Elektron Overbridge Brings Real Analog to Your VST / AU Plug-Ins

For a long time, it has been nearly impossible to dynamically integrate analog synthesizers into digital computers. This summer, a company called Elektron from Gothenburg, Sweden, presents the solution '" Overbridge. The Elektron products are already used by world-class artists such as Nine Inch Nails, The Chemical Brothers and The Knife.

For the first time ever, the analog components of the latest range of Elektron synthesizers and drum machines can be controlled in real time, using a custom software plugin, using the physical controls of the instrument itself, or using both at the same time. All through a single USB connection.

Many world-class artists craving cutting edge sounds are already familiar with the Elektron instruments: Nine Inch Nails, The Chemical Brothers and The Knife to name but a few. Within the industry, Elektron are known for their highly original synthesizers, samplers and drum machines. They've won several prestigious best hardware awards, most recently Hardware of the Year for the Analog Rytm hybrid analog/digital drum machine.

Release in July

In July, Elektron continues to break new ground with the release of Overbridge:

• With Overbridge, all you need is a single USB connection to communicate and real-time manipulate an analog sound - with all its qualities and nuances - interchangeably between synthesizer and computer. This is something music producers have been dreaming about for a long time, says Elektron CEO Jonas Hillman and adds:
  
• It also makes our instruments more accessible for the amateur or hobbyist musician. Subtractive synthesis has never before been this easy to understand.

Overbridge uses proprietary drivers for Windows and OS X in order to send sounds, notes and time sync back and forth between instrument and computer via USB. On top of that, custom VST and AU format software plugins have been developed, specifically designed to let the musician access and control the hardware instruments just as readily as if they were software instruments. All Elektron analog instruments, connected to a computer via Overbridge, may be used, played and manipulated independently and simultaneously.

Integrating the analog and digital world

In short, it is an intimate, dynamic real-time integration between a real instrument and a computer. A marriage, if you will, between the analog and the digital world.

Upon release, the Overbridge software will be included free of charge with a purchase of any Elektron analog instrument, available for retail starting this summer. The industry is watching Elektron's every move right now, and they better.

'" Our team has worked hard for the last three years to make Overbridge a reality. Judging by the attention we experienced at NAMM in Los Angeles early this year, and at the Frankfurt Musikmesse and, most recently, at the Sonar expo in Barcelona, people in the business, as well as first-timers, seem to have got the message. People get Overbridge. It's an advanced technology, but it will make life a hell of a lot simpler for musicians. And more fun, too, says Jonas Hillman.

Web: Elektron Overbridge