Bring Elka Back - Elka Panther organ plug-in

[GeneralMusic]

Generalmusic by Soundion is proud to introduce the legendary Elka Panther organ as VST/AU plug-in for Windows and Mac platforms.

Bring Elka Back is Soundion’s program to bring back Elka’s legacy instruments available in one form or another. The Elka Panther organ VST/AU plug-in is created by Martinic, the real masters of modeling.

The Elka Panther, also known as the Capri, is a classic Italian combo organ of the 1960s. The Panther produces bold, rich organ sounds and has a wide range of tonal variations (13). The Panther’s 16', 8', 4' stops and Mixture voice levels are freely adjustable. Each note spans over three octaves, the bass can be extended into the grey keys, and there is separate volume control for the bass octaves. Tone Decay adds a percussive effect to the Mixture voices. The Panther has a powerful vibrato with speed and intensity control.

The Elka Panther organ VST/AU audio plug-in is based on physical modeling (no samples inside) of a vintage Elka Panther 300 organ. A time-limited public beta version of the Elka Panther organ VST/AU audio plug-in, as well as a detailed list of basic and advanced features, is available on www.bringelkaback.com.

[Spitfire31]

Wow – what an unbelievably cool surprise! Or I should say, hot surprise!

This is a monster of an organ, unlike any other combo organ I've enjoyed emulations of (the Vox, the Farfisa, the Philicorda, the Bergman Klavitron and sundry others) and it's clear that this big cat is a tone tweaker's dream.

Quality and attention to detail is to be expected, since the dev is apparently organ sim maestro Martinic.

Of course I downloaded the beta immediately and I'm really impressed. Then I connected the Panther to GG-audio's Blue3 Leslie and it's a bomb…

My only gripe so far is that the LEM echo machine GUI is too small on a laptop screen!

Good times roll!

/Joachim

[martinic]

Thanks Joachim for this nice reaction. Do you think we should somehow make the LEM bigger or is working from the "Settings" screen doable on a laptop? The settings screen has 1:1 all normal Elka Panther settings extended with the new features.

- Martin

[martinic]

Got two exactly the same posts when I clicked submit at exactly 9:00. This one can be deleted.

[Spitfire31]

Hi Martin,

About the LEM GUI: On my MB Air 13" from mid-2011 (1440x900 pixels native resolution) the LEM is all but impossible to use – everything is just too small on the screen.

On my venerable but still going strong MB Pro, feeding a 19" screen at Full HD (1920x1080) the LEM is useable, just. The problem is that it's almost impossible to read the position of the rotary dials. There is a small black dot on the periphery, but it's very difficult to make out at a normal viewing distance. At least the 'dot' should be amplified with for example, a white, diametrical line.

That said, of course the Settings page works fine for adjustments without eye strain. Although the anti-skeumorphic graphic design of the Settings screen is a bit of a slap inL the face after enjoying the luscious, photorealistic main screen. Black on an overall red background makes for a rather low contrast, too. Some colour to separate out groups of controls would be welcome, I think.

One question: the On/Off switch to the far left on the dashboard does switch the light on and off but nothing else that I can find?

However, these are minor matters. The Elka Panther is one monster of an organ. I'm convinced that it's going to be a huge hit thanks to its different tonal character and generous tweaking opportunities.

Any price range decided on?

/Joachim

[evilantal]

Welcome back, Martin!

Always enjoyed your previous plugins before they disappeared (always figured they got bought up by Arturia and rereleased).

This looks to be great as well for an organ lover! I'll definitely give it a spin.

[Halonmusic]

Big fan of your older Organs too Martin

[Dullee]

Always enjoyed your previous plugins before they disappeared (always figured they got bought up by Arturia and re-released).

yep, that's exactly what happened with Martinic Combo F and V. but you can still find those on the Web, I believe.

[Halonmusic]

Always enjoyed your previous plugins before they disappeared (always figured they got bought up by Arturia and re-released).

yep, that's exactly what happened with Martinic Combo F and V. but you can still find those on the Web, I believe.

Yes atleast Combo V

[Spitfire31]

Unsupported now, so no compatibility guarantees with future OS:es, but try:
http://www.martinic.com/combof/downloads/
http://www.martinic.com/combov/downloads/

But don't tell anybody!

/Joachim

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Sounds fantastic! Martin's basically the reason (for better or worse) why I never bothered to have my Farfisa recapped. Don't feel like I'm missing it with all these fantastic ITB options.

So my first issue was that I couldn't find the plugin. I keep the Studio One browser set to "Vendor" mode, and had no idea where these plugin went. You guys don't mention "Soundion" prominently on the site, so I wasn't expecting it to be under Soundion. Also, Soundion is very close to Soundiron, so I'm sure I won't be the only one who wonders where this thing went. I'd suggest either referring to it as "Soundion Elka Panther" or sorting under "Elka" if there's gonna be more Elka organs. Just something so the user knows where to look.

From a feedback perspective, the "Keys" GUI seems to suffer from the same issue the Arturia GUI's do which is that the overly-skuemorphic design causes a serious decline in functionality. They're cool looking, but seriously hamper funcitonality. I honestly don't need to see the pedals so if this a 3D render, maybe try a different angle that hones in on the keys and knobs so they're a bit closer/bigger. At the very least, a resizable GUI would be nice. If you go that route though, please just include one set of .png's at 200% and scale down from there (instead of the Arturia approach of offering different .pngs for every size).

The settings page is a bit boring but functional. I can't help but wonder what that would look like with actual graphics. If it looked a bit better, I'd just make it the primary view.

Anyway, so far I'm loving it. What's the final cost going to be?

[dark water]

Sounds wonderful
Also it's a great and exciting effort by Generalmusic / Soundion to be reviving these beautiful Elka machines.
(Please tackle the Elka Synthex in due course!)

And just if you're like me and want to check out some relevant YT videos about plugins before going any further, here's a couple of recent ones about the Elka Panther vst:

[martinic]

Thanks for all the kind words. We found that creating a plug-in that works on all screen sizes challenging but we will try to improve it some more. Mentioning that the plug-in can be found under Soundion is a good point.

Known issues

• Project load/save format will change, so future versions will not be able to read back settings.
• Tape delay output can overload at high feedback settings.
• Panic doesn't silence tape delay, reverb.
• Some knobs/controls add "zipper" noise.
• on/off switch (bypass) doesn't work.
• [GUI] Tape delay VU meter doesn't work.
• [GUI] Cab selection knob not always displays correct label.
• [GUI] Pedal bass high C doesn't play when Bass Extension is off.
• Missing features (coming soon): Panther 100 engine, noise level adjust, MIDI settings.

[pekbro]

This is excellent, thanks!

[Synth Guru Wiffen]

Don’t worry, I’m keeping the flame for the Synthex alive! The Panther was easier to start with because of our cooperation with Martinic, given their tremendous experience with other 60s’ organs!

Sounds wonderful
Also it's a great and exciting effort by Generalmusic / Soundion to be reviving these beautiful Elka machines.
(Please tackle the Elka Synthex in due course!)

And just if you're like me and want to check out some relevant YT videos about plugins before going any further, here's a couple of recent ones about the Elka Panther vst: