"Superbooth is coming and this year we are coming in full force!! Apart of the goodies we already introduced, we have a bunch of new modules that will be on display, like our new stereo filter, a new member on the ST mix family and a small and mega compact headphones module..... well and 1U Midi thing is closer than ever!
But the big thing is our collaboration with Tesseract modules. A monster Full ON sequencer with synth engines, smaple play and CV generation. We are proud to present you ARK: A collaboration with one of our dearest friends from the eurorack scene!
Aiming to release before christmas seasson, with a target price of 666€ Tax included. Unless some new apocaliptic shit is brought to us by the usual suspects, of course.....
For those of you on Instagram, Audio Wanderer is having an AW noisemaker GIVEAWAY. Note there's only one day left (if that)! Details follow:
"Yeah!#awnoisemaker #Giveaway post! Follow the rules to win… What do you need to do to get the AW noisemaker (still in its alpha version). You know! Just make some noise! Required: Follow this account (AW), Like this post, commenting here loudly. Optional (add more chances to win) : share this nonsenses post and other post about this device in your stories, tell your mama, your dad, your friends, work colleagues and loving ones about it in the analog world, make a podcast about this and its importance to make contact with extraterrestrial entities (this effort guarantees you a free AW noise maker)… the usual silly things. The More noise you make, the more chances you have to get the AW noise maker in your mail. Open to Worldwide participation. Winner will be contacted via DM the next Monday (4th of may). GET MORE info about the AW noise maker in LINK in bio!!!"
"Fractalist excels in the lower frequency range.
Here, two of them are used in the evolving composition, where each module generates a rhythmic part.
While in the usual oscillator range Warp is used for timbral changes, here it is used for pattern exploration.
Slight movement leads to audible changes, and if you keep going, you will end up with something different.
Sound is captured raw, without any effects. Two audio tracks are panned slightly to the left and right to help distinguish one module from another (headphones recommended!)."
"This one’s built around two main pieces of gear: the Vermona Perfourmer handling nearly all melodic duties (bass, plucks, lead), and the Ableton Move taking care of drums plus a few piano/strings layers.
You already know the Perfourmer is one of my all-time favorites, but the Move keeps surprising me: super versatile for a 4-track box, and I feel like it doesn’t get as much love as it deserves ❤️
Everything is sequenced from the Hapax, I skipped the Move’s internal sequencer this time as it's easier to control all the sequences only on one machine. The breaks come from the Hapax 'FILL' feature as usual.
I treated the Perfourmer like three separate instruments:
Voices 1 & 2 → plucks (through H90)
Voice 3 → bass (Apocalypse + Julianna)
Voice 4 → lead (Lofi Junky + BigSky + Pill for ducking)"
"Here we have the new Swell Eurorack filter and valve gain stage from Bartola Instruments. We'll be exploring this in the usual in depth DivKid demo style in the future but wanted to share our literal first patch playing around with saturating, character oozing valve distortion and filtering ... and in doing so, share some modulation tips about how we like to patch modulation, mixing sources and making things feel exciting and dynamic. I hope the patch notes below are useful and let us know what you'd like to see more of with Swell."
"*PATCH NOTES*
The simple bit first - AUDIO PATH - two saw wave oscillators, changing the octaves between them at points, mixed into 'Swell' and then output into some stereo FX for background ambience.
The modulation is where this gets exciting going into the FM input (which modules filter cut off frequency) is my main envelope, a simple decay envelope. Resonance is modulated by a step sequence (external attenuation is the key here). Then the v/oct input is used as a place to input a mix of modulation. The first is an accent envelope, patching a less dense gate rhythm into a second envelope and patching that into a mixer. Then outputting the mixer into the v/oct input of the filter. The second is then the same step sequence as the resonance.
So with the mixer into the v/oct and the FM input I have 3 modulation sources modulating the filter frequency - main envelope, accent envelope & step sequence.
Modules used - Thonk Synth VCO, Joranalogue Cycle 5, TINRS Next Tuesday, Making Sound Machines Multiplikand, Bartola Instruments Swell, WMD + Infrasonic Audio Cosmis Debris, Vostok Instruments Fuji, Apollo View IOU, Thonk Synth dual VCA.
THIS VIDEO IS SPONSORED BY BARTOLA INSTRUMENTS* they have funded the creation of this first patch video and future demo video with Swell. Any questions just ask."
The Swedish company will continue to operate from its headquarters in Gothenburg and its subsidiaries in Los Angeles and Berlin, with its team, brand, and product development focus intact.
Gothenburg, Sweden — April 8, 2026 — Elektron, the Swedish instrument maker behind a range of electronic musical instruments and performance tools, today announced that it has been acquired by Bonnier Capital, the long-established Swedish family-owned media group with international operations.
