Roland and Korg make candy - Sand, software and sound

Superbooth 2022 is underway — candy for everyone!

Roland

Roland’s new Aira Compact modules are a license to print money. Korg have successfully mined the low-cost, small module field with its Volca series. Now Roland have joined the fun. (“Aira” is pronounced “eye-ra”. OK.) These suckers are tiny!

There are three initial modules in the range:

T-8 Beat Machine
J-6 Chord Synthesizer
E-4 Voice Tweaker

I recommend Roland’s overview video. All of the modules have a built-in Li-ion battery (4.5 hour estimated operational time) charged via the micro-USB port. Throw in MIDI and SYNC, too, through mini-jacks.

Roland are smart to capitalize on their reputation in drum machines. The T-8 is a seven track machine: six rhythm tracks plus a TB-303 bass track.

The J-6 has a host of in-built chords and chord patterns organized into “Genres.” The interface seems to be well-thought out, especially for those less interested in theory and actually jamming black and whites. The J-6 has a 4-voice Analog Circuit Behavior (ACB) Juno-60 synth engine. The J-6 can be played from an external controller.

The E-4 Voice Tweaker is designed for voice mangling, but one should be able to run either signals into it, too.

The modules are hitting the street at $200 each. Somehow these kinds of modules find a way onto the studio. Almost by themselves…

Korg

As cute and colorful as the Rolands may be, The new Korg NTS-2 is at the top of my short-list.

The Korg NTS-2 joins the NTS-1 mono synth in the Nu:Tekt product line. The NTS-2 is an attractive looking four channel oscilloscope. Punters are complaining about the price — $230 USD — but the this is a nicely featured oscilloscope plus tuner, plus FFT, plus spectrum analyzer. The NTS-2 has dual waveform generators which can act as add-on synth oscillators or LFOs. There’s some real development cost behind this thang.

In terms of function, screen size and build quality, it beats my Gabotronics Xminilab Portable. The NTS-2 has a larger color screen and five soft function buttons. I’ve never been very successful with the Gabotronics as a stand-alone test instrument, so I’m hoping for better out of the NTS-2.

Unlike the NTS-1, the NTS-2 OSC can run on two AAA batteries (estimated two hours of operational time).

The NTS-2 will be bundled with a book: “Patch & Tweak With Korg” by Kim Bjørn (BJOOKS). The bundle is stamped “Limited Edition,” so Korg may eventually release NTS-2 on its own. Other books in the Patch & Tweak series cost about $45 USD. Maybe the NTS-2 alone will run $180?

Another consideration is test leads and probes. Korg assume the NTS-2 will be connected into your rig with patch cables. Korg do not mention probes, so if you need in-circuit measurements, you’re on your own. (Minor bummer.)