Yamaha intros MODUS H01 stylish, compact digital piano
September 19, 2007
Yamaha’s new MODUS H01 digital grand piano continues the line of compact, stylish digital grand pianos. As with their CLP-F01, Yamaha’s designers have addressed the needs of luxury homeowners who need to use space efficiently whilst accenting their rooms with stylish furniture.
“Though we are catering to the new design-conscious consumer, this instrument sounds and feels as beautiful as it looks,” says Jim Levesque, Clavinova Marketing Manager, Yamaha Piano Division.
Playing features include 88-note natural wood keyboard, 64 notes polyphony, 10 instrument voices, and three-level dynamic stereo AWM samples. It also has a USB input, three pedals (damper with half-pedal effect, sostenuto, and soft), and 40 watt stereo speaker system.
A variety of gorgeous finishes, including amber glow, velvet rouge and deep brunette – all accented with polished ebony – are available.
Yamaha intros new arranger workstations: PSR-S700, PSR-S900, PSR-OR700
September 19, 2007
From the same line of arranger workstations as the acclaimed Tyros2 comes three more keyboards from Yamaha.
The PSR-S900 offers a range of features, including some previously only available on the Tyros2, including modelled organ voices, Super Articulation for sonically realistic instrument sounds, USB audio recorder, video out, USB storage, 891 instrument Voices, a microphone input with automatic three-part vocal harmony, 128 notes of polyphony, a colour LCD screen and a broadband connection for downloading new content.
“The PSR-S900 offers the most value for the dollar of any Arranger Workstation keyboard we make, with features previously reserved for the top model, like Super Articulation and Audio Recording,” said Mark Anderson, marketing manager, Portable Keyboards, Pro Audio & Combo Division, Yamaha Corporation of America. “Add this to the range of professional features and I know that this keyboard is going to make a lot of customers very happy.”
The PSR-S700 features incredibly realistic MegaVoice Technology, XG/GS/General MIDI and General MIDI 2 compatibility, 96-note polyphony, USB storage options for peripheral devices like thumb or floppy disc drives, Modeled Organ Flutes with nine virtual drawbars and a new LAN Port for downloading content directly from the Internet. Though packed with professional features, including 813 instrument voices and 16 drum kits, the PSR-S700 also includes enhancements that beginners can appreciate, including Performance Assistant, which ensures that every rendition is free from mistakes.
“With the release of the PSR-S700, the incredibly lifelike Yamaha MegaVoice Technology represents a huge step up in sound quality for this affordable level of Arranger Workstation, opening the door to a larger segment of the population,” said Anderson. “This keyboard has the processing power to be the first in the line to offer 96 notes of polyphony and Modeling Technology for accurately reproducing amazingly realistic organ voices.”
The PSR-OR700 is designed for professionals and provides the ability to play quarter tone notes, common to Arabic, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern music, which fall between half steps on the Western keyboard scale.
With 862 Voices, 96 notes of polyphony and 22 drum kits, the new keyboard also features MegaVoice Technology for incredibly realistic sounds and styles, USB storage options, 96-note polyphony and Modeled Organ Flutes with nine virtual drawbars. It also includes ethnic content, including instrument Voices and rhythm sounds, and special panel control buttons for tuning on the fly.
Musical listening test study – testing musical perception ability
September 17, 2007
I’ve just found an interesting online research project being run by the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and UCL.
Here’s what the Musical Listening Test is about:
We are interested in studying musical perception ability in the general population. The following 2 tests, developed by Isabelle Peretz (University of Montreal), take less than 8 minutes each. They involve listening to pairs of tunes and deciding whether they are the same or different. Once you have completed both tests you will receive your scores.
The test involves listening to two sets of thirty pairs of short musical phrases, each of which may vary slightly in either pitch or timing of the notes. After listening once to each pair, you simply click a button as to whether you think the two phrases are identical or different.
I scored 26/30 and 27/30 on the two tests, which I’m pretty pleased about (and I know that I clicked the wrong button on one, so perhaps it should be 27/30 all round)
If you want to take part, simply go to www.delosis.com/listening/
British Piano Show confirmed: 16th-17th September
August 2, 2007
The British Piano Show has been confirmed for 16th and 17th September 2007, to be held at the Olympia Exhibition Centre.
All of the major British piano manufacturers and suppliers will attend, including Kemble, Intermusic, Piano Warehouse, Kawai, Reid-Sohn and Yamaha.
“The Pillar Hall is a self-contained building and is ideal for this sort of show,� commented Holdsworth. “At such short notice, I was approached a mere eight weeks before the show was due to open, the hall is excellent. When you are talking some 70 pianos in a room, the logistics are quite formidable, but here everything is catered for.�
2007 World Piano Competition winners announced
July 11, 2007
The winners of the 2007 World Piano Competition, held in Cincinnati, have been announced.
25-year-old Ching-Yun Hu of Taiwan won gold, receiving $10,000, plus numerous playing engagements.
30-year-old Christopher Atzinger of Minnesota took silver, earning $5,000.
26-year-old Yuri Shadrin from the Yale School of Music took bronze, and $3,000.
(Via Playbill Arts)
Image Line Software Introduces a Revolution to the World of Additive Synthesis with Morphine 1.0
July 11, 2007
Image Line Software, the creator of FL Studio, has released its first additive synthesizer, Morphine. With a flexible architecture and low CPU usage algorithms that retain a warm sound, Morphine introduces a revolution to the world of Additive Synthesis. Available in AudioUnit, VSTi and Standalone versions.
‘The development of Morphine was a long, stressful process — it took thousands of man-hours work, but it was worth it,’ said Maxx Claster, the developer of Morphine. ‘Now we have a powerful additive synthesizer with a tightly optimized, high-quality sound engine, great resynthesis features and a logical user-friendly interface.’
Björk to take Reactable on tour
June 7, 2007
Remember the Reactable I showed you last year?
Well, Björk likes it, and will be taking the futuristic new instrument on tour.
If you’ve forgotten, the Reactable features a colourful glowing surface and several blocks, which make distinctive sounds when moved.
Sounds right up her street, given that Björk also makes fairly distinctive noises!
There are currently only two Reactables in the world, and the Icelandic singer has managed to borrow one for the Volta tour. Let’s hope she looks after it.
“She saw it in action and she had to have it on the tour,� Björk’s technical director Alan Pollard confirmed.
(Via Qwickly)
Propellerhead Software and Abbey Road Studios create Keyboards ReFill for Reason
June 7, 2007
Abbey Road Studios and Propellerhead Software have teamed up to produce the Abbey Road Keyboards ReFill for the Reason software.
Abbey Road Keyboards delivers a hypersampled collection of seven unique instruments, recorded using the original equipment at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.
The instruments are:
- Steinway Vertegrand “Mrs. Mills” piano
- Challen studio piano
- Hammond RT-3 & Leslie Model 122
- Mannborg Harmonium
- Mellotron Model 400
- Schiedmayer Celeste
- Premier Tubular Bells
The software is a two DVD set containing 16- and 24-bit versions of the sound library, and also comes with a 40-page Guide to Abbey Road Keyboards.
(Via Synthtopia)
Yamaha introduces Disklavier DGC1B
June 6, 2007
Yamaha has launched the latest model in its award-winning line of reproducing pianos.
The Disklavier DGC1B is equipped with many features including:
- 500 built-in songs, plus the ability to add favourites from the vast Yamaha PianoSoft library.
- 64 MB music and data storage.
- AWM Tone generation.
- SmartKey software, which guides beginners through simple melodies while the instrument provides professional-sounding accompaniment. It does this by moving the correct keys slightly, cueing the user to strike them, and waiting until they do.
- wireless remote control.
It’s available now.
RemixToolkit Releases Dirty South Vol.1 Drum Sample Library
June 4, 2007
Remix Toolkit has released Dirty South Vol.1, a unique collection of radio-ready drum samples covering the sound of today’s Hip Hop & RnB.
Dirty South Vol.1 contains 128 individual “one-shot� drum samples professionally mixed, mastered and meticulously edited.
All individual sounds are organized into 8 complete drum kits. Each complete drum kit has been created “in-the-spirit� of a specific artist or producer on the charts today. Dirty South Vol.1 includes the following kits; Lil Jon Kit, BunB Kit, Ying Yang Kit, Lil Rob Kit, Pitbull Kit, E-40 Kit, ¬Juelz Kit, Sparxxx Kit.
Released in 16 bit / 44.1 stereo wav format, the Dirty South V.1 Drum Sample Library is compatible with all major software and hardware samplers including Kontakt, Halion, EXS24, MachFive, EmulatorX2, Battery, Guru, NN-XT, Akai MPC Series, Roland Fantom Series, Yamaha Motif Series, Korg Triton Series, and many others.
