Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope this past year has been a good one for you and yours... Since this is the time of year where people reflect, I thought I'd make a list of tops for me this year:

1. Reason 6 - The Props bring it all together in one straight forward package of music making software.

2. Reaktor Razor Ensemble - Finally someone creates an additive synthesizer that's easy to navigate. While Razor can certainly do the Wob Wob sounds used in it's ad, I really love it for leads and sub basses. Nice one Native Instruments and Errorsmith!

3. Robot Koch's The Other Side - This album has been the soundtrack to my Fall and Winter. Buy it now!

4. Nucleus SoundLab Pantheon III - Yes I worked on this refill, and while I'm proud of my own sound design on P3 what keeps me coming back to it is the quality of work by everyone involved in the project. And if you haven't picked this up yet, you have until January 7th, 2012 to qualify for the 30% discount ;-).

5. Moog Slim Phatty - While the Slim Phatty was released at the end of 2010 I didn't get my paws on one until the local big box store had a model on display this year. Lovely analog oscillators and a smooth Moog Low Pass Filter - what's not to love? Seeing as I have $800 set aside for one, expect this on my 2012 list as well ;-).

6. Novation Impulse 49 Key Model - Leave it to Novation to create a 49 key midi controller that finally breaks the $399 (USD) barrier while still retaining quality keys. Don't get me wrong, I won't be trading my SL MKii in for one any time soon (the faders on the SL are much much better), but for those in need of a new controller on the cheap it's a no brainer!

7. Tom Pritchard Sound Design - Mr. Tom Pritchard has long been one of my sound design heroes. His patches have a playability that I think a lot of other designers miss and his 2011 foray into commercial sound design with the Tom Pritchard Sound Design moniker couldn't please me more. Read my review of FatBank for more information.

8. Apparat's Devil's Walk - Two years in the making, Apparat's Devil's Walk album melds electronica with rock and pop into a polished lp perfect for long winter strolls in the snow. With the help of Joshua Eustis (of Telafon Tel Aviv) and friend Fredo Noguerira, it's no wonder this album is so fantastic.

9. Sonic Couture's Broken Wurli - The Wurlizter 200a has long been my favorite electric piano and Sonic Couture's Broken Wurli for Kontakt (and Kontakt Player) captures the magic of that sound for those of us without the space for one. This library was recorded with a 200a borrowed from Neil Davidge, producer for Massive Attack, who describes the piano as having "a dodgy distorting speaker that sounds great.”


10. Miles Davis Live In Europe 1967 - The first in a series of bootleg releases from Sony, Live in Europe 1967 captures the second legendary Miles Davis Quartet in fine form on 2 CDs and a DVD. A sort of missing link between Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew, Live in Europe is a must have for jazz afficionados!

Special Mentions: 2011 has been a great year to be a Reason user, with a slew of new refills at Rackflip.com (I'm currently eyeing Floe and Missing Pieces OctoPulse Thor) as well as a new refill from legendary Reason user Ed Bauman with EditEd's 88mph Vol.1, plus a number of great new refills from Harald Karla at Soundcells, the only tough part has been deciding where and what to spend your hard earned money on!

Have a wonderful 2012!

Silverbird Live Reaktor Ensemble how to use breakbeat

"Hi, this is a video to show some features and the workflow of the Reaktor Ensemble: "Silverbird Live" from a.goc and j.kanzler
This example is with a breakbeat
A great reaktor groovebox......
Best regards." -moresound4u

QuNeo 3D Multi-touch Pad Controller

QuNeo is a 3D Multi-touch Pad Controller being developed by Keith McMillen, who has constructed instruments and controllers for the likes of Bob Weir, Laurie Anderson, John Paul Jones and the Kronos Quartet! QuNeo is open source and currently has a kickstarter campaign running with over $100,000 pledged (with an initial $15,000 goal.) Here's the info from kickstarter:

QuNeo is a different species of pad controller for electronic musicians, DJs, VJs and DIY hackers. While it covers all of the functionality of other pad controllers, QuNeo adds the power of touch recognition in other dimensions.

Features:

Tactile Pads, Sliders, Rotary Sensors and Switches

Each of the 27 pads, sliders and rotary sensors are pressure, velocity, and location sensitive. Even the 17 switches respond to how hard you press.

