Molten Music Monthly June 2023



Our monthly roundup of all the most fabulous news from the world of music technology, synths and modular.

Index – 0:00
InMusic buys Moog – 1:38
Behringer Spice and Bode Frequency Shifter – 9.47
Czochralski Cells – 15:59
AMP StarSong orbital sequencer – 18:20
D16 Group Lush 2 – 21:19
Korg Wavestate Mk2 & Opsix SE and SE Platinum – 22:36
Squarp Hermod+ – 25:14
Sonicware ELZ_1 Play – 29:07
OAM Time Machine – 31:33
Erica Synths Bullfrog – 33:14
Magerit Kairos – 37:17
Dawsome Love – 38:58
Nervous Squirrel Game of Life – 40:30
Faded Instruments – 43:25
Expert Sleepers new envelope – 45:59
Roland S-1 Tweak Synth – 49:19
Weston H1 analogue harmoniser – 52:26
Olivella Gravedad – 53:51
2020 Beat Machine – 55:08
BeepBoop Tapehead – 56:46
Synth East 2024 – 58:41
Coming soon – 1:01:41

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34 thoughts on “Molten Music Monthly June 2023”

  1. Your trippy button down shirt collection has always mesmerized/delighted me. Did you collect them over a lifetime of trippy adventures, or is there a modern producer of trippy shirts I should know about? ( shirts like these were my late-80s staple, generally in paisleys, with pointy black boots and skinny black jeans, looking like a member of the Yardbirds joined the Sisters of Mercy, haha )

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  2. Moog sold?? I guess I live under a rock since this is the first I've heard of it. Thanks for your insights on this significant development Robin. Just goes to show that, at the end of the day, it's all about the money…

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  3. I think you missed the point about the Spice. Spice isn't just a different front panel from Subharmonicon. This isn't like they cloned some instrument Bob Moog designed back in the 1960s that's been moldering in the public domain for half a century or something. Moog Music designed and released the Subharmonicon exactly three years ago. Behringer cloned 100% of the functionality and controls. All of the design choices of the musical instrument have been copied pot-for-pot. Nothing was added. Nothing was refined from Moog's design. Zero innovation! And as you note, Behringer stuffed all the Subharmonicon's controls into a generic box apparently without any regard to what's going on. Oh but they added a USB port.
    The joke is however, is a bit on Behringer. I love the Subharmonicon, but I kind of think Moog was punking the synthesizer industry with it. Subharmonics, polyrhythms, just intonation! These are not even close to mainstream features. Would Behringer ever design such a thing? Not in a million years. But Moog did. (Maybe that tells us quite a bit about about why Moog just got bought.)
    The reality is, in the end the Spice will end up costing about $250-$300 within a couple years if it ever ships. But a gently used Subharmonicon can be found pretty easily for about $450… today.
    Behringer likes to portray themselves as the Robinhood of electronic music gear. But it's important to remember that Robinhood was also a thief.

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  4. The SSL BigSix is an excellent mixer, although intimidating at first because its complexity is compacted into a small area. But the sound of this little gem rewards the effort required to tame it. It will be a pleasure to discover your approach to this fine musical tool. And what more can we say about your shirts? Like your good humour, they are legendary. Thank you for all your hard work.

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  5. You got that real estate on the sides for pedals!! You were actually fair towards the Korg stuff. Most just go off on them… despite not even doing a demo. The keyboard action may surprise. I love your comments on the Hermod replacement as well. I am done with Eurorack menu diving/ button press combination sequencers. What is your favorite… actual useable sequencer?

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  6. Wavestate mkII: they increased the polyphony.

    Hermod+: I received mine already, and it’s absolutely brilliant! It’s like a mini version of their Hapax. It solves a lot of sync and interfacing issues with USB host and device ports along with traditional MIDI ports. I’ll give you it’s far from perfect, but it’s already taking over as my master sequencer and interface.

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  7. Lol, I love how you pronounced gravedad! It’s actually Spanish for gravity, so not a weird name at all for what it’s supposed to be (whatever that is 😅)
    Looking forward to seeing more videos again! And thanks for keeping me company while I was waiting for files to copy and render during my video editing session last night. Your long videos are always perfect for that.

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  8. Hey Robin thanks for covering the Star Song, really appreciate it. It's built out of PCB fiberglass and assembled by soldering panels together (by me personally in my mountain studio hut) so it's actually quite rigid, but I appreciate that it probably doesn't look like the aluminum, wood, and plastic boxes you're used to seeing. I'm planning on having a much cheaper 3U mountable expansion module (somewhat paired down from the Wave Expander but still very versatile) soon, so that should lower the price of entry for anyone wanting interesting new ways to control their modular.

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  9. That's a good point on the spice. I feel a lot of folk overlook that, UI and usability is half it for me – what's the point of an instrument if you don't enjoy using as much, if it doesn't entice you in. As a product itself I'm not against behringer per se, I do enjoy a couple of their modules. But looking at the spice and the subharmonicon, the spice just feels noisy to me, something about the design of the subharmonicon makes me want to fiddle with it.

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