Magnus
“Its look and sounds are lifted from the Magnus Harmonica Corporation’s reed organs of the 1950s. Magnus is all about mushy, muddy sounds that can also get nasty when the saturation is cranked up!– Sound on Sound magazine”
“A staggeringly authentic yet eminently useful tone-wheel organ emulation, Model C has the power to beguile and inspire thanks to a signature sound that’s been variously described as “smoky”, “punchy” or “silky”. Nine drawbars for the organ and three drawbars for percussion faithfully recreate the sound of an old drawbar organ (without the problem of where to put it). Model C also includes a highly realistic rotary effect as well as an amp section using emulations borrowed from Steinberg’s VST Amp effect.”
“Orchestral Suite gives you access to over 60 classical instruments in a single convenient and affordable package. Take complete control of your own orchestra including strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion instruments, a full choir, and many complementary instruments such as a beautiful cathedral organ, harpsichord, celesta, classical guitar and harp. Select from ensembles or solo instruments, choose different playing styles, and further tune your suite with per-instrument controls for realistic and expressive performances. Every sound in Orchestral Suite was meticulously recorded and edited to ensure a deep sense of natural realism and playability.”
“A transistorised blast from the past courtesy of Casiotone • 20 onboard sounds, plus preset rhythms and fills; 65 factory patches • Full envelope control, authentic vibrato and individual kit-piece control for the rhythm section • Nunchuck skills… bowhunting skills… computer hacking skills… Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills
“Imagine having a symphony orchestra at your fingertips
Garritan Personal Orchestra gives you a complete orchestra – strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, keyboards and more. Version 5 is a major new update, now with more than 500 instruments to choose from. Also included are a wide variety of instrument-specific articulations and techniques, performance spaces and reverbs, and instrument body resonances, all engineered to provide incredible realism and authenticity to your music.”
“Retro Organ Suite delivers in a very raw and personal way the sounds that define a near 100 year legacy of electronic organ instruments. Dating back to the early 1900s, a small and specialized group of manufacturers first designed and produced these elegant instruments as low-cost alternatives to wind-driven pipe organs for houses of worship and homes of the social elite. Later finding place in jazz ensembles, organs gained popularity in many genres of contemporary music through the mid 20th century. By the late ‘70s, due to the rapid pace of technological advancement and tastes, their popularity and commercial presence saw extraordinary decline. Since that time these instruments have seen some emulation in digital form, but their tangible beauty, the sounds of their raw mechanisms clad in wood and novel amplifiers have largely vanished, frozen in time on commercial recordings of old.”
“The first digital sampler for the rest of us: the Mirage defines an era of popular access to sampling technology • Thick, warm, gritty sounds from 8-bit DACs and a tiny 128kB of sample storage • Entire Ensoniq factory soundset: 179 original Mirage patches, plus custom Multis: Splits to recreate original keyboard splits, and Layers to take the Mirage sound in whole new directions • Extensive control set gives you the option to sculpt the sounds; or click “Vintage” to restore authentic 1984-compatible settings!
The Ensoniq Mirage was a landmark machine in the history of sampling. Before its release, sampling was strictly the purview of the very well-heeled musician: a Fairlight Series II cost £30,000 (the price of a house); a Synclavier would set you back between $25,000 and $200,000 (yee-ouch); and there were no alternatives.
All that changed in 1984. Two astonishing machines hit the market more or less simultaneously: the superb Emulator II snuck it at just under $10,000 and captured the hearts (and wallets) of mid-range studios and musos who wanted in on the sampling action but couldn’t stretch to a Fairlight. But if it thought it was going to steal all the limelight, it was wrong – because elbowing its way into the party like a scrawny punk rocker who no-one invited, here comes the Mirage”
“This is a warm and appealing little keyboard… it thoroughly deserves the description ‘organic’. You can add a little dirt via the tube and drive settings or, for more lush, organ-y textures, turn on the rotary speaker. A quick tweak of its attack and release controls lets you push its repertoire as far as lush and fuzzy pads. This is terrific value – Sound on Sound magazine”
“Unique sound sampled from a vintage Soviet Russian organ: borked, damaged and dangerous! • Body Speaker for full-range warmth, blendable broken Flight Case Speakers to add extra gritty nastiness • Upper registers can be switched between classic octave behaviour and harmonic intervals of Fifth and Major Third, to introduce a Vox-style tonality to the sound • Retrofitted switchable envelope control allows sound sculpture if you wish, or vintage organ voicing if you don’t • Vintage Tremolo affects both pitch and amplitude for very organic variation in the sound • You will never hear a tone like this anywhere else. Period. Continue reading Soviet Organ
“Strange and unusual alternative universe sound generator • Bellows-driven pipes, reeded tubes and anbaric circuits all working in harmony • Powerful uncertainty controls ensure that every note is unique • Customisable mechanical noises for user-defined creaks, wheezes, groans and chiffs • This is what synthesisers would sound like in a parallel-wormholed Dickensian London”
“Light your Fire
VOX Continental-V brings back the classic sound of the famous VOX Continental 300 through our TAE® physical modeling technology.
It’s Organic
We started with the classic and rare Vox Continental 300 dual manual organ and captured every nuance of the original, right down to the key contact timing and background noises. Beyond this we also modeled the follow up product from Vox inventor Tom Jennings…the J70 organ so you get two products in one.