Arturia V Collection 7

The last time that we tested Arturia’s suite of virtual classic keyboards, we named it “Best Old Skool Soft Synth Collection” in The Technofile Awards. That was version 5, which included the ARP 2600 V, B3 V, CS-80V, Farfisa V, Jup-8V, Matrix-12 V, Mini V, Modular V, SEM V, Piano V, Prophet-V & Prophet VS, Solina V, Stage 73 V, Synclavier V, Vox Continental V, Wurli-V, and Analog Lab (which houses all 6000 plus patches from these synths/keyboards and enables you to quickly sort, filter & combine them). Much has happened since then. Let’s review…

V Collection 6.0 added Buchla Easel V, Clavinet V, CMI V, DX7 V; and upgraded Analog Lab and Piano V, the latter becoming Piano V2.

Buchla Easel V

Buchla Easel V

If you want 1970s West Coast weirdness, you need look no further than Arturia’s Buchla Easel V, which recreates Don Buchla’s legendary semi-modular synth. Easier to programme than one might imagine, it includes a wealth of presets that show it to be so much more than merely a weird noise generator, though it unquestionably excels at generating weird noises.

Clavinet V

Clavinet V

The Honer Clavinet is one of the funkiest keyboard instruments of all time and Arturia’s Clavinet V does a fine job of recreating it on the 0’s and 1’s. However, instead of merely modelling a Clavinet, Arturia includes a Fenderesque amp and a pedalboard’s worth of the sort of stomp boxes that would typically have been used with a Clav during the ’60s & ’70s. These include a compressor, chorus, flanger, phaser, analogue delay, wah, and most importantly auto-wah. Together this combo enables you to recreate a variety of era defining tones.

DX7 V

DX7 V

Love it or loath it, the Yamaha DX7 left an indelible mark, some would say stain, on the 1980s, with its perfect storm of obtuse interface, alien synthesis, and preset for every occasion (and indeed every function band). Instead of recreating the DX7 as was, Arturia has significantly expanded its feature set and combined it with a user friendly interface that serves to unlock the potential of FM synthesis and make the most of these new features.

Piano V2

Piano V2

Piano V is Arturia’s collection of modelled (mostly) grand and upright pianos. V2 adds three new piano models – a Japanese Grand, a Plucked Grand, and a Tack Upright; and offers enhanced mic positioning, improved EQ, and a new stereo delay and compressor. If pianos are your thing, Piano V 2 offers an excellent selection, all of which are customisable.

CMI V

CMI V

CMI V takes an accurately modelled Fairlight CMI as its starting point, then considerably enhances it functionality. Its library of approximately 300 presets includes both the Fairlight’s original library and new presets. However, unlike other virtual Fairlights we’ve seen, Arturia’s CMI V is not merely a ROMpler…it lets you import and edit your own samples…and change their bit depths and sample rates to give them that authentic Fairlight sound. The only restriction is that each sample cannot exceed 30 seconds, which means that if you want to cut up longer samples you’ll need to pre-edit them in another app. But that’s all just the tip of the iceberg, as CMI V adds an additive synth engine with resynthesis, and a spectral synth engine. Furthermore, it allows you to mix, layer, split and sequence up to ten sounds from any combination of these three engines, which, in conjunction with its user friendly interface (in Fairlight green of course) enables you to quickly come up with unique and powerful sounds that are exponential to what could be achieved with the original Fairlight.

V Collection 6.1 & 6.2

V Collection 6.1 introduced NKS compatibility and brought Analog Lab 3’s preset browser to everything in the suite, whilst V Collection 6.2 added resynthesis & playback of user samples to Arturia’s truly excellent Synclavier V…all of which brings us to V Collection 7.

Synclavier V

V Collection 7

V Collection 7 adds three new instruments – Mellotron V, Synthi V, and CZ V, updates B3 V to B-3 V2 and Analog Lab from 3 to 4 and adds over 800 new presets to the various instruments in the collection.

Mellotron V

Mellotron V

The Mellotron was, in essence, the progenitor of the ROMpler. However, unlike the Fairlight that it obviously inspired and all of the digital samplers than followed in its wake, the Mellotron was distinctly analogue. Every time you played a key it triggered a motor to play a tape containing a recording of an instrument at the corresponding pitch. There was a tape for every key and these tapes were held in a frame. In later models the frame could be changed to give different sounds, whereas early models had a fixed number of sounds. It was a beast of a machine that, like all the best analogues, was notoriously sensitive to voltage fluctuations and ambient conditions. Nevertheless, Mellotrons were far cheaper and more compact than an orchestra. Consequently they saw extensive studio use during the ’60s and ’70s by, amongst others, The Beatles, miscellaneous prog rockers, and even a certain Monsieur Jarre.

Arturia’s Mellotron V includes the best of the original Mellotron tape library, up to three sounds of which can be combined as layers/splits. The amplitude envelope of the result can be altered and flutter, tape saturation, and mechanical noise can be dialled in. The resultant patches sound superb, delivering the unique character of a Mellotron, with pristine clarity. Unexpectedly though, and presumably as a result of its developments with the Synclavier V and CMI V, you have the option to import your own samples. Oh Arturia, if you’re trying to seduce us, you’ve succeeded.

Synthi V

Synthi V

Uniquely British, the 3 oscillator semi-modular AKS Synthi and its sonically identical counterpart, the VCS3, are as unique, distinctive and eccentric as it gets. Still used to this day by Jean Michel Jarre and throughout its heyday by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, there is even a VCS3 on permanent exhibition at the Science Museum in London, so Arturia’s Synthi V has much to live up to. Not only does it do so, it goes way beyond the ‘limitations’ of the original by including a modern step sequencer, dedicated beat-syncable LFO, additional effects and…wait for it…four voice polyphony! Naturally there’s a huge variety of eminently useable presets on offer that show off this synth to its full potential, but the real fun comes with creating patches that you never could or would think of making with anything else. If you make electronic music, the Synthi V is a synth you simply can’t afford to be without.

