BEST OF NAMM 2017 (SAMPLERS / DRUM MACHINES) – MUSICRADAR
PO-32 tonic drum synthesizer and sequencer with para-meter locks, punch-in effects and unlimited sounds with microtonic vst (sold separately) through data transfer.
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magnus lidström (sonic charge): i met my good friends of teenage engineering at musikmesse 2009. they showed an early prototype of the OP-1 and it stood out as the most fun and unique product at the show. our first collaboration was the CWO effect for OP-1. now we present our biggest collaboration to date: PO-32 tonic. it's great to be back together.
the goal with PO-32 was to squeeze the complex and highly acclaimed sound of microtonic into a pocket operator without compromising on quality. i spent months trying out imaginative dsp solutions and counting cpu cycles in order to come up with perfectly optimized recreations of the oscillators, filters and envelopes from the original micro tonic. in the final product i'm using 99.99% of the pocket operator's cpu and memory. developing for a proprietary piece of hardware means that you are in full control of every single bit that it runs. if the user takes good care of the unit it could literally last a life-time.
PO-32 inherits the playful approach to music-making from the earlier pocket operators. owners of the PO-10 and -20 series will recognize the way you can record knob movements and effects on top of the beat. the 16 effects in PO-32 tonic are all simply tweaking the internal parameters of microtonic in weird ways and doing things like chopping up the beat, making it sound like bouncing balls etc. the effects are pretty extreme but still musically useful.
microtonic au/vst has tons of features, it's difficult or simply make no sense trying to squeeze all into the small pocket operator format. therefore i have designed them to complement each other as opposed to be 1:1 copies. you can craft your own unique sounds in microtonic, or download them e.g. from the sonic charge online rhythm-generator patternarium. then you send them over to PO-32 tonic (via the microphone without a cable) and take the machine on the road.
i think PO-32 tonic will turn out wonderful for live jams. hopefully it can help bringing more clever rhythm and drum design to the world.
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