Like a lot of musicians that started out in the early 90s I loved the original Bass Station, so it's nice to see Novation resurrect the lineage! Check out Chris from Focusrite / Novation run thru the Bass Station II's features for Nevada Music:
UPDATE: Part 2
Awesome music video for the song "Bad Kingdom", from the forthcoming album 'Moderat II', out August 2013!
Line 6's Reason Specialist Matt Piper demonstrates some of the great new features in Reason 7 at Sweetwater's GearFest 2013:
Theo from New Atlantis Audio has begun a new sound library subscription service called Dispatch, that will feature the great sound design that NAA has become famous for, along with some third party designers. For only $88 USD a year (or $9 a month) a new Reason ReFill will be delivered to you weekly! Ableton and 24bit Loop formats expected in the near future. Check it:
"We are extremely excited to finally lift the veil on what we've been working on for the past several months. Today we are launching the first public access to Dispatch, our new subscription-based soundware delivery service. We won't make you wait any longer, so go ahead and check it out for yourself now at http://dispatch.mu"
Ryan Gruss from The Loop Loft experimenting with multiple Doc Oc in Reason:
Korg posted a trio of introductory videos for the forthcoming Volca tribe:
Bass:
Beats:
Keys:
I received an e-mail today from Brent Kallmer about a brand new Bluewater VST video:
"After the last few videos on Aerobic, I received some correspondence from people wanting more coverage of this stunning ensemble... I started to wonder whether Maschine and Aerobic would get along well. Turns out they do!"
Thor highlights:
• Play Reason's Thor Polysonic Synthesizer on the iPad.
• Load any of the 1000+ expertly crafted synth patches, or create your own from scratch.
• Create your sounds using a palette of multiple oscillator and filter types.
• Play Thor using an expressive touch interface keyboard with aftertouch and strumming.
• Collapse the keyboard to a key and scale of your choice, just like in Figure.
• Move your favourite patches from the iPad to your computer and use them with Thor in Reason
Thor sounds like no synthesizer you've ever heard before - and every single one of them. Where other synths use one specific form of synthesis and one single filter, the Thor polysonic synthesizer features six different oscillator types and four unique filters. What does this give you? Simply the most powerful synth ever created; an unstoppable monster of a sound generator that utilizes synthesizer technology from the last 40 years.
On the iPad, Thor comes with a specially designed interface that's optimized for touch control and the iPad screen. Cleverly designed panels expand and fold at the touch of a button to hide or reveal oscillators, filters, envelopes and more.
The app is divided into three main screens: Keyboard, Knobs and Routing.
Keyboard mode features:
• Piano keyboard with transpose and range control
• Modulation and pitch bend controls
• Assist function lets you select key and scale to highlight chord notes or to collapse the keyboard to only show the chord notes of the selected scale.
• Strum function lets you play arpeggios by holding a chord while strumming across the strum control.
• Two assignable knobs and buttons acts like performance controls
• Settings for polyphony and portamento
Knobs mode features:
• Access to all of Thor's synthesis features
• Three oscillator slots for Thor's six oscillator types: Analog, Wavetable, FM Pair, PhaseMod, Multi Osc and Noise
• Three filter slots for for Thor's four filter types: Low Pass Ladder, State Variable, Comb and Formant
• Three envelopes
• Dual LFOs
• Delay and Chorus
• The Knobs screen is divided into panels that expand and collapse at the touch of a button
• Miniature keyboard to audition your sounds as you are working on them
Routing features:
• Comprehensive but easy to use routing matrix lets you create complex modulation and signal flow setups
• Step sequencer with 16-steps and six channels: Note, Velocity, Gate length, Step duration, Curve 1, Curve 2
General App features:
• Patch compatible with Thor in Reason on your computer
• Move patches to and from your iPad using iTunes or Dropbox
• Sound bank with more than 1000 Thor patches from leading artists & sound designers (Kill the Noise, Richard Devine, Chris Petti and many more)
• Gorgeous retina display interface
• MIDI in - play Thor from an external MIDI source or from another app on the same iPad
• Audiobus compatible - stream audio from Thor to another audio app on the same iPad
• Audio in background option lets Thor keep playing in the background when working with other apps.
Every time I peruse the PropShop new Rack Extensions are available for the Reasonverse. From compressors to delays and even modern takes on the old chord organ, below are some the newest ones that excite me:
Another great Micro Tutorial from Propellerhead, this time featuring Reason's powerhouse synthesizer Thor:
More information is slowly trickling in on the Zoom H6 portable 6 track recorder, expecting to begin shipping July 31, 2013:
Below are the key specs, courtesy of Gizmodo:
• Six tracks of simultaneous recording
• Four interchangeable input capsules: stereo X/Y (included), Mid-Side (included), Shotgun (optional) & combo dual XLR/TRS (optional).
• Large full-color display for easy viewing of recording and playback levels
• Records directly to SD, SDHC and SDXC cards up to 128 gigabytes
• Compatible with MP3 and BWF-compliant WAV file formats, including 24-bit / 96k for ultimate HD audio
• Four XLR/TRS combo jacks to connect external microphones or line-level devices each with their own gain control, pad switch AND phantom power in three different voltages
• USB port for data transfer to audio editing software and allows for H6 to serve as multichannel audio interface for computer and tablets
• Connects to DSLR or digital camcorder
• Runs on 4 AA batteries for up to 20 hours.
Fantastic looking new Reason Rack Extension from Zvork called Noxious! An additive synthesis powerhouse with intuitive controls and great graphic displays to help sculpt your sound:
"Noxious is a polyphonic additive synthesizer. Additive synthesis consists of adding tens, hundreds or thousands of individual sinusoidal oscillators to create complex waveforms or sounds. In theory, additive synthesis is able to recreate any sound imaginable but is usually a challenge to manipulate.
Noxious takes an intermediate route to additive synthesis by offering a limited mean of manipulating these sinusoidal oscillators, called partials, through “modifiers” and classical filters."
Noxious is available now in the PropShop for $99 USD.
Brent Kallmer continues his tour of Reaktor's drum ensembles with this look at Aerobic, one of my personal faves, which Brent describes as "a step sequencer/virtual analog drum computer ensemble that is pure techno."
Focusrite and Novation bring you a short interview and studio footage with legendary Grammy winning producer Teddy Riley. Riley has worked with such R&B / Urban / Pop / Rap heavyweights as Michael Jackson, Heavy D, Guy, Blackstreet, Bobby Brown and Keith Sweat! No diggity:
Brent Kallmer takes a look at Reaktor's Rhythmaker ensemble in a DAW environment:
"Rhythmaker is one of the great hidden gems of the REAKTOR Factory content. The drum synth—which hit the market with the Electronic Instruments Vol. 1 release—produces hypnotic synthesized beats, including warm sub basses, crisp snares and hats, and weird drones and other textures you might not associate with a beatmaking ensemble. To unleash it in your DAW, however, you'll need to make this simple modification."