This week, we celebrate the U.K. release of Resynator on Apple TV, plus we look at a drum machine for the PS Vita and a modern twist on the Trautonium.
Synth JournalResynator Gets a U.K. Premiere and release on Apple TVDS-8 Drumstream – A Drum Machine for PS VitaFlexur T2 – Pre-orders Now OpenKagouyar Gets a 2.0 Upgrade, Lower Price!
Resynator Gets a U.K. Premiere and release on Apple TV
When Alison Tavel set out to learn about the Resynator, a synthesizer that her late father had invented in the 1970s, little did she know that the journey would turn into a deeply personal, life-affirming and hugely emotional tale of a girl discovering her father, who died when she was just 10 weeks old.
Alison, former tour assistant to Grace Potter and archivist for the Tom Petty Estate, had heard numerous tales of her genius father and the remarkable piece of synthesizer technology that he had created but knew little else. She set out to make a short film about the Resynator, thinking its audience would amount to friends and family.
As it turns out, Resynator won the prestigious Audience Award at SXSW along with other, numerous awards around the world. A ten-year labour of love, the Resynator movie turned from humble synth doc’ to a full-on emotional rollercoaster of familial discovery that, at times, visits some very dark places.
Alison, who had never made a movie, let alone any music, started capturing footage and soon came to realise that the story of the Resynator was way more than a clever bit of gear. In it, we learn about her brilliant but flawed father, a man with an incredible gift but burdened by the legacy of a loveless childhood.
This remarkable story is told over 96 minutes and we learn about the history of the Resynator, an amazing pitch-tracking synth that was almost unprecedented at the time and, had it made it to market, may have had an enormous impact.
Alison Tavel and Mark Ronson – A Scene from Resynator · Source: Alison Tavel
Through speaking with friends, colleagues and family members, as well as some of the most respected engineers and musicians in the world, Alison tells this compelling story beautifully, meeting with legends such as Mike Biegel (Mu-Tron), Emmett Chapman (Chapman Stick) and Peter Gabriel, the latter of whom bought three Resynators via his Syco Systems company.
Resynator received its official U.K. Premiere this past Tuesday at the famous Curzon cinema, housed within Bloomsbury’s Brutalist Brunswick Centre. It coincided with the long-awaited release of the film on a digital platform here in the U.K., initially via Apple TV.
Alison Tavel, film maker · Source: Alison Tavel
Resynator won’t require a hard sell to us synth nerds, but its appeal stretches way beyond bleeps, bloops and wires. It is a touching and emotional story of a brave woman learning about her Dad and making deep, musical connections along the way.
You can rent or buy Resynator in the U.K. right now via Apple TV. Other streaming platforms are coming in the very near future. Viewers in the U.S. can buy or rent it now via Apple, Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, XBox and more. Criterion Channel members can stream it as part of their package. Check out the Resynator website for details.
DS-8 Drumstream – A Drum Machine for PS Vita
There was a time, not that long ago, that there seemed to be some hope of musical tools making an impact on gaming platforms. Music-by-numbers titles like Music 2000 gave many people their first, fun experience of piecing together clips to create their own tunes.
Then we saw the likes of KORG, dabbling with things like the Nintendo DS range, releasing things like the DS-10 (MS-10) and M01D (M1) on that platform. To this day, KORG still produce their KORG Gadget application for the Nintendo Switch.
DS-8 Drumstream · Source: Intermynd Instruments
Now we have a new kid on the block, in the shape of the DS-8 Drumstream for the Playstation Vita handheld gaming console. But rather than being a simple, sample-based affair, DS-8 is actually a drum synth! That’s right, it produces its own sounds in realtime, with no samples or wavetables in sight.
YTo can sequence these sounds with its built-in 64-step sequencer and shape the sound via tuning, decay, pitch, noise and level controls. There’s also a host of pattern generation modes with individual per-step parameter changes. It’s a very capable piece of software.
DS-8 Drumstream is still in the early stages of development, so expect bugs, missing features, interface redesigns and potential performance issues, but if your PS Vita is lying around not doing much these days, because you moved up to the Portal, this might be worth a punt!
To be able to install DS-8 Drumstream on your PS Vita, your PS Vita unit has to be modified to allow installation of .vpk files. You do this entirely at your own risk, and both Gearnews.com and Intermynd Instruments take no responsibility for any issues you may have by trying this software.
You can download the .vpk files and name your own price via the Intermynd website now.
Flexur T2 – Pre-orders Now Open
The Trautonium was an early electronic musical instrument that was invented nearly 100 years ago in Berlin. Various versions were made over the subsequent years, but each of them eschewed the traditional piano-style keyboard, favouring a contact-based interface, akin to a ribbon controller.
Flexur T2 · Source: Sound Workshop
Taking that German relic as inspiration, Sound Workshop have developed the Flexur T2 with a much more modern spin on the concept, maintaining the ribbon-like interface, but adding many more 20th-century features such as arpeggio settings, MIDI, CV and USB-C.
Sound Workshop promise a rewarding experience as you navigate the unique qualities of the Flexur T2 and create emotional melodies along the way. The project is currently in a crowdfunding phase, but their ultimate goal is to make an affordable Trautonium a full-on reality. The demo video sounds amazing!
Sound Workshop are making 100 units available for a pre-order price of $1,399, which is $200 off the full price. At the time of going to press, only 18 units were left! Pre-order customers will also get lifetime access to the Sound Workshop Patreon and a 2-year, white-glove warranty. Shipping will happen in 6-24 months, so be prepared to wait!
Kagouyar Gets a 2.0 Upgrade, Lower Price!
Nozoid’s Kagouyar was first announced around 18 months ago, as covered by my colleague Adam in a Synth Journal from February 2025. Billed as a semi-modular drone-style synth, it’s a virtual analogue, tabletop synth that has four voices of polyphony, three oscillators per voice with a wide variety of common and uncommon waveforms, a multimode filter, seven LFOs, a mod matrix, and two audio effects.
Kagouyar · Source: nozoid
The initial production run was for 70 units priced at €1,199. The limited numbers and high price was down to the limited number of vintage parts used to build the unit. Well, somehow, we know not how, Cyrille Henry, the man behind the Kagouyar, has delivered a significant v2 update with a substantial number of upgrades and, most importantly, a significant drop in the price!
All of these updates are delivered via firmware, so owners can rest easy but these new features may persuade a bunch of people to finally pull the trigger, down to its additional VCO waveforms, LFO waveforms, more audio FX, a DJ mode on the filter, and much more besides.
There’s a whole host of LFO updates, including slow modes, changed LFO sync modulation, LFO clip modulation and the ability to divide or multiply the LFO frequency by 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 times! They’ve also added the option to use the CV switch to control the keyboard octave.
Kagouyar v2.0 is available to buy now from the nozoid website for €849. You will also need to buy the appropriate power supply plug for your region at €10.00.
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