The cold winter nights are drawing in, so why not warm your creative cockles with this month’s stand-out new music technology releases?

reFuse Audio Take A Mulligan

Pro Tools users looking to simplify the process of taking hands-on control of plugins in their DAW were dropped something of a no-brainer by reFuse Audio in November. A standalone application, Mulligan works as an interfacing intermediary between any MIDI controller hardware and Pro Tools, instantly mapping to the knobs and buttons of the former with just a single click, then showing the plugin parameters under their control in a contextual ‘heads-up display’.

Any number of eight-knob pages can be navigated; Pro Tools’ ‘Plug-In Map Controls’ panel enables reconfiguration of the automatically-made assignments; and Mulligan can also link buttons on the connected controller to the Pro Tools transport and various plugin navigation functions. It’s all wonderfully straightforward, as this sort of utility always should be, of course.

On the down side, Mulligan is only available for Mac. reFuse say that this is just because getting it working on Windows would require virtual MIDI ports to be installed and set up, which they aren’t up for dealing with. Boo.

Eventide Divide And Conquer

Built on the Structural Effects technology that debuted in their Physion (aka Fission, confusingly) transient shaping multi-effects plugin, Eventide’s new 8-band parametric EQ made a sizeable splash in the pro audio pond this month. In a nutshell, SplitEQ divides the input signal into its ‘Transient’ and ‘Tonal’ components (with a degree of control provided over their delineation), then lets you EQ and level each independently, and manipulate their stereo placement (L/R or M/S).

As you can imagine, this opens up a world of intriguing possibilities, from separately shaping the attack and sustain of individual or bussed drums, to fixing up vocals, dramatically manipulating loops and beyond. Every aspect of the Transient and Tonal portions is shown together in the plugin, from their real-time frequency spectra and the EQ curves altering them, to the Frequency, Gain, Q and Pan controls of all eight bands, making the whole thing admirably easy to understand and use.

Now in their 51st year, it would be fair to say that Eventide have yet to put a foot wrong in the effects manufacture/development arena, and SplitEQ makes a fine and empowering addition to their remarkable software catalogue.

IK Multimedia Supersize Sample-Based Synthesis

A sort of spiritual companion to the enormous SampleTank ROMpler, IK’s original Syntronik presented over 2000 multisampled presets captured from 22 classic and vintage synthesisers (some taking in multiple models – the Roland Jupiter-4, -6 and -8, for example) in a similarly vast and high-quality library. Four years later, and the sequel is upon us, upping those numbers by 3300 and 11 respectively, and introducing a handful of new systems with which to edit and play them.

Taking the hard drive footprint over the 200GB mark, Syntronik 2’s new instrumental offerings include the Oberheim Matrix-12, Yamaha GS1, OSCar, Waldorf Microwave, Octave Cat SRM and Korg Trident, each coming with its own hefty bank of presets; and that new trove of patches expands the banks of all the existing models, too. The new Edit panel now enables far more in the way of modulation, oscillator sound selection and drift control; the Player panel benefits from the addition of a step sequencer; and 33 new effects modules (from T-RackS, AmpliTube and MixBox) have been thrown in, taking the total to 71.

Obviously, Syntronik 2’s appeal lies in its ability to serve up an absurdly diverse range of high-quality synth sounds for as-is deployment or quick and easy tweaking if required, and on those terms it’s an absolute triumph. Sure, you’ll get much more adaptability out of Arturia’s V-Collection, say, but if actual synths do your head in, there’s no better way than this to get the sounds of them into your tracks with zero friction.

FabFilter Erupt Again

There are surprisingly few truly outstanding analogue-style filter plugins on the market, but FabFilter’s Volcano is unarguably one of them. Released in the middle of November, version 3 of the Amsterdam-based developers’ acclaimed quad filter sees the expected GUI overhaul, aligning it visually with the majority of their catalogue, and working in animated modulation feedback (at source and target), floating mod assignment panels, an optional piano display, full screen mode and more.

The beauty of Volcano 3 is far more than skin deep, though, and the extension of the filter type list to take in high/low Shelf, bell, notch and all-pass modes, not to mention the introduction of pre-filter overdrive, levelling and panning, and a raft of improvements to the modulators themselves, profoundly transforms what was already a sonically superlative, must-have plugin into an, er… even more must-have plugin. Oh, you know what we mean…

Roland Boost Their Boutique

Hardware synthesisers aren’t something you come across every day round these parts, but the November announcement by Roland of the near-future release of dinky Boutique incarnations of two of their classics wasn’t something we could let go unreported.

Landing in January 2022, the JX-08 and JD-08 resurrect the JX-8P (1985) and JD-800 (1991), the first a 6-voice analogue beast (well, DCOs if you want to get picky), the second a groundbreaking digital synth made legendary by the likes of Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, Depeche Mode and Tangerine Dream. Unsurprisingly, the new instruments elaborate on their source material somewhat, with both models cranking up the polyphony and adding a multitimbral mode, and the JX-08 integrating a polyphonic sequencer and 14 extra effects, and including all the controls of the originally optional PG-800 module.

Further bolstering Roland’s impressive Boutique range of synths and drum machines, these two – particularly the JD-08 – are sure to find plenty of new fans among today’s retro-inspired electronic producers. We can’t wait to get our hands on them.

What new gear caught your ear and eye this month? Let us know in the comments.