CZ V

CZ V

When you think of the ’80s, the diminutive Casio CZ-101 may not be the synth that immediately springs to mind. At the time, Casio’s answer to Yamaha’s DX7 was snobbishly seen by many as no more than a toy and the appearance of its big brother in an Episode of EastEnders featuring a rehearsal by ‘The Banned’ (don’t ask) did little to add to the credibility of the CZ line. However, the assumption that the CZs were little more than home keyboards was manifestly unfounded. In addition to offering DX like tones, their Phase Distortion (PD) synthesis could do surprisingly warm, almost, dare we say it, Junoesque pads. What’s more, unlike Yamaha’s FM, PD was incredibly easy to understand and program. Consequently the CZs were a bridge between analogue and digital synthesis, at a price almost everyone could afford. Notable ’80s users included Vince Clarke and Salt-N-Pepa, whilst during the ’90s, the CZ-101/1000 provided the de facto organ sound for a multiplicity of house music.

Arturia’s CZ V offers all of the CZ-101’s/1000’s original parameters and even supports importing of CZ SysEx data. However, like the other instruments in V Collection, CZ V goes much further than the original, as it includes additional envelopes, filters, LFOs, effects, and extensive beat-sync-to-host parameters, all of which are interconectable via a modulation matrix. What’s more, it quadruples the polyphony of the CZ-101/1000. Programming is a breeze thanks to its intuitive GUI and there’s a multitude of presets that run the gamut from warm and brassy to cold FM-like FX. How does the CZ V sound? Completely authentic, right down to its modelled DAC.

B-3 V2

B3 V2

Arturia have totally overhauled the B-3 V’s sound engine, making B-3 V2 better than ever, as its library of 50 presets, that run the gamut from gospel, jazz, and blues, to prog, aptly demonstrate.

Synthopedia

Synthopedia

Synthopedia is a library of over 800 brand new “modern sounds” created for V Collection’s various instruments and accessed via Analog Lab 4. Although these sounds are not fully editable, they can be tweaked, resaved and exported. Like everything else in V collection 7, they sound fantastic.

Conclusion

Arturia V Collection 7 is an absolute must have. It puts realistic recreations of some of the world’s most lusted after synths, samplers and keyboard instruments, at your finger tips, for a bargain price. With these latest additions and updates, the best just got even better.

5 bagels

More info: https://www.arturia.com/v-collection/details#en

© 2019, The Technofile. All rights reserved. Moral Rights Asserted.

Superbooth 2019 Highlights

There were a raft of new products announced at Superbooth 2019. Here are the ones that caught our eye…and our ear.

U.D.O. Super 6 Poly Synth

U.D.O.’s Super Poly 6 combines FPGA based oscillators and LFOs, with classic analogue VCFs and VCAs, to give the best sounding ‘analogue’ synth we’ve heard since Dave Smith released the Prophet 6. What’s more, it is a true stereo synth…and it’s British. If we had to pick only one thing to take away from Superbooth 19, this would be it!

Korg Nu:Tekt NTS

And if we had to pick two things to take away from Superbooth 19, this would be the second. The first in a forthcoming range of solderless DIY kits from Korg, the Nu:Tekt NTS essentially enables you to build the Dev board for the Korg Prologue into a Monotron style box. Offering one monophonic digital voice and three effects, it doubles as a development tool for the Prologue and Minilogue XD. Although the price hasn’t been finalised, it will be less than a Volca, making it not just extremely powerful, but superb value for money.

Korg Volca Nubass

Korg also announced the Volca Nubass – a vacuum tube synthesizer built around its Nutube tech, that’s designed with acid basslines in mind. #Acieeed

Korg Minilogue XD Module.

Completing Korg’s triode of nu products was a desktop module version of its Minilogue XD.

Novation Summit

Another headline grabber was Novation’s new flagship synth, the Summit, which has two Peaks inside, giving you peak Peak.

Behringer RD-808

Those eagerly awaiting news of the Behringer RD-808 will be pleased to hear that an almost ready to ship version was on demo and sounding great.

Behringer RD-909

Behringer’s RD-909, though still a few months away from shipping, was also on display, and sporting functionality not found on the original.

IK Multimedia UNO Drum Machine

IK Multimedia also showed a drum machine – its brand new UNO, which offers both true analogue and PCM voices, an analogue compressor and overdrive, and performance effects, for just 249 Euros. At that price and sounding as it does, it’s bound to be a hit.

Elektron Digitone Keys FM

Elektron showed a version of its Digitone FM with knobs on…and a keyboard. If you love the Digitone workflow and you love keyboards, you’ll love this.

Rossum Electro-Music Panharmonium

Whenever Dave Rossum, the man who designed chips for SSM and co-founded E-MU, brings out a new product, we’re all ears. He had three new products on display, the Linnaeus Thru-Zero State-Variable Filter , Trident Multi-Synchronic Oscillator Ensemble, and our favourite, the Panharmonium Mutating Spectral Resynthesizer. When it comes to Drum ‘n’ Bass, forget about extreme time stretching on an Akai S1100, the Rossum Panharmonium is the new thing.

Future Sound Systems – STUMM & MAKROW

From one electronic music legend to another, Mute Records’ founder, Daniel Miller, was showing two new Eurorack modules that he has brought to fruition in association with Future Sound Systems.

Ableton CV Tools

On a Eurorack tip, Ableton was showing ‘CV Tools’, a set of 10 MAX For Live devices that provide CV, gate, and clock signals to and from Live 10. Currently it’s a public beta and will see its official release with Live 10.1.

RME M-32 Pro

Ableton CV Tools is at its most versatile with an audio interface that has DC coupled convertors, which, by a happy coincidence, RME offers in its new 32 output 192kHz MADI interface.

Befaco VCMC

Alternatively, for those wanting to integrate Eurorack and MIDI gear via hardware, rather than via Ableton Live, Befaco’s VCMC (which we assume stands for Voltage Control MIDI Control, rather than being a misspelled tribute to Vince Clarke & Martin Gore) lets you do exactly that.

Nektar and Presonus Studio One Integration

The other big software/hardware integration announcement came jointly from Nektar and Presonus who revealed deep integration between Presonus’s Studio One DAW and Nektar’s Panorama controller keyboard.

Gamechanger Audio Motor Synth

For a second year running, the most bonkers (in a good way) thing at Superbooth came from Gamechanger Audio. Last year it was their Plasma distortion pedal, this year it was ‘Motor Synth’, an electrical mechanical synth that uses digitally controlled electro motors in place of oscillators.

MFB 8 Voice Poly Synth

MFB surprised everyone with a prototype of its forthcoming analogue poly synth, which features no less than 3 VCOs and 2 filters, along with 3 Envelopes, 2 LFOs, patch storage and FXs.

Moog Matriach

Moog was out in force, showing, amongst other beasts, its new Matriach, the 4 voice paraphonic for people who want more than a Grandmother, but can’t afford a Moog One; and, of course, said Moog One, for people who can afford one.

Polyend Medusa 2.0

Polyend showed version 2.0 of the firmware for Medusa – the hybrid analogue/digital synth groovebox that it designed in collaboration with Dreadbox.

Dreadbox NYX2

Meanwhile, Dreadbox showed a new version of its Nyx desktop synth.

Steinberg & Mind Music Labs Retrologue

Steinberg showed a hardware version of Retrologue (the retro synth hardware ships with Cubase) as a proof of concept. Not simply a controller, it contains hardware running a very low latency version of the Retrologue VST plug-in. Whether or not it becomes a retail product, however, remains to be seen.

Empress Effects ZOIA

Empress Effects showed its ZOIA, which is everything in a pedal…80 different everythings to be precise, from audio effects to modular synths, to sequencers.

Modal SKULPT & CRAFTsynth 2.0

Modal launched two new synths, which distil functionality from their flagship ‘008’ analogue poly and ‘002’ wavetable hybrid synths, into small desktop units. Skulpt is a 4 voice VA poly synth, whilst Kraft Synth 2.0 is a diminutive mono synth whose size belies its power.

SOMA Pulsar 23

SOMA showed its Pulsar 23, which is a semi modular analogue drum machine that dares to go where no analogue drum machine has gone before. Consequently it is capable of creating everything from conventional pop patterns to out there poly rhythms. Furthermore it is as much a performance instrument as a drum sequencer.

Dubreq Stylophone Gen-R8

Dubreq have been busy reinventing the humble Stylophone as a truly fearsome beast of an analogue synthesizer, which they had on show. Combining an aggressive sound with a touch keyboard it is perhaps best described as a Polivoks in a fist fight with an EDP Wasp.

Analogue Solutions Impulse

Veteran British Eurorack and boutique synth builder, Analogue Solutions, were showing ‘Impulse Command’, their brand new stereo semi modular analogue synth. It features a pure analogue synthesis path built around 2 VCOs, with optional digital effects at the end of that path, plus a sequencer, MIDI and Eurorack integration.

DinSync.org JP-ONE

DinSync.org showed a prototype of its Roland inspired dual VCO analogue synth DIY kit that, in essence, combines the Jupiter 6’s oscillators with the Jupiter 4’s filter, to give what DinSync describe as a monophonic Jupiter. Hence the name JP-One…as opposed to ‘Promars’.

Gotharman’s Musical Instruments Tiny LD

Gotharman showed this cut down version of the Little deFormer 3, which is a 16 part, 8 stereo voice, granular synthesis and sampling workstation powerhouse.

Flame MÄANDER

Flame showed the MÄANDER, a four voice polyphonic desktop Wavetable synth with, unusually, a 12 band filter bank

Sonicware ELZ1

Sonicware demoed the ELZ1, which packs 11 digital synth engines including FM, granular, and 8 bit engines, into a diminutive battery powered unit

Thonk Prok Drums

Thonk showed off the latest updates to their Prok Drums. This range of four DSP based virtual analogue Eurorack drum modules are designed with performance in mind and offer a wide variety of readily morphable sounds.

Pioneer DJ Toraiz Squid Sequencer

Pioneer DJ, under its new production orientated brand, ‘Toraiz’, released a 16 track sequencer, with a raft of functionality that includes 8 voice polyphony per track, scale mode, programmable chord progressions, MIDI, Gate/CV and even Din Sync.

XAOC Devices Sarajewo,

XAOC Devices showed 5 new Eurorack modules – Sarajewo, Jena, Timiszoara, Samara II and Odessa. Of these, the one that really grabbed our attention was Sarajewo, a syncable analogue delay line, with no less than three bucket brigade delay chips. However, it is worth checking out all five modules.

Make Noise Sound Hack Mimeophone

Make Noise was also showing a versatile delay module that lets you ‘colour’ your sound.

Pittsburgh Modular Synthesizers Voltage Research Laboratory

Pittsburgh showed its latest invention – a complete Eurorack format analogue modular synthesizer that answers the call of nature, by taking you back to nature.

E-RM Polygogo Stereo Oscillator

E-RM’s intriguing ‘stereo graphic oscillator’ brought ‘polygonal synthesis’ to the party.

Erica Synths Black Double Bass

Erica Synths showed its new Black Double Bass Eurorack module, which sports two sub oscillators and a low pass filter.

MFB 301 Pro Drum Machine

MFB brought its vintage MFB-301 drum machine back to life in the very small form of the MFB-301 Pro.

Specialwaves Mine S

Specialwaves had on display the DNA to let you build your own bespoke MIDI controller?

Soma Laboratories Enner.

