Saturday, March 30

Reason 7 Parallel Processing - Freemasons

James Wiltshire of The Freemasons shows off Reason 7's parallel processing feature at Red Bull Studios in the UK, part of the Propellerhead Reason 7 UK press launch this month! Video courtesy of soundtechuk. Check it:

Thursday, March 28

Autechre - 1 1 is

From Autechre's latest release Exai available now on Warp Records!

 

Zola Jesus in the Moog Sound Lab!

Zola Jesus performs live in the Moog Sound Lab:

 

"Nika Roza Danilova, aka Zola Jesus, is best known for her dark moody ballads, but with the 2011 release Conatus, Nika moved forward creating her most dynamic album to date. Not content to rest Zola Jesus ventured into the Moog Sound Lab and further evolved her single "In Your Nature." In its original incarnation "In Your Nature" existed as an epic operatic with dance floor sensibilities, but here Nika imbues the song with analog warmth that contrasts her cold, snowy upbringing. A Minitaur Analog Bass synthesizer controlled by a Minimoog Voyager replaces much of the stringed arrangement found in the original version of the song. The Little Phatty played by keyboardist Nick Turco does double duty, further expanding what would have been a bowed arrangement and providing the arpeggiation featured in the second half of the song. The live violin played by Kim Free was routed through a MF-104 analog delay to thicken the sound and serves as the last trace of the rich strings that carry the original. Synthesist Alex De Groot provides the song's rhythm, expanding on the song's original percussive track with live drumming generated by three Voyager RMEs and controlled with a MIDI drum pad. Zola Jesus's Moog Soundlab session not only captures the energy and emotion of the original, but reshapes "In Your Nature" with a richness and gravity unique to this version."

 

Wednesday, March 27

RP•Verb Rack Extension!

Rob Papen released his RP•Verb effects device into the Reasonverse today! I had the pleasure of beta-testing this bad boy and let me tell you, it brings something extra special to the Reason Rack. Check it out:

"When it comes to a pristine, authentic reverb, it's the algorithm that counts. RP-Verb is the fruit of Rob Papen's decades-long study of reverb. With countless hours of exploring, testing, and tweaking by Rob himself and Jon Ayres, the result is exactly what you would expect: a stunning, musical reverb that brings unmatched dimension and fullness to your mixes. RP-Verb is "the Reverb" that you have waited years for to use in your Reason rack!"

Introduction price until 30th April: € 49 / USD 59 (Normal price 65 / 79)

Korg MS-20 mini Demo by Katsunori UJIIE!

Katsunori UJIIE is probably my favorite person to watch doing demos on the tube. Here's an example of why:

Monday, March 25

Engadget Push Review!

Okay, so I'm finally getting past the urge to break into Salt n Pepa's Push It whenever I see an Ableton Push video, but I'm still certain it would be the song I'd break in the device with... That being said, here's the Engadget review of Ableton Push:

Django Django on KCRW

Django Django stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic to play "Waveforms/Drumforms":

Saturday, March 23

Charlotte Envelope Generator

New from Jiggery Pokery - Charlotte Envelope Generator Rack Extension for Reason! A 9 stage envelope generator with scads of options:

"Whether sculpting long pads or adding some precise modulation or release noises to your basses and leads, Charlotte has what you need to create envelopes that are as simple or exotic as you want. Use Charlotte to control the envelopes of multiple instruments in a Combinator, or to create chords using multiple mono targets."

Overview:

Chord Splitting:

The Korg MS-20 Parts 6 and 7

Marc Doty explains the features of the envelope section of the forthcoming Korg MS-20 mini:

 

A look at VCA 2 on the MS-20 mini:

Thursday, March 21

Quadelectra BeatChop

Now in the PropShop:

"BeatChop Realtime Slicer from Quadelectra, is a new creative FX category on its own! Just set its buffer length, and BeatChop will cycle-record the incoming audio you feed it, slice it in real time, and map it to your MIDI keyboard, as if it was a sliced loop!

Simple beat repeats? Stutter effects and tape stops? Glitches and scratches or even audio arpeggiation? BeatChop has you covered, and gives you in-depth control to maneuver your audio! All in real time! No sampling, editing or slicing necessary!"

DubSpot looks at Monark!

