Revalver 4 / NordLead A1 / SampleTank3

Among new announces from NAMM we can find Revalver 4, Nordlead A1 and IK SampleTank 3.

Z3TA+ for iPad

Cakewalk presented Z3TA+ for iPad, that uses same engine as Z3TA+2 desktop version (6 oscillators). It is priced $19.99.

Roland FA-08 / FA-06

Roland unveiled new workstations, FA-08 (88 Ivory Feel G keys, 16.5 kg) and FA06. They use same engine as Integra-7, however they don’t include the SRX cards collection (external samples can be imported through two USB Flash Memory slots). A sequencer and arpeggiator are provided. The FA-08 is priced $1800 here (also $1200 for FA-06), far more interesting than old Fantoms.

The new sampling feature (that was missing on Integra-7) may allow adding better samples than legacy SRX, either from existing computer samples libraries or from Roland Axial site. Then Roland may switch to software samples editor rather than hardware samples maker (SRX cards were expensive while only containing memory, that is cheap). They also may provide some best of collection of SRX cards samples, prepared (loop points, etc.) to be used directly from FA-08 sound engine (that is why these samples are only available through Axial site).

The Integra-7 may then be less interesting over years (the powerfull sound engine and effects from FA-08 may allow better results than Kontakt-based samples libraries), or it will be replaced by a new module that adds samples import features.

TX81ZT : 4OP FM kit

A DIY hardware TX81Z from Amiteque is available at altmusech, priced $150. It provides same components than original TX81Z, on a smaller main board (and using standard 9-12V power supply). More informations can be found here and we can listen to an audio demo there.

TX16W sampler emulator

Sonic Charge provides Cyclone, a free VST and AU instrument that fully emulates a Yamaha TX16W sampler : 68000 CPU, proprietary Yamaha DSP circuits, 12-bit sample memory and 400kHz non-linear DACs.

Audio demos are available here.

Four FM : OSX 4OP editor

Four FM is a free editor for 4OP DX synths (may be compatible with YS200 and V50 as these can load TX81Z sysex). It will then allow access to whole parameters from YS200, whose MIDI implementation still manages these  (however it only provided quick edit mode). The latest version requires MacOSX 10.6 or later.

From Ninja HTML5 to GWD

Motorola Mobility’s Ninja HTML5 framework, that was unveiled mid-2012, however without new references since many months, was replaced by Google Web Designer, an Adobe Edge/Apple iAd Producer like HTML5 ads builder, then with limited scope (no more a rich internet applications builder). The Montage HTML5 framework (that was the basis for Ninja HTML5) is still available (open source).

We can find more details in this greatly written article, that underlines that there isn’t any HTML5 web applications solution (framework and builder) available (GWT is old, not HTML5 focused and no more driven by Google), only basic tools and low level frameworks (jQuery, angularJS, BackboneJS, Twitter Bootstrap).

We can however still use Cappuccino and Apple’s XCode/Interface Builder to build applications such as emotuned.com or direct2it.co (using Direct2CP’s solution mda approach allowed building these easily even without IB).

In fact all single page/anonymous div based frameworks can easily use HTML5 features when required, by extending existing components. That is adding/generating new doms elements (and/or new css values) to components. Cappuccino still uses CSS3 for Popover and other areas, while Direct2CP components wrap HTML5 audio and video tags (also use CSS3 animations) and new upload features.

Then a whole new HTML5 framework would not provide more (as many features aren’t HTML5 specific), at least a true HTML5 framework would be replacing all anonymous divs by WebGL elements (that is wrapping these in components) for rendering (HTML5 also provides features that aren’t display related, like storage).