Slightly old news, but it turns out Silent Way was reviewed in issue 147 (January 2010) of Computer Music.

It got a score of 10/10.

Some extracts:

“It works beautifully. We tried it with a Minimoog, Synthesizers.com modular, Odyssey, Roland SH-101 and even the notoriously cantankerous EMS VCS3. Silent Way was able to get each one to play nicely for at least three octaves.”
“For us, Silent Way is a no-brainer. It’s considerably cheaper than the competition and Expert Sleepers are constantly updating it. It’s a truly brilliant solution to an age old problem and one that might make you reevaluate the practicalities of owning a vintage synth.”

Tags: silent way

The first batch of ES-1 modules is now sold out.

More will be available from around August 9th 2010. To pre-order, please add your name to this thread.

Tags: es-1

The Windows VST version of Crossfade Loop Synth has been updated to v3.1.2. This simply brings it up to date with the Mac OS X releases, already on v3.1.2.

Download now from the downloads page.

Tags: crossfade loop synth

I posted a couple of example scripts for Spectral Conquest on the forum here - a filter with LFO, and a ‘Freeze’ script.

Tags: spectral conquest

We’re proud to announce the release of a new plug-in - Spectral Conquest v1.0.0.



Spectral Conquest is an effect plug-in that lets you directly manipulate the frequency spectrum of audio signals.

The incoming signal is analysed via a FFT (Fast Fourier Transform), resulting in the familiar spectrum plot where the full audio spectrum is split into a number of narrow frequency bands. The outgoing audio is then regenerated by an Inverse FFT. The interesting bit is that the plug-in lets you modify the frequency spectrum in between.

Spectral Conquest allows you to modify the spectrum in two ways:

• By setting a multiplier for each frequency band. You can simply draw out the multipliers in the GUI.
• By applying a script to the spectrum. Some basic scripts are included with the plug-in to perform operations such as filtering and gating, but you can also write scripts yourself to do whatever you like.

Available immediately for Mac OS X (AU, VST) and Windows (VST), priced at $29.

Spectral Conquest is also available as part of the Ultimate Bundle (now priced at $155) and the Creative Effects Bundle (now priced at $55).

Tags: spectral conquest

Silent Way v1.6.0 is released.

Changes in this release:
- Added support for musical scales to Silent Way Quantizer.
- Changed all the plug-in names (that appear in host UIs) from “Silent Way ...” to “SW ...”, so that more of the actual name is visible when space is limited.
- Fixed a GUI issue in Reaper on Windows.

Download now from the downloads page.

Tags: silent way

Augustus Loop v2.2.2 is released.

Issues addressed in this release:
- Fixed GUI issue in Reaper on Windows.
- Added new OSC command (registerOSCPathForFunction).
- Fixed a keypress issue in certain VST hosts (plug-in would respond to numeric input but not to pressing Return).

Download now from the downloads page.

Tags: augustus loop

This video just posted by ‘waveshaper’ shows the Expert Sleepers CV Generator iPhone app controlling an EMS Synthi.

Tags: silent way, iPhone, cv generator

The first batch of ES-1 modules is currently being prepared for shipping.

As you’ll see here, there were far more pre-orders than actual units made. Expect another, larger production run soon.

Tags: es-1

We’re proud to announce details of the first Expert Sleepers hardware product - the ES-1 Audio/CV Interface.

The Expert Sleepers ES-1 Audio/CV Interface is a Eurorack module designed for use with software such as Expert Sleepers Silent Way. It connects to an audio interface using standard 1/4" jack (balanced or unbalanced) or DB25 (aka DSub) connectors, and outputs CVs to your analogue synths/effects on standard 3.5mm jacks. When used with the Silent Way AC Encoder software, there is no requirement for the audio interface to be DC-coupled.

The ES-1 offers the following advantages over directly connecting an audio interface to analogue gear for CV control:

* No requirement for the interface to be DC-coupled.
* No need for special cables (e.g. TRS to TS 'floating ring' cables).
* No danger of damage to the interface - the ES-1's inputs are completely standard balanced audio inputs.
* Much greater output voltage range - up to 9x more than directly connecting a DC-coupled interface via a 'floating ring' cable.

For more details, please see the ES-1 page.

Tags: silent way, es-1