15萬元買什麼琴??
NordLead 3?? SuperNova 3?? 還是 Q+??
OK!你想要一個全世界都還沒有的音色?? 要一個完全不同發聲方式??
要一個可能性無限的怪獸??
Neuron，讓別人除了羨慕你，還是羨慕你!!
Neuron的製程
Neuron的發展肇始於2000年3月，結合各領域包含電子、資料處理、設計以及結構的公司與專業人士，基礎觀念來自Axel Hartmann and Stephan Sprenger這兩個鬼才，他們在2000年的法蘭克福樂器展率先引爆了這個想法，Hartmann是Design Box這間位於德國Ravensburg的公司的經營者，Stephan Sprenger 則是成功的Karlsruhe-base軟體公司Prosoniq的音樂軟體開發者以及創始人。
從2000年四月開始著手發展Neuron的硬體與軟體，設計者首先專注於使用者介面，是奠基於Stephan Sprenger已經鑽研多年所開發出非常適用的電腦演算法，在2000年夏末，他們開始尋找能協助他們實現這台合成器的金主以及公司
Neuron的想法
當代音樂製作已經透果電腦輔助獲益多年，常常聲軌都是在虛擬的環境下製成，雖然電腦已經取代真實的錄音設備，卻有同時帶來許多其他的變革。舉例來說，過去由電子元件組裝而成的合成器與取樣機，如今可以變成透過DSP預算的程式。
過去五年我們見識了科技時代的來臨是如此的強而有力，它使得樂器的模擬可以藉由外掛軟體的方式整合進電腦輔助的音樂系統中，這使得使用者享受到直接在電腦內取得虛擬樂器所帶來的便利性，這些樂器藉由圖形化的使用者介面被"彈奏"出來， 在螢幕上，緊鄰著真實的錄音軟體旁出現的，就是樂器的控制面板，它顯示出各種的控制特性如推桿、旋鈕、按鍵、開關以及種種供你彈奏或操作虛擬樂器、取樣機與合成器的功能。撇開這些便利性，還是很多使用者對於透過螢幕、鍵盤與滑鼠這種不符合人體工學的方式還是頗有微詞，音樂家與製作人咸認這種工作方式是一種負擔，會阻礙創作，並且對索有重要的音樂直覺造成阻力。特殊設計的遙控控制介面(具備可動的旋鈕與推桿)證實了許多音樂家還是想念這種類似真實樂器觸感的感覺，這是一項很大的成果，這個思念諷刺的地方是，大部分的虛擬樂器只不過是電腦產生出來一種真實樂器的模擬，但是其控制硬體的引誘卻是令人讚嘆的，而且使用者在做音樂中彈奏某個聲部時，已開始感激這種可以帶來觸碰感的感動，這種電子樂器中人機一體的手動操控介面使得他們的創作力泉湧 。.
雖然這些需求都明顯的幫助了Neuron的誕生，觸感只不過它許多面貌的其中之一，理解Neuron的全面性之後，會發現在合成音色產生方式的發展中，它簡直就是下一個要進行的步驟，.受到這個創新概念的鼓舞，我們能儘量使用時下電腦科技帶來的益處，Neuron的心臟，是即台專門的PC電腦，利用特別開發的作業系統以及為系統量身訂做相關組件(使用者介面、供電單元以及儲存設備..等) ，它供給硬體 it provides the hardware underpinning for a novel take on software synthesis. And its man-machine interface is a remote control designed specifically for this application. Though this interface affords direct access to the formidable creative powers of a sound synthesis engine, it is so much more than merely an access tool. It is an organic extension of the synthesizer's heart and soul, the synthesis engine.
That said, though, any explanation of the true breadth and depth of the concept behind Neuron requires a trip down memory lane to recap the history of electronic musical instruments and synthesizers. Almost a century ago, the pioneers of electronic music began experimenting with colossal sound generators powered by electricity. On a quest for new sounds that classic instruments were incapable of producing, these musical modernists developed devices that would inspire many great tunesmiths and composers of film scores. The driving force behind this crusade was the desire to explore the great sonic frontier. That would change over the course of the coming decades. Commercialization and corporatization changed the way music was perceived and made. Technological advances, particularly strides made in the past 30 years, made it possible to produce entire compositions using electronic instruments called synthesizers and samplers. The new market paradigm for instrument builders was to fashion "authentic" sounds - timbres and tones as close as possible to those produced by traditional instruments. Imitation gave way to innovation in the last decade or so when musicians began to see the tremendous creative potential that the all but forgotten classic synthesizers harbored. Concurrently, a new musical style emerged that celebrated the sound of electronica as such.
Today contemporary productions are for all practical purposes musical hybrids in which typical synthesizer sounds share sonic space with the time-honored instruments of pop music. That explains the modern-day renaissance of archetypal synthesizers, albeit in the guise of the aforementioned digital emulations rather than as an assemblage of complex discreet circuits.
