Creamware, the German manufacturer of the famous Pulsar sound cards and Scope systems, returns to the market by offering hardware versions of synthesizers previously proposed in software versions, renamed for the occasion "ASB", acronym of Authentic Sound Box, of the fascinating desktops with lots of knobs and switches that reproduce the layout and ease of use of the old analog synthesizers. For this month's test we propose the Minimax ASB, a faithful imitation of the very famous Minimoog whose heart is a double DSP Shark system that allows you to get twelve polyphony voices and an integrated delay and chorus effects processor.
The eye wants its part
Well we have to admit it: we are a bit tired of all these metallic gray or black synths, covered with plastic and full of luminous displays with dozens of buttons and multifunctional wheels, infinite pages and menus for programming and hundreds of pages of operating manual. Where are the good old synths of yesteryear? The ones with only one knob for each function, those nice “0 to 10” potentiometers and the wooden sides! This time Creamware satisfies us by re-proposing a style now abandoned in the early 80s when, thanks to - or because of - digital, the instruments began to be lighter and more portable but, at the same time, more difficult to use ... definitely uglier! The Minimax ASB is an attractive metal box with real wood finishes, 48 cm wide and weighing just over 3 kg. The front panel features potentiometers, switches and rotary selectors arranged almost exactly like the real thing. minimoog, with very few differences: the whole is on a reduced scale and the switches are not colored. But the fact that that's all in miniature it does not compromise usability, in fact there is enough space between the controls to be able to safely tinker without risking to touch several potentiometers at the same time unintentionally. The only area with a look less analog it is below the horizontal wooden band in the lower part of the interface, and is the one dedicated to the management of presets and effects, with a single rotary encoder, a three-digit LED display and micro-switch keys with red LED , also in the early 80s style. In short, when we combine it with a real vintage synth, it does not look bad at all, indeed it seems to come from the past! On the rear panel there are the stereo input and output connectors, the MIDI connectors, the power socket to be connected to the external transformer, the on / off switch, the USB port and a message, I would say, "subliminal" which says: "Don't smoke this product, do not microwave, do not feed liquids, have fun!". But once it's switched on and connected to the system, what matters most is the sound.
How does it work:
I think the Minimoog (Fig.1 - The real Moog Minimoog) needs no introduction: it has been called “the Stradivarius of synthesizers”, a true piece of music history, a milestone, a masterpiece of electronics. From 1970 onwards it was one of the most used synthesizers in history, so much so that it became the real synonym of the word "synthesizer". There are countless songs by famous artists in which it has been used impressing the listener's mind with its unique character, from The six wives of Henry VIII by Rick Wakeman a The important thing is to finish by Mina, from Wendy Carlos to the Beatles, from Herbie Hancock to the Rockets, for over thirty years of music without ever going out of style.
Paradoxically it is a easy monophonic with three oscillators and a self-oscillating low pass filter at 24dB on octave, perhaps nothing technically exceptional when compared to many other synths of the same era, but the fact remains that its sound is unique and has been used and appreciated so widely in all areas music that is still valued in gold today.
The fundamental characteristics of the Minimoog are three:
1) the third oscillator can be used as a modulation source for the other two oscillators and for the filter, while remaining an HFO (High Frequency Oscillator);
2) can accept an external input signal and mix it with the internal sound;
3) is equipped with two excellent and very fast ADS envelopes (Aattack, Dhey, Sustain). All leaving it to be understood that the oscillators and filter are the best there can be around, and the Moog signature is a guarantee. That said, it is obvious to guess that it would not be easy to imitate faithfully il True Minimoog, although many have already tried it both in the analogue field (see ARP Odyssey, Yamaha CS-20m) and in the digital field with the countless software in circulation, but perhaps it is possible to imitate unMinimoog. The Minimax ASB differs from other emulations for one fundamental factor: it is a perfect combination of hardware and software. Frankly, when I first played it, I expected to hear the sound of a good virtual analog - something that wants to sound analog but clearly shows its digital nature. But after a while I had to change my mind. There is something in the Minimax ASB, and I still haven't been able to figure out if it is in the software or in the hardware, which makes it "lively" like a real analog. I usually tend to avoid the terms "hot" or "full-bodied" because no one seems to have ever given you a precise meaning. For me, what is called "warm" is a sound that is never monotonous, varies from time to time, takes you by surprise without ever getting bored. And if so, the Minimax ASB sounds… really hot! The internal preamps are super quiet, well balanced for the sound they have to bring and definitely contribute to the sense of analog you get when playing it. The front panel of the instrument is divided into five basic sections, arranged according to the signal path. The first section from the left is called "Controllers" (Fig. 2 - CONTROLLERS and OSCILLATOR BANK sections) and includes the tuning knob (but fortunately the Minimax being digital does not get out of tune while we are playing!), The "Glide "That intervenes on the glissando speed, the switch to activate the glissando, the" Modulation Mix "knob that allows you to choose the modulation source between oscillator three and noise generator, and finally the decay switch that activates the last stage of the envelope, ie the release, which being absent in the envelopes of the Mini is replicated by the decay time. Next comes the oscillator section. The first and second are identical except that the first oscillator has no pitch knob. Oscillator three, as mentioned previously, can be used as a modulation source, so it differs from the others in that instead of the "triangular ramp" wave it has an inverted ramp and has a switch to disconnect the pitch control from the keyboard. Next we find the mixer (Fig. 3 - The MIXER section), with the five switches and relative potentiometers to mix the sounds of the three oscillators, the noise generator (pink or white) and the external audio source. For the latter there is also an LED indicator that lights up when the input preamplifier goes into overload (overload). The penultimate section is dedicated to the filter and envelopes (Fig. 4 - MODIFIERS and OUTPUT sections). Here the resonance is intelligently called "emphasis", because it is actually nothing more than the emphasis, that is, the greater amplification, of the point where the cut-off frequency of the filter is located. In this type of filters, the output signal is fed back into their input creating a sort offeedback, a bit like when the microphone is brought closer to the loudspeaker, and the resonance knob is used to decide how much signal has to go back and… resonate. The final section includes the additional potentiometers to adjust the response to MIDI velocity and the volume potentiometer which in the Minimax ASB is related only to the volume of the single preset, while the general volume can be set with the rotary encoder. In addition to the traditional Minimoog controls, the Minimax ASB features other features more suited to modern needs such as MIDI and full Program Change and Continuous Controller support, two Velocity controls for the VCF and VCA, 128 preset memories and 128 user , an internal multi-effects with delay / echo and chorus / flanger effects, twelve-voice polyphony and a control called "feedback" which automatically reinserts its output signal into the input, doing what used to be done with the Minimoog true by taking a jack from its output and reinserting it into its own input in order to "swell" the sound and distort the internal preamp. It is possible to use the Minimax ASB in two ways, Preset e User. By keeping the “USER” key pressed until the relative LED flashes, the instrument sets itself in manual mode, in this way all the parameters assume the value given by the respective physical control. Every time you move a potentiometer or a switch, a scale with seven green LEDs at the bottom left indicates how far we have moved from the original setting saved in the current preset. Some of these controls have a not entirely linear response, in particular the pitch potentiometers of oscillators two and three, precisely to reflect the Minimoog characteristic to the maximum. In mode User, moreover, the display shows the value of the last modified control, on a scale from 0 to 127. Speaking of this, I must say that a big point in favor of the Minimax ASB is the fluidity with which the controls respond, especially on the filter cutoff and pitch pots: no jerky hopping, really very precise. Another fundamental feature is the presence of a USB port (Fig. 5 - The rear panel of the Minimax ASB) which allows connection to the computer without the aid of a MIDI interface, but to work with Windows XP the installation of the Service Pack 2. Also supplied is an editor software that integrates perfectly into our DAW and allows us to manage hundreds of presets and control the automation of commands directly from our sequencing software (Fig. 6 - The main screen of the editor software) . Furthermore, by programming the presets from the editor software, it is possible to access other functions not present on the front panel of the instrument such as the retrigger and the choice of the criterion for assigning the notes in monophonic mode, which by default is "low note priority", i.e. it always plays the lowest note among those pressed; in addition it is possible to activate both the delay effect and the chorus simultaneously, synchronize the delay time to the speed in BPM, set the pitch bend range and the range of action of the modulation wheel and set the use of theaftertouch. All parameters that have been worked on through the editor can be saved in the presets. Finally, from the last page of the editor it is also possible to update the firmware of the instrument by downloading the files that Creamware will periodically make available on its website. The current version is 1.04 which will soon be replaced
from a more updated one to solve two small bugs related to polyphony management.
The sound:
All the words in the world would not be enough to describe including an instrument sounds to our ear, which in this case is the essential thing to know. Well, for the readers of CM2 I wanted to prepare two audio files that you will find on the CD attached to the magazine: the first, called "Test_Minimax_ASB.wav" is a more technical test, useful for getting an idea of the quality of the oscillators, of the filter, how portamento and modulation work. It was recorded by connecting the outputs of the Minimax ASB directly to the input of a Creamware Pulsar sound card (just to stay in the Creamware house!), Without any intervention on the tone. Note the total absence of the aliasing effect, especially when the oscillators and the filter are literally "violated" when using modulation. Also noteworthy is the softness of the filter when the resonance it is over halfway. One of my favorite bands is the Alan Parsons Project, although I'm not sure if Alan Parsons has ever used a Minimoog. Nevertheless, while I was trying the Minimax and its delay effect, I stumbled by pure chance (so to speak!) In a little sound that reminded me of something, and so I wanted to record a small tribute to the APPs by making a short mix between the two of them well-known instrumental pieces: Sirius and Mammagamma. You can listen to the result in the file “MinimaxASB_APP.mp3” found on the CD. With the exception of the drums, all sounds come out of the Minimax ASB and its internal effects, without adding any other effects or equalization. Apart from the recording of these two audio files, I wanted to compare the sound of the Minimax ASB with my real analogs (Fig. 7 - The Minimax ASB integrates perfectly in an entirely vintage set-up), including a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 which, despite being technologically much more modern than the Minimoog and completely different in terms of circuitry, has that “American” character that is very close to Bob Moog's logic. After all, I imagine that Dave Smith (founder and designer of Sequential Circuits) has been inspired by the Minimoog as even in the Prophet it is possible to use one of the two oscillators as a modulation source, and I wanted to test the fidelity of the Minimax which, let's not forget, is still a digital synth. When I bring modulation to extreme situations, especially when playing very high notes, with the Prophet you obviously hear nothing but the sound of the oscillators, while with the Minimax I would have expected to hear noises, digital distortions, aliasing effect, etc. and instead the comparison holds up very well.
Conclusions:
The Minimoog remains a dream of many lovers of analog synthesizers, it was when it came out in the '70s because it cost a lot (in 1970 with two million lire you could almost buy an apartment!), And it still is today because it is quite rare to find used and still worth around 2000 euros. For this reason, those who want to have a Mini in their set-up have very little choice: spend a capital for a real Minimoog or a new Voyager, or buy a software simulator accepting the necessary compromises. But, as the famous saying goes, the truth lies in the middle: the Minimax ASB by Creamware is currently offered at the list price of 780,00 euros excluding VAT and is certainly an excellent choice: it is aesthetically beautiful thanks to the real wood finishes. , it sounds very good, it is light and portable, it has built-in effects, MIDI, the editor software and it is an instrument with which you can have physical contact. A Mini tool with Maxi performance.
Interview with Ralf Dressel, Creamware engineer
Thanks to the mediation of MidiMusic, I was able to get in touch with one of the Creamware software developers, Ralf Dressel who, still very busy for the final tests on the Pro-12 ASB (soon available also on the Italian market), gave me a few minutes of its time to answer some short questions that I wanted to ask him in order to extract some more secrets that lie behind the ASB. Creamware is a German company made up mostly of young software engineers and electronic engineers between the ages of 25 and 35, almost all musicians and all with a great passion for musical instruments in general.
Guido Scognamiglio: How did the idea of turning a plug-in into a hardware product come about?
Ralph Dressel: To tell the truth we were thinking about it even before starting to work on the Noah, but at the time the components required to build an ASB were still too expensive, think that in the Noah you need ten DSPs to get 12 voices of polyphony, while now it only takes two, and they are even smaller! The Noah was a nice device, it sounds good and works well, but it doesn't have the look or feel of a real musical instrument. Only the faithful reproduction of an analog synth would have given us that feeling of having a real instrument in our hands, with knobs and switches to touch, and this was a big push to start producing ASBs.
GS: Is the software within the ASB the same as its counterpart for Scope systems?
RD: Only partially, as in the ASB we do not need the whole structure of the Scope platform, however some essential routines are the same. The fundamental difference is that in software systems audio is processed in blocks and needs relatively large buffers, which compromises the use of efficient audio signal feedback (important for the filter, for example). With the use of the DSP hardware of our ASBs this wall is totally demolished to the advantage of the final result.
GS: In your opinion, which part of the ASB affects its sound the most?
RD: None in particular. To develop the Minimax we studied every single section of the Minimoog separately and worked hard to get the same sound results, and on this the Scope platform helped us a lot. The Minimax ASB also has excellent converters and preamps that make the sound even more present and “musical” and, apart from a master keyboard, you don't need anything else to get the sound you are looking for.
GS: Tell us some little secrets
RD: Well, there are no secrets. I can tell you, however, how our final test went: once our sound designer connected the Minimax and the real Minimoog to the same system at the same time, set them up in the same way, then called us into the studio and turned us around. Whenever he said “Listen to this! Which of the two is it? " neither of us was able to give the right answer. I would say the Minimoog is the best Minimax imitation in existence!
GS: Besides the Minimiax and the Pro-12, are there any other ASBs in the future?
RD: Now you want to know too much! But I don't hide from you that we are very satisfied with how the market is responding to the introduction of our ASBs and we will soon propose some other big news.
Guido Scognamiglio