The acquisition of Elektron Music Machines AB from a consortium led by EMM Intressenter AB provides long-term support for Elektron’s continued development, international growth, and future expansion. Elektron will maintain full independence and continue to operate from its headquarters in Gothenburg, as well as its subsidiaries in Los Angeles and Berlin, with its existing team, brand, and commitment to creating instruments and tools for music makers worldwide.
In connection with the transaction, Jonas Hillman, Alexander Hellström, together with the management team, will reinvest alongside Bonnier Capital, reaffirming their ongoing commitment and active participation in Elektron’s journey.
Since its founding in 1998, Elektron has established a distinct position in electronic music through its unique approach to sound, sequencing, and performance-oriented design. As part of Bonnier, the company will gain access to broader strategic resources while preserving the focus and identity that have defined Elektron over the years.
“Elektron has built a truly distinctive position at the intersection of technology, creativity, and music culture. We are deeply impressed by the team’s craftsmanship and vision, and we see strong alignment with our long-term approach to building enduring, creative businesses in the music industry. Our ambition is to support Elektron’s continued growth while preserving the unique identity that has made it so respected by artists worldwide,” said Jonas Von Hedenberg, Investment Director at Bonnier Capital.
Alexander Hellström, CEO of Elektron, added: “Joining Bonnier marks an exciting new chapter for Elektron. It gives us the support and strategic backing to keep doing what we love most—creating inspiring instruments and pushing the boundaries of sound and performance. At the same time, this is just the beginning of a more ambitious journey ahead. Together with Bonnier Capital, we see strong opportunities to grow further, as we expand our role in shaping the future of electronic music creation.”
For customers, partners, and the wider Elektron community, day-to-day operations continue as usual. Ongoing product development, support, and existing business commitments remain unchanged.
"This is IMO the best remix of my favorite House track. Manna did an amazing job, giving it that modern Melodic Techno production. Most of the synth sounds are from the GS Music e7 with lots of osc sync. I just got the Hydrasynth a few days ago so am only using it with a pad preset for now. Bass is Sub37 as usual. And I bought some crappy disco lights off Amazon lol."
Thephonoloop announces availability of outlines VI, beautifully blending raw acoustic gestures with tape loops and modular-processed tonal experiments
KATOWICE, POLAND: Thephonoloop is proud to announce availability of outlines as its latest NKS (Native Kontrol Standard) ready VI (virtual instrument) for Native Instruments’ Kontakt Player free sample player — beautifully blending raw acoustic gestures with tape loops and modular-processed tonal experiments to spark musical momentum as the sample-based instruments with character-producing Polish two-person team’s approach to a collection of tonal variations designed to be combined and explored, each preset being an outline of a musical idea ready to be expanded and reshaped into something larger — as of March 12…
"Compressor hiss? Meh, the world's full of noise and hiss. Levels pushed, why not? Some limiting on the output - sure. We're just having fun here, not trying to educate anyone on noise levels or production techniques. And as usual this video has completely mutated from its original form. The intention was to show the new Nightverb gated reverb option and blather on about drum machines. Then I started playing with Hexdrums' compressor. So instead of my long diatribe on drum machine programming I chopped that all out and just kept the actual drums.
Compressor's aren't my thing. Yet with the Hexdrum compressor I had fun. Pushed past noon it will start giving an audible hissy noise floor but if you're cranking lots of other things that that just disappears :D If I was making an album track I'd probably try to get rid of it but for now every noise is welcome.
On the routing: Voice 1 (bass drum 1) and Voice 3 (snare) are on separate outs and are completely dry - although I was severely temped to do some processing on them. All the other voices go to the Hexdrums stereo out, then to the Nightverb on the gated reverb option; then to the Echolocator. With either effect unit turned to 100% wet it's up to the dry voices 1 & 3 to keep things together.
At times I turn up the release on Voice 2 (bass drum 2) and that's what upsets the compressor and holds it open so long that the gated reverb doesn't get a turn.
The main reason I like this setup is that you can get variations on a single drum pattern without having to program any new drum patterns :)
The main out from the DAW has some mild limiting to catch stray spikes but otherwise this is an unedited one-pass twiddlefest.
Click the auction link on top when you get there for additional listings.
Pic of the inside below.
"This auction is for an original 1971 Mk1 EMS Synthi A synthesiser, serial number 4118, in its Spartanite case. The case has a few marks and scratches as befitting a 55 year old instrument, but no chips or breaks. The latches, although showing some corrosion, work perfectly.
The Synthi front panel is one of the cleanest we’ve seen, being almost immaculate with virtually no panel marks and, unusually, no writing or marking absent or worn from the screen printing. In addition this example comes with the early chrome mirror finish knobs.