In the course of these development phases, mad scientists toiled away in labs, concocting all manner of approaches to synthesis. Key technologies emerged and held sway over the synthesizer market for many years. Hordes of companies embraced them and incorporated them in proprietary products. A handful of technologies prevailed - to this day, they provide the coordinates by which every manufacturer charts his synthesizers' course. A case can be made for the point that a trailblazing technology arrives every 15 to 20 years and, equally important, spawns generations of commercially successful products:
- subtractive synthesis
(pioneers: Moog, EMS, Buchla, Sequential Circuits, Oberheim, ARP)
- additive synthesis
(pioneers: Fairlight, Synclavier, PPG, Technos)
- wavetable / digital synthesis (pioneers: PPG)
- FM (frequency modulation) / PD (phase distortion) synthesis
(pioneers: Yamaha, Casio)
- FM (frequency modulation) / PD (phase distortion) synthesis
(pioneers: Yamaha, Casio)
- virtual sound synthesis / physical modeling
(pioneers: Yamaha)
- sampling (pioneers: Fairlight, EMU Systems, Synclavier)
We are convinced that with Neuron, we have created the technological underpinning for a sonic revolution of the same order. Neuron employs a technology that in the near future will reshape the perceptions of the entire computer industry. Neuron is powered by adaptive computer algorithms. Its sound generation system is rooted in the mind-boggling potential of resynthesis. The term is easily defined: resynthesis is a process by which an original exemplar is artificially replicated - in this case, a digital mirror image of a sonic event - with all its characteristic features remaining intact. We applied the principles of an adaptive program that has evolved and been refined over many years. Now for the first time in the history of synthesizers it is possible to access resynthesized sounds with astonishing accuracy and reshape them drastically and to spectacular effect.
Like a sentient being, Neuron recognizes a sound. But more than that, its intelligence is such that it puts at the user's disposal parameters whose structure is dynamically adapted to suit this sound. And that makes Neuron the first synthesizer with a nerve center that does not work with fixed parameter assignments.
Neuron is a professional synthesis tool for musicians, producers, sound artists, and sound enthusiasts. It debuted for all the world to see at USA's premier musical instrument fair, the NAMM show, in January 2002.
Neuron的幕後英雄榜
Axel Hartmann
Today a designer known and respected by the music industry throughout the world, Axel Hartmann earned his wings as the in-house designer at Waldorf Electronics. To this day, he remains the creative force behind this German high-end synthesizer manufacturer's corporate design. With the Wave, Q and Attack families - actually, all Waldorf products as well as the company' attention-grabbing corporate identity - to his credit, the merits he garnered there were many. In 1995 Axel Hartmann joined forces with Stefan Leitl, launching a design company based in Ravensburg, Germany. His accounts list reads like a who's who of the entire music industry. Numbering among his most striking accomplishments are the Waldorf Wave, Alesis Andromeda, Steinberg Houston, and Creamware Noah, to mention just a few.
With Neuron, Axel Hartmann has made a long-held dream come true - to develop a synthesizer a breed apart. His determination yielded an instrument boasting uncompromising aesthetics, innovative technology, and a totally ergonomic feel in perfect harmony with Stephan Sprenger's jaw-dropping synthesis engine.
Stephan Sprenger
Stephan M. Sprenger is the R&D mastermind of the Karlsruhe-based software smithy Prosoniq. He also works as a consultant, hiring out his formidable digital signal processing know-how to leading companies of the music and communications industries. The founder of Prosoniq, he has developed the underlying technologies for the company's products since 1991. He succeeded in developing software that morphs audio signals using perceptional models on the Silicon Graphics IRIX platform in 1988, as well as time-frequency transformation processes designed specifically for this purpose. This was a major stride in analyzing, researching and imaging key functions of human auditory perception on the computer using structures borrowed from nature.
Next to his track record of achievements at Prosoniq, he also developed important technologies for leading music industry companies, among them the formant correction feature found in Emagic's Logic Audio as well as Steinberg Nuendo software's time stretching feature. Stephan Sprenger's innovations have been bundled and sold in soft- and hardware packages by Creative Labs, Steinberg, Emagic, Prosoniq, Digidesign and others. Products such as the NorthPole VST freeware plug-in, developed jointly with Frederic Schelling, ranks among the most prevalent products on the market. Recent developments include a polyphonic real-time resynthesizer (Prosoniq Magenta) as well as software applications for de-mixing signals and for simulating auditory perception on the computer.
In his collaboration with Hartmann, he is taking his research activity in the field of perceptional models from fringe to mainstream science, employing it for the first time in an electronic musical instrument. Sprenger also takes an active role in advocating education in this field. Focusing on related issues, his private homepage is http://www.dspdimension.com.
在一百字以內為Hartmann的哲學做總結
- The Hartmann brand converges passion for music, top-drawer design and visionary technology.
- Hartmann makes premium products for music-makers.
- All companies contributing to Hartmann products satisfy the highest standards for quality.
- Hartmann products are intelligent and inspiring.
- Hartmann instruments are all about ease of use, intuitive handling and enjoying new technology.
- Elegance and lasting value are hallmarks of Hartmann products.
- Every Hartmann product is honest. Its visuals reflect its technological sophistication.
- Hartmann products are timeless.
- The imperative to provide an excellent instrument or music-generating device to customers prevails over purely economic interests.
