The Usual Suspects 88emu brings back the sound of ‘90s gaming, Noise Engineering drops 16 (!) new firmwares for the Legio series, and Botanica is a mesmerizing hardware sequencer for musical gardening: Synth Journal.
Synth Journal
The Usual Suspects 88emu: At Last, a Sound Canvas Emulator that Actually Sounds like Final Fantasy
Long before video games had cinematic scores that rival those of big-budget blockbuster movies, the Roland Sound Canvas series defined the sound of ‘90s PC gaming. And now, you can take a trip down memory lane and enjoy that classic sound on your computer once again. Only a few days after teasing Blue Giant, an upcoming emulation of the mighty Novation Supernova, The Usual Suspects have released 88emu, their recreation of the Sound Canvas SC-88/SC-55 series, into early alpha testing.
Like the team’s other remarkably accurate emulators, the 88emu Player is much more than a sample player loaded with the original Sound Canvas ROM library. Instead, the software is a reverse-engineered low-level emulation of the Roland hardware, arguably delivering a much more authentic Sound Canvas experience than Roland’s own, now discontinued Virtual Sound Canvas.
At the time of writing, the 88emu Player is in alpha testing and only available to supporters (check out their Discord channel for details). We’ll let you know when it becomes available for download!
Botanica: This Hardware Sequencer Lets Your Melodies Bloom
Which other sequencer lets you choose between Winter, Fall, Summer, and Spring? But the Season button isn’t the only unique feature of Botanica, a new hardware sequencer under development by Dutch artist and designer Human Motives. Conceived as ‘a natural sequencer that grows simple patterns into whole compositions’, Botanica is all about generative sequencing and expressive, organic musicality.
In addition to the sequencer, Botanica will feature a built-in synth voice, so it can be a standalone music-making device. The idea is to ‘seed’ a melody by choosing the root, range, and scale (season) and pressing the Seed button. Botanica then lets it evolve by generating sequences of up to 64 steps in length, with the option to add fills and variations. You can interact with the sequencer using a handful of real-time controls with intriguing labels like ‘Prune’, ’Blossom’, ‘Evolve’, and ‘Refract’.
If you’re into generative sequencing (or gardening, for that matter), Botanica looks to be an interesting new take on the subject. It also makes some really beautiful sounds. As of now, the project is still in the prototype phase. You can sign up for the mailing list on the developer’s website to stay up to date.
Noise Engineering Releases 16 (!) new Firmwares for the Legio Series
Noise Engineering helped pioneer Eurorack modules with swappable firmware. The manufacturer’s Versio, Alia, and Legio series all offer the same ingenious concept: buy one module, and you can use them all. All three series let you turn your module into any other from the same platform, simply by swapping the firmware using your web browser. Noise Engineering also offers printable panel overlays.
At 6 HP, the Legio series is the most compact of the bunch, comprising a variety of oscillators, filters, and effects with stereo inputs and outputs. All Legio modules share the same hardware, offering three knobs with corresponding CV inputs, a gate/trigger input, two switches, and stereo ins and outs.
If you already own a Legio module or are thinking about buying one, you’re in for a huge treat: Noise Engineering has just released sixteen (!) new Legio firmwares, bringing the total up to 23. That’s a lot you can do with a single module!
Alongside several interesting new oscillators, such as phase modulation, Karplus-Strong, and an additive synth voice, the series now includes a full set of drum and percussion voices, as well as a couple of new effects. In theory, you could build a complete drum system using only Legio modules, complete with dynamics processing. What an amazing surprise for all fans of Legio!
You can check out and download the new firmwares on the Noise Engineering website.
Noise Engineering Legio modules are available from our affiliate partner Sweetwater*.
Shakmat Modular Lancer’s Lash: Multi-Engine Snare Drum Module
Need a versatile snare drum module for your Eurorack drum setup? Lancer’s Lash from Shakmat Modular should get the job done! A perfect complement to the manufacturer’s Battering Ram and Archer’s Rig kick drum and hi-hat modules, Lancer’s Lash features multiple synthesis models to deliver everything from classic snare hits to experimental percussion sounds.
Alongside a couple of virtual analog models inspired by classic drum machines, Lancer’s Lash offers a Modal model that recreates the harmonic structure of acoustic snare drums. There’s also resonator-based physical modeling, FM, granular synthesis, and a sample-based Blend model that recreates the sound of vintage samplers. All the snares you could possibly want in a single 8HP module!
Each model also gets its own suite of dedicated effects, including distortion and waveshaping. A random modulation engine generates subtle variations between hits to avoid the dreaded machine gun effect.
In addition to the audio output and trigger and velocity inputs, the module has CV inputs for Pitch, Decay, Timbre, Color, and Preset selection, allowing for creative patching.
Lancer’s Lash is available now from our affiliate partner Thomann*.
*This post contains affiliate links and/or widgets. When you buy a product via our affiliate partner, we receive a small commission that helps support what we do. Don’t worry, you pay the same price. Thanks for your support!
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