The internals are extremely clean and original with no modifications (see photo#4 now under the wrong thumbnail) and the unit has the genuine GE PA234 audio amplifier devices for the outputs and reverb.
The unit has been fully tested by one of the three or four people in the world who can call themselves EMS experts. It has been aligned and found to be working perfectly, and consequently given the original condition of the unit, no capacitors have been replaced. The original ones are working fine and show no signs of leakage or decay. However while the existing pots are electrically good with no scratchiness, some are a mechanically stiffer than current production models and the buyer might wish to have these replaced. This can be done at additional cost either here in the UK by EMS experts Lucid or by the buyer’s own engineer.
The Synthi comes with a full set of 20 patch pins and a new UK 240VAC mains lead (not shown). (Observant viewers may notice the absence of the usual Synthi A plastic name plate which usually adorns the outer case. This isn’t missing, but was simply never fitted as there are no holes for it, perhaps because of the early serial number. In addition the rear case is attached by four factory fitted screws and bushings, rather than the more usual arrangement of three)."
"Steps is our clock sequencer with a built‑in PLL circuit. It works great in its intended role, but feed it an audio‑rate signal and it turns into a divider, multiplier, sub‑oscillator, and chaotic tone‑shaper all at once.
If you enjoy sounds that sit outside the usual modular vocabulary, Steps might be just for you.
If you want to learn more about PLL circuits check out Sound + Voltage channel where Jeff does a deep dive into these circuits. • What the h_ll is a PLL? More than you eve... [posted here]
"JE 8086 by The Usual Suspects just received a new update… and this is not your typical 'couple of presets and done' kind of release.
In this video I take a closer look at version 2.2.2, focusing not only on the obvious new features, but also on the many improvements happening behind the scenes — the kind of work that really makes a difference when you actually use a plugin every day.
From the new centralized Settings panel to the redesigned MIDI Learn system, this update brings meaningful workflow improvements, including: 🔹 A new centralized Settings panel (MIDI, DSP, Audio, GUI) 🔹 A completely reworked MIDI Learn system with auto-detection (absolute/relative) 🔹 A visual MIDI Learn overlay mode for faster mapping 🔹 New high-quality and lo-fi resampler modes 🔹 DSP optimizations for better performance and efficiency 🔹 Improved parameter linking with safer behavior 🔹 Enhanced patch management and MIDI integration 🔹 A wide range of bug fixes improving stability and usability
If you had issues with previous versions, this might be a good time to give it another try.
Also worth keeping an eye on the bigger picture: many of these improvements are happening at the framework level, which means we’ll likely see them extended to other instruments from the same project in the future.
What I like about The Usual Suspects approach is the steady, continuous development — not just adding features, but refining the instrument over time.
"My dystopian ambient set from Interference, a monthly synth show at the Jewel in Manchester, NH, on Mar. 14, 2026. A bit darker than some of my usual stuff and a lot heavier than usual in some places.
Note: camera guy in frame is only for the first minute and a half.
"Why does the Xenodrive not want to let me go? I've had all sorts of good intentions for other content and other devices, stuff that I'm really impatient to show, yet here are we are with the Xenodrive again. I suspect it's down to two things: First that I've cycled through loads of dirt pedals and effects and rarely found one that has more than a single good sound. The Darkglass B3K for example has a brilliant effect on synths, but despite having four knobs and two buttons, it only has one sound. The Xeno has loads of flavors to explore. Second reason I am fixated on this device is that it's finally given me the 'punk synth' sound I've always wanted. Which is largely what we have in this video.
I originally had a big blabfest at the start of this video talking about the Xenodrive in detail but on sudden impulse I cut it all out. I think I was mesmerized by the Xeno and it was giving me instructions. I must exert my free will while I can. If my next video features the Xeno, send help.
Routing here is the MIDI out from the master DB-01 (left) to the rightside DB-01. The master DB-01 has an 8-step random-generated pattern, the leftside DB-01 is empty. Audio goes from each DB-01 to the Xeno left and right. As usual there is absolutely no other processing.
"Meet the DSP6300 crew and 'JE-8086', part their amazing ongoing project to make the firmware in 90's virtual analogue synths run in a modern DAW as a VST plugin. FOR FREE. 🔗 https://dsp56300.wordpress.com/ 👉 / mylarmelodies 🙌 MORE LINKS BELOW
Thanks to those who sent me the lecture - it's really interesting if you'd like to understand how this was achieved!
CHAPTERS:
00:00 This sounds familiar.
00:42 The sound, the feat
02:07 How it was done
03:41 Legal implications of ROMs
04:27 A quick fiddle
06:49 How to install & support it
39C3 - From Silicon to Darude Sand-storm: breaking famous synthesizer DSPs
Have you ever wondered how the chips and algorithms that made all those electronic music hits work? Us too!
At The Usual Suspects we create open source emulations of famous music hardware, synthesizers and effect units. After releasing some emulations of devices around the Motorola 563xx DSP chip, we made further steps into reverse engineering custom silicon chips to achieve what no one has done before: a real low-level emulation of the JP-8000. This famous synthesizer featured a special "SuperSaw" oscillator algorithm, which defined an entire generation of electronic and trance music. The main obstacle was emulating the 4 custom DSP chips the device used, which ran software written with a completely undocumented instruction set. In this talk I will go through the story of how we overcame that obstacle, using a mixture of automated silicon reverse engineering, probing the chip with an Arduino, statistical analysis of the opcodes and fuzzing. Finally, I will talk about how we made the emulator run in real-time using JIT, and what we found by looking at the SuperSaw code.
This talk is a sequel to my last year's talk Proprietary silicon ICs and dubious marketing claims? Let's fight those with a microscope!", where I showed how I reverse engineered a pretty old device (1986) by looking at microscope silicon pics alone, with manual tracing and some custom tools. Back then I claimed that taking a look at a more modern device would be way more challenging, due to the increased complexity.
This time, in fact, I've reverse engineered a much modern chip: the custom Roland/Toshiba TC170C140 ESP chip (1995). Completing this task required a different approach, as doing it manually would have required too much time. We used a guided automated approach that combines clever microscopy with computer vision to automatically classify standard cells in the chip, saving us most of the manual work.
The biggest win though came from directly probing the chip: by exploiting test routines and sending random data to the chip we figured out how the internal registers worked, slowly giving us insights about the encoding of the chip ISA. By combining those two approaches we managed to create a bit-accurate emulator, that also is able to run in real-time using JIT.
In this talk I want to cover the following topics:
What I learned since my previous talk by looking at more complicated chips
Towards automating the silicon reverse engineering process
How to find and exploit test modes to understand how stuff works
How we tricked the chips into spilling its own secrets
How the ESP chip works, compared to existing DSP chips
How the SuperSaw oscillator turned out to work
[Note: although DiscoDSP gives credit to The Usual Suspects, it's my understanding TUS is not happy about it. From a forum:
"He basically took our source, put his own wrapper on it and is trying to sell it and use it to promote his own business. Can't prevent it, but frankly this is reprehensible IMHO.
Yes. He knows he cannot legally "sell" it due to the licensing model our code is published under. Therefore he sells "support" of "his development efforts" to include difficult things like "git clone" and other Arcane and extremely difficult stuff. sigh... I'd strongly advise anyone using it not to actually pay him for it, but that is just my opinion.]
What isn't clear is whether the UI is just the player above or includes the full editors by The Usual Suspects. I'm hearing it's just the player, which in effect might be an upsell for the full editors by The Usual Suspects.
That said:
"Retromulator brings legendary hardware cores back to life through authentic low-level emulation. The virtual analog synths are powered by a faithful recreation of the Motorola DSP 56300 processor, the Yamaha DX7 runs a full emulation of its original chip set, and the Akai S1000 sampler plays your SF2, SFZ, and Bliss sample banks with studio-quality interpolation. Each core runs its actual firmware or sample data — delivering the unmistakable character of hardware that defined electronic music from the early 80s through the 2000s.
Unlike traditional software emulations that recreate synthesizer behavior by approximation, Retromulator emulates the original integrated circuits at the hardware level. The virtual analog synths run on a cycle-accurate Motorola DSP 56300, the Yamaha DX7 runs a full emulation of its Hitachi HD6303R sub-CPU and Yamaha YM21280/YM21290 EGS/OPS chip set, and the Akai S1000 sampler runs on the SFZero v3.0.0 engine with 8-point sinc interpolation supporting SF2, SFZ, ZBP, and ZBB sample banks. Each core executes its authentic firmware or sample data exactly as intended.
Load the ROM firmware from your own hardware or sample banks from your library, place them in the designated folder, and Retromulator takes care of the rest. The result is not an approximation — it is the real hardware running inside your DAW.
Retromulator is built on Gearmulator, an open-source synthesizer emulation project by the dsp56300 team. We are grateful for their extraordinary work in bringing these classic instruments back to life."
"SUBSTANCE Vol.2 is a Melodic Techno preset pack for the Access Virus TI, built around modern, emotive club energy.
Inspired by the Melodic Techno sound of Argy and Anyma, plus the wider lane shaped by artists like Adriatique, Mind Against, Massano, Kevin de Vries, Innellea, Colyn, Cassian, Tale Of Us.
Label DNA you’ll recognize in the vibe: Afterlife, Rose Avenue, Siamese, Diynamic, Steyoyoke and Innervisions.
Note: Artist and label names are used for stylistic reference only. No affiliation or endorsement.
