Wsm - November 2006 - Issue 007 by Wusik Dot Com

Sound Magazine www.Wusik.com

November 2006 #007

and much more...

Letter from the Editor Another day another dollar, in this case, another month another set of sounds.

In this issue, we finish our General Midi (GM) set, with a total of 128 sounds and 2 DrumSets. The 3rd set includes synth and acoustic sounds, plus some ethnic instruments.

The 4th of ArtVera's NewAge Collection is also here, with even better sounds.

On top of that, we add some weird sounds and a special set of small sounds, showing that Wusikstation can also do the classic synth sounds.

Sound Magazine Editorial: Magazine Layout: MoniKe Editors: WilliamK and MoniKe

WilliamK: Getting Started, Synth Romance, What's New and The Voices. www.william-k.com

Dilom - aka DamBros: Joyful or funny? Special thanks to Claudia Picchi.

Antonio Grazioli - aka Autodafe: Kawai Synthesizer-100F. Kawai 100F Sounds. www.autodafe.net

Peter 'Ray' Savage - aka Funkychickendance: The Compulsive Tire-Kicker 3.

And don't get me starting on the Articles and Columns. This month we have a very special selection of texts by the new writers.

The magazine is still growing, and with the help of everybody, it will become even greater for future issues. But for that, we need more feedback. We have asked users what they think about the magazine so far, and we got less than a 1% reply from the user-base. We need more words. Otherwise, how can we know whether we are doing a good job? Talk about whatever aspect of the magazine interests you, but please talk!

Email us at magazine@wusik.com (keep in mind our anti-spam system, check the forum for more information)

I would like to finish thanking all the magazine contributers. Thank you guys, once again.

Bruce David: MIDI to Megabyte and ArtVera: A new age of internet art.

Roy Queenan @ Redshift Audio: Mastering Tips and Creating Sounds. Small Emulator Sounds. www.redshiftaudio.com

Zachariah Weckter: Daydreaming in Digital. ZWusik Weird Sounds. www.strict-9.com/

Tim Conrardi: Algorithmic Composition.

www.algomusic.net Art Vera: Sounds: NewAge Collection Volume Four. www.artvera-music.com

Rick Christy - aka grymmjack: Sounds - GM Volume Three. www.designermonkey.us

The Zvon: MBH Mod Soundset. www.lesproductionszvon.com

WilliamK and MoniKe Proof-Reading: Bruce David and other users.

Wusik Sound Magazine

In This Issue: #007 - November 2006

Algorithmic Composition Put an Atari on your PC

10 ArtVera A New Age Of Internet Art

16 MIDI to Megabyte

Getting Started Low Budget Instant Download Drum/Percussion Loops by WilliamK

Joyfull or Funny? by DamBros

Daydreaming In Digital by Zachariah Weckter

Kawai Synthesizer-100F by Autodafe

Creating Sounds Size Doesn't Always Matter by Roy Queenan

The Evolution of Computer Aided Music

22 Mastering Tips Put your Wallet Away!

28 The Compulsive Tire-Kