[MW Forums]

M-Audio is now shipping GForce’s virtual models of four vintage synthesizers: Oddity, Minimonsta, impOSCar and M-Tron. All four virtual instruments are Mac and Windows compatible, running in standalone mode or with VST 2.0 (including VSTi), RTAS or AU hosts. Pricing for the synthesizers are: Oddity, US$129.95; Minimonsta, $199.95; impOSCar, $129.95; and M-Tron $129.95. More information on each instrument can be found on M-Audio’s Web site. more

[Schneb]

I would have loved to see brother Rick at NAMM, and these products are priced right and look great. The problem I see with todays digital instruments is they are so perfect that aside from classic analog instrument emulation, there will never be new instruments with special sounds anymore. We can now faithfully reproduce what is already out there, but no one will ever create another analog synth with a special sound. I guess there is no need to, but it is what made the "Yes" tunes so great. No, a Mellotron did not sound like a real orchestra--but it had a special sound that made it extremely interesting. Today, we can recreate an orchestra, with incredible fidelity and realism, for under $300. It's kind of good news and bad.

[TennesseeVic]

No special sounds? There are plenty of synths on the market that makes sounds that were not possible before. Additive synthesis, granular synthesis, resynthesis, ... Download the Absynth demo and tell me that's not special.

[doorknob]

For that matter, there are plenty of "new" hardware synths from the classic analog synth designers out there. There are even innovative drum machines. Check out Dave Smith (of Sequential Circuits fame) or Moog:
http://www.elektron.se/
http://www.davesmith...ver/design.html
http://moogmusic.com/detail.php?main[/u]product_id=40
This M-Audio announcement is very important. They quickly becomming a software company using a similar model they used to become the leader in the low and mid-range audio hardware market. Next year this time, they will have control over most of the popular mid-range audio software companies. Question I have is, when will M-Audio get their hands on Arturia?