LED Light Feedback

A remarkable lumination scheme combines variably diffusive elastomers with 251 multi-color LEDs providing visual feedback that is immediately responsive and delightfully informative. Man and machine are coupled through light, feel and sound.

Trigger Pads

16 square pads provide 127 levels of Velocity response. And X-Y location. And continuous pressure. For each pad. Times sixteen.

Rotary Sensors

2 rotary sensors allow you to scrub, trigger, stretch, pinch and play phrases and sound files, manipulate continuous controllers and more . Each rotary sensor measures angle, pressure and distance from the center.

Multi-touch Sliders

9 touch sensitive sliders can be mapped to fader and effects controls. LEDs within each slider act as VU meters or remind you where you were. Multi-touch lets you select a length between two fingers to set stereo locations or filter resonances. Tapping a slider can mute or toggle any track or function.

Switches

The switches are located in smart groupings to select samples, fader banks, and transport controls. Each of the switches can scan up and down through files at speeds variable with your touch. Great for quickly locating that perfect fill or telling your looper you really meant it.

The Size of an iPad.

QuNeo is the size of an iPad and can fit in iPad accessories such as mic clips, stands and more.

Class Compliant and Open Source Development Kit

QuNeo works with USB, MIDI or OSC and will communicate with your favorite music software environments right out of the box. More advanced users and programmers can use the development kit and API to create their own code to respond to QuNeo's sensor data. Hack away to control your world in ways never before possible!

Only 10 days left to pledge $200 USD (or more) for your own 1st edition QuNeo @ kickstarter. This is your chance to rock a QuNeo before they're available to the general public!

Koadij / Beats & Poles

"Hank walks into a pole dancing studio and all hell breaks loose."

Directed by David Dutton - duttonfilms.com/
Music by Henry Dutton
Lighting by Fernando Camarena
The Dancer - BAD ABY - omgitsbadaby.com/

Jam Session 6 "Better":

Jam Session 6 "Better" from David Dutton on Vimeo.

GRID Reaktor Ensemble

GRID is a new Sound Sequencer Reaktor ensemble from Icebreaker Audio available for £20 ($30/€24 approx.)

GRID is designed to be a sound sequencer, it is neither a drum machine nor a sequenced synthesizer, but some kind of hybrid of the two. GRID was designed to have no tabs and a single set of controls for the sound source. The central part of GRID is the 8×8 matrix sequencer. This is where the patterns are created using 8 steps along the x axis and 8 voices along the y axis. Voices are like partials of an additive synthesizer, or like notes in a scale. They can be either depending on how you with to use GRID. Each voice can have its own pattern length, allowing for interesting polyrhythms.

Key Features:

- 8 voice sound sequencer controlled from an animated 8×8 grid
- 42 presets with 4 patterns per preset (a total of 168 patterns)
- Per voice pattern length
- Analog and digital sound generation modes
- 2 modulation step sequencers and an LFO
- Filter and delay effects built in
- “Glitch” controls to add chaos and noise
- Automatic tempo-synchronization when used in a host
- Preconfigured TouchOSC templates for iPad and iPhone

Buy GRID today @ www.icebreaker-audio.com/products/grid/


GRID Audio Demos by Icebreaker Audio

Bernard Childcare Trust ReFill!

James Bernard has long been one of my musical heroes - for both his formidable music and work with Propellerhead. If you're a Reason user chances are you know his wife Nicole passed away earlier this year after a 2 1/2 year battle with Leukemia, leaving behind 4 young children. The Bernard Childcare Trust ReFill is a collaborative effort between six refill producers with the goal of passing all proceeds on to the Bernard family to help with their care.

The contributors:

Nicholas: DrDist/Odarmonix,
Ed: Bauman Productions,
Marco: Koshdukai’s Music(al) Reason(Ing)
Rob: Reason101.net,
Robb: Reason Patch-A-Day,
3rd Floor Sound: 3rdfloorsound.com
with special e-commerce help from Theo (New Atlantis Audio): www.rackflip.com

Contents:

- 47 Combinators
- 54 Thors
- 6 Kongs
- 108 Samples
- 41 NN19s
- 9 NNXTs
- 16 Malstroms
- 13 Subtractors
- 15 Effects
- 4 Rex loops

Purchase the Bernard Childcare Trust ReFill today for $20.73!

DEMO Bernard Childcare Trust refill by 3rdFloor

Addendum: If the Holidays left you short on cash you can also donate to the trust fund set up for the Bernard children by buying James Bernard's Guidance single with Olivia Broadfield, available thru jamesbernard.bandcamp.com for $1.99!

Soundcells Nordic Red!

Soundcells released this amazing new FREE refill for Christmas called Nordic Red, but having been visiting my sister in Oregon I just got around to downloading it today. Here's the lowdown, Nordic Red is based on samples from the legendary Nord Modular G2X Synthesizer. The G2X's modular environment made it great for creating self-playing patches, called "Noodles", which is what Nordic Red is based upon. These patches are great to use as soundbeds for starting tracks or creating ambient washes of sonic delight. Some of my favorite of the twenty included combinators are Fragments, Machine, Nightlife 2 and War Neuroses. In addition to the NNXT and combi patches is a folder containing the raw sample material, making it easy for anyone to use the material in any sampler of their choosing - I'm planning on loading some of these into a few of my favorite Reaktor granular synths later today ;-). Info on how to get your copy of Nordic Red for FREE can be found at www.soundcells.de

DER OTO

As you probably know, OTO updated the Biscuit recently from being an amazing 8bit distortion and effects device to also include a digital monosynth and 16 track sequencer with a firmware update available for free to existing owners. Here's one of the first videos I've seen of the new functions by duncanperson:


"Demo featuring the new OTO machines Biscuit update: DER OTO, and a bit of reverb and delay from the space echo. A really nice sounding digital synthesizer with the analogue filter on the back end! All sequencing done within the biscuit itself. This video also shows the new vinyl overlay for DER OTO - go buy one to support this amazing FREE update from oto machines." -duncanperson

Jonsi - Gathering Stories

New animated video from Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi for the track "Gathering Stories", from the film "We Bought a Zoo". The video was designed by Crush Creative who describe the project with: "a lot of sleepless nights and overtime went into creating this magical video,which features a huge menagerie of animals and our hero going on a epic journey across ice and desert." Check it:

trying_skanner

If you own Reaktor, make sure to download Native Instruments' Skanner, a FREE Reaktor ensemble NI made for the Holidays. Here's SoftSynthPortal running thru some of Skanner's sounds:

CRB DIAMOND 725 - Vintage Rhythm Box 1973

Here's another vintage rhythm machine video by AnalogAudio1, this time featuring the rare Italian CRB Diamond 725 from 1973! Dig the kick and snare on this bad boy:

Sonic State Tempest Analog Drum Machine Review!

Watching Nick Batt review the new Tempest Analog Drum Machine is almost as good as getting one for Christmas:


"A review of the latest partnership between two of the most well respected synth designers around. This is a 6 voice analog drum machinesynthesizer." -Sonic State

Reason Wizardry October Issue in Full!

As a Christmas gift for the holidays this year, Nucleus SoundLab has posted the entire October issue of Reason Wizardry to Youtube! This issue is on Reason 6's new Alligator effect - from the basics to creating your own gating patterns. And speaking of Nucleus SoundLab - all products are currently 30% off until January 7th! If you haven't picked up the Pantheon III ReFIll yet, now is the perfect time!

Chick Corea on Analog Synths Live

Jazz legend Chick Corea talks about using Moog synths on the Return to Forever reunion tour:


"Chick Corea took a moment from his 2011 tour with Return to Forever IV to talk about the role of various analog synthesizers in his on-stage sound."
-Moog

Olivia Broadfield Remix Competition!

Remix Olivia Broadfield's Reason 6 demo song "Say" for a chance to win $1000 in prizes - including Balance! Though, I think I'd rather the prize was a date with Olivia ;-). Check it:


"In conjunction with TUAW.com, Propellerhead and Soundcloud, UK singer-songwriter Olivia Broadfield is giving remixers the opportunity to walk off with over $1000 worth of prizes, including a Balance interface, Reason 6 music production software and Pro membership to Soundcloud. All you have to do to is put your own twist on Olivia's song Say, to enter just email olivia@propellerheads.se
Good luck!" -Olivia Broadfield

October 2011 Reason Wizardry Video in Full!

