"The legendary Schmidt Synthesizer has been on the market for twelve years now and is used by many prominent musicians and studios.
After a year of development, we are excited to present the Schmidt Vi, the Schmidt synthesizer as a digital plugin, at Superbooth 26.
Through close collaboration with our partner UJAM, we have created an instrument that is sonically on par with the original Schmidt hardware.
In addition, we are introducing the virtual instrument deck, on which sounds created on the Schmidt can be played. These sounds can be manipulated using simple, Minimoog-style controls.
The Schmidt Vi and Schmidt deck will be available in mid-2026 as VST3, AU and AAX.
Prices for the plugins will be announced in due course."
deck pictured bottom right below. The big question: is it hardware or virtual as well? The description above can be interpreted as either a virtual-instrument deck, or a deck for the virtual-instrument.
"Voici le setup qui sera mis à disposition des visiteurs pour le SynthFest France, du 17 au 19 avril 2026 à Nantes. Ce n'est pas un stand où chacun essaie un instrument différent. C'est une Jam Station dont le but est de faire jouer plusieurs musiciens ensemble. Une session par heure, inscrivez-vous à votre arrivée, c'est gratuit!
Here is the setup that will be available to visitors at SynthFest France, taking place from 17 to 19 April 2026 in Nantes. This isn’t a stand where everyone tries out a different instrument. It’s a Jam Station designed to get several musicians playing together. There’s one session per hour – sign up when you arrive; it’s free!
"Sequential Oberheim OB-6 (module) - sound demo of few user programs, this is not a jam, and the video is a loop, not in realtime.
00:00 Duality 04:20 X-Rhodes 08:15 Gate 1 10:05 Lux 12:15 Alien 1 14:06 Sun 15:10 Coma 17:02 Gate 2 18:22 Nop 19:31 Dark Phaz 22:40 Omniarp 25:00 Alien 2 26:25 Berlin Mod 29:35 Crispy Pad
In practical terms, the OB-6 (keyboard or module version) is a modern and refined embodiment of all the experience and expertise of Dave Smith (Sequential) and Tom Oberheim. Its sound engine sits somewhere between the Sequential Prophet-6 and the Oberheim OB-Xa; it's essentially a fusion of the two!
It's high-end, old-school analog in the purest tradition—the sound is big, fat, deep, and powerful—but with modern digital assistance that allows it to fully exploit its capabilities and push its boundaries.
This is precisely the subject and purpose of this preset bank, which I designed entirely myself.
This is my main OB-6 bank, which I use very often for my sound design work in the studio or for my training sessions. User Bank #3 (Massive Mod), it contains a total of 96 custom presets. I'm not presenting them all here, the demo would have been far too long, but I've prepared this short demo with a few of them to give you a sonic preview of the synth and its modulation capabilities! Sometimes I use a single preset with its modulations, either played directly on the keyboard or sequenced with a keyboard layer on top, and other times I mix two presets together (the OB-6 is monotimbral).
Everything you hear comes from the OB-6; there are no added effects, no post-production processing !
FM DRIFT IS A DEEP EXPLORATION OF FM SYNTHESIS INSIDE ABLETON DRIFT, DELIVERING FOUR NEW POWERFUL FM INSTRUMENTS THAT RIVAL — AND SOMETIMES SURPASS — SYNTHS LIKE OPERATOR
FM Drift is a sound pack focused exclusively on FM synthesis within Ableton Drift, and designed to demonstrate that Drift’s FM engine is powerful, flexible, and very expressive.
Fully compatible with Ableton Live and Push.
FM Drift delivers four complete FM instruments, each built on a clear FM architecture and fully controlled via eight carefully designed macros. All the sounds in the pack have been created exclusively using these FM instruments (Ableton Instrument Racks built with Drift).
Drift’s FM capabilities are on par with classic synthesizers like Operator, and even surpass it in certain aspects.
"Hey everybody! There are - at least - three strong contenders for the title “Worst Synth of all Time”: Akai Timbre Wolf, the obscure Red Sound Darkstar and today’s protagonist, M-Audio VENOM.
We are going to talk about how this 2011 instrument turned out to be one of the most epic failures in music tech history, why it is massively underrated and we will try to dial in sounds that are on par with and sometimes even better than those of synths further up the food chain.
I'm not saying it's UNDERRATED but it's...
MAudio VENOM"
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:33 Overview M-Audio VENOM
02:00 History of the VENOM
02:23 Software Situation
02:43 Is it a Synth???
05:17 Is it a Groovebox???
05:57 Software Problems
06:14 Prices
06:29 Can we make it sound great?
06:50 Jam
07:25 Outro
Rob Papen announces availability of DelGrain as creative granular delay, extending effect plug-in product line with yet more out-of-the-box thinking
ECHT, THE NETHERLANDS: virtual instrument and effect plug-in developer Rob Papen Inspiration Soundware is proud to announce availability of DelGrain — duly thinking out of the box to extend its effect plug-in product line as a creative granular delay featuring fanciful routings, a distortion feature, and FILTER, while also featuring the same DISRUPT spherical slider shared by its DelSane (stereo delay demonstrating ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ behaviour) and LowSane (‘lo-fi’ sound sculpting-specialising effect) software siblings, aimed at experimental artists, mixers, and producers — as of November 28…
It is fair to say that DelGrain has a lot in common with its DelSane software sibling, the main difference obviously being that — as its name implies — it offers a delay that plays back audio in a granular or grainy way. With that in mind, then, the granular change to the audio can be placed ahead of the delay, inside the delay, or parallel to the delay. But better still, the size of the ‘grains’ can be adjusted (GRAIN SIZE) — even in a tempo-based way, the length of the ‘grains’ (GRAIN LEN) can be be tempo-based as well, while the GRAIN SEMI tune feature has a 12-semitone range, both up and down; by being tempo-based, the granular delay itself is ideally suited to rhythmic usage on drums and percussion loops.
Reveals Rob Papen himself — both in his capacity as a virtual instrument and effect plug-in developer par excellence and also as his namesake company’s Managing Director: “DelGrain can produce some sweet-sounding delays with swirly granular sound, but its real power lies in its special sounds — not only on drums and percussion, but also on vocals, for instance. Its DISRUPT sphere with the tempo-based SPRING BACK feature allows you to change DelGrain’s parameters dynamically, and there is also a tempo-based LAZY MODE…” — meaning that the movement of that DISRUPT spherical slider can be automated in different directions, allowing users to also create new types of creative modulation sounds.
Speaking of creative sounds, Rob Papen saw fit to add a FILTER featuring a high-pass and low-pass combination, a band-pass filter, and a vocal/vowel filter that can be placed after the delay/granular combination at different spots. But before the audio even enters the granular delay, an added distortion module makes the sound options even more exciting.
Evidently excited by his namesake company’s latest creation, Rob Papen takes pride in rattling off several more exciting-sounding features that floats his creative boat by adding, “There is a self-explanatory DRY/WET MIX dial and an FX MIX dial that can mix between the ‘granular delay’ and ‘tape delay’ sounds — by the way, the ‘delay’ inside DelGrain is based on a tape delay algorithm; an AUDIO FOLLOWER input is available for side-chain control, and it can also be used to control the DISRUPT sphere; there are four different modulation slots for those who want to control DelGrain via MIDI; and last, but by no means least, DelGrain comes with the BANK MANAGER and many presets — perfect as a starting point.”
Put it this way: while it is understandable that some might take the idea of another delay plug-in promising to be different to so many others already out there with a GRAIN of salt — pun intended, it would be surely seriously remiss of Rob Papen not to assure them that DelGrain definitely delivers on that well-worn claim!
DelGrain is available — as a 64-bit AAX-, AU-, VST-, and VST3-compatible virtual instrument plug-in for Mac (OS X 10.15 or higher, ARM processor compatible) and as a 64-bit VST- and VST3-compatible virtual instrument plug-in for PC (Windows 7 or higher) with 64-bit AAX compatibility available for PT 12 or higher (PC) — at an attractive price of only €35.00 EUR/$35.00 USD from authorised Rob Papen dealers worldwide or as a download directly from Rob Papen for that same price via its dedicated webpage, which also features more in-depth information, here: https://www.robpapen.com/DelGrain.html
DelGrain is included in eXplorer-10 (https://www.robpapen.com/explorer-10.html), the latest version of Rob Papen’s all-encompassing bundle, at no additional cost; existing owners only have to download the latest installer and run it to add WirePluck to their Rob Papen virtual instrument and effect plug-in collection.
"Parte dos de dos de esta mini serie. Misma secuencia en el @MoogSynthesizers Subharmonicon pero con un arreglo completamente diferente. En este he añadido un par de elementos en post, ya que en la segunda parte necesitaba un pequeño empujón el tema. Para ello he usado el @SequentialLLC Take 5 y la emulación del Juno de @ArturiaOfficial . Muy contento con el resultado. Espero que esta comparativa os haya resultado interesante.
(eng) Part two of two of this mini series. Same sequence in the Moog Subharmonicon but with a completely different arrangement. In this I have added a couple of elements in the post, since in the second part the topic needed a little push. For this I have used Sequential Take 5 and Arturia's Juno emulation. Very happy with the result. I hope you found this comparison interesting."
"Some easy modifications (Filter FM, VCA boost) and a couple of inside pictures of the Donner L1 synthesizer module. You can see how the alfa par ICs are used for VCO, VCF and VCA, how the whole magnetic keyboard system is arranged and how the ADSRs are digital (not that they soudn any less funky!). All sounds in the demo are from a modified unit."
"/rɪft/ noun 1. a crack, split, or break in something. 2. a serious break in friendly relations. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ El objetivo de este tema era hacer un patch percusivo con el modular. En el Arbhar tengo un sample de estática de la radio que paso por el filtro del Qu-bit Prism. Con un sample and hold desde PAM's lo modulo rítmicamente creando el patrón rítmico más agudo. Despuén en el Moog Subharmonicon tengo un patch de Bombo que paso a través del Qu-Bit Mojave, y así lograr unos golpes que recuerdan a toms haciendo el beat algo más complejo.
Esa capa base quedó grabada durante un par de semanas sin que tuviera opción de añadirle nada más e iba a subirla así, pero decidí crear una linea de bajo con el Analog Four, un arpegio y una textura con el OP-1 y por último un lead/textura con el Matriarch.
(eng) The objective of this song was to make a percussive patch with the modular. In the Arbhar I have a sample of radio static that I pass through the Qu-bit Prism filter. With a sample and hold from PAM's I modulate it rhythmically creating the rhythmic pattern. Later on the Moog Subharmonicon I made a Bass Drum patch that I pass through the Qu-Bit Mojave, and thus achieve some hits that are reminiscent of toms making the beat somewhat more complex.
That base layer was recorded for a couple of weeks without me having the chance to add anything else to it. I was going to upload it like this, but I decided to create a bass line with the Analog Four, an arpeggio and a texture with the OP-1 and finally a lead/texture with the Matriarch."
Click CC on the bottom of the player for subtitles.
"Serge de Laubier, Composition, chercheur et musicien et nous présente Puce Muse, le centre de création de musique visuelle, et partage pour la première fois au SynthFest, un performance à partir d'un instrument très singulier de sa conception.
Ne manquez pas les nombreux concerts de Puce Muse!
"Serge de Laubier, composer, researcher, and musician, presents Puce Muse, the visual music creation center, and shares, for the first time at SynthFest, a performance using a very unique instrument of his own design.
"Developed by PUCE MUSE in collaboration with Catherine Hospitel, Dominique Brégeard and Jérémie Gaston-Raoul, the Meta-Instrument 4 is entirely made by 3D printer.
The result of 5 years of development, the Meta-Instrument 4 embeds 92 high precision sensors and 13 dedicated processors. In particular, ten on-board Meta-Touches measure finger pressure and playing speed with great sensitivity: 3000 times per second on 80 pressure zones. The MI4 is a new generation of digital instrument, fully modular and customizable to allow a new form of virtuosity.
//////////////////////////
Fruit de 5 ans de développements, le Méta-Instrument N°4 embarque 92 capteurs de grandes précisions et 13 processeurs dédiés. En particulier, dix Méta-Touch embarqués mesurent la pression des doigts et la vitesse de jeux avec une grande sensibilité : 3000 fois par seconde sur 80 zones de pression. Le MI4 est une nouvelle génération d’instrument numérique entièrement modulaire et personalisable pour permettre une forme de virtuosité inédite."
Click CC on the bottom of the player for subtitles.
"La nouvelle série Montage M de Yamaha repousse encore plus loin les limites. Les synthèses FM-X et AWM2 se voient complétées par un moteur de synthèse complet AN-X, simulant les circuits analogiques et reproduisant leurs imperfections si musicales. Des écrans contextuels apparaissent à gauche du panneau, et le M8X signe le grand retour chez Yamaha du Polyphonic Aftertouch, longtemps après le CS80. Des commandes supplémentaires et une librairie sonores étendues en font un clavier ultime."
Googlish:
"Yamaha's new Montage M series pushes the boundaries even further. FM-X and AWM2 synthesis are complemented by a full-featured AN-X synthesis engine, simulating analog circuits and reproducing their musical imperfections. Contextual displays appear on the left side of the panel, and the M8X marks Yamaha's return to Polyphonic Aftertouch, long after the CS80. Additional controls and an extensive sound library make this the ultimate keyboard."
"Cyril Colom vous présente le Genos 2, l'arrangeur à la pointe de la technologie de Yamaha, issue d'une longue tradition de la marque.
Si vous pensez savoir à quoi vous attendre avec une démo d'arrangeur, vous risquez d'être surpris, avec la performance époustouflante de Richard Vecchi!"
Googlish:
"Cyril Colom presents the Genos 2, Yamaha's state-of-the-art arranger, a product of the brand's long-standing tradition.
If you think you know what to expect from an arranger demo, you might be surprised by Richard Vecchi's breathtaking performance!"
Click CC in the bottom of the player for subtitles.
"Masami Komuro présente les 2 synthétiseurs de Kodamo:
l'Essence FM Mk2, un puissant synthé FM 6 opérateurs, 300 voix de polyphonie et multitimbral 16 parts, doté d'une interface tactile super réactive, permettant d'agence les opérateurs FM par glisser/déposer, dessiner ses enveloppes, etc...en offrant des affichages dynamiques. Jamais la FM n'a été aussi simple à programmer.
Le Mask 1 est un synthétiseur numérique haut de gamme doté d'un nouveau moteur de synthèse BitMask. Polyphonique 12 voix et multitimbral 4 parts, avec un filtre multimode, il est doté d'un excellent clavier Fatar, d'effet, d'un arpégiateur et d'un looper."
Googlish:
"Masami Komuro presents Kodamo's two synthesizers:
The Essence FM Mk2, a powerful 6-operator, 300-voice polyphonic, 16-part multitimbral FM synth with a super-responsive touchscreen interface that lets you drag and drop FM operators, draw envelopes, and more, while offering dynamic displays. FM has never been easier to program.
The Mask 1 is a high-end digital synthesizer featuring a new BitMask synthesis engine. Featuring 12-voice polyphonic and 4-part multitimbral, with a multimode filter, it features an excellent Fatar keyboard, effects, an arpeggiator, and a looper."
Click CC on the bottom of the player for subtitles.
"Michel Deuchst présente le nouveau Kronos 3, qui fait son grand retour après quelques années d'absence du Kronos. Plus rapide, avec des nouveaux sons, nous retrouvons le vaisseau amiral de Korg et ses 9 moteurs de synthèse. Michel est rejoint sur scène par Francis Rimbert pour un duo Kronos / Nautilus: 2 démonstrateurs de légende réunis sur la grande scène du SynthFest!"
Googlish:
"Michel Deuchst presents the new Kronos 3, which makes its grand return after a few years of absence from the Kronos. Faster, with new sounds, we rediscover Korg's flagship and its 9 synthesis engines. Michel is joined on stage by Francis Rimbert for a Kronos / Nautilus duet: two legendary demonstrators reunited on the main stage of SynthFest!"
Click CC on the bottom of the player for subtitles.
"Remy Wasselin revient avec le SynthR10, un polyphonique analogique 10 voix, multitimbral 2 parts. Une re-création des grands classiques de la synthèse analogique, brillamment mise en valeur par le talentueux Jean-Luc Briançon."
Googlish:
"Remy Wasselin returns with the SynthR10, a 10-voice, 2-part multitimbral analog polyphonic synth. A recreation of the great classics of analog synthesis, brilliantly showcased by the talented Jean-Luc Briançon."
Click CC at the bottom of the player for sub titles.
"Frédéric poursuite sa formidable aventure avec son concept unique: un synthétiseur modulaire polyphonique à mémoires fonctionnant sous Pure Data.
Projet DIY pas encore commercialisé, Frédéric est encouragé par la communauté du SynthFest pour industrialiser son concept et, espérons-le, le commercialiser à terme.
Il est rejoint en fin de démo par Olivier Delevingne, compositeur/performer pour une démo finale à 4 mains!
https://www.heritagesynthesizers.fr/"
Googlish:
"Frédéric continues his incredible adventure with his unique concept: a modular polyphonic synthesizer with memories running on Pure Data.
A DIY project not yet commercialized, Frédéric is encouraged by the SynthFest community to industrialize his concept and, hopefully, eventually commercialize it.
He is joined at the end of the demo by Olivier Delevingne, composer/performer, for a final four-handed demo!
