There's no denying that some synthesizers can be very pricey monsters, but there are quite a few that you can carry around in your pocket – such as Pocket Operators, the Tiny-TS and the minijam studio modules. Now the UK's WS Audio has developed a synth in a USB stick, which is claimed to be the world's smallest analog synthesizer.
We have seen an even smaller USB synth before, but the teeny plug from Tim Jacobs was a simple MIDI tone generator. The Trueno is a USB-powered 3 oscillator analog synthesizer that's controlled via a VST/AU plugin on a host computer or laptop. The thumbdrive-shaped device has a 24-bit/44.1 kHz analog-to-digital converter built in, and outputs its sounds directly through the music creation software.
This essentially means that all of a hardware synthesizer tactile goodness – its knobs, faders and patch cables – has been ditched in favor of a plugin interface right inside a DAW (digital audio workstation) where patches are made and filters engaged using a mouse.
The three digitally-controlled VCOs rock saw, pulse and triangle waveforms, with the third offering noise too. Modulation options include amplitude, pulse width and frequency filters, while digital effects like chorus, phase, flange, delay and reverb are available, too. Users can also tap into a digital oscillator for access to 256 waveforms.
If dragging and dropping in software using a mouse sounds better to you than physically making connections using parch cables, the Trueno USB analog synth is available now for £139.99 (about US$190). You can hear samples on the Trueno demos page.
Source: WS Audio
