Some of you may remember about 10 years ago a new kind of synthesizer rolled into town called the Hartmann Neuron, The Neuron was a crazy kind of synthesizer said to be based on Neuronal Synthesis which took models based on sampled waveforms and mashed them up in its own unique way.
Googling about the Neuron will give you far better descriptions of the technology than I could ever articulate so I’ll cut the history lesson short there.
Anyway due to problems in manufacture and distribution Hartmann went out of business, the Neuron ceased production and disappeared without a trace after what was a very short but seemingly successful time,
The synthesizer first in its hardware keyboard form won rave reviews in the music production press followed up by its baby brother the Neuron VS and its little “NUKE” controller / hardware dongle. A sad story to a really interesting and promising brand!
Well now some years later, thanks to the current owners of the technology and assets of Hartmann Neuron - Prosoniq, The Neuron VS VST instument is back and its Free!
Not only is it free for anyone whether you previously owned it or not, its ties to the hardware NUKE controller and copy protection have also been cut, but if you don’t own the NUKE controller you will not have access to the XY controller sticks that morph between the models, You will however be able to play back the presets and perhaps these parameters will be assignable via MIDI controllers - this is yet to be seen.
Sadly for Windows OS users Neuron VS will only ever be available for OSX 10.6.8 upwards and never again available for Windows and will also only be available in VST format but if you follow some of Russ’ VST hosting for Pro Tools guides or use NI’s Maschine, VE Pro , Reaper or whatever way of hosting VST’s on your Mac you like you’ll be all set.
Go get it at neuronsynth.com but be patient with the downloads - I have a feeling this one is going to melt those servers!
Huge thanks to Stephan Bernsee of Prosoniq !
Enjoy! - Neil
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