Korg Arp 2600 FS Official

Korg Arp 2600 FS

Korg officially announced the reissue of a classic highly sought after synth. The ARP 2600 is brought back to life in a single, one-time-only production run. Now is your opportunity to own one of the most sought after and coveted instruments from the vintage synthesizer era. This limited-edition release is a loving reproduction of the 2600, handcrafted in Japan and includes USB and DIN-style MIDI connections, XLR audio outputs, plus the improved ARP 3620 Duophonic Keyboard with an added arpeggiator / sequencer. Your new ARP 2600 will arrive in a custom-branded hard shell case, complete with casters.

More than a synthesizer, the ARP 2600 is a complete sound design studio. Even today, the ARP 2600 stands as a bridge between the individual elements of modular synthesis and the immediacy of a production / performance instrument. Included are an ample supply of oscillators, envelopes, a filter and amplifier – all of the building blocks of analog synthesis. But the ARP 2600 goes even further, with a spring reverb tank and even a pair of built in monitor speakers. Also present is much of the versatility of a vintage modular system, including a ring modulation, lag and voltage processors, an envelope follower, audio preamp, a clock-able switch, noise source, a sample & hold module, signal inverters, an auxiliary mixer, and even a set of parallel-wired/multi jacks.

The ARP 2600 FS reproduces the sounds of these components at the circuit level. Under the supervision of David Friend, the co-founder of ARP Instruments, parts were carefully selected and every detail was adjusted to replicate the original unit’s distinctive synthesis.

More info available on the Korg website https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/arp2600_fs/

Korg Arp 2600 Reissue

Korg Arp 2600 Reboot Reissue 2

Leaked Korg Arp 2600 reissue with some improvements of course. The new full sized version will feature a USB MIDI and DIN MIDI connection, a new built-in arpeggiator and sequencer, XLR audio outputs, branded hard-shell case  (with casters), and an improved ARP 3620 duophonic keyboard with aftertouch.

You can get the (K) ARP 2600 but you’ll have to pre-order fast because it’s under an extremely limited one time ONLY production run. Price $3900 USD. This is no Behringer copy folks the price alone tells you they did not cut corners. Not knocking the Behringer synths though they sort of did Korg better than Korg from what I heard. It is not available yet though so please hang tight for more info. I will publish it when available. Cheers

Korg Arp 2600 Reboot Reissue
Click image to enlarge – Korg Arp 2600

New 3620 Keyboard

3620 Keyboard While faithful to the original design, the functionality of the 3620 Keyboard has been greatly enhanced for this limited ARP 2600 release. The 3620 Keyboard contains 49 full-size keys, aftertouch, portamento, and is also duophonic, allowing two keys to be played at once – Single or Multiple Triggering is available. In addition, the duophonic keyboard can use an optional foot switch to lock the interval between any two notes, without retuning the oscillators during performance.

Vibrato can be added via a dedicated circuit controlled by aftertouch, or by the onboard LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator), using any of three available waveforms. Most noticeable is the addition of a flexible Arpeggiator that allows a user-defined pattern to be manually sequenced and played back. Still present are the original Pitch Bend knob and the Two Octave Up / Two Octave Down Transpose switch. Connecting the keyboard to the main unit now uses a secure eight-pin din cable.

Korg Arp 2600 NAMM 2020
Korg Arp 2600 NAMM 2020

Processing Powerhouse

The ARP 2600 reveals its modular nature by the unique assortment of valuable, esoteric, and individually patch-able modules it contains. To begin, there are a set of parallel-wired Multiple jacks that enhance the patching possibilities – allowing the same control signal to be sent to multiple locations, for example. Three independent Voltage Processors provide scalable control voltages, or can act to attenuate any control signal.

Use the Lag Generator to delay the start of any control signal. The Noise Generator is tunable to deliver White, Pink, and Low-Frequency noise, plus everything in between. A series of three Inverters can reverse the polarity of any signal. The Electronic Switch can be sync’d to either the internal clock or any external clock signal, as can the Sample & Hold rate. Most importantly, the Arp 2600 includes a dedicated Preamp and Envelope Follower for processing an external audio signal.

Behringer Cat Synth Clone

Behringer Cat Synthesizer Clone

Behringer announced today a mono duophonic analog clone of the classic Octave Cat Synthesizer. It comes with the CAT filter, 1 VCA, and 2 envelope generators. These include an AR and ADSR envelope with a looping function. Complete with 2 independent oscillators (sawtooth, square, pulse. VCO 1 has a triangle waveform). Each of the osc can be played simultaneously and mixed together. Each osc also has a sub osc.

Behringer CAT Synthesizer will be available in 2020 with expected price of $349.

BYTEBEAT No Man’s Sky Synthesizer

No Man's Sky Synthesizer

Hello Games surprised players with a new, completely functional in game synthesizer. The studio calls the machine the ByteBeat Device, and it’s capable of creating new music tracks for the game.

From the developer: ”

Base building is a big part of what people spend their time doing in our game, and a frequent request is for the ability to add sounds and music to their construction. Our team always likes a creative challenge, and audio is one of our big passions. Over the last few weeks one of our coders got obsessed with making an audio creation tool for the community, we were so excited about it we thought it’d be a nice surprise to release it.

We love playing around with music toys like Teenage Engineering Synths or FruityLoops, and we like the idea of creating something that can encourage anyone to make cool audio.

Once placed in your base and powered, the ByteBeat will immediately begin to produce sound. ByteBeat formulas are made out of simple waveforms that are manipulated through maths – but by default, the device handles all of the mathematical heavy lifting, procedurally generating random presets for you to play with. Dedicated audiophiles have the option to explore deeper, manually sketching out note sequences, rhythms, and even manipulating the raw sounds.

Audio enthusiasts interested in reading more about the original concept of ByteBeat music may find this article a good starting point.”