And last, but not least, Soma Laboratories were showing something possibly even more bonkers than Plasma Industries Motor. If you’re ever commissioned to do the soundtrack for a sequel to ‘The Forbidden Planet’, you’ll probably want one of these.

© 2019, The Technofile. All rights reserved. Moral Rights Asserted.

The 30 Best Things at NAMM 2018

1. Our friend Thomas Dolby, getting a lifetime achievement award from Roland (h/t KraftMusic):

2. Our friend Paul White getting all Men in Black with the Game Changer Audio Plasma Pedal – a stomp box that’s so bright you gotta wear shades (h/t Sound on Sound):

3. Waldorf Quantum. The most eagerly anticipated keyboard of 2017/18 is all but finished and perilously close to shipping (h/t Synth Anatomy & Bonedo Synthesizers):

4. Strymon Magneto Eurorack Tape Delay. A virtual 4 head tape delay, looper & spring reverb, in Eurorack format, with extensive CV i/o? What’s not to like?! In fact it gets our award for best Eurorack module at NAMM 2018. But shhh… don’t tell Marvel Comics (h/t Perfect Circuit Audio):

5. The Pioneer DJS-1000. We loved its forerunner – the Toriaz SP-16 and suspect that the DJS-1000 will be the new standard of DJ sampler (h/t Sonic State):

6. BOSS GT-1000. A multitude of amps & stomp boxes, including the algorithms from the fantastic DD/RV/MD-500 & MDP series, with 32-bit AD/DA and 32-bit/96 kHz internal processing? Yes please! (h/t Better Music):

7. Elektron Digitone. Proof that if you wait long enough, everything comes back into fashion…even FM…and here it is with knobs on, both figuratively & literally (h/t Synthtopia):

8. Korg Prologue. This Minilogue/Monologue influenced 8/16 voice hybrid polysynth features two analogue and one digital oscillators and looks as sleek as it sounds (h/t Sound on Sound & Loopop):

9. Rossum Electro Music Assimil8r – The final version of the long awaited 8 channel Eurorack sampler from Mr E-mu Emulator himself! (h/t Sonic State):

10. The Arturia MiniBrute 2 & MiniBrute 2S. Falling somewhere between a MiniBrute and a MatrixBrute, these Brutes feature dual oscillators and 48 point Eurorack compatible patch bay. We prefer the MiniBrute 2S, which swaps its keyboard for a BeatStep Pro style sequencer (h/t SourceDistributionTV):

11. Alesis Vortex Wireless 2 keytar controller. Simply the best Keytar we’ve ever seen (h/t Andertons):

12. SE Electronics RNT. A large-diaphragm tube condenser mic designed in collaboration with audio legend and thoroughly nice guy, Rupert Neve, that’s said to combine vintage quality with the benefits of modern advances (h/t Sound on Sound):

13. Antares Autotune Pro. Better, faster, stronger, but not harder and now with added auto tune 5 classic algorithm option. Believe (h/t Bedroom Producers Blog):

14. Behringer in original synth shocker. It’s called the Neutron and it’s redder than Lenin.

15. Roland TR-808 and TR-909 plug-ins for the Roland Cloud. Following on from the TR–08 and TR–09, Roland is bringing VST and AU versions of the venerable TR-808 & TR-909 to the Roland Cloud. Say Planet Rock, it’s the sure shot (h/t Bedroom Producers Blog):

16. Doepfer Polyphonic Eurorack Modules. They’re made by Doepfer. They’re polyphonic. As David Byrne once said “Any questions?” (Animato Audio):

17. Apple Logic Pro X 10.4. Offering far more than one would expect from a point update, Logic Pro X 10.4’s headline new features include ‘Smart Tempo’, which claims to use “advanced tempo detection technology” to enable all recorded tracks to stay in time with each other without the need for a metronome/click track; a new algorithmic reverb called ‘ChromaVerb’; a ‘Vintage EQ’ plug-in; Celemony Melodyne ARA 2 support; and, best of all, the return of two of our all time favourite plug-ins – Camel Audio’s CamelPhat and CamelSpace, in the form of ‘Phat FX’ and ‘Step FX’.

 

18. Realitone Hip Hop Creator. This grabbed our attention not only because our Publisher/Editor is the world’s greatest rapper, but also for the unintended comedic brilliance of 2:57-3:30 in this video (h/t Sonic State):

19. Teenage Engineering PO-33 K.O. One of three new Pocket Operators, the PO-33 K.O. is a sampler that looks like a lot of fun…with or without added Cuckoo…though undeniably more so with (h/t Cuckoo):

20. Sonnox VoxDoubler. This duo of plug-ins – ‘Widen’ and ‘Thicken’ aim to do what they suggest naturally, with Sonnox quality at a refreshingly economical price (h/t Sound on Sound):

21. Roland’s expanding headband. Whilst you’re waiting for Roland to re-release the Jupiter 8, why not buy a bunch of Roland SE-02s and poly chain them?. Here’s Scott Tibbs demonstrating how huge this sounds (h/t Sonic State):

22. Empress Effects Zoia. The modular pedal that’s anything you want it to be

23. Sim1 XT-1. A pedal that promises to transform your guitar into a classic Les Paul, Strat, Tele, 335, or acoustic…and what’s more it seems to work!

24. Blip Blox. A Fisher Price style synthesizer & beatbox for kids that’s guaranteed to be used almost exclusively by adults.