DubSpot in NYC had the luxury of checking out Native Instruments Monark Synthesizer before the rest of us and they were kind enough to shoot a video of their sonic exploration:

 

Thor Source v4 - Analog Power For The Reason Rack!

Soundcells has released version 4 of their Thor Source series:

"Thor Source v4" is adequately emulating a well known classic from Moog: the Source. Thor's modular design gave us the chance to rebuild the Source's details with great accuracy. Then we copied our favorite Source patches with great ease into Thor and after this we managed to take those sounds numerous steps further. The sounding results however stayed amazingly close to the Source's character. In this ReFill's documentary folder you'll find proof of this. Thor makes the Source polyphonic and velocity sensitive as well. By now you'll understand that this ReFill goes way beyond only emulating the past. Thor Source offers you deep and fat basses, retro and nu style leads, wonderfull keyboard sounds, mouth watering pads, analog drums and more. Version 2 & 3 added four sampled raw oscillator settings from the original synthesizer as also fully sampled Moog Source sounds, new combinator patches and new backdrops.

Version 4 adds 15 new combinator patches, 10 new rex loops and a reworked folder structure for a much easier use of this ReFill."

Thor Source v4 Contents:

• 229 combinator patches:

• 25 original documentary patches each in 4 versions.

• 74 combinator patches making full use of Reason's devices.

• 55 combinator patches based on the sampled raw oscillator settings and the fully sampled ones.

• 40 new rex loops.

• 370+ Moog Source samples in 44Khz / 24 bit.

 

Wednesday, March 20

The Wobblatron by Ned Rush

Mr. Ned Rush working his M4L programming skills once again on the sick The Wobblatron:

"The Wobblatron. Wobble, tweak, modulate, filter, scream, wibble, wub wub streaming audio into new exciting things. Run any audio through it and turn it into sub-atomic bass!!!"

 

Tuesday, March 19

Korg KP3+: Delay / Reverb Examples

I have a Korg Kaoss Pad KP2 and it is one of my favorite effects devices. The new KP3+ looks like the business:

 

Monday, March 18

gattobus studio session - Lights and Wires

A new studio session from gattobus:

 

Korg MS-20 mini Filters Part 1

Marc Doty returns with his exploration of the Korg MS-20 mini, this time looking at the duo filter section:

"Here is part one of a two part section of the Korg MS-20 Mini series of demonstrative videos, wherein the sound and functionality of the filters is demonstrated."

 

Jazzmutant Lemur Metaphysical Function 2

Antonio Blanca found this old video from 7 years ago when cleaning off his hard drive:

 

Saturday, March 16

Slice Machine 002 - Loop Loft Beats Overview

Samplephonics has teamed up with The Loop Loft to create a bad ass new Kontakt beat slicer, the Slice Machine 002:

"Introducing Slice Machine 002 // Loop Loft Beats, a custom beat slicing machine for Kontakt 5 containing 225 of the finest drum breaks from The Loop Loft.

Teaming up with our friends at Samplephonics, we developed the first Kontakt instrument to allow users to easily add, move around and effect loop slices directly inside the program. With just a few clicks, you can subtly change a beat, or totally glitch it out beyond recognition.

From the ambient acoustic sounds of Portishead and Massive Attack, to full in your face breaks from the likes of The Prodigy and Roni Size, this sample library contains a huge range of drum sounds that will bring excitement and attitude to any genre of music."

Overview:

Friday, March 15

Tone Mutation Instruments Intro Video

Another new RE in the PropShop, this one from Numerical Sound:

"Numerical Sound Tone Mutation: Instruments that change the timbre of any sound in your mix with 36 different color options in just a few clicks- the first Rack Extension of its kind. From subtle variations to a complete tonal shift, NSTMI works equally well in mixes and creative sound design with complex timbres that are quick and easy to achieve. 36 Timbral Impulses based on the acoustic resonance of acoustic and electro-acoustic instrument open up a whole new world of sonic possibilities."

 

kiloHearts Faturator RE!

kiloHearts acclaimed plug-in, Faturator, comes to the Reasonverse:

"Grit, oomph, fatness, raw, color, or just that certain something. Sometimes your sounds need a shovel of dirt. Faturator is standing ready to tear whatever you throw at it apart violently, and then gently (but firmly) put it back together fatter and rawer than ever."

