Upcoming iOS Ambient Music Feature, New Life for the Korg DW-8000 & More: Synth Journal
The best of the rest of this week’s synth news.
3,7 / 5,0 | 
Some great demos of the Steampipe and Sequential 12, a new operating system for the DW-8000, and a dedicated iOS ambient music feature coming in version 18.4.
Synth Journal
iOS Ambient Music Feature
Normally we don’t cover basic iPhone operating system stuff here on Gearnews but when it’s about ambient music, I’ll make an exception. Demonstrating just how far drone has come, you’ll soon be able to play floaty selections straight from your control screen with the upcoming iOS Ambient Music feature.
Available now in beta, Ambient Music will arrive with iOS and iPad 18.4, according to an article I spotted on Gadget Hacks. Designed to enhance user well-being with curated soundscapes, the iOS Ambient Music feature will offer four categories: Chill, Productivity, Sleep, and Wellbeing.
Rather than be housed in its own app, the iOS Ambient Music feature will appear in the Control Center. You’ll need to manually add the ambient widgets one by one, as seen in the YouTube video (above). You can also reportedly replace the flashlight and camera icons on your Lock Screen with two of them.
The four categories appear to be playlists on Apple Music. It’s unknown if the iOS ambient Music feature will still work if you’re not an Apple Music subscriber. The iOS Ambient Music feature and 18.4 should be out in April.
- Apple iPhone product page
Sequential Prophet 12 Demo
I recently wrote about Sequential’s five best synthesizers of all time. One that I wanted to include but didn’t because of space was the Prophet 12. I thought I’d help make up for that omission by posting this lovely demo video here.
The Prophet 12 came out in 2013. A hybrid digital/analog synth, it offered 12 voices each with four digital oscillators, a Curtis lowpass filter, a highpass filter, a tunable feedback circuit, four loopable envelopes, and four LFOs, plus effects and a mod matrix.
Unique in sound yet still very much a Sequential, it’s an exceedingly lovely instrument. Cheers, Dave.
- Sequential Prophet 12 product page
Erica Synths Steampipe Demo
Physical modeling makes me so happy. It’s hard to say why, though. It’s not like I love the sound of acoustic instruments like flutes and marimbas and finally I can play them on a synthesizer. Just the opposite, actually. I love electronic sounds. What physical modeling means to me is the chance to create uncanny and wholly original sounds in a novel way. That’s why I’ve been so excited by Erica Synths and 112db’s Steampipe, an eight-voice physical modeling synth.
Starsky seems to have the same interest in making weird new sounds as me, as he soon unleashes a torrent of creepy, confounding, and occasionally beautiful sounds from his Steampipe in this demo video. Skip ahead to the final section, titled “Ambient Demo,” to hear it in full flight.
As Erica Synths says on its product page, “The Steampipe is quite versatile and allows for nuanced sonic exploration, conjuring sonic imagery ranging from wisps of cloud to fairground band organs, then to industrial horns of the railroad and finally, to massive, otherworldly ambiences.” Indeed!
- Erica Synths Steampipe product page
Phjanderson TeensyMix Synth
Next up comes the TeensyMix Synth, an open-source DIY polyphonic synthesizer from developer Phjanderson.
As the name suggests, TeensyMix Synth is based around the Teensy 4.1 development board and was designed to be an easy build with just an LCD screen and a digital to analog converter. All control is handled by an Akai MIDImix.
The eight-voice TeensyMix Synth features two oscillators per voice, with sawtooth, square, sine, triangle, sample & hold noise, and several sampled waveforms, plus waveform shape modulation and frequency modulation. You also get two 12dB/Octave filters, one with resonance, for a variety of lowpass/highpass combinations. You further get two envelopes, an LFO, per-voice wavefolder and waveshaper, and a stereo chorus.
Check out Phjanderson’s TeensyMix Synth GitHub page for more information.
- Phjanderson TeensyMix Synth GitHub page
Korg DW-8000 Custom OS
I absolutely love when people create new operating systems for old synths. Even better when it’s for one of my favorite synthesizers, the Korg DW-8000.
TubeSockor, who might be best known for designing the Chiptune synth for the Elektron Analog Rytm, has posted a video demonstrating his new operating system.
“I reverse-engineered the OS (firmware) of the Korg DW-8000 from 1985, and have started to add some new features,” they said. “Bringing some new life to a 40-year-old synth!”
As proof of concept, they’ve added an additional waveform for the LFO, sample and hold. Very cool.
TubeSockor is promising more to come, with a call for parameter suggestions as well. Head over to the video and leave a comment on what you’d like him to add.
I’m excited to see what he does. Although I love my DW-8000 as is, more features would always be welcome.
If you don’t have a DW-8000 but want to try out the classic hybrid synth, check out Full Bucket Music’s free plugin emulation. Or, alternatively, pick up a Korg modwave, which updates the DW-8000 for the 21st century.
- Korg home page
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One response to “Upcoming iOS Ambient Music Feature, New Life for the Korg DW-8000 & More: Synth Journal”
Finally! Ambient music creators faced with the realization that what they are doing is so easy, even a phone can do it! 😂🎹