to-MIDI synths that dominate the market? We have developed a completely new approach to guitar synthesis,’ says Jim Yonac, chief developer.
‘Our all-original technology synthesizes your guitar directly, without the use of MIDI notes. Rescued from being a poor keyboard substitute, your guitar suddenly becomes an integral part of the synth.’
Rhythm Designer RD-8
Price: €299 (retail) (£270)
The original Roland TR-808 drum machine was a commercial flop when it was released. However, its analogue drum sounds have since become popular in all forms of hip-hop, trap and electronic music, which means original machines sell for ridiculous sums of money. Indeed, Kanye West was so enamoured with it that his acclaimed album 808s & Heartbreaks features the machine in every track, hence the album's name (for the heartbreaks, you need to listen to the lyrics). If you're unfamiliar with Kanye West's back catalogue but you've heard Marvin Gaye's ‘Sexual Healing’ then you're familiar with its sound.
Behringer has now cloned the original machine and are selling it at a fraction of the price. So if you have any students that are into electronic or urban music then this could be the device for you. I'll certainly be getting one for my department!
