The Art of Virtual Synth Design II : Surge XT : Open Source Powerhouse !

"It's fun working on stuff that works!"

Hosted by Vin Curigliano of AAVIM Technology, I am joined by guest co-host Pete Brown of Microsoft and special guest Paul Walker, aka BaconPaul , who is a maintainer and one of the largest contributors on the Surge Synthesizer Team, and also a contributor to several other open source audio projects, including the CLAP plugin standard.

We discuss Paul's early history with music and technology , and how he found his way to joining and forming the Surge team, and his ongoing role there.

We cover the history of Surge XT, and its initial development by Claes Johanson which he sold as a commercial product via his original company Vember Audio ( Released in 2005). We discuss how it eventuated that the development went down the open source route , and how that makes it unique regards allowing access to the source code to all developers, over more traditional closed loop development of other major synths.

We discuss how the Surge Synth Team formed, the importance of the team dynamic and tools, (both technological and sociological) , other projects in the Surge Synth Team beyond Surge XT, and the constantly expanding catalogue.

We take a deeper dive into the features and direction of Surge XT, its unique architecture and feature set, and discuss area's like MPE, CLAP, MT-ESP (Microtuning ), accessibility, etc.

We also discuss the current state of Music Technology and the incoming Zeitgeist being driven by AI, and much much more.

Host & Guest Links :

AAVIM Technology : www.aavimt.com.au

DAWbench : www.dawbench.com

Microsoft : www.microsoft.com

Pete Brown : https://twitter.com/Pete_Brown

Surge Synth Team : https://surge-synth-team.org/

VO :

Andrew Peters : www.andrewpetersvo.com

Music Themes :

Original DAWbench VI Theme Music composed by Rob John : Independent Music Productions : http://www.indmusicprods.com

DAWbench Radio Show ReMix by Erin McKimm : www.erinmckimm.com

All Rights Reserved : © AAVIMT 2025

The Art of Orchestral Sampling II : Sonuscore : Compose Without Limits !

Hosted by Vin Curigliano of AAVIM Technology, I am joined by guest co-host Pete Brown of Microsoft, and special guest Tilman Sillescu, who is the co-founder of Sonuscore, who are a leading, highly respected and widely used Orchestral sample library and instrument developer.

We discuss Tilman's history in music and technology, his early forays into scoring and composition for games, initially finding success using sample libraries which then lead to larger projects utilizing full orchestras.

We cover the motivation to venture into Orchestral sample library development , and explore some of the shortcomings with other available libraries, that the team wanted to address when developing the Sonuscore libraries and instruments.

We navigate Sonuscores milestone releases and innovations, various sample playback engines, the behind the scenes drive for creativity and design, and their partnerships with other 3rd party developers. We also cover the day to day back end mechanisms for distribution, delivery, licensing, etc.

We discuss the emerging technologies and potential impacts to the industry, weigh up the pro's and cons of AI, get side tracked with some stories of outback aussie adventures in classic cars , and much, much more !

Host & Guest Links :

AAVIM Technology : www.aavimt.com.au

DAWbench : www.dawbench.com

Microsoft : www.microsoft.com

Pete Brown : https://devblogs.microsoft.com/windows-music-dev/

Sonuscore : https://www.sonuscore.com/

Dynamedion : https://dynamedion.com

Boom Library : https://www.boomlibrary.com/

VO :

Andrew Peters : www.andrewpetersvo.com

Music Themes :

Original DAWbench VI Theme Music composed by Rob John : Independent Music Productions : http://www.indmusicprods.com

DAWbench Radio Show ReMix by Erin McKimm : www.erinmckimm.com

All Rights Reserved : © AAVIMT 2025

Music Tech Pioneers VI : Roger Linn – LinnDrum to LinnStrument and Beyond !

Hosted by Vin Curigliano of AAVIM Technology, I am joined by guest co-host Pete Brown of Microsoft and special guest Roger Linn, who is the founder of Linn Electronics and is currently the owner and lead designer at Roger Linn Design.

We discuss Rogers early history with music and technology , and how that lead a path to founding Linn Electronics, the early days exploring electronics and creating tools to expand their usability, to his eventual development of the revolutionary LM-1 Digital Drum Machine.

We cover the subsequent instrument designs and evolution, the challenges of staying ahead of an ever increasing competitive market, the fall of the company and his work with other companies in the late 80's and 90's.

We also cover Rogers return to designing innovative hardware designs with his new company Roger Linn Designs in the 00's, his work with contributing to the development of MPE ( MIDI Polyphonic Expression), his ongoing work with continuing to develop innovative instrument designs, share some great history and behind the scenes stories, and much, much more.

Host & Guest Links :

AAVIM Technology : www.aavimt.com.au

DAWbench : www.dawbench.com

Microsoft : www.microsoft.com

Pete Brown : https://twitter.com/Pete_Brown

Roger Linn Design : https://www.rogerlinndesign.com/

VO :

Andrew Peters : www.andrewpetersvo.com

Music Themes :

Original DAWbench VI Theme Music composed by Rob John : Independent Music Productions : http://www.indmusicprods.com

DAWbench Radio Show ReMix by Erin McKimm : www.erinmckimm.com

All Rights Reserved : © AAVIMT 2025