 

Wednesday, March 13

Ableton Push: Review and First Look with Mad Zach

It's not my fault I can't get Salt n' Pepa's classic jam out of my head when somebody mentions Ableton's new controller. No I blame it on Cheryl James. Anyhow, here's DJ Tech Tools Mad Zach showing you "how to become number one, in a hot party show":

 

Tuesday, March 12

James Blake - Digital Lion

Another track from the forthcoming James Blake album Retrograde has been leaked, check it:

 

The Korg MS-20 Mini- Introduction

Marc Doty takes a look at the Korg MS-20 mini:

 

 

UPDATE: Oscillators Part 1

 

 

Oscillators Part 2:

 

Reason has a Rack for that!

Introducing Reason 7!

"Reason 7 brings tons of new improvements for the mixer, the rack and the sequencer. Integrate your instruments into Reason with MIDI out, audio slicing and audio quantize. Turn your recordings into REX loops. For mixing, we're introducing a spectrum analyzer with visual EQ, group and parallel channels and workflow improvements. To inspire, Reason 7 imports audio from your music library and web formats. The enhanced Factory Sound Bank comes fully loaded with tons of new loops and drum kits. The new Audiomatic Retro Transformer effect adds a futuristic-vintage sound to any tracks."

 

Monday, March 11

God Save the Monark

 

Native Instruments released information on the synthesizer they teased us with a few weeks back. The Virtual Analog synth is called Monark, is loosely based on the Minimoog, based in Reaktor (though useable in the free Reaktor Player), will be available at the end of March, and sounds amazing:

 

 

DrOctoRex Loop Slices Eq'd individually...

Andrew Skelton from reasonrack.com with a brand new Reason tutorial on Doc Oc:

 

Moog the Source

Track by schlachthof1 featuring the classic Moog Source synthesizer:

"All sounds in this track made with a Moog Source including the drums. Multitracked in Cubase plus some reverb."

Dave Smith & Roger Linn interview with Ian Golden

DJTechTools' Ian Golden interviews two west coast music tech legends:

 

Friday, March 8

Mount Kimbie - Made to Stray

Brand new Mount Kimbie track from their forthcoming Warp Records debut album, courtesy of mthrfnkr.fm:

 

Thursday, March 7

Moog Sub_P Filter Sequencing

Chris Stack from experimentalsynth.com trying out the new Sub_P:

"This video shows the result of using the Koushion step sequencer app and the Moog Multi-Pedal (in MIDI-to-CV conversion mode) to create a tempo-synced filter step sequence on the Moog Sub Phatty synthesizer. The analog CV out of the Multi-Pedal is connected to the filter CV input on the Sub Phatty."

 

Monday, March 4

BitRate - Overview

New Reaktor ensemble from Icebreaker Audio - BitRate:

"BitRate is a semi-modular, digital drum machine for Native Instruments Reaktor 5.8 or later. Offering a variety of sound generation styles, all based on digital synthesis from the late 80s and early 90s, BitRate is a gritty device with a retro heart of silicone."

BitRate is available now for an introductory price of £15 (until April 1.)

 

BitRate - Overview from Icebreaker Audio on Vimeo.

Sunday, March 3

Saturday, March 2

Elektron Analog Four Dub Techno

Jimmy Myhrman with a live Dub Techno jam featuring an Elektron Analog Four and OctaTrack:

"Live improv dub techno with Analog Four and Octatrack. OT plays drums, AF does everything else (including FX)."

 

Friday, March 1

Music in the Kitchen

rjk1482 using kitchen ingredients and Reason 6.5 to create a killer beat. Spotted on the always killer site Synthtopia. Check it:

 

7th City - KP3 Tutorial

7th City shows you how to chop up samples on his latest tutorial for the KP3. Speaking of the KP3, UniqueSquared.com has a blow out going on the KP3s ($199 USD!) to make room for the coming KP3+.

 

The Magnificent Seven!

While I know this site has turned into a Moog lovefest as of late, I just can't help it ;-). Check out the latest video from the boys in Asheville:

"Unlike conventional stomp box effects, Moogerfoogers do not have limited sonic boundaries, they effortlessly conjure any sound you seek, or quickly create new and inspiring effects. In addition to this, nearly every knob is controllable via expression pedal for added control and motion during live performance. In this video you'll see just a small range of what Moogerfoogers are capable of. With this much control and full analog signal path, the musical possibilities are close to infinite."