As a present from Nucleus SoundLab for the Holidays, here's the October 2011 issue of Reason Wizardry:

Native Instruments Skanner

Native Instruments has released a brand new Reaktor ensemble for the holidays called Skanner and the best part is it's FREE! Skanner is a sample based synthesizer designed by Stephan Schmitt, the father of Reaktor and designer behind some of Reaktor's greatest ensembles (like Spark and Prism.) Native Instruments describes the synthesis method on NI.com as:

SKANNER ingeniously mixes sampler and synthesizer. The two oscillators ‘scan’ a sample; at low frequencies you get the ‘scratch’ sound of the sample being read back and forth, while at higher frequencies the dominant force is the oscillators being shaped by the sample waveform. The resulting sounds are raw, dirty and highly unpredictable – from simple sine waves to walls of noise.

Sounds fantastic! Go to Native-Instruments.com today to download Skanner for Reaktor 5.6.2.

Reaktor Effect: Drev's Phase Phucker

Jess Hewitt of Drev expounding on his latest magical Reaktor ensemble the Phase Phucker, dig it:

micronaut - Experiment 10

Chris Randall, purveyor of the Analog Industries blog and 1/2 of Audio Damage uploaded this new improv today:


"Short improvisation. Yamaha CP80B, DSI TETR4, Korg Monotribe, Eventide Space and TimeFactor, Doepfer modular, Roland RE-201. Sequenced from Naught Panther Phaedra running on an iPad." -Cranda11

REASON 6 + TENORI-ON = Awesome!

VJFranzK experimenting with Tenori-ON and Reason6:


"Super Versatile SoftSynth controlled by Unique Sequencer! There are amazing possibilities here - this should get you started. To do this, you will, of course, need a USB to MIDI adaptor - there are many brands available." -VJFranzK

WURLITZER SWINGIN' RHYTHM

Vintage Rhythm Box BOX 1975:

"The WURLITZER SWINGIN' RHYTHM is a rare small analogue rhyhtm box with 5 rhythms. The rhythms are mixable. TEMPO and VOLUME controls.

It also has 5 drum pads (actually drum buttons). The drum sounds are: BASSDRUM, BRUSH, SNARE ROLL, BLOCK, and CYMBAL. The drums sound interesting and somewhat "dirty". I don't know exactly if it sounded cleaner as new - maybe the aging process of the components lead to its typical sound :-)" -AnalogAudio1

RE-201 Space Echo & DRM1

"short progressive video with the Roland RE-201 space echo and the Vermona DRM1 mk3. Analogue beauties. Second high hat channel on the DRM recorded clean and not sent through the space echo. Recorded and sequenced in Ableton Live. All effects processing done by the RE-201."
-duncanperson

Caribou On Stage with Ableton

These videos were linked in the Ableton newsletter that hit my inbox yesterday. They feature the touring Caribou band and their use of Ableton Live on stage. Really dig the second "Behind the Scenes" video... on a related note, I'd been wondering what John Schmersal had been up to lately, good to see he's touring with Caribou:

On Stage:


Behind the Scenes:


And just in case you don't know who John Schmersal is, put some Enon in your pipe and smoke it:

M83-Midnight City live on Carson Daly

via M83

Four Tet - Moma

Here's a new Four Tet track, called "Moma", from the forthcoming compilation record We Are The Works in Progress, coming out January 10th on Asa Wa Kuru Records. The album is being curated by Japanese musician Kazu Makino (of Blonde Redhead fame) and is being made to help support victims of the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011; with proceeds going to the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund and Architecture for Humanity. Looks like it's going to be a dazzling lp from the tracklisting:

1. Moma - Four Tet
2. No Face - Karin Dreijer Andersson
3. G Song - Terry Riley
4. Nightcrawler - Nosaj Thing
5. Berceuse - John Roberts
6. Penny Sparkle - Blonde Redhead
7. Bird On A Wire - Pantha Du Prince
8. In Here The World Begins - Broadcast
9. Drip - Liars/Blonde Redhead
10. Curve - Deerhunter
11. Stalagmite - Stalactite
12. Castles In The Grave - John Maus
13. Bamboo House - David Sylvain/Ryuichi Sakamoto
14. Song Seven - Interpol