25. Yamaha CS-80. No, not a re-release, but an original, that was recently unearthed by Yamaha in a spot of office archaeology. What’s more, it’s in pristine condition..or, at least, it was before spending 4 days at NAMM… (h/t Synthtopia):

26. The Waldorf STVC. Contrary to rumours, this is not a case of Waldorf going all Behringer on the Roland VP-330, but an entirely different beast, based upon a re-voiced (and, in our opinion, better sounding) Streichfett. Now all Waldorf need to do is to remove the keyboard and the vocoder and stick it in a box (h/t Sonic State):

27. Keith McMillen K-Board Pro 4. Express yourself! (h/t Kraft Music):

28. Rainger FX Reverb X. Just when you think everything that can be done with reverb and overdrive in a stompbox has been done, Rainger FX’s Reverb X comes along and does something new (h/t Sonic State):

29. Yudo NEUMAN Multi-Touch Keyboard / Synthesizer Prototype. Is this the future? (h/t Synth Anatomy):

30. Ormsby DJENT2018. You can’t mention NAMM 2018 without mentioning this 18 string Tasmanian blackwood and stone (sic) 18 string guitar. It reminds us of the time that Homer Simpson designed a car… (h/t GAK):

© 2018, The Technofile. All rights reserved. Moral Rights Asserted.

The Technofile Awards 2015

Now that 2015 is over, everyone is back from their holidays and recovered from their xmas hangovers (aka January) it seems like the perfect time to announce the winners of The Technofile Awards 2015. These awards are given to the best products that were available to buy new in 2015 (regardless of when they were originally announced or released). So, without further fanfare…unless you happen to have a fanfare sample to hand…here are the Technofile Awards 2015:

Best Digital Audio Workstation (DAW): Ableton Live 9.5 Suite

Ableton Live 9.5 Suite

Live remains almost unique in the way that it works with audio. Its legendary intuitiveness and flexibility make it the first and last word in loop based composition and production in the studio and the perfect tool for performers and DJs in a live setting. But it’s not just about loops. Live is a fully featured DAW and Live 9.5 Suite offers a multitude of virtual instruments, effects, and samples. Paired with Push it is simply unbeatable.

Best Control Surface: Ableton Push 2

Ableton Push 2

Push takes Live to a whole new level of immediacy and interactivity by unlocking what’s ‘in the box’ and transforming it into the ultimate live performance and remixing tool. What’s more, because it’s unconstrained by a keyboard paradigm, Push helps to democratise music creation. Whether you use Live in the studio, or for live performance, Push is the ultimate accompaniment.

Best Hardware Polyphonic Synthesizer: Sequential Prophet 6

Sequential Prophet 6

The Access Virus Ti2, Roland JD-XA and Prophet 6 were all contenders for this award. Each is a magnificent and very different kind of beast, making direct comparisons rather futile. What made the Prophet 6 the winner was neither a sense of nostalgia, nor analogue hipsterness, but simply that it sounds amazing, timeless even. Dave Smith has called it “vintage with a modern twist.” The Technofile wholeheartedly agrees. In the Prophet 6, Dave Smith has managed to create an instrument with all the character of the Prophet 5, but with even greater sound shaping options and The Technofile salutes him for this! In fact, we’d go so far as to say that in the future, the Prophet 6 may be seen as even more of a classic than its legendary predecessor! As for the Sequential badge, that’s the icing on the cake.

Best Hardware Monophonic Synthesizer: Korg ARP Odyssey

Korg ARP Odyssey

Unlike the Sequential Prophet 6, Korg’s ARP Odyssey reissue is all about both nostalgia and analogue sexiness. That said, the Odyssey rates as one of the best mono synths ever made…as any recording featuring Billy Currie will demonstrate, and aside from the mini keyboard, the (K)ARP Odyssey is spot on. Now all we need is a (K)ARP Odyssey with full size keys…and an (affordable) Eurorack compatible (K)ARP 2600.

Best Software Synthesizer Collection: Arturia V Collection 4

Arturia V Collection

Arturia, without question, make the world’s best classic synth emulations, which they then feed steroids and train to do tricks the originals couldn’t! In fact their ‘Mini V’ and ‘Modular V’ are so good that no less a luminary than Bob Moog himself (RIP) used to personally endorse them…which should tell you all you need to know. The V Collection includes all twelve of Arturia’s amazing soft synths/keyboards, namely the Matrix-12 V, Solina V, Vox Continental V, Mini V, Modular V, CS-80V, ARP 2600 V, Prophet-V & Prophet VS, Jupiter-8V, Oberheim SEM V, and Wurlitzer-V. Also included is Analog Lab, which houses all 6000 plus patches from these synths/keyboards and enables you to quickly sort, filter & combine them; and Arturia’s Spark 2 drum production software, which is packed choc full of classic drum machine emulations. Buying the hardware equivalent of just one of these classics would set you back many times more than the price of the entire V Collection…and that’s before you even start to think about the cost of maintenance, making Arturia’s V Collection both excellent sounding and excellent value for money…which is The Technofile’s favourite combination.

Best Individual Software Synthesizer: Cakewalk Z3TA+2

Cakewalk Z3TA

Z3TA has always been a Technofile favourite. When The Technofile reviewed the original (PC only version) we said “Its analogue emulations are warm, lush and fat, with a bass end to die for, its FM sounds are nasty (in the best possible sense) and its trance sounds are spot on. Added to which it has a completely mental arpeggiator…” Since then, not only has it got even better, it’s also, against all the odds, gone Mac, making it The Technofile’s Best Individual Soft Synth of 2015.

Best Groovebox: Novation Circuit

Novation Circuit

One of the reasons why The 2015 Technofile Awards were not published until the beginning of 2016, is because it ain’t over ’till it’s over…as Novation proved in late 2015, with the surprise announcement of Circuit. This deceptively diminutive LAUNCHPADesque groovebox has hidden under its hood two full on Nova synths and a four part drum machine. It also has unlabelled knobs that affect pre-mapped sound parameters in serendipitous ways. Add into the mix a (beta) software synth editor, the ability to function as a standard USB-MIDI controller, and a price tag as diminutive as its dimensions and…BOOM!

Synthesizer of the Year: Sequential Prophet 6

Sequential Prophet 6

With Eurorack in the ascendant, the Korg MS20 & ARP Odyssey back on the scene, and a multitude of Moog modulars joining the fray, one might be forgiven for checking what century it is. Yet at a time when analogue has never had it so good, one thing has been conspicuous by its absence – a true analogue poly synth, one with real VCOs. Enter Dave Smith with the Sequential Prophet 6. The Technofile regards it as a peerless, timeless classic.

