Launchpad X and Mini Mk3
Price: Launchpad X £179.99 and Mini Mk. 3 £99.99 (retail)
Continuing its legacy of controllers for Ableton Live, Novation has launched the latest generation of Launchpads. The full-size model X is designed for live performance and allows access to pretty much any control a live electronic musician might want to access.
The Mini Mk. 3 is designed for music making on the go and the user can control the basic functions – this does include the new Drum and Note feature from its big brother that automatically detects what's being played.
BH 770
Price: $34.99 (retail)
Behringer has gained a great reputation for recreating versions of classic synthesiser and drum machines. And now it has released a pair of studio grade headphones that are heavily influenced by the legendary Beyerdynamic DT 770.
At the incredibly low price of $34.99, Behringer claims that this gives you more money to spend on tunes or other studio gear. I have already had a chance to use a pair of these and they do sound great and feel very comfortable.
Bounce
Price: free
Getting feedback on recordings or compositions is as vital for Key Stage 2 students as it is for seasoned professionals. However, sharing audio with others and receiving feedback can be time consuming and tricky. Bounce hopes to alleviate that. Rather than uploading your file to Soundcloud or Google drive, you upload the finished mix via the Bounce app.
Once uploaded it can be shared with as many collaborators as you wish who can offer timestamped feedback – up to four versions of a file can be uploaded at once. This could make it easier for teachers to provide detailed written feedback on students' compositions, also allowing students to demonstrate progress over time. I will definitely be looking into this.
THINGS
Price: $39
I love an unusual synth and THINGS definitely meets the brief. Rather than referring to oscillators, filters and envelope generators, THINGS has some abstract titles for pre-sets such as crystal, rubber bands and arcade.
Each of these pre-sets has basic controls that adjust the synth sounds – the application has been developed so the synths can be accessed without having to understand anything about synthesis. And at this price – worth getting regardless!
