Spitfire Audio is proud to announce availability of British Drama Toolkit — created in close collaboration with award-winning British composer, musician, record producer, and songwriter Samuel Sim (famed for his quality, gritty, and deep television and film drama scores) as an inimitable instrument featuring an ensemble dedicated to capturing the emotionally potent sound he is lauded for, but also presenting a unique way of interacting with the players involved to allow users to compose, arrange, and complete a cue in one pass, thereby setting it apart from anything the high-quality virtual instruments- and sample libraries-creating company has produced to date.
Pursuing originality in music is one thing; trying to be constantly original in the pressured world of episodic television scoring is something else entirely. By brilliantly achieving both of those traits, talented composer Samuel Sim has won multiple awards as a writer of quality, gritty, and deep television and film drama scores. So, having previously worked with Spitfire Audio to realise his namesake SAMUEL SIM - CHRYSALIS library — launching a unique and inspirational sound set centred around a stunning, deep sampled studio harp, but bent into a collection of fresh sonic tools to critical acclaim in 2015, it is hardly surprising that he (re)turned to Spitfire Audio when wanting to create an instrument that put up no roadblocks between musical ideas and their realisation as ready-to-go cues.
Watch Spitfire Audio’s touching trailer video for British Drama Toolkit here
Cue British Drama Toolkit — or British Drama Toolkit with Samuel Sim, to give it its full, highly-appropriate appellation… an instant scoring instrument in the true sense of the word, which provides the most instinctive, immediate, and intense connection to the heart of its user’s composition while helping them find their musical voice in the process. Playing styles that have not been sampled before, with bespoke bowing techniques and breathing patterns, converge to create textures full of dramatic movement. Meanwhile, those same notes, played at a different intensity, switch to characterful lead lines, passing from instrument to instrument in an ensemble that shifts dynamically as the user explores the radical results of this close collaboration.
Watch fellow Spitfire Audio Director Christian Henson’s helpful
British
Drama Toolkit contextual video here
Comprising a small string and woodwind section recorded in the purpose-built dry stage at Spitfire Audio’s London-based HQ, British Drama Toolkit clearly comes to life from the moment it is first played. Put it this way: when this library is at anyone’s fingertips then telepathy of sorts starts in earnest. Ensembles are mapped across the full length of the keyboard, and the playing styles are tied to velocity — from whispered textures through to bold solos. Saying that, British Drama Toolkit truly demonstrates an innate understanding of the fact that the difference between playing softly and loudly is not just simply down to volume, but also about character and emotion, enabling users to compose, arrange, and complete a cue in one pass. With an eye firmly fixed on the drama rather than the computer, and with one patch capable of such wide-ranging expression, users can respond instinctively to the story rather than getting sucked in to what Samuel Sim semi-seriously terms “…the vortex of the computer."
Watch Spitfire Audio Director Paul Thomson’s ‘traditional’ video
walkthrough
of British Drama Toolkit here:
Clearly no stranger to the musical joy of working with emotive ensembles as a working composer himself, who better to provide some serious closing commentary as to the virtues of working with British Drama Toolkit, then, than Spitfire Audio Director Paul Thomson: “This is one of the ways that you can convince your director, for example, to spend the money on real musicians, because what you’re hearing here are these incredibly talented musicians playing in a really unique, stylistic, and unusual way, and what better than to have the real live players sitting, performing, and reacting to your music in real time while they do this. But if your budget doesn’t stretch to a full band of musicians, and you can only afford a few musicians, then that’s still going to give you a great result, and you're going to have these instruments to fill in the gaps, and while your ear is drawn to the live player, you have these beautiful textures floating in the background to help give your music much more depth.” Director Christian Henson, fellow co-founder of Spitfire Audio, adds, “I’m incredibly excited about the British Drama Toolkit, which is designed by a drama media composer, Sam Sim, for us fellow media composers. It really is an amazing, inspiring, time-saving tool that can be used on a variety of different applications, but it has that kind of gritty, very emotional British drama feel to it. Basically, it’s a bunch of ensembles — some strings, some woodwinds — recorded here on our dry stage, but, instead of using controllers, it’s very much a two-handed thing, whereby different velocities give you different kind of degrees of intensity and movement.”
Musically speaking, the honesty and rawness of British dramatic scoring is ingrained in the British Drama Toolkit library. Lest we forget, though, this is not just a library that plays a composer’s music, but rather helps them compose it. Indeed, all it takes is ideas. Originality, of course, is optional, yet highly recommended… just ask its award-winning designer, Samuel Sim!
British Drama Toolkit can be purchased and digitally downloaded for a time-limited introductory promo price of £149.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$149.00 USD/€149.00 EUR (inc. VAT) until August 9, 2018 — rising thereafter to a RRP of £199.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$199.00 USD/€199 EUR (inc. VAT) — from here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/british-drama-toolkit/
British Drama Toolkit needs Native Instruments’ free KONTAKT PLAYER (5.6.8 or higher) — included in the purchase — to run as a fully NKS (NATIVE KONTROL STANDARD®) supporting plug-in instrument for Mac (OS X 10.10, 10.11, or macOS 10.12 — latest update) or Windows (7, 8, or 10 — latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit), while Spitfire Audio’s free Download Manager application allows anyone to buy now and download anytime.
For more in-depth information, including some superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated British Drama Toolkit webpage here:
Having amassed widespread critical acclaim with its innovative MixChecker mix-assisting plug-in that transforms studio monitors into classic reference monitors or one of several consumer devices to quickly and easily ensure that studio mixes translate to other environments, host application and audio effects developer Audified is proud to announce availability of MixChecker Pro — advancing making sound mixing decisions still further featuring a user interface with the same elegance and ease of use as the original MixChecker but boasting a whole host of new features to simulate surroundings and devices, thereby allowing its users to try walking in the shoes (or even ears) of their listeners. Anyone accomplished at mixing content for an audience is painfully aware of having to ensure that their mixes sound great when freed from familiar studio surroundings and let loose into the wider (listening) world. Which was exactly the thinking behind MixChecker upon its well-received release in 2016; clearly, consumers — the everyday people for whom that content is mixed — did not (necessarily) have access to high-end studio monitors, but more often than not used desktop speakers, tablets, and smartphones to satisfy their everyday listening needs, while watching TV and listening to music in the car remained routine; reality dictated, therefore, that best mixing practice involved ensuring that mixes were going to sound the best that they could on a wide range of different devices that sounded so wildly different by their very nature, and not just on high-end studio monitors. MixChecker made that possible by transforming studio monitors into classic reference monitors or one of several consumer devices at the press of a (virtual) button. And all without having to leave the so-called studio ‘sweet spot’ — a term used by audiophiles and recording engineers to describe the focal point between two speakers, where an individual is fully capable of hearing the stereo audio mix the way it was intended to be heard by the mixer; in reality, the sweet spot is the location which creates an equilateral triangle together with the stereo loudspeakers. But before MixChecker’s timely arrival, the tried-and-tested way to (physically) check a mix involved having to waste time and energy exporting it to a smartphone or burning a CD to listen in a car or elsewhere before going back into the studio to tweak as appropriate, all the while facing the distinct possibility of having to repeat the tiresome process time and again. As an altogether more convenient and clever software solution, MixChecker can perform a quick round of tests in only a matter of seconds, allowing users to get on with the task in hand — making mixing corrections at a (key)stroke, still fresh from knowing what the problem in the mix actually was! Wisely, MixChecker took all the pain out of checking mixes. Mission accomplished! Fast forward to today, though, and — as implied by name — MixChecker Pro places a whole host of new features to simulate surroundings and devices at the fingertips of its users, ultimately advancing making sound mixing decisions still further; fortunately for all, it features a user interface with the same elegance and ease of use as the original MixChecker, but professionally polishes that convenient concept claimed by its predecessor to reach a whole new level of perfection in the process. Put it this way: with MixChecker Pro, everything is new! Numerous new (self-explanatory) Simulations of various devices are available, categorised (and grouped) as follows: Studio (Studio 4” Vintage, Studio 5” Modern, Studio 6” Modern, Studio 7” Vintage, Studio 5" Vintage, Studio Cube); Live Sound/PA (PA Disco Pool, PA Disco Stage, PA Cheap Satellite, PA Club Engineer, PA Club Near, PA Club Center, PA Cheap Full-Range); Computer Audio (Desktop 2” Black, Desktop 3” Wooden, Desktop 3” Red, Desktop 5” Black, LCD Screen 24”); TV (TV 24”, TV 37”, TV 22”, TV 32”); Laptop Speakers (Laptop 12” Grey, Laptop 13” Silver, Laptop 15” Black, Laptop 15” Silver); Tablet (Tablet 9” Grey, Tablet 9” Golden, Tablet 7” Black); Smartphone (Phone 5” Grey, Phone 4” Black, Phone 5” Silver, Phone 5” White); In-Ear Headphones (Earplugs White, Earplugs Black, Earplugs Grey, Earplugs Iso Black); On-Ear Headphones (Studio 30mm Silver, Studio 40mm Black, DJ 40mm Black, DJ 40mm Red, DJ 50mm Red, HiFi 35mm Black, HiFi 40mm Grey, Studio 45mm Silver, HiFi 40mm Silver, Studio 40mm Blue, Studio 40mm Yellow, HiFi 50mm White); Car Audio (Combi Driver, Combi Co-driver, Sedan Driver, Sedan Co-driver, Sedan Passenger, Minivan Driver, Minivan Co-driver, Minivan Kid); Radio (Bluetooth Speaker, Small Radio Silver, BoomBox Silver, Smart Home Speaker, Small Radio Black); HiFi (HiFi Micro Silver, HiFi Micro Black, HiFi Mini Silver, HiFi Floor-stander). Seamless switching between those devices is perfectly possible with MixChecker Pro — perfectly in keeping with its professional nomenclature, thanks to the overall gain of all devices being normalised to the same objective loudness using an algorithm derived from the LKFS (Loudness, K-weighted, relative to Full Scale) loudness standard designed to enable normalisation of audio levels for delivery of broadcast TV and other video (as standardised in ITU-R BS.1770-3). Similarly, (self-explanatory) simulated environments also abound in MixChecker Pro — namely, Exterior Street 1, Exterior Street 2, Exterior Park 1, Exterior Park 2, Exterior Playground, Exterior Station 1, Exterior Station 2, Exterior Subway, Interior Bar, Interior Bus 1, Interior Bus 2, Interior Car 1, Interior Car 2, and Interior Mall. MixChecker Pro not only obviously features far more Simulations than MixChecker, it also advances the science powering them. The original MixChecker only simulates the linear behaviour of the devices, whereas MixChecker Pro not only adds the modelling of nonlinear behaviour but also completely rewrites the original signal processing code to achieve phase linearity, lower latency, and better resolution in all parts of the frequency spectrum. Therefore, the linear part of the model uses transfer function modelling by fixed-pole parallel filters that are based on a dual-band warped filter design using a warped frequency scale so the frequency resolution of the model takes into account the frequency resolution of the auditory system, while the dual-band design brings even more precise modelling at low frequencies without reducing precision at high frequencies. Furthermore, the parallel structure of 2nd-order minimum-phase filters enable extremely low latency, minimal phase distortion, and high stability. Saying that, the nonlinear part of the model uses a proprietary model based on the Wiener model but extends it to introduce dynamic nonlinearity and frequency-dependent nonlinearities while maintaining low CPU (Central Processing Unit) load. This extended model makes use of technology that maintains constant energy of the output signal for all distortion levels to allow for simulation of Distortion produced by the chosen device at a higher SPL (Sound Pressure Level) without increasing the SPL produced by the user’s studio monitors. More significantly, this also protects studio monitors against mechanical damage. Distortion level is calibrated in real SPL measured at a distance of 1m in free field, while all characteristics of the devices used for identification of model parameters were measured using Audio Precision’s APx525 audio analyzer (for R&D engineers and production technicians who want fast and easy audio testing) with acoustic option in an anechoic chamber; headphones, however, were measured using a Brüel & Kjær Type 4128-C HATS (Head And Torso Simulator) system (designed to provide realistic reproduction of the acoustic properties of an average adult human head and torso, therefore ideal for performing electroacoustic tests on headphones in situ). Speaking of which, with MixChecker Pro it is even possible to add some audio background noise with adjustable volume; when selecting Simulations of headphones, for example, the path of the noise through the headphones and ears is simulated, so the user hears a realistic combination of the mix playing from the headphones and also outside noise coming through the headphones! High-flying technicalities aside, MixChecker Pro is as easy to use as the original MixChecker. Thanks to a new Edit mode, accessing all those new features is a breeze. By entering Edit mode, users can quickly assign any simulated device to any device button, set the Distortion amount for that exact device, and adjust the Stereo Base width, as well as the Volume of the device. Since simulated devices are organised in categories, super-fast searching is intuitive. Devices duly set, users can close Edit mode and MixChecker Pro works just like its MixChecker predecessor, placing many (more) mix-checking options only a keystroke away. And MixChecker Pro kindly comes complete with web browser, mobile phone, or tablet control, so users are free to walk around their studio space while checking their final mix — more than living up to MixChecker Pro’s highly-appropriate appellation.
MixChecker Pro is available to purchase at $199.00 USD from Audified’s online shop here: https://shop.audified.com/products/mixchecker-pro (Note MixChecker Pro requires iLok License Manager 3.1.6 or newer as it is protected by PACE Anti-Piracy Inc.’s software machine license or USB smart key device, details of which are highlighted here: https://shop.audified.com/pages/how-to-activate-ilok-license)
MixChecker Pro can be directly downloaded as a multi-format (AAX, AU, VST2, VST3), 32- and 64-bit native plug-in for MacOS (10.9 and above) and Windows (7, 8, and 10) — alongside a fully-functional, 30-day trial version — from Audified here: https://services.audified.com/download
This release fixes all known bugs and introduces a new feature: The Macro.
The Macro Panel is a level above the instrument mixer and is used for globally adjusting parameters in the entire multi-instrument Performance, taking LayR's MIDI control to a whole new level.
We have also uploaded a set of tutorials to our YouTube channel where you will find a video dedicated to explaining the new Macro feature.
Changes / New Features:
⁃ Macro Control Panel: A new panel for changing assigned synth parameters globally across an entire performance. ⁃ Link Assign Panel now has an extra section for assigning Layer parameters to Macro controls. ⁃ You can now assign any MIDI controller to Instrument Volume Sliders. ( defaults to cc 7 ). ⁃ Load Preset panel now updates it’s selection if a MIDI bank or program change is received while it’s visible. ⁃ New option in settings: Don’t Start Voices When Volume is Zero: Prevents voices being started if Instrument or Layer volumes are zero. ⁃ New option in settings: “Multi Out: FX Only in Stereo Output”, converts the IAA Stereo Mix output to an effects return if any of the 8 aux audio outputs are in use. ⁃ Dials will now always show at least 1 degree of coloured arc unless their value is equal to zero. ⁃ Increased fall time for peak hold metering in master strip. ⁃ Updated PDF manual.
Bug Fixes: ⁃ Fixed a common crash during audio unit initialisation. ⁃ Fixed crash when long pressing on A to B range buttons. ⁃ Fixed: Potential crash when saving performances if poly aftertouch is assigned. ⁃ Fixed: Audio Unit now respects all persistent preferences set in the IAA app. ⁃ Fixed an audio spike when an AU is loaded in a certain state from a host. Could cause a loud reverb explosion. ⁃ Fixes a rare problem where an AU host could start to load a preset before the Audio Unit had completed initialisation. ⁃ Fixed: Current bank is now properly set when selecting a bank in the load preset panel. ⁃ Fixed a state where MIDI controller values for the CC Mixer would fail to be loaded from a saved preset. ⁃ Fixed: UI crash when tapping on AB-Range modifier tempo button after previously setting time to maximum ( 100s ).
This synth is deep specially considering it's on iPad. take your time investigating it. Be sure to check the numerous youtube demo videos Living Memory Software kindly made available. Here's Layr pdf manual in case you wanna have a look. Cheers
Innovative electronic musical devices brand MODE MACHINES is proud to announce availability of its SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER — a multi-channel MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) step sequencer in a truly tactile, tabletop (rack-mountable) console-type housing that lends itself to creating and arranging pattern-based music as a live performance-capable standalone sequencing tool or working alongside a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) to enhance production possibilities.
As implied by the 12 TRACK MATRIX SEQUENCER ‘subtitle’ boldly blazoned across its expansive top panel — pressed into play by the 12-line (and 16-column) arrangement of (red) backlit LED (Light Emitting Diode) buttons that musically mark out the namesake matrix laying claim to the majority of that top panel, the SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER is a 12-track affair, with each track arranged numerically below the next in the matrix. More meaningfully, each track can freely address one of three MIDI outputs (OUT 1, OUT 2, and OUT 3) to ensure optimal timing (by avoiding serial chaining of connected MIDI devices) and additionally be assigned to one of three track types: MONO (monophonic) — plays only one note per step (sending note, velocity, and note length) and offers three controller tracks (C1, C2, C3); POLY (Polyphonic) — plays back multiple notes per step (sending note, velocity, note length, and chord) and offers two controller tracks (C1, C2); and DRUM — optimized to address drum machines (or similar) with the matrix forming a pattern where each line can be set to transmit a definable note to 12 so-called subtracks (with adjustable velocity and accented notes) from within a single track with two controller tracks (C1, C2)… 12 different drum sounds can be arranged from a single track, in other words.
Watch MODE MACHINE’s SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER intro video:
While the term step sequencing can conjure up mesmerizing musical images of repetitive note patterns pioneered and popularized by the likes of Germany’s homegrown Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream in their heyday — the likes of which the SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER of course can capably emulate, even down to the latter’s ‘trademark’ ratchet effect (of outputting multiple triggers per step) but bettered by enabling easy creation of rolls, flams, and comparable complex rhythmical functions courtesy of six selectable trigger patterns and a note value to adjust the length of the trigger pattern, there is so much more to this truly tactile step sequencer than might meet the (untrained) eye… eye-catching as all of those 192 flashy (red) backlit LED buttons already are! Although the SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER is at heart a pattern-based step sequencer that generates MIDI data, multiple modes make it stand out from the sound of the (step sequencing) crowd — to partially paraphrase the early-Eighties British breakthrough hit from synth-pop pioneers The Human League, no strangers to the lure of spellbinding step sequencing themselves. The self-explanatory SEQ mode is used to program a sequence — the smallest ‘unit’ within the SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER (containing up to 16 steps) — using the matrix or an external MIDI input device, such as a master keyboard controller connected via the single MIDI IN (input). 16 sequences per track can be stored with parameter values such as velocity, controllers, or step length displayed as backlit LED (button) bars in the matrix. Meanwhile, JAM mode makes live performance pleasurable and also inspirational with the SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER. This time the matrix displays 12 tracks with 16 sequences each, all of which are freely switchable on the fly for immediate playback while the function buttons to the left of the matrix mute and activate the corresponding 12 tracks. And assuming that the tracks are tasked with handling different musical parts — playinga melody with track 1, a bass line with track 2, chords with track 3, and drums with track 4, for example — then it is perfectly possible to create a song on the fly. Flexibility further abounds since switching from JAM mode to SEQ mode only involves a couple of (almost instant) clicks; once there, users can, likewise, edit the selected sequences on the fly. Finally, SONG mode is where the SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER sings for its supper, so-to-speak, allowing for the creation and playback of longer and more complex arrangements or even full songs. Each track is allocated an individual series of up to 64 sequences (or sequence chains in ‘SEQ12-speak’). Still better, there are 12 sequence chains — one for each track; these combine to create a part, with the SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER storing up to eight parts. Parts can also be changed on the fly while the sequencer is running, so, given that those parts could effectively equal song parts, users could choose from, say, an intro, verse, bridge, chorus, or outro, each of which could be called up to be played anytime. All data that can be changed by the user — namely, sequences, parts, and sequence chains, as well as global settings (with further visual guidance coming courtesy of an informative backlit LCD working in conjunction with various clearly labelled control functions) — is stored as a setup. The SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER stores up to 32 setups. So it is ready and willing to be put through its interactive musical paces onstage or in the studio, thanks to its robust rack-mountable (19-inch/6 HE) design that also includes rubber feet for non-slip tabletop usage. Ultimately, then, the truly tactile SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER surely ranks as an ultimate pattern-based step sequencer, limited only by its user’s imagination rather than ‘traditional’ step sequencing’s limited note pattern repetition. Reach out and touch… as Depeche Mode sang on their way to sequencer-driven superstardom!
The SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER is available to purchase directly from MODE MACHINES’ online SHOP
(https://www.modemachines.com/shop) at an introductory promo price of €999.00 EUR (inc. VAT) or through MODE MACHINES’ growing global network of authorised dealers (https://www.modemachines.com/where-to-buy).
For more in-depth information, please visit the dedicated SEQ12 ANALOG AND MIDI SEQUENCER webpage here: https://www.modemachines.com/seq12
Recording technology trailblazer Eventide and advanced audio tools creator Newfangled Audio are proud to announce availability of Elevate Bundle 1.5 — adding value to an already valuable bundle with the addition of two new plug-ins, Saturate and Punctuate, as well as feature improvements to EQuivocate and Elevate itself.
Saturate is a spectral clipper plug-in, useful for mixing or mastering. As such, it adds up to 24dB of drive with a variable CLIPPER SHAPE parameter that moves from a pleasant soft curve to full hard clipping. Unique spectral processing maintains the tonal balance of the distorted signal, no matter how hard it is pushed. Saturate automatically compensates output level based on the DRIVE control or, alternatively, allows this to be controlled manually.
Meanwhile, as a transient emphasis plug-in, Punctuate is also useful for mixing or mastering. Musically speaking, it offers up to 26 auditory bands of TRANSIENT EMPHASIS or suppression while its unique ADAPTIVE TRANSIENT and ADAPTIVE LENGTH controls allow algorithms to tailor each band’s transient shaper to what the listener’s ear wants to hear. Helpfully, customizable parameters for each band also allow users to tweak the result, if needed.
The Elevate Bundle 1.5 update also brings several feature improvements to the original pairing of EQuivocate, an Auditory Graphic EQ based on the critical bands of the human ear, and its Elevate namesake, a unique multi-band limiter, human ear EQ, and powerful audio maximizer first released late last year as the most advanced mastering plug-in ever created.
EQuivocate benefits from a new RANGE feature, allowing users to scale or invert the total dB range for the EQ in order to change the total amount of EQ applied after setting the individual bands. This also allows users to scale the range of the MATCH EQ before and after it has been set. Additionally, each band benefits from enable buttons to easily turn bands on and off for better workflow with improvements implemented elsewhere also assisting.
Essentially, Elevate adds true peak limiting, preventing final masters from clipping during reproduction and ensuring compatibility with all broadcast standards.
Elevate Bundle 1.5 (comprising the Elevate, EQuivocate, Punctuate, and Saturate AAX/AU/VST plug-ins for Mac OS X 10.7+ and Windows 7+) is available through Eventide and authorised dealers at a promo price of $139.00 USD through to September 5, 2018 (rising thereafter to a regular price of $199.00 USD). Owners of EQuivocate can upgrade to Elevate Bundle 1.5 for $99.00 USD through to September 5, 2018 (rising thereafter to a regular price of $149.00 USD). Owners of Elevate can upgrade to Elevate Bundle 1.5 for free at anytime.
Having wowed North American audiences with a preproduction prototype at The 2018 NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA, then turned heads and opened European ears with a must-see showstopper closer to home at SUPERBOOTH18 in Berlin, Germany, esteemed electronic musical device designers Doepfer Musikelektronik is proud to announce availability of the Dark Energy III Analog Synthesizer — a worthy successor to its critically-acclaimed desktop Dark Energy II monophonic analogue standalone synthesizer with wide-reaching CV (Control Voltage)/Gate, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), and USB (Universal Serial Bus) connectivity that it effectively enhances.
Like its Dark Energy II predecessor, released to widespread critical acclaim back in 2012, Dark Energy III is a desktop monophonic analogue standalone synthesizer with wide-reaching CV/Gate, MIDI, and USB connectivity. Continuing that intriguingly-named lineage, likewise, Dark Energy III’s sound generation and all modulation sources are 100% analogue, with only its inbuilt MIDI/USB components entering the digital arena (as is obviously necessary, naturally). Needless to say, everything is built into a rugged black metal case with wooden side plates, while high-quality potentiometers with metal shafts are used; ultimately, each potentiometer is mounted firmly to the chassis, so no wobbly shafts and knobs — unlike some cheaply-constructed competing (non-Doepfer) designs. Dark Energy III is, indeed, essentially an enhanced version of Doepfer’s desktop standalone synthesizer so central to the company’s product line for so long, but boasts several notable differences. Notably — not least audibly, although also apparent from the front panel’s waveform Shape switch labelling, a triangle Shape waveform is now central to the VCO (Voltage-Controlled Oscillator) core, which now no longer requires a warmup period for optimal operation over a 10-octave frequency range (with 1V/Oct tracking over at least eight octaves). On top of that, there are now separate Reset LFO1 and Reset LFO 2 Inputsfor the two resettable LFOs (Low Frequency Oscillators). These sockets synchronise both LFOs to external gate signals, so when a gate signal of +5V (or higher) is applied at a socket then its positive ramp sets the corresponding LFO wave shape to zero and the LFO restarts with a rising ramp. All analogue synthesizers use a VCA (Voltage-Controlled Amplifier) to dynamically control loudness (or volume); Doepfer’s Dark Energy III design differs from its predecessor — and also many other analogue synthesizers — by virtue of its VCA having a linear control scale, so lends itself to scaling control voltages.
Several signal routings and functions are additionally available to any adventurous ‘Doepfer DIY’er’ willing and able to modify Dark Energy III’s front panel sockets by removing jumpers and rewiring the pin-headers for the VCO PW, Reset LFO1, Reset LFO2, and VCA Inputs. For example, the VCO PW input can be converted into a linear FM input, or LFO/ADSR signals can be used as outputs instead of one of the resettable LFO inputs. Indeed, (almost) anything is possible, including various VCO outputs (triangle, sawtooth, rectangle); VCO hard sync input; VCO soft sync input; various VCF outputs (lowpass, highpass, bandpass); various LFO outputs (triangle, rectangle); ADSR output; and two inverters with input/output (to invert any signal, such as ADSR or LFO). Effective enhancements notwithstanding, the favoured filter found in Dark Energy II remains unchanged in Dark Energy III. Indeed, its sound-defining VCF (Voltage-Controlled Filter) is centred around a 12dB multimode filter with lowpass, notch, highpass, and bandpass settings, together with a filter Mode control for continuous transition from lowpass via notch and highpass around to bandpass; its XFM (Exponential Frequency Modulation) control also has a polarization function, whereby the modulation source (LFO2 or ADSR) selected by the Source switch can affect the filter frequency with a positive or negative behaviour (by rotating rightwards or leftwards, respectively). Meanwhile, mounting of two or more Dark Energy — original, II, and III — units is possible, with or without wooden side plates between them. Though there is still not sufficient space to accommodate a dedicated MIDI output socket on the Dark Energy III rear panel, it is still possible for those adventurous ‘Doepfer DIY’ers’ to link two or more Dark Energy — original, II, and III — units via MIDI out/MIDI in using the two pin-headers available at the supply/interface board mounted at the rear panel. (Fortunately for them, Doepfer has helpfully posted a downloadable document with additional technical information here: http://www.doepfer.de/pdf/Dark_Energy_III_technical_information.pdf.) Put it this way: with Dark Energy III, Doepfer delivers another effective enhancement of a highly-capable monophonic analogue standalone synthesizer, continuing to make its musical mark with a compact desktop design dating back to 2010 (when wowing audiences around the world with its original Dark Energy entry). Ending on a high note, who better to tender tasty food for thought, then, than Doepfer Musikelektronik CEO Dieter Doepfer, the esteemed electronic musical devices designer who lends his notable name to the renowned company and has been known to look beyond our world for inspiration: “Dark Energy III is not a tool for space research, neither is it suitable for studies in astrophysics. Yet, we find these topics as fascinating as music technology — reason enough to celebrate ‘Hubble & Co.’s amazing discoveries a bit and call our brand-new synthesizer Dark Energy III.”
In Germany, Dark Energy III can be ordered online from Doepfer Musikelektronic GmbH (http://www.doepfer.de/form_e.htm) or via one of its German dealers (https://docs.doepfer.eu/en/dealer-germany/) for €479.00 EUR. (An optional user-installable Glide control kit — containing a prewired potentiometer with two nuts and a Dark Energy-style rotary knob — is available for €10.00 EUR.)
Outside Germany, Dark Energy III can only be ordered from Doepfer dealers in territories listed here: https://docs.doepfer.eu/en/ (That said, residents in countries without representation can order directly from Doepfer Musikelektronic GmbH.)
