Published 16/1/09
Updates to software instruments
French physical-modelling company Arturia were showing updates to two of their software products at the NAMM show.
Significantly, the saxophone has been re-modelled, and there are two new models of mouthpieces for it. According to Arturia, Brass 2 also has improved MIDI control and better integration with DAW software.
French physical-modelling company Arturia were showing updates to two of their software products at the NAMM show.Apart from a raft of new presets to help you get going quickly, the new version of the Minimoog V has what developers call an "advanced automation mode" that lets you draw in your own waveshapes.
More impressive is a new system that lets you navigate through Minimoog prestets. Patches are marked as points on a GUI called Sound Map (left), which resembles a chart of star constellations, and are grouped near similar-sounding presets. If you find, say, a lead sound you like but aren't totally convinced by, you can open Sound Map and select an adjacent point on its chart, to get a subtly different sound. You can also morph between up to four points, to create a unique blend of a number of patches.
The latest version of Brass, their sax-, trumpet- and trombone-modelling instrument, has a new harmonisation engine that can play up to four instruments simultaneously, and what the developers call "advanced spatialisation possibilities". These essentially enable the Brass 2 user to move the different instruments around the sound stage.
Significantly, the saxophone has been re-modelled, and there are two new models of mouthpieces for it. According to Arturia, Brass 2 also has improved MIDI control and better integration with DAW software.
