Category: Engineers

The Electro-Music emSynth Promises To Make Modular Synthesizers Small & Cheap

emSynth, the electro-music synthesizer, is a compact miniature modular synthesizer system designed for ‘anyone with an interest in low cost modular synthesizers’. By low cost – they plan to sell the modules for about $15 each. Here’s the official description for the emSynth modules: Traditional modular synthesizers are large, wall-sized investments in sound. They are…


How To Mix A Song Based on It’s Style – Into The Lair #68

Dave Pensado shows how to get the best mix possible based on the style of the track you are mixing in the 68th Into The Lair.


Hip Hop Producer Danja – Pensado’s Place #111

Musician and Hip Hop Producer Danja joins Dave and Herb via Skype in the 110th episode of Pensado’s Place!


The Best Of Musikmesse 2013

Over 1,500 readers weighed in our Best of Musikmesse 2013 poll, and the Korg Volca Beats came out on top. The entire Volca line was a hit with Synthtopia readers, sweeping the top three slots. But introductions from Novation, Roland/Boss, Nord, Image-Line and MFB were popular with readers, too. Here are reader picks for this year’s Best…


The Sound and Music of “42”

Movie Studio Sound Studio Director Original Music Legendary Studios Sony Pictures Studios Brian Helgeland Mark Isham In this exclusive SoundWorks Collection sound profile we talk with Academy Award winning Director Brian Helgeland about the sound and music of his new film “42”. Also featured are Helgeland’s behind-the-scenes collaborators include Composer Mark Isham, Re-recording Mixer Jeff…


Korg King Korg vs SCI Prophet 5, Oberheim SEM & Moog Filters

Keyboard Magazine’s Mitchell Sigman compares the sound of the King Korg and its analog-modeled Prophet-5, Oberheim SEM and Moog filters to the filters on the original instruments. [Synthtopia]


Sonic TALK 309 Post MESSe Wrap

The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that we just have a screen background recorded. Sorry about that, not sure what went wrong, but it wont happen again! This weeks show is basically a wrap post MESSE, we talk about those Korg Volcas, Pro Tools II and plenty more.


Pi L Squared Synth – No Other Synth ‘Has More Aliasing & Quantization Noise’

At Musikmesse 2013, Ploytec introduced the Pi L Squared synth – a cheap, tiny MIDI powered synth. According to the company, ‘no other synth on the market has more aliasing and quantization noise!” Features: Duophonic MIDI powered Analog square wave oscillators Digital & analog filter The Pi L Squared is expected to ship later this…


Audio Mix Trick Using a Signal Generator – Into The Lair #67

GRAMMY Award Winning Mix Engineer Dave Pensado shows some creative mixing tricks using a signal generator inside of Pro Tools.


Big Fish Audio SWAGG library review and giveaway

The new urban synth workstation SWAGG from Big Fish Audio and VIP Loops for Kontakt 5 player is out and I’m going through showing you what it sounds like. Also find out how you can win a free copy of the library.