Four Tet - Moma by Four Tet

Propellerhead Artist Interview: Surkin

I'm always stoked when Propellerhead releases a new artist interview! Being unfamiliar with the countless of sub-genres in electronic music, I have discovered many talented artists thru this series; and this time around is no exception with the interview of Frenchman Benoit Heitz aka Surkin:


"When a young Benoit Heitz saw a friend's computer running Reason he had an epiphany: "His computer isn't better than my parent's computer. That means I could be making music." He started out not knowing the first thing about drums or music in general. Three years later he was touring the world as an international DJ. Surkin had us over to check out his wild yet danceable cut-up sample work." -Propellerhead

Stillicide

Saw the below video on the ace art & design blog The Fox is Black. The video, titled "Stillicide", features the animation of Eric Ko a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, and the music of Alex Cook aka Attics/ADCo. Dig it:


"RISD fall 2011 intermediate animation final project." -Eric Ko

Audio Damage Kombinat Dva Overview...

the one and only swiss army knife of audio destruction:


"This is a short look at the highlights of Kombinat Dva, our multi-band distortion plug-in. Kombinat Dva is available only in the Audio Damage store." -Audio Damage

How to make a punchy house bass in Reason

"Propellerhead Software's product specialist Mattias Häggström Gerdt shows you how to make a punchy house bass combinator in Reason based on the patch "Harsh House Bass" from the Reason Factory Soundbank."
-Propellerhead

Harry Coade Novation Impulse Routine

Harry Coade getting down on the new Novation Impulse midi controller. Speaking of Impulse, I checked one out at the local big box music store the other day and was quite impressed with it - only thing chintzy are the faders... but let's face it, Novation had to cut the corner somewhere to make these so damn cheap. Check the Champion Sound:


"Performance by London artist Harry Coade putting the Novation Impulse controller keyboard through it's paces. The movie was shot in East London and is a Dub-influenced Big Beat routine with Ableton Live in the background." -Novation

Tempest - Live demo tutorial of features and sounds

I've seen quite a number of videos on youtube showcasing the DSI Tempest's drums, but ttaralli's demo is one of the first to present the thick analog bass and lead sounds the Tempest can create:


"I've had the Tempest for a few days and decided to share some of the things the Tempest can do live. All of the sounds in this video are from the Tempest. Nothing has been mixed (sorry I just threw this together on a whim). There are no external Effects or synths used. This is quickly turning into on of the best pieces of gear I've ever owned and the OS is still in Beta. OS 1.1.2

FX used
Roll
Delay
LP Filter knobs
LP Filter on the touch pad
ADSR to shorten the main synth sound
Reverse"

-ttaralli

Reason 6 - Creating Linear Drum Loops

Here's a new video from The Loop Loft on"Creating Linear Drum Loops". Speaking of The Loop Loft, they currently have a Holiday Sale on their loops - 35% off with the code "holidaysale". Check it:

Drev's Delaystable Reaktor Effects Ensemble

Jess from Drev uploaded this playlist this morning explaining the Drev's Delaystable Ensemble available in the Reaktor User Library, where it's described as:

A MIDI triggered stutter effect using a "trap-delay." Rather than simply buffer audio, this effect traps the audio in a continuous delay feedback loop. Depending on the delay used and interpolation, the sound can be mangled or destroyed to create new tones.

Check it:



"This is a video explaining my Reaktor effect Delaystable." -Drev

Lemur iPad app - step sequencer with Reason 6 granular patch

"adapted the stepSeq_4 module from the JazzMutant team to create a multi value step sequencer that triggers a granular combinator patch in Reason 6. This is definitely a way to obtain more musical results from the Lemur - Reason combination, but it lacks transport synchronization.

The granular patch is a derivation of one posted years ago on the propellerhead website." -Peff

Bluewater VST - Lazerbass Boot Camp

Brent Kallmer is back with another in depth look at a Reaktor ensemble - this time Lazerbass, with Lazerbass Boot Camp! Dig the downtempo example around the 1:36 mark:


"Bluewater VST's "Lazerbass Boot Camp" finally demystifies one of the most devastating VST synths available today. Visit lazerbassbootcamp.com/ to learn more..." -Bluewater VST

Neo-Soul Keys™ for Reason 6

Damn, this Neo-Soul Keys ReFill sounds fantastic! Dig the low bark:


Via GospelMusicians

Sonic LAB Review: Korg Monotron DUO and DELAY

"Just in time for Christmas, Korg bring on two new Monotrons - are you tempted?" -Sonic State

Tracks Interact 1: Ableton Live Sidechain compression

Berklee's Loudon Sterns looks at sidechain compression in the video below, particularly concerning track interaction. Don't have Ableton? Many of these tips can be done with Reason 6's sidechain input! Dig it:


"In this series, Berkleemusic.com facilitator Loudon Stearns covers five ways tracks can interact with audio effects using Ableton Live. The first installment, Sidechain Compression, shows how a compressor can be used to create an interaction between a synth and an acoustic bass part. The Post FX and Post mixer routing points are examined as well as compressor specifics.

You can study with Loudon Stearns at Berkleemusic.com in the Advanced Production with Ableton Live, and Composing and Producing Electronic Music courses." -Loudon Sterns

Peak Sound's Reaktor Tutorial 05 - Making a Wind Chime

Peak Sound (aka Peter) is back with another Reaktor tutorial, this time on "Making a Wind Chime". Speaking of Reaktor, don't forget to download the newest NI Reaktor 5.6.2 update, available now in the updates section @ Native Instruments.com!


"Here's a video showing off some modules we haven't seen yet in an effort to build a wind chime-esque instrument." -Peak Sound

Lemur iPad app - first attempt at controlling Reason 6

Peff putting the new Lemur iOS app thru it's paces with Reason 6:

"Always coveted a Jazzmutant Lemur, but could never justify the cost. So I couldn't pass up the opportunity to work with the iOS app adaptation by liine! This is my first attempt experimenting with the multiball control and physics model to trigger MIDI notes and generate interesting modulation patterns of Malstrom and Echo devices." -Peff

twistedtools.com | Make massive layered sounds with TRANSFORM

"This video demonstrates how to use Transform to make massive layered sound effects like the ones heard in the original Transform trailer.

TRANSFORM is an extensive collection of field recordings, sound effects and designed sounds developed by sound designer Jean-Edouard Miclot (a.k.a. JEDSOUND). Bundled with sample mappings for many popular formats, TRANSFORM's painstakingly recorded and processed sounds will find their home in the arsenals of sound designers, editors and music producers alike." -Twisted Tools

New Jackson 'The Night Mail'

Check out this video for the Dublin act New Jackson's "The Night Mail" directed by Irish animator and illustrator Fergal Brennan:


"Video for New Jackson's The Night Mail EP, released this month on Pogo Recordings.
You can buy the vinyl here: juno.co.uk/products/441929-01.htm
soundcloud.com/newjackson
soundcloud.com/pogorecordings
bodytonicmusic.com

This was animated using a DSLR, several Polaroid cameras, and a ton of photocopies.

Directed by Fergal Brennan

Animation Assistance by
Leigh Arthur
Helena Egri
Renate Henschke
Richard O'Shea

Special thanks to
Cliona, Davey, Jeannie, Mark, Richard, Renate, Scott, Sean & Yvette,
& the lady from the photocopy shop

More info at:
mynameisfergal.com
renatehenschke.com
richardoshea.com"

-Fergal Brennan

mimumachine [reaktor.ens] - a snapshot jam #1

Fantastic looking Reaktor ensemble:


"the mimumachine is an native instreument's reaktor ensemble sequencing 7 sample-slots for pure idm/mnml-glitch-madness. this is a quick jam / tour thru a few snapshots with the use of the morphing-feature and demonstrating just a few of the core-features whilest editing some sounds and sequences in realtime. this .ens is based on deadbeats. virtual circuit bent was done by mimu.eu 's ovenbroed & einmeier."
-maria ovenbröd

Maxing Your CPU in Ableton with Kill Paris

Kill Paris, the man behind the great Sound Design Sundays videos is back with a video on using the Freeze Function in Ableton to Max out your CPU for crazy results:


"Using the freeze function in Ableton Live to push your CPU beyond the max. In this tutorial, I demonstrate this by layering multiple instances of Massive." -Kill Paris

Lemur for the iPad!

The news every iPad owning musician wanted confirmed - Lemur for iOS! At $49.99 it ain't cheap, but still an iPad + the app is probably less than a second hand Jazz Mutant Lemur, plus you can play Words With Friends on an iPad between flights:


"Lemur is a professional iOS controller app that doesn't cut any corners. It lets you control anything, any way you want. Lemur can control DJ software, DAWs, VJ software, visual synthesis software, stage lighting and more. Any software or hardware that can be controlled by MIDI or OSC can be controlled by Lemur.

Major stadium-touring acts such as Bjork, Deadmau5 and Daft Punk use Lemur on stage. The original hardware version was introduced to the public in 2004 and Lemur software now benefits from nearly 10 years of development. These are just two of the reasons Lemur is the name cited when talking about multitouch control.

Find out more on liine.net"

-LineTV

Eowave Domino

Here's a video of the Eowave Domino synthesizer posted on Vimeo by combat_silence. Dig the filter:

"All the Drugs" - work in progress

Lovely gear pron in this video from Karim More featuring the new DSI Tempest, a Moog Little Phatty, as well as a Roland JX-3P and additional synths. Dig it:

"Recording sessions for a new song. No playback, all shots show the actual takes being recorded. I'll update the video as the recording and mixing goes along." -Karim More

Reason 6 SSL Mixer explained on Peak Eleven

Here's a great rundown of Reason 6's Mixer by Mike from PeakEleven.com. As many of you probably know, Reason 6's mixer is modeled after the legendary SSL 9000k by Solid State Logic. The end of the video where Mike says "and remember You Rock my friends" made me smile:


"Video showing the Reason 6 SSL Mixer with the full channel strips and master bus compressor. The mixer was introduced in Propellerheads Record and then became integrated in Reason when version 6 was released.

This mixer is modeled after the SSL 9000K Mixing Console which is one of the most legendary mixers in music production history."
-Mike @ Peak Eleven

SVIIB - The Night

NYC's School of Seven Bells have a new album coming out in February called "Ghostory" on Vagrant Records/Ghostly International. SVIIB vocalist Alejandra Deheza says of the title “Everyone has ghosts... they’re every love you’ve ever had, every hurt, every betrayal, every heartbreak. They follow you, stay with you.” The first track from the album, "The Night", is available for download on ghostly.com. Check it:

School of Seven Bells - The Night (New Song) by Vagrant Records

*photo courtesy of Will Calcutt

EditEd4TV Chordal Strummer V.1!

It's people like Ed Bauman that make the Reason community so great! Here's a look at his Chordal Strummer Combinator included in the fantastic Reasonable Help 2010 ReFIll:


"Chordal Strummer V.1 is part of my Reasonable Help 2010 ReFill for Propellerhead's Reason music software. This Combinator allows you to play very realistic guitar strumming sounds with a single key press. Granted, nothing beats a real guitar, but this is a great solution for those that don't have access to a real acoustic guitar." -EditEd4TV

Shigeto - Lineage

Here's a reason to look forward to the New Year - Shigeto's Lineage ep, available January 31st on Ghostly! Check it:


"Zach Saginaw consistently grounds his music in a deeply personal, familial context; his grandmother inspired two releases, his producer aliases, Shigeto and Frank Omura, both reference family names and it's not for nothing that his latest release as Shigeto is titled Lineage.

While only Saginaw could speak to the ancestral motivation being referenced on the eight instrumental songs that comprise the mini-LP, Lineage, it's easy to see it as an acknowledgement of debt to musical forebears, reverent respect due to the jazz, hip-hop, funk and folk that animates these eight songs. And while these elements aren't new to Saginaw's work, never has he demonstrated such complete command of his material. Each song is a complex constellation of sounds and ideas, but his compositional focus and restraint grounds songs that are otherwise cosmically inclined." -Ghostly

HANUS TRANSIDRUMS U-77 - VINTAGE RHYTHM BOX 1975

I love old rhythm machines from the 70s. I have nearly a dozen of them, from Acetones to Seeburgs... but I've never heard of this Hanus Transidrums U-77 before, which has some particularly lovely snare and clav sounds, check it:


"This is a weird and pretty rare analog rhythm box from Holland. It came out 1975. It has 12 free combinable rhythm patterns. CANCEL switches for BONGO and CYMBAL on the right side. A label on the bottom says, the manufacturer is "Hanu" or Hanus". Nice vintage sound!" -AnalogAudio1

Reason 101 Gator Articles

If you're using Reason 6 you need to check out Rob @ Reason 101's latest articles on the Alligator Triple Filtered Gate Device. Part 1 is a great introduction to the Alligator device, complete with a front and back panel legend of every parameter and function of the gator. Part 1 also includes information on how to set up a Dry/Wet knob for an Alligator based Combinator and best of all how to program your own Alligator patterns using additional Reason devices! Part 2 is where Reason 101 becomes more like Reason 202, with information on adding filter movement, using external effects with Alligator and using multiple Alligators for a "Double-Gate-Filter-FX Channel". Probably the coolest thing I learned from these articles was from the front panel legend - the shift knob "shifts" the patterns forward and backward by a +/-16. As the legend states "Nice to automate pattern shifting" - indeed! Nice work Rob. And don't forget if you're hesitant to jump in and create your own patterns (or just want to check out some great patches by another Reason user), Rob's Pureffects ReFill has 200 original Alligator patches - along with 1,000 more patches that use Reason's other fantastic devices including The Echo, Pulveriser, Scream, RV-7000 and Line 6 amps, all for $49 USD!

Tascam iM2

The new Tascam iM2 stereo microphone turns your iPod Touch, iPhone and/or iPad into a "high quality" field recorder! With adjustable microphones, onboard preamp and limiter this looks like the perfect kick around kit for capturing sounds on a daily basis. The iM2 is compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch 4G, iPad and iPad 2 models and is made to run with the new PCMRecorder app available for free on iTunes (designed by Chris Randall of Analog Industries blog.) Here's the specs:

- Stereo condenser microphones for iPhone 4, iPod Touch or iPad dock connection
- High-quality stereo condenser microphones - same as our best-selling DR-series recorders
- Microphones adjustable 180 degrees front to back
- Built-in analog to digital converter and microphone preamp for low noise recording
- 125dB SPL maximum level for recording loud shows without distortion
- Switchable limiter attenuates high-level signals to prevent recording overload
- Adjustable input level control
- Powered through iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch dock connector
- USB input allows the iPhone or iPad to be charged from a USB connection or optional TASCAM PS-P515U
- CD-quality digital recording (44.1kHz/16-bit linear PCM)
- Compact size ideal for mobile use
- Compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch 4G, iPad, iPad 2
- Dimensions: 2.3" W x 2.2" H x 0.75" D
- Weight: 1.05 oz

Krush from New Atlantis Audio

Brand spanking new Reason ReFill from New Atlantis Audio called Krush and it sounds fantastic:

"Tape, tubes, turntables and top-secret “krustification” processes bring you this beefy set of gritty drums for Reason. With over 100 original samples and 140 Kong .drum presets, Krush is a beatmaking toolkit overflowing with authentic oldschool vinyl sampling character.

Original tube-processed samples were captured to analog tape, and then meticulously combined with isolated vinyl artifacts for that dead-real vintage sampling feel, direct to the trusty MPC. 90’s hardware timestretching, resampling and other “ancient secrets” provide the final digital finishing touches.

Krush comes loaded with drum presets conveniently organized for fast access and auditioning directly from Kong. Mix, match and tweak your way through this library to craft endless kits of your own. Thick kicks, crusty snares, gritty hats and percussion, and a slew of stabs, fx and musical elements for your beat-based productions."

Specs: Includes 140 Kong Drum Presets, 106 Samples, a handful of Bonus Rex Loops and Kong Kits

Available for $9.99 from Rackflip.com

Krush Reason ReFill by Rackflip

November 2011 Reason Wizardry Now Available!

The November 2011 issue of Reason Wizardry is now available for download for subscribers! This month features a special look at the Neptune Pitch Adjuster and Voice Synth originally added in Propellerhead's Record and now featured in Reason 6. Subscribers should check their e-mail inbox for download instructions... not a subscriber? Go to www.nucleus-soundlab.com today and start on your own path to Reason Wizardry!