Best DJ Deck: Pioneer CDJ-2000NXS

Pioneer CDJ 2000 Nexus

Often imitated, never equalled, Pioneer’s CDJ series have been an industry standard for years. It’s easy to see why – these decks are brilliantly designed, built like tanks, feel fantastic to use and offer hardcore functionality including integrated WAV/MP3 playback from sticks/hard drives and direct timecoded discless USB control of Serato DJ, Scratch Live and Traktor Pro2. We would say that unless you’re still using vinyl these are the only decks you’ll ever need…but just before The Technofile Awards went to press, Pioneer announced the CDJ-2000NXS2. Guess what’s likely to be The Technofile’s Deck of The Year 2016…

Best DJ Mixer: Pioneer DJM-2000NXS

Pioneer DJM 2000 Nexus

Pioneer’s range of excellent DJM Mixers covers most budgets and requirements. However, the Technofile Award for Best DJ Mixer goes to Pioneer’s flagship DJM-2000NXS. Pioneer call it “futurology fulfilled.” The Technofile agrees. Offering an extensive range of functionality including advanced connectivity, beat slicing, quantized beat effects, ‘side chain remix’ (borrowed from the Pioneer RMX1000), ‘Frequency Remix’ (offering a 7 band touch cross fader), MIDI control, and a USB/audio interface, this mega mixer perfectly compliments Pioneer’s Technofile Award winning CDJ-2000NXS decks.

Best DJ Software: Serato DJ

Serato DJ

With 4 deck support, key analysis, ‘Pitch ‘n Time’ key shifting and syncing, ‘Beat Jump’, track quantisation, smart crates, MIDI output, nameable rearrangeable cues, and remote control from Apple iPads/iPhones, Serato offers DJs pretty much everything they could want…and if they want more, Serato provides it with expansion packs. There’s even a Serato Video expansion pack that takes DJs into VJing territory (for better or for worse). The kicker though, is Serato DJ’s extensive support for third party control surfaces, mixers and interfaces, including dedicated hardware from the likes of DJ hardware heavyweights such as Pioneer and Denon.

Best VJ Hardware: Roland V-1HD

Roland V1 HD

Between Pioneer discontinuing their legendary DVJ decks & SVM A/V mixer, the corresponding increase in laptop usage, and an industry wide switch to HD (and higher resolutions), there has been a gaping hole in the market for a small, affordable HD A/V mixer with HDMI inputs…and Roland recently filled it with the V-1HD, which includes 4 HDMI inputs, 2 HDMI outputs and a 12 channel audio mixer. We’d love it if they offered a version with a crossfader, but (for once) The Technofile is not complaining, as nothing else compares.

Best VJ Software: Resolume Avenue 4

Resolume Avenue 4

Resolume Avenue is to VJing what Ableton Live is to DJing. Its intuitive interface lets you mix, scratch, blend, cut, edit, scale, position and apply effects to multiple layers of HD video in real time; synchronize them with audio, apply audio effects (including VSTs), and add live camera feeds and generative content made in Flash and Quartz Composer. Furthermore, it is GPU accelerated and offers support for Blackmagic hardware. Perhaps it is unsurprising then that Resolume Avenue is probably the most popular VJing software on the planet.

Best Projection Software: Resolume Arena 5

Resolume Arena 5

Arena is essentially Avenue with added functionality for shows with more complex requirements. This extra functionality includes the ability to control Arena from a lighting desk with DMX, send colours to DMX fixtures and sync them to your visuals, configure complex projection mapping on almost any surface, and blend multiple projectors to create seamless panoramas of up to 360 degrees. Consequently Resolume Arena 5 is perfectly suited to arenas, festivals, installations and complex projection mapping.

Best Video Camera: Sony PMW PXW-FS7

Sony FS7

In the FS7, Sony has designed a camera that combines their excellence in sensor design and manufacture and their experience in 4K, with the sort of feline ergonomics that make sense for ‘run and gun’ shooting. Would we love this camera more if it recorded 4K internally, in Rec. 2020, and had a global shutter? Indubitably! But even without these things, the FS7 offers outstanding quality at an unmatched price. With the Blackmagic Ursa Mini 4.6L still vapourware and the Canon C300 MkII & ARRI AMIRA costing substantially more, it’s the only game in town as far as The Technofile is concerned and one that’s well deserving of the Best Video Camera Award.

Best External Video Recorder/Monitor: Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q+

Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q

The Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q+ offers an excellent combination of video recorder and monitor in a slick package. It’s ability to record 4K, UHD, 2K & HD, via SDI and HDMI, in Apple ProRes, uncompressed DPX, and RAW, with high frame rates of 60 fps in 4K and 240 fps in HD, means it can be used effortlessly with practically every camera and NLE on the market. Meanwhile, its touchscreen OLED monitor with 3D-LUT support enables you to see exactly how your graded footage will look. Couple this will all of the image analysis tools you would expect, such as waveform, histogram, false colour, pixel zoom and three-mode focus assist and you can see why the The Covergent Design Odyssey 7Q+ wins The Technofile’s Best External Video Recorder Award.

Best Video Microphone: RØDE VideoMic Pro

RODE Video Mic Pro

The RØDE VideoMic Pro is a compact, ultra lightweight, broadcast quality shotgun microphone designed for use with camcorders, DSLRs and field recorders. Its built in shock mount provides isolation from unwanted handling noise and its standard shoe mount, which has a 3/8″ thread in the base, allows it to be mounted directly to a camera’s hot/cold shoe or to a boom pole. A selectable 80Hz high-pass filter cuts out low noise from sources such as air conditioners and traffic, and a -10dB/+20dB PAD switch enables the mic to be attenuated to suit the sound source/recorder. It can record for over 70 hours from a single 9V battery and is covered by RØDE’s 10 year warranty. Add to this RØDE’s renowned audio quality and a fantastic price and its not surprising that the RØDE VideoMic Pro is the go to microphone for numerous filmmakers and productions.

Best Non Linear Editor (NLE): Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Unlike some NLEs that depend upon proprietary CODECs and consequently can require you to spend days transcoding footage, Premiere Pro will natively edit pretty much anything you care to throw at it, from smartphone clips to 8K video. However, that’s just the start. Deep integration of SpeedGrade’s Lumetri colour engine puts colour at the heart of Premiere Pro CC, by enabling footage to be graded direct from the timeline. The Warp Stabiliser and tracking and masking options (taken from After Effects) confer greater flexibility and productivity upon editors. Optical flow and pixel estimation technology is great for time remapping and frame-rate conversions, and the Mercury Playback Engine provides GPU acceleration galore. Support for Microsoft Surface Pro, Windows tablets and Apple trackpads allows you to use touch and gestures to perform a wide range of editing tasks, which coupled with support for DNxHR, HEVC (H.265), OpenEXR & HDR means that Premiere Pro continues to stay ahead of the curve. Add into the mix tight integration and round tripping with other key Adobe applications such as After Effects, SpeedGrade & Audition and you have a fantastic, forward looking NLE.

Best Motion Graphics/Post Production Software: Adobe After Effects CC

Adobe After Effects CC

Used extensively for animation, motion graphics and post production, After Effects is the Swiss army knife of video software. Not only does it excel at all of these things and more, but its tight integration with other key Adobe Creative Cloud applications such as Premiere Pro, Photoshop and Illustrator makes it a no brainer for video professionals.

Best Video Plug-in Collection: Boris FX BCC 10 For Adobe

Boris FX BCC 10

It’s not surprising that Boris FX boasts over a million users including many major UK & US networks. With over 250 filters and tools for creating professional motion graphics, visual effects, and finishing, Boris Continuum Complete offers a breathtaking array of things to do to your footage. However, the recent release of Version 10 considerably raises the stakes, thanks to Boris FX’s purchase of Imagineer – the company that makes Academy Award winning tracking software Mocha. As a result of this purchase, Mocha’s planar tracking and masking engine has been integrated into the BCC 10 PixelChooser, allowing much more to be done from your NLE’s timeline. Tasks such as blurring faces, isolating filters & correcting footage are simplified and time spent masking & manually keyframing is significantly reduced. Mocha data can be used to track lens flares, corner pins, titles & graphics, whilst unlimited mask layers let you do everything from simple effect isolation to full blown rotoscoping. BCC 10’s new Beauty Studio skin retouching tool also uses Mocha technology, in conjunction with a keying algorithm that isolates skin tones, to give advanced skin smoothing whilst retaining natural sharpness and contrast. The new Title Studio lets you create 2D/3D broadcast titles and motion graphics at any resolution, and there are a multitude of new image restoration tools, transitions and effects including light leaks and The Technofile’s favourite – beat synced glitches! From image creation to image destruction, BCC 10 is the one.

Best Video Individual Plug-in: Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks 3.1

Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks

With over 200 brand new fully customizable presets designed to match the look of your favourite movies and TV shows, Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks 3.1 is unbeatable when you need colour fast. However, it is so much more than just a bunch of presets. An updated Colorista tool, professional scopes, a new LUT tool, film stock emulation and 41 tools including ‘Mojo’ (for that blockbuster look) and ‘Cosmo’ (for beauty retouching) provide extensive options, and a streamlined interface makes them incredibly easy to use. What’s more, it’s been rewritten from the ground up, with GPU acceleration. So if you want a fast and fun way to achieve professional colouring results, Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks is it.

Best Scriptwriting Software: Final Draft 9

Final Draft 9

If you’ve ever tried to write a script on a standard word processor, you’ll know how laborious and creative flow destroying it can be. Final Draft solves this problem by automating the formatting process. Simply pick an industry standard templates for your movie, stage play, sitcom or TV drama and move between its pre-formatted script ‘elements’ (dialogue, character names and scene headings) using the ‘tab’ and ‘enter’ keys. As you write, Final Draft formats your text, simple as. What’s more, it’s packed full of writing aids and its .fdx format offers tight integration with third party production programs. No wonder it’s the number one selling script writing application.

Best Film Camera: Holga 120 GN

Holga 120 GN

It has a plastic lens, a plastic body, takes film…and it’s quite simply the coolest and most fun camera ever made, so the recent news of its discontinuation was shocking, particularly given the resurgence of all things analogue. The Technofile salutes a legend and maintains that until you can shoot, process and print award winning pictures with a Holga, you shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a DSLR!

Best Full Frame Digital Camera: Sony A7rII

Sony A7rII

When Sony released the original A7 & A7r, they got a lot right and some things wrong…and there was no shortage of people pointing out the latter. To their credit, not only did Sony listen to this feedback with good grace, they addressed it full on with the A7rII, which quantum leapfrogs over its predecessors (and its competitors) by packing in unprecedented amounts of improvements and innovative new technologies. Headline features include a 42.4 mega pixel back-illuminated, copper wired, 35mm full-frame CMOS image sensor, sensitivity of up to ISO 102,400, 5-axis image stabilization, and 4K video recording in XAVC S at 100 Mbps. Both still and video image quality are excellent and the addition (thanks to user demand) of a 14 bit uncompressed RAW option for photos allows you to squeeze every last bit of information out of your files. Consequently the Sony A7rII is one of the most forward looking, technologically advanced, innovative cameras ever made and as such represents mirrorless’ coming of age.

Best APS-C Digital Camera: Fuji XT-1

Fuji XT1

The combination of classic ergonomics, superb lenses, compactness, affordability, and, of course, excellent image quality, makes the Fuji XT-1 an almost irrisistable proposition for anyone who grew up with manual film cameras and/or who doesn’t need a full frame camera. In fact, The Technofile would go so far as to say that the Fuji XT-1 is one of the few digital cameras that feels like a real camera, which makes it both fun and a pleasure to shoot with.

Best Bridge Camera: Sony RX10 II

Sony RX10ii

Sony rewrote the sensor design rule book when they released the RX10 II (and RX100 IV). Featuring the world’s first 1” back side illuminated (BSI) stacked sensor with advanced signal processing and attached DRAM memory chip, the RX10 II offers all of the benefits you would expect from a BSI sensor, plus dramatically faster read-out speed and processing, resulting in a maximum burst shooting rate of up to 14 fps, a maximum electronic shutter speed of 1/32000 sec and slow motion video capture at up to 960fps. Add to this a 24-200mm equivalent ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T lens with an aperture ring, ‘Fast Intelligent AF’ at a quoted minimum speed of 0.09 sec, a high contrast XGA electronic viewfinder, a maximum ISO of 12,800, dust and moisture sealing, Wi-Fi, NFC, focus peaking/magnification, and internal 4K video recording in XAVC S and The Technofile’s verdict is that it’s the best bridge camera ever built.

Best Compact Camera: Sony RX100 IV

Sony RX100 IV

If you think mobiles killed the compact star, think again. The Sony RX10 is a miniature marvel that features exactly the same sensor found in the RX10 II. Consequently it boasts many of the same features. Although video clips are limited to 5 minutes (as opposed to the just under half hour recording of the RX10) that’s more than long enough for most purposes and the maximum stills frame rate is actually 2 fps faster than its big brother! Add to this a handy pop up T coated XGA EVF and a ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T 24-70mm lens with an F1.8-2.8 aperture and you can see why The Technofile thinks that the Sony RX100 IV killed the mobile star.

Best Photography Accessory: X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Photo

X-Rite ColorChecker Passport

Providing three photographic targets in one conveniently camera bag sized protective case, this absolutely essential piece of hardware is deceptively clever. In addition to offering a white balance target, its boasts an industry standard 24 patch colour chart, that can be used on its own for simple colour correction, or together with the included calibration software, to create custom DNG profiles. It also features a ‘Creative Enhancement Target’ which, used in conjunction with Lightroom, makes precise, repeatable, creative control of colour and contrast, as simple as a click. Brilliant!

Best Photo Editing Software: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC

Adobe Lightroom

When it comes to digital photography, The Technofile’s mantra is simple…shoot RAW, process in Lightroom. Built from the ground up to fulfil the needs of the modern digital photographer, Lightroom is to Photoshop what Live is to Logic and each new release somehow manages to add important functionality without compromising usability. That’s why The Technofile has long maintained that Lightroom is the best thing ever to happen to digital photo processing.

Best Photoshop/Lightroom Plug-in Collection: Google Nik Collection

Google Nik Collection

Silver FX Pro is simply superlative at creating classic black and white looks, making it a long time industry favourite. Thanks to Google’s takeover of Nik, it is available as part of a suite containing all of Nik’s other equally excellent plug-ins, for far less than any one of them used to cost. These other plug-ins comprise Analogue Efex Pro, which lets you explore the look and feel of classic cameras, films and lenses; Colour Efex Pro, which offers 55 filters, any number of which can be stacked together, saved and applied as a look; Viveza, which lets you selectively adjust the colour and tonality of your images without complicated masks or selections; Dfine, which provides noise reduction tailored to your camera; Sharpener Pro and HDR Efex Pro, both of which do what they say on the tin. All of this makes Google Nik Collection amazing value and a suite that will genuinely help you take your photos to the next level.

Best Individual Photoshop/Lightroom Plug-in: PortraitPro 15 Studio

PortraitPro 15

When it comes to beauty retouching, this unique piece if software lets you do in seconds what takes minutes in Lightroom and hours in Photoshop. However, its intelligent algorithms go much further than a simple skin peel and make up job, offering facial reconstruction of a calibre that puts some of the best plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills to shame…and all with just a few simple clicks! For beauty, fashion and portrait retouching nothing else even comes close.

Best Illustration Software: Adobe Illustrator CC

Adobe Illustrator CC

Illustrator is peerless in its own right and tight integration between it and other programs within Adobe’s Creative Suite, such as Photoshop and After Effects, take it to a whole new level, making it standard across many creative industries from design to post production.

Best Web Design Software: Adobe Dreamweaver CC

Adobe Dreamweaver CC

Dreamweaver has been the gold standard in web design software for almost as long as there has been a web. As internet technologies continue to develop and evolve, so does it, whilst somehow managing to get more usable with every version.

Best Contact Management Software: Act! Pro V18

Act! Pro

Nowadays, being a master of your creative discipline(s) is not enough. If you really want to succeed, you also need to be your own business, marketing and social media manager. Doing this effectively means managing your contacts and interactions with them. Act excels at this, enabling you to keep contact information, associated notes, history, activities, documents, opportunities, social media profiles and more in one organised place. Tight integration with key third party applications means you can sync your Act contacts and calendar with Outlook and Google, then easily access them from either application; write an Outlook email from within Act and have this automatically recorded in your contact’s record; and view popular social media sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook from within Act itself. There’s even integrated analytics for times when you want to generate reports and really drill down to the nitty gritty.

Best Utility Software: Norton Security With Backup

Norton Security With Backup

When it comes to anti virus software, one name is synonymous…Norton. In the past, anti virus software has meant compromises in system performance that have proved particularly problematic for time dependent audio and video applications. Thankfully though, systems have become so powerful and Norton so evolved and proactive, that this is no longer an issue. Of course, as computing has evolved, so have devices and nowadays we all have lots of them, all of which require protection. That’s why Norton can now be used across multiple PCs, Macs, Android and iOS devices, by multiple members of your family, making it excellent value for money and The Technofile’s continued top tip for protection.

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