MESSE: Kenton Plug Station Spotted at Yamaha Stand

US Nifty Product Set to Cause a Stir 14/03/01

Buying Choices

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Whilst perusing the goodies over at Yamaha, we were surprised to see the Kenton Plug Station. This unit is designed to hold up to four SW1000XG (Yamaha's tasty soundcard) daughter cards. It is also possible to run the unit as a standalone card host with the Kenton Output board - giving 8 analog and 8 ADAT optical outs - this card is expected to retail at around £150 max. These cards offer a pretty powerful way of accessing Yamaha's synthesis engines and looks to be a popular product for Kenton. The Plug Station is expected to retail at around £250 and will ship around May/June. Cards available for the Plug Station are:
PLG100DX This plug-in board lets you add vintage FM synthesis voices to the SW1000XG. The PLG100DX features the same synthesis engine as the famous Yamaha DX-7, giving you stunning FM voices with all their crystalline clarity and pristine punch. PLG100VH By adding the PLG100VH, the SW1000XG becomes a MIDI controllable vocal harmony processor letting you instantly and easily apply one-, two- or three-part harmonies to a vocal signal via a microphone connected to the A/D Inputs. You can change the harmony interval by manually playing chords on a connected MIDI keyboard, or program the appropriate note data into your sequencer for automatic harmony generation. PLG100VL This amazing plug-in board lets you equip the SW1000XG with an entirely different synthesizer - a "Virtual Acoustic" synthesizer that creates voices with the powerful physical modeling tone generation system. These monophonic voices are breathtakingly dynamic and natural, and - because of the enormously expressive performance controls - are perfect for soloing. PLG100XG XG Tone Generator Plug-in Board - This Modular Synthesis Plug-in Board gives you over 700 professional-quality sampled voices and 22 drum kits as well as 32 additional notes of polyphony. Plus it fully supports the XG MIDI specifications, so you can use it to play back XG Standard MIDI Files (Format 0) MIDI song files from an external sequencer or the S80's internal sequencer. Home recording hobbyists in particular will find this Plug-in Board an indispensable addition to the S80. PLG150AN Analog Physical Modeling Plug-in Board: Reproduce the fat and funky sounds of vintage analog synths! This board gives you a synth engine similar to the one featured in Yamaha's amazing AN1x Analog Physical Modeling Synthesizer. On top of its full array of wave algorithms, resonant filters, LFOs, and envelope generators, it also has distortion and a 3-band equalizer. PLG150DX DX Synthesizer Plug-in Board: Add the classic sounds of Yamaha's world-famous DX-7 synthesizer to the S80. The PLG150-DX features the same 6-operator 16-note polyphonic FM tone generation system that took the synthesizer industry by storm. This board is a must-have for performing keyboard players and producers of contemporary music. PLG150PF Piano Plug-in Board: For the serious piano player, this Plug-in Board is loaded with hundreds of painstakingly sampled piano and keyboard voices - from concert grands and uprights to electric pianos and harpsichords. Two piano boards can be used together, effectively doubling piano polyphony to 128 notes! For professional recording studios that demands authentic piano sound but don't want to bother with a real piano, an S80 loaded with the PLG150-PF makes a perfect solution. PLG150VL Virtual Acoustic VL Plug-in Board - The Virtual Acoustic Modular Synthesis Plug-in Board lets you create incredibly expressive, natural sounding voices by digitally simulating the physical characteristics of acoustic instrument. Thanks to its fabulous synthesis architecture, extensive real-time performance control of the voices is possible, making it the ideal Plug-in Board for keyboard soloists

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