© Picture: Allgemein (YouTube)
Different software, familiar pads: Sunwarper sees community code as an opportunity to adapt the MPC Sample more closely to his own workflow. In his earlier hands-on video, Gabe Miller demonstrates how concrete such wishes can be—from scales to resampling. What matters is not the next long feature list, but whether an instrument can be operated more purposefully. And who reliably maintains it afterwards.
© Picture: Allgemein (YouTube)
Does a Jupiter first have to prove its pedigree? Bloom Music finds the very possibilities that go beyond mere copying to be the most exciting aspect of the Roland Jupiter-08: two layers without halved polyphony, different filters, and plenty of effects. At Sonicstate, simulated aging is even allowed to go too far, while Voltage Labs builds a track from the sound material. Here, musical freedom is more interesting than clone duty.
© Picture: Allgemein (YouTube)
Doctor Mix wants to know how Rob Hubbard’s Commando works with three SID voices. On the C64 Ultimate, he has Claude write a program for this purpose—and immediately starts remixing while dissecting. The desire for direct access has a backstory: LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER built him a controller panel, Espen Kraft creates full chords from individually recorded C64 voices.
© Picture: Allgemein (YouTube)
Prophet-5 and Prophet-10, plus an ARP Quadra overdub: Tonepusher traces how Alan Howarth thickened the lead of Halloween II. What’s exciting here is not just the list of instruments, but the interplay of layering and sequencing. Starsky Carr’s comparison of Prophet hardware and Softube Model 80 offers a different perspective on the characteristics of stacked voices.
© Picture: Allgemein (YouTube)
Waldorf’s Crema presents itself as a compact string ensemble, but Starsky Carr is more interested in what lies beneath that label: wavetables, FM, and plenty of modulation. For this, he’s set up an external controller. His demonstration tells the story of an appealing instrument—and raises the question of how much groundwork musicians should do before hidden parameters become truly playable possibilities.
© Picture: Allgemein (YouTube)
Two oscillators, two bandpasses—surely there must be a voice in there somewhere? AutomaticGainsay searches for vocal-like sounds on the Behringer MS-5 and finds appealing approaches, but also a concrete limitation. Starsky Carr, in his earlier comparison with the Roland SH-5, demonstrates what the same architecture can do beyond the search for voices. What matters is not just which filters are present, but what you can move with them.
© Picture: Allgemein (YouTube)
New engines, extra LFOs, six audio channels via USB: Modded Cycles promises a bigger sonic world for the little Elektron. Yet after his experiment, Nu-Trix wants to remove the alternative firmware again. Between CPU peaks and stubborn patterns, a more exciting question arises than just the longest feature list: How open can an instrument become without losing its musical reliability?
© Picture: Allgemein (YouTube)
A powerful synthesizer doesn’t always need more features. Sometimes, a better view of what’s already there is enough. In Starsky Carr’s Synthfest segment, Bob Coover demonstrates the free 3rd Wave Terminal: with piano roll, visible modulation connections, and graphical sound editing. Carr’s earlier review and Sam Gutman’s patch ideas show what this extra access can mean in everyday music-making—without making the knobs obsolete.
© Picture: Allgemein (YouTube)
Arturia’s MiniFreak 49 lays out its presets as glowing dots beneath your fingers. The new official tutorial shows how page switching and sound type filtering interact. In his own video, Starsky Carr wonders about the color logic. Meanwhile, Noisegate, while building a track, encounters a different limit: Bass, lead, or pad are useful categories—but whether a sound fits the arrangement is only decided when you play.
© Picture: Allgemein (YouTube)
A clock provides order, eight random channels provide deviation. Omri Cohen builds a patch with Befaco Random8 and Vult Overon where both work together: accents remain tangible, gate patterns can be locked, and a delay occasionally freezes. Optoproductions controls drum variations via level; Robin from Molten Music Technology asks how such possibilities can remain manageable in everyday use.