Peff has a couple of animoog inspired Reason combis available on his Facebook page! Here's his description:
for those who don't have animoog for iPad, i've put together a combi in Reason 6 which demonstrates a 4x source fader on the modwheel which allows you to fade between four different graintable sources (Y Dimension of animoog). The index control rotary adjusts the grain index point on all four graintables (X dimension of animoog). Unlike the app this combi is only mono, but for the type of sound it generates, one voice is probably all that you need
"Like" Peff on Facebook and go to his "Reason and Record Media" section to download the combinators!
More info on Strymon pedals available @ strymon.net
More info on Peter Dyer available @ peterdyer.net. Peter will be playing keys for Aloe Blacc's European tour next month! Aloe sings the catchy "I Need a Dollar" track that's the theme song for HBO's "How to Make it in America".
"Live looping with a Fender Rhodes, Moog Prodigy, DSI Mopho, Akai APC20, Novation Launchpad, Akai LPD8, Akai MPD26, and an M-Audio Oxygen 25. All loops are recorded live. Video shot with a Zoom Q3HD and an iPhone 4." -Rheyne
"64 handcrafted ambient style presets for Glass Viper. Deep ambient pads, synth classics, keys, drones and organic sound effects. There are 29 pads of the 64 presets so it's pad haven.
Glass Viper is a unique wave shaping synth. Instead of taking a sample or oscillator and applying just filters and FX techniques, Glass Viper bends the actual shape of its waveforms through a series of moving control points. Going beyond analogue simulation, into a truly organic sound, from simple old synths to grungy filthy basses, or delicate pianos to strange unnatural film effects."-Luftrum
The October 2011 edition of Reason Wizardry is now available for subscribers! This issue concentrates on the new Alligator Triple Filtered Gate device found in Reason 6. Learn everything from the basics to filter morphing and audio splitting. There's also sections on setting up the Alligator with the Matrix and ReDrum! The October edition of Reason Wizardry also comes with 6 combinator patches illustrating the concepts covered in each section of the tutorials. Subscribers check your inbox for download links..... and if you aren't currently a subscriber go to www.nucleus-soundlab.com today and sub for a mere $9.95 a month! Wet your appetite with the demo video:
NOD-E v1.0 is a new Reaktor ensemble released today by Antonio Blanca available in the Reaktor User LIbrary that's based on a Lemur template. Here's a quote from Antonio on it's creation:
"Just a small experiment trying to recreate one lemur template on reaktor, however this one is a more "minimalistic" version ( I wanted to do a more simple version) it was created specially to work with synths like absynth (soundscapes, drone, ambient, sounds)."
"A Semiconductor work by Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt.
Audio Data courtesy of CARISMA, operated by the University of Alberta, funded by the Canadian Space Agency. Special Thanks to Andy Kale.
Made for the exhibition Invisible Fields at Arts Santa Monica in Barcelona Spain.
20 Hz observes a geo-magnetic storm occurring in the Earth's upper atmosphere. Working with data collected from the CARISMA radio array and interpreted as audio, we hear tweeting and rumbles caused by incoming solar wind, captured at the frequency of 20 Hertz. Generated directly by the sound, tangible and sculptural forms emerge suggestive of scientific visualisations. As different frequencies interact both visually and aurally, complex patterns emerge to create interference phenomena that probe the limits of our perception.
05.00 minutes. / HD / 2011 HD single channel and HD 3D single channel. 20Hz is co-commissioned by Arts Santa Monica + Lighthouse . Supported by the British Council."
"a maxforlive deivce i'm working on that synth's up audio and stuff, here it is on bass, mega noodle. probably the most pointless and silly video ever." -Mr.Ned Rush
Propellerhead released the Recycle 2.2 upgrade today which brings 64-bit compatibility to the program as well as a new look and some workflow improvements. Here's the list:
ReCycle 2.2 Fix List:
-The program is now compatible with 64 bit operating systems.
-ReCyle 2.2 is also a true Cocoa program under Mac OS and fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
-The main window has been graphically redesigned, including new zooming and scrolling. Scrolling is smoother and you can now zoom in further. Some redundant controls have been removed and others added.
-When exporting AIFF and Wave files, Record/Reason-style tempo information is now included in the file. Also, when importing audio files created in Record or Reason, the tempo information in those files is used for setting tempo and length in ReCycle.
-The Waveform now indicates graphically what sound will be played back, by dimming silent sections.
-You can now use the Q, W, E and R keys to select tools.
-The Preference dialog has been streamlined and updated.
-Open Recent (documents) is now a sub-menu on Mac OS.
-The status bar has been removed.
-We have removed support for the Sound Designer II, Mixman and SampleCell formats since these are all outdated.
-The authorization system and copy protection has been changed, reducing the risk of having to reauthorize the program.
-Installation under Mac OS is now drag and drop (no installer).
"In this video Chuck Inglish from the Cool Kids creates a backing track entirely in iMaschine including on site recordings from the skatepark in Venice Beach. Back in the studio he exports the project to Maschine Mikro to produce and arrange it further." -Native Instruments
"WaveDrummin" is not just another percussion ReFill. By finding a whole new continent Columbus redrew the map of our planet. Now it´s your turn to do so. By making use of this ReFill you can combine enchanting and haunting rhythms coming from all continents, maybe even from other planets as well as Wavedrummin opens doors to percussive bliss that have never been opened before. At the studio in Central Europe Soundcells recorded their favorite hits and bits coming from the ever popular Wavedrum by Korg while being caught by rhythms coming from distant worlds. The result of this all has become this ReFill, a work of art, a tool that lets you draw your own restyled map of our precious planet.
Realism vs mixability Lots of samples taken from acoustic, real percussion instruments have the tendency to sound kind of dull in your mixes. The power of their sound often gets mudded by the rest of your instruments. With this in mind Soundcells processed all DSP generated percussion coming from Korg´s Wavedrum Oriental in such a way that the sounds will always sit conveniently in your mixes. Their impact and power will never get lost. Another point that needs to be highlighted is this special stereo knob coming with lots of combinators that works wonders for the mixability of our loops. Check it out!
Genre Crossover The sounds of this percussion library are as authentic as you wish and at the same time they can be as electronic as you wish. There is no limit to their sonic possibilities. So whether you are a dance producer druling over techno or electro beats or you are a vegetarian ethno guru spiritualist... Wavedrummin will help you getting there. Check out the demos!
WaveDrummin Contents:
• 115 combinator patches stuffed with inspiring new energy.
• 107 rex loops that range from authentically acoustic to crazy electronic stuff, 20 Kong kits, 20 NNXT patches and 7 Redrum kits.
• 210 single hits to build your own kits from.
• Recorded impact noises coming from Brushes, Rods, Sticks and Fingers to add extra realism to the loops. The combinators carry knobs to control their volumes.
• All single loops and samples are included into this download in Rex and Wave format. By purchasing this pack you are not restricted to Reason only. However there is a lot more magic to be found within the ReFill.
WaveDrummin is available for 19.90€ from soundcells.de until November 13th (at which point the price goes up to 24.90€). Pick it up today!
"The Nova Delay iB Modified from TC Electronic is a limited run pedal with custom tweaks by famous tech Massimo Montovani. Massimo is the same man behind the sonic improvements of the G-System Limited. His modifications to the analog input buffer improves the TC Electronic Nova Delay's transparency, translating the right tone, feel and dynamics of your guitar signal to your amp. Value changes and higher quality components in the circuit dramatically improve the bass response of the Nova Delay iB Modified. Plus, all the great functionality of the original is there, including 6 delay types, tap tempo, modulation, spillover and reverse delay." -Pro Guitar Shop
Moog Music has released a 500 series Ladder Filter for modular synthesizers and hot damn is it pretty! Here's the press release:
Moog Music Debuts The Ladder, a Dynamic Transistor Ladder Filter
– First 500 Series Module from Moog Music-
AES • NEW YORK CITY • October 20, 2011—Moog Music, a North Carolina-based electronic musical instrument manufacturer, today announced the release of The Ladder, a Professional 500 Series Dynamic Ladder Filter based on Bob Moog's original ladder filter design. The Ladder is Moog Music’s first 500 series module for the Pro Audio market and is designed to add depth, flexibility and classic Moog vibe to sound sources.
“There have been a lot of firsts for Moog this year." said Mike Adams, President/CEO of Moog Music Inc. "The release of Animoog, the first professional synthesizer for the iPad has introduced us to whole new segment of customers. Now The Ladder will reacquaint Moog with the Pro Audio community that embraced Moog Modular Synthesizers in the 1960's. We are very happy to see the market utilizing this exciting format and we look forward to developing other modules.”
The Ladder packs all the punch, fullness and analog euphoria of the original Moog Filter, but adds key component and feature upgrades required for professional studio use. From classic Moog filtering and vibe to modern sweetening and wild, exciting behavior; The Ladder is a powerful, articulate sound sculpting tool.
The Ladder features include:
Low Pass and High Pass: The Ladder has inherited the smoothest all analog filter section possible. Choose between LP and HP at the flick of a switch.
Cutoff: Simply adjust this knob to determine where The Ladder begins to sculpt the sound.
Attack and Release: These variable controls allow you to perfectly dial in the timing behavior of The Ladder's envelope section. Use them to open and close the envelope as fast as lightning, or slow as molasses.
Amount: Use in Positive or Negative mode for mild to extreme sound shaping and manipulation. The amount determines how much signal is sent to the envelope section of The Ladder. From slight timbral excitement and voicing to extreme compression-like behavior and even reversed filtering is achievable.
Resonance: Controls the amount of harmonic bump at the cutoff frequency. This is the voice of The Ladder. Create sweet, dynamic or extreme speech like behavior and beyond. Accentuate specific frequencies to excite a sound or create completely new and unique ones.
NOTE: The Ladder's Resonance control can push the unit into self-oscillation. This can be used for effect if desired.
2Pole/4Pole: Select how aggressive the filter slope is. 2 pole is equal to 12db per octave, which is smooth and sweet, while 4 pole is 24db per octave, which is hard, aggressive and most similar to a Classic Moog filter.
Bypass: Totally transparent relay bypass for routing and A/B comparison
Availability and pricing: The Ladder will be available at Moog Dealers worldwide in December 2011 for MSRP US$769.00.
Dubstep producer Zomby has a new record coming out November 28th on 4AD. The 7 track record, titled Nothing, will be available for download and on 12" limited edition white vinyl! Here's how the record is described by 4AD:
Issued at the end of a busy year, like Dedication before it, it too shows just how far ahead of the rest of the pack Zomby really is. You might see it as companion piece to Dedication yet it also offers something of a bridge between the previous album and what's to come next. Considerably lighter in shade, even the artwork is reflective of this contrast – Dedication’s v23 designed sleeve a tombstone; Nothing a pure burst of light.
Again, the music tells its own story. While the trademark arpeggios and lilting melodies that have always characterized Zomby’s music are still present, what is startling is the breadth of styles channeled in just twenty-two minutes. Case in point is opener ‘Labyrinth’, an unabashed homage to early 90s hardcore. With perhaps one of the clearest vocals to feature on a Zomby record to date, it affronts with its directness. From there on, Nothing runs a gamut of sonic textures, drawing on jungle, rave, and grime in equal and unpredictable measure. Indeed, the immaculately titled closing track ‘Ecstasy Versions’ is a perfect condensing of Zomby’s muse, and an open door into his future. Wherever that might lead.
"Schwierigkeiststufe: Beginner ABER & das sei hier auch erwähnt, lässt es sich mit diesem Grundprinzip recht fix in die Profiliga des komplexen Signalrouting hoch arbeiten." -TecDruid
"...my new toy.It's the first attempt to work with the Tenori-on. I don't like most of the factory-sounds, but i think it's cool to use it as stepsequencer or controller.I will connected the Tenori with soft-synthies of Reaktor or Ableton Live 8." -ElectroLASSIE
"When Jordan Atkins-Loria (DJ Lucky Date) was introduced to Reason, he instantly recognized the potential of it's synths and set about to master them. Originally following tutorials he found online, Lucky Date began making his own tutorials which showcased his penchant for modern electro dance synths in Reason. As his tutorials grew in popularity, so did his career as a DJ and Producer.
In just a couple short years, DJ Lucky Date has gone from making his first video tutorial to completing 4 dirty electro dance ReFill sound libraries, charting on Beatport, and massive club and festival gigs as a headlininer.
We met up with Jordan one night in LA where he had a few thousand Angelinos jumping and screaming at Avalon in Hollywood, CA. Before the show he walked us through some of the secrets to his massive sounds and even gave us the patches so we can share them with you all."
Techno Fundamentals Pt.1: More Than A Bassline w/ John Selway
"In the first installment of Techno Fundamentals, electronic musician, Ableton Certified Trainer and Dubspot Instructor John Selway explains and shows you how to create interesting, deep, and lush bass sounds with Ableton Live's versatile software instrument Operator." -dubspot
Following on the success of our first Indie Rock Drums ReFill, Volume 2 delves even deeper into the many subgenres (and sounds) of indie rock. From the post-hardcore aggressiveness of Fugazi, to the slapbacked echos of Built to Spill, to the gritty blues of The Black Keys, this collection of loops and samples will give you those authentic DIY drums you've been searching for.
Recorded through classic Universal Audio 610 preamps, all of the loops are loaded into 28 unique Dr. Octo Rex patches, allowing you to quickly build custom drum arrangements tailored to your own songs. We also individually sampled every drum and cymbal from all of the sessions and created custom Kong and ReDrum patches, giving you the option to program your own beats utilizing our drum sounds.
On top of that, we designed a series of Combinators which tap into all of the great new effects in Reason 6, including The Echo, Pulveriser and Aligator. Combine that with feels ranging from Ted Leo-inspired uptempo shuffles to Pedro the Lion-esque 6/8 backbeats, and you have a complete arsenal of authentic indie rock drums at your disposal.
ReFill Specs:
- 250 REX2 Loops - 67 WAV Samples - 28 Dr Octo Rex Patches - 6 Kong Patches - 6 ReDrum Patches - 4 Combinators - High Quality, 24-bit 48 KHZ Audio - File size: 200 MB
There was a wonderful piece on the BBC replay in America this morning on Cory Arcangel a "33 year old computer programmer, web designer, and artist" from Brooklyn. He uses technology in his artwork, like in the above Photoshop gradient piece for Showpaper #112. Of particular interest to me is his Paganini's 5th Caprice, made up of a few hundred Youtube guitar instructional videos and the program Cory designed to create it Gould Pro. The Paganini piece was for Cory's exhibit at the Whitney last month. In the same vein is his work which uses cat videos to play Schoenberg (that is fraking amazing!) Check out Paganini's 5th Caprice:
ACE Controller designed for the u-He ACE Soft Synth by Urs Heckmanns. The ACE Controller is made by Mario Jurisch of synth-project.de who designed the impOscar 2 controller awhile back. Awesome!
"The A.C.E. Controller has 2 Doepfer Midi Interfaces inside. A 3 octave keyboard with velocity and Channel Aftertouch. About 90 knobs, 8 Sliders, 6 switches and Joystick to control the most important parameters of the Instrument. For the moment, the patch sockets, have no function, because there is no midi learn function for these sockets. I placed them for the final look and maybe for later use. I hope Mr.Heckmann find a way for the midi learn function of the patch sockets.
The black knobs are for the parameters of the main screen. The gray buttons at the buttom of the Front Panel are for the Tweak Page." -Mario
"In this micro tutorial we're taking a look at the new Clip Safe feature when recording with our Balance audio interface and either Reason Essentials or Reason software. Clip Safe lets you restore distorted takes, saving what could have been a perfect performance if not for the overload.
As musicians, once we start recording and putting our "all" into the performance we often find that our playing is louder than it was when we set our levels. Those of us who have lost too many good takes to distortion end up recording while watching the levels carefully. That sort of distraction hurts the performance. It's very difficult to be both performer and engineer at the same time.
Clip Safe lets us record, concentrate on our performance, and know that even if we do overload while recording we can simply repair our distorted audio and save the take." -Propellerhead
Animoog, powered by Moog’s new Anisotropic Synth Engine (ASE), is the first professional polyphonic synthesizer designed exclusively for the iPad. ASE allows you to move dynamically through an X/Y space of unique timbres to create a constantly evolving and expressive soundscape.
Animoog captures the vast sonic vocabulary of Moog synthesizers and applies it to the modern touch surface paradigm, enabling you to quickly sculpt incredibly fluid and dynamic sounds that live, breathe, and evolve as you play them.
Visually captivating and sonically immersive, Animoog brings iPad based music production to the next level. Whether you are new to synthesis or a professional, Animoog’s unique user interface gives you the power to easily create a visually vibrant and sonically rich universe. It is the ultimate tool for total creative expression!
Animoog’s diverse library of timbres is derived from analog waveforms captured from classic Moog oscillators, both vintage and modern, and run through a boutique’s worth of high-end outboard and analog signal processors. These include modular synth panels, Moogerfooger pedals and more.
Animoog is the newest innovation in creative tools from Moog Music, the legendary electronic musical instrument company founded by Bob Moog in Asheville, NC.
Key Features:
• Anisotropic Synth Engine (ASE) - An exciting new Moog technology that allows the user to move dynamically through an X/Y space of unique timbres to create an expressive and constantly evolving soundscape.
• Timbre page – Assemble unique sounds in the X/Y space from timbres of a wide variety of vintage and modern Moog synthesizers and pedals. Note: this is NOT simple sample playback.
• Polyphonic Modulation - Simply slide your fingers to control multiple modulation parameters in Animoog right from the keys.
• Polyphonic Pitch Shifting - Easily manipulate the exact pitch of each note in a chord by rotating or sliding your fingers.
• Delay Module - A classic analog style ping pong delay.
• Thick Module - From bit crushing to unison voice detuning and drive, this module adds depth, edge and character to Animoog’s already massive sound palette.
• Moog Filter - The classic four-pole Moog ladder filter with High Pass, Low Pass and Band Pass modes.
• Record Module - Record your performance and overdub new layers, or play along live. Transfer recordings between Animoog and any other apps which support AudioCopy/AudioPaste
• Path Module - Direct ASE through Animoog’s X/Y space to create new expressive and shifting sounds that will blow your mind!
• Orbit Module - Control the rate of orbit in the X/Y space around the path you created for subtle to insane voice manipulation.
• Flexible Modulation Matrix - Amp, Filter and Mod Envelopes, LFO with infinitely variable wave shapes and sync, and four super flexible and assignable modulation slots.
• MIDI in/out - Use your Little Phatty or any other MIDI controller to control Animoog.
Animoog from Moog Music available for .99 cents @ iTunes for the next thirty days! (Regular price will be $29.99)
Great interview with Sascha Ring about the new Apparat album, The Devil's Walk, out now on Mute Records. This is definitely my 2011 Autumn record, check it:
"Vi avevamo già parlato dell'ultimo lavoro di Apparat a settembre. Ora invece è lo stesso Sascha ad introdurlo rispondendo alle domande del giornalista Piers Martin in questa clip di 15 minuti. Il video è stato girato a Berlino e non voglio anticiparvi nulla... Cliccate play e perdetevi tra le bellissime immagini e una colonna sonora ovviamente affascinante. Buona visione!" -soundwall
Below is Thom Yorke's DJ set from the TKOL RMX 1234567 release party on October 11th courtesy of The Boiler Room. You can also download the set on itunes. Thom will be spinning again this Sunday on the BBC 6 @ 8pm (GMT).
New Balance video done by Line 6, Propellerhead's North American distributor. Check it:
"Balance is the new audio interface from Propellerhead. Reason owners and Record owners who purchase Balance receive a free Reason 6 Upgrade download. Balance comes with Reason Essentials: powerful, easy-to-use recording software with unlimited audio and MIDI tracks. Balance is the only audio interface specifically designed to work with Propellerhead Reason. It also works with other pro audio apps, as well as iTunes, Windows Media Player, and more." -Line6
The wait is over! Dave Smith Instruments is now shipping the fabled Tempest Analog Drum Machine that first appeared on the scene at NAMM 2007 as the BoomChik. Along the development route Tempest's name and structure has changed dramatically from the original BoomChik to the LinnDrum II to it's release as the Tempest Analog Drum Machine. Here's a look at it's evolution:
First design, showcased at NAMM 2007 as BoomChik:
Second design, showcased at NAMM 2008 as LinnDrum II in two models, the first being an all digital sampler model:
And as the LinnDrum II Analog Drum Machine:
LinnDrum II Third design is teased later in 2008:
According to Roger Linn the Linn Drum II Digital Sampler is still in development, but is a long way off. This past year Dave Smith and Roger Linn have been working exclusively on getting the Tempest to market. As Roger states "Tempest has turned out much, much better than I originally expected. In fact, I ended up putting most of my best LinnDrum II design ideas into it. Plus I have to admit that the beautifully complex sounds and real-time tweakability of Dave's analog+sample voices give it a pretty amazing sonic pallete, and its real-time performance operating system and 90 panel controls make it a monster of a performance instrument."
The Tempest features a beautiful OLED display, a Curtis analog lowpass filter with audio-rate modulation, an additional high pass filter, 16 pressure and velocity sensitive pads, as well as "two touch controllers to record real-time note sound animations or perform beat-wide sound changes." For oscillators the Tempest features six analog voices with two analog oscillators plus two digital oscillators (with a large bank of included samples.) What will set the Tempest apart from other drum machines is it's future ability to double as a six-voice analog keyboard synth! However currently that's one of the things yet to be included in Tempest that will be implemented in future OS updates, here's the full list:
Reverse playback Sound Bank B (32 sounds per beat instead of the current 16 per beat) Play Lists (lists of drumbeats that play in sequence) Time Signatures other than 4/4 USB MIDI clock in sync (clock out is functional) MIDI control of parameters (files can be exported/imported) MIDI keyboard control for use as a 6-voice polysynth Tap Tempo Undo Record (Erase and Revert work fine) Drum Kits (individual sounds can be saved and loaded now)
In a message on DSI.com Dave Smith and Roger Linn talk about the development and release of Tempest:
"As many of you know, this product has been a long time in the making. It is easily the most complex musical instrument we have ever built, a monumental task for a very tiny company. At this point we have a number of units in the field used by a variety of top artists, and the early reaction has been amazing and highly encouraging!
When we originally announced Tempest, perhaps we were a bit optimistic in giving details about all of our planned features for the product. As a result, even though Tempest is now an immensely capable tool, we've decided to ship with some of those features not yet implemented. We are finding that already this instrument is so powerful and musicians are having so much fun that it's time to go for it. Check the video links below and see if you agree!
The hardware is solid and rest assured Tempest is stable and will not eat your beats. Going forward we'll be releasing periodic free software updates that can be downloaded and installed over MIDI, and we'll be maintaining a list of what is remaining to implement. If you wish to wait until all features are done, we understand. If you wish to try it out first then decide to wait, that's OK, too—we will maintain a liberal, no-questions-asked return policy while we're finishing up the remaining features.
Be assured that we stand behind the product and we are fully committed to insuring that everyone has a great experience with it. We are really looking forward to seeing/hearing Tempest in action!"
-Dave and Roger
The Tempest Analog Drum Machine is now available for purchase from your favorite music store for $1999 USD! Because of it's high demand you probably want to get your order in quickly if you want one in the near future...
The below video by AnalogAudio1 has me wishing I never sold my Yamaha SY-22 Vector Synthesizer! According to VintageSynth.com the SY-22 "uses a synthesis method known as vector synthesis (similar to that on the ProphetVS and Korg Wavestation) in which samples and FM sounds (adapted from Yamaha's DX line) are altered and combined using the on-board joystick to create new and often interesting sounds... its strengths lie in its ability to record data manipulation in real-time and its multitimbrality - both of which lend themselves to creating some complex and cool sounds perfect for ambient, dub and industrial styles." If you like the sound in the video there's a table top sound module version called the TG-33 you can regularly find on ebay for cheap! An expanded keyboard version was also made called the SY-35. Check it out:
Audio Damage have put up the product page for the forthcoming Filterstation plug-in. Here's the info:
"Filterstation is the Audio Damage take on the classic serial/parallel/stereo dual filter topology, made famous (and some would say "indispensable") by the Sherman Filterbank and its many clones. With twelve filter algorithms (including our all-new MS20 lowpass and highpass emulations), an envelope follower, saturation, and an easy-to-use interface, Filterstation has everything you need to get your noink on!"
Filterstation Features:
• Twelve different filter algorithms, including two all-new MS20 emulations and our classic 914 bandpass and Filterpod lowpass models.
• VCA mode for tremolo and gate effects.
• LFO with twelve different patterns, and both internal and tempo sync modes.
• Envelope follower for dynamic control of filter frequency.
• Serial, parallel, and true stereo operating modes.
• Sidechain input for external signal to envelope follower. (VST3 only.)
Coming out October 17th via Inhale Gold and The Vinyl Factory the long awaited Massive Attack collaboration with Burial! The 4 Walls / Paradise Circus 12" is very limited edition with only 1000 copies being produced world wide. Pressed on heavyweight 180g vinyl and housed in a stunning hand numbered, gold glitter screen-printed sleeve designed by Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja (3D), this edition has been crafted by The Vinyl Factory, and is sure to become a highly coveted collectors item. You can pre-order copies exclusively from vfeditions.com. Each track measures in at around 12 minutes! "As you’d expect from these two acts these are no ordinary remixes and Burial has completely rebuilt both tracks in his own unique style providing a masterclass in production." Want!
Robert Anselmi from Reason101.net has a new effects refill out for Reason 6 called Pureffects. This refill features effects patches created with Reason 6's 3 new effects devices - from gates to echoes to warm compression, as well as reverbs, vocoders, distortion and amps created with Reason's other great effects devices. The part of the refill that has me most intrigued is the keyboard controllable FX patches for live performance use! Here's a rundown:
200 Combinators (135 unique effect patches and 65 keyboard-controlled & Kong pad-controlled effect patches) 200 Pulveriser patches 200 The Echo patches 200 Alligator patches 108 Scream patches 100 RV7000 patches 242 Line 6 Amp patches 34-page PDF User Guide
Pulveriser x 3 - Bass Compression, Filter Effects +
"In this tutorial Dubspot instructor and electronic musician Chris Petti takes you through three very powerful uses and applications for the versatile new Pulveriser effect processor in Propellerhead's Reason 6. Pulveriser brings together crunchy compression, dirty distortion, a multimode filter and flexible modulation in a single sound-crunching effect. Crush, mangle, and destroy your sounds. Apply careful parallel compression to bring out the details of a sample or recording. Use the envelope follower when recording live instruments for responsive, expressive filter effects." -dubspot
Nick just posted this message on the PUF about his new commercial refill for Reason, The ARP2600 R:
"Well it's been a long time coming. Having sound designed patches for both Nucleus Soundlab, FSB and having released the free Magic Moog Refill (available through Propellerheads) I thought it was about time to release my own commercial refill. The ARP2600 R is a combination of both samples and Reason generated patches that aim to re-create the tones of an original ARP 2600 synthesizer. This project took a ridiculously long time to finish as it was actually started nearly 4 years ago. The aim was not only to bring the sounds of the 2600 to the Reason format but also to capture the analog sound and feel using a variety of techniques. The original ARP Instruments patch suggestions book has been recreated along with many new sounds. The Refill contains over 700 pathces and samples together with a 22 page booklet covering the history of the development of the ARP2600 plus information upon the Refill itself. All the patches are compatible with Reason 5 and 6.
Please check out the web page for more info where we have some song demonstartions and a video covering hopefully all you need to know about the Refill. The ARP2600R retails at $49."
Ed "EditEd4TV" Bauman is no stranger to die hard Reason users. He's a stalwart member of the PUF and hosted the "Create Any Sound You Hear" day for Propellerhead's May Music Making Month this past Spring. I had the pleasure of interviewing Ed for Resonant Filter back in August of 2009, and have enjoyed his fantastic Recovers ever since they started appearing on Ed's youtube channel. So when I found out about his new 88mph Vol.1 Reason Refill I knew we needed to take a closer look...
EditEd4tv's 88mph Vol.1 is a refill based on Ed's Recover work and consists of 51 combinator patches made up from 9 classic 80s hits: Prince's "1999", Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough", Simple Minds' "Don't Your Forget About Me', Human League's "Don't You Want Me", Cindy Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", Blondie's "Heart of Glass", Bowie's "Let's Dance", Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams". It should be noted that Ed's Recovers have sounded so much like the originals that he's had many flagged on youtube for copyright infringement! Each patch in 88mph Vol.1 is named beginning with E4TV_Song Name, then Patch (example E4TV_1999 Bass Synth). That way each song's patches are near each other. Makes sense? Will take a closer look at a few of these tracks in a minute, but first I wanted to ask Ed why he thought 80s music remains so popular 20+ years after the fact:
"I think 80's music has survived through the years because it was simply a fun time. Granted there were problems of course, what era doesn't have problems, but growing up in the 80's as a teen was an incredible experience. Had I known what was occurring at the time, had I known we'd look back with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia... I would have paid more attention. That time was the rise of the synthesizer. Sure we had synths well before this time, but it was the birth of MIDI and the acceptance of keyboards as the primary instrument in modern pop.
And I think the truly great thing about 80's synths is that they're very specific, the tone and feel is very, well, 80's. Take for example a guitar sound. Guitars of the 50's through today have always sounded like guitars, no offense meant at all, in fact that's a good thing, but the guitar is a specific instrument that changes via the type of guitar, the effects applied, and the amp choice. And it's very much tied to the players style and ability. But a rock guitar from the 60's, that specific tone, can be used today, and based upon the players style and ability - it doesn't necessarily drip with 60's at all, it's modern, it fits in with today. Now take an 80's synth patch, and play it today, and 90 percent of the time it still has that 80's feel to it. It's identifiable. A big part of this I believe is how modern synths are so intensely multi-sampled and multi-layered and multi-effected and so much more. For me, it's sometimes overkill; why doesn't that enormous synth sound fit in the song?... because it's too freakin' huge. Back in the 80's the circuitry was expensive and sample RAM was expensive too, so you made the best with what you had: a simple sawtooth wave with a bit of chorus and a bit of reverb and you were golden. The instrumentation was often simple, the production was clean (except for massive reverb of course), the songs were *happy*... you don't often hear that today - too much bitter angst. Anyway, I'm reminiscing now, but yeah, it was a great time to live through."
The first set of patches in 88mph come from Prince's "1999". One of my all-time favorite artists! There's a "Bass Synth" patch, the ubiquitous 80's "Wind Whoosh" and the "Strings" sound used on so many of Prince's songs from that era. The "Strings" sound is one of my favorite patches from 88mph Vol.1. In fact my 86 year old neighbor is probably wondering why every morning this week she's been awakened to that particular sound and me saying "Dearly Beloved we are gathered here today to get thru this thing called life." Bless her heart she hasn't called the cops yet... ;-) But I digress, on this patch Ed uses both the LFO2 and Mod Envelope in Thor to achieve this lovely sound, which I asked him about:
"The string sound from "1999" has pitch modulation from both LFO2 and the Mod Envelope. The Mod Envelope in this particular patch is affecting Oscillator 1 only; it ramps up the pitch so that each note played has a bit of a bend at the attack. It's almost like a portamento glide up to the pitch. But because it's only Oscillator 1, it blends with the other unaffected oscillators to provide a bit of thick beating at the onset of a chord. The LFO2 output is routed via Thor's Modulation Bus Routing Section (MBRS) to CV1 output, where it's routed right back into the pitch bend input with a CV cable. You can do the same thing in the MBRS via 3 separate routing assignments, but this was a quick and easy way to affect all 3 oscillators at once. The amount sent from source to destination is very subtle (in fact it's probably too subtle), and it adds a bit of warble to the overall pitch of all 3 oscillators."
Let's take a look at Simple Minds "Don't You Forget About Me", the song that made the movie "The Breakfast Club" famous, or is it the other way around? 16 patches are included from this classic, including the fantastic "Synth", "Bass 2" and "Chirpy SID". The "Piano" sound has found it's way into my daily scales and chord practice because of it's great sound and easy control of ambience with Rotary 3. Both The "Piano" and "Choir" patches are based on samples whose origin I asked Ed about:
"The ReFill contains a number of samples within NN-XT devices, and these all access the Factory Soundbank included with Reason. It's one of the biggest mistakes that people make in my opinion... to pass off the Factory Soundbank as old and tired. There's a LOT of great content in there - a LOT. People tend to want to go beyond the FSB and search out something new and different, but I tell 'ya, there's a ton of patches in there that can be the foundation of many great things."
3 patches from Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" make it in to 88mph Vol.1 as well. A great "Organ" made up from 2 Thor Saw Analog Oscillators and 1 Saw Multi Oscillator (with control for detuning on Rotary 1.) Button 1 on the "Organ" patch enables Velocity Sensitivity for more responsive playing. But my favorite patch of the three has to be the "Whistle" sound from the bridge section of the song. This "Whistle" patch has controls for the frequency of the Low Pass Filter on Rotary 1 and control for Delay Time on Rotary 3 that sweeps from an ambient slapback (63 milliseconds) to a nice slower delay (417 ms.) Between these controls and the Octave control on Rotary 2 it's very easy to tailor this patch to your own liking.
From the pop music of Madonna to the funkiness of Prince I had to ask Ed how he decides upon songs for both his Recovers and 88mph:
"I decide the songs I'm going to tackle based pretty much on just what I feel like doing. I stick mostly with New Wave of course, because it's synth oriented, but I delve into other 80's genres now and then. The source list we've compiled for the Retromaniax (the 80's cover band I'm in) is absolutely huge. It's amazing how long the list is - literally hundreds and hundreds of songs, and you can randomly pick any song in the list and start singing it, everybody remembers these songs (well, not *everybody*, but you know what I mean). So the list is long, and when you're flooded with so many great memories with each song, it's actually very hard to decide which song to recreate, they're all great. There's just not enough time to do them all."
2 patches made up from Blondie's "Heart Of Glass" make it in to 88mph Vol.1, an absolutely beautiful "Phasing Pad" and the fantastic "Pulsing Synth" sound, the latter of which uses LFo1 in Thor to modulate both the Amp Gain and Filter 1 Frequency to great effect. The former, "Phasing Pad", is a gorgeous pad sound created with a Thor Polysonic Synthesizer sent thru a PH-90 Phaser, with controls for the Phaser Speed and Feedback controlled from the Combinator's front plate on Rotary 3 and Button 3, respectively. Beautiful!
Some of my other favorite patches from this refill come from Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" - "Sampled Brass" and "Round Synth 2" . One thing really worth mentioning about 88mph Vol.1 is that every patch has mappings for the 4 Rotaries and Buttons on the front of the combinators and the majority for the Mod Wheel - which makes them easily tailorable for your own productions, be them covers of these classic songs or more modern creations. In fact, Ed uses these patches in his own band The Retromaniax:
"Yes, all these patches come straight from the songs we've done with the Retromaniax except these are much more fine-tuned and overhauled. Upon loading any given patch the parameters are all set and ready to play as heard in the original song. To make things easy to get back to original settings, most patches load in with the knobs at either 0%, 50%, or 100%, so you can easily find your way back to normal. But yeah, these are exactly what I use with the cover band. When I take a look at my cover versions, the patches are made 95% from the ground up with initialized devices - that other 5% is an occasional NN-XT load-in of a sampled piano or something of that nature, but the analog synths are almost always initialized. Once the patch is made I'll map volume to Combi knob 4 and that's it, I'm done. But when I decided to make this ReFill I couldn't just release the patches as is with only 1 parameter mapped, so I went through a lot of work to make each patch interesting. Upon initial load-in the patch is exactly how I used it for that specific song, but changing the knobs and buttons can create some incredible changes - that's a VERY important element of this ReFill: don't just load a patch and be done, you really need to explore the knobs and buttons because I went through a lot of programming to make sure each patch provides a ton of variation. I'd say the rough average of initial creation of any single patch is perhaps 30 minutes or so, and upon revisiting each patch for this ReFill I'll spend anywhere from 20 to 60 additional minutes programming various parameters to do something for the end user, so each patch has about 50 to 90 minutes of time invested into it. That right there... that's love. :)"
In conclusion, 88mph Vol.1 is a fantastic refill for classic synth sounds from the 1980s. These patches are perfect for those interested in injecting a little sonic revivalism into their songs, and/or anyone in a cover band. You can pick up your copy of 88mph Vol.1 today from baumanproductions.com for $35 USD, or pre pay for the coming two volumes in advance for $80. And if you're in the Bay Area, make sure to check out Ed perform with The Retromaniax!
"Jamie Lidell performs an iMaschine exclusive version of "A Little Bit More" from the album Multiply (2005, Warp) while relaxing in bed. The entire performance was done live in one take, with nothing pre-recorded, and no post-production edits made to the song." -Native Instruments
Here's some pics of Propellerhead's Office space at Hornsbruksgatan 23, Stockholm, courtesy of Sveriges Snyggaste Kontor. The offices were designed by BSK Arkitekter and feature an open floor plan with work stations partitioned with sound absorbing studio foam, a performance space at the entrance for live acts and a dining area reminiscent of a classic french bistro! Check out the desks, they appear to be made from industrial grade instrument cases flight cases. Cool! Little better than my office at Resonant Filter ;-). Click on pics for a better view.
Portishead performed "Chase the Tear" live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon yesterday. Audience members were treated to a performance of "Mysterons" as well. This appearance on Fallon was Portishead's first American TV performance in well over a decade and follows the All Tomorrow's Party event they curated last week in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Check out both Fallon performances below:
"Just found a new .ens in the Reaktor User Lib: Silverbird. It's a pretty cool sample-based drum machine w/ some decent FX 'n filters and a damned good distortion unit (which makes it perfect for any Hardcore styles!). It also has 3 sequencers for pitch, decay and the sample selection." -salzmanufaktur
"Dubspot instructor and Sound Design & Synthesis curriculum co-designer Evan Sutton will walk you through some of the basic principles of using Reaktor, Native Instruments' versatile and highly customizable modular software and production tool. Starting with simple library management, and working through various naming and organizational concepts, you will achieve a basic understanding of the Reaktor environment. The last thing he explains is how to customize a factory ensemble by adding an effect." -dubspot
MacProVideo.com has a special 6 Days of Reason 6 series going on now in honor of the release of Propellerhead's Reason 6 upgrade! Learn Reason 6 from the pros, with videos by Hollin Jones, G.W. Childs IV, and Mo Volans. Join MacProVideo today!
"On the heels of their Hollywood Bowl performance TV on the Radio return to KCRW to perform songs of love and longing from Nine Types of Light on Morning Becomes Eclectic. Watch / Listen to the full session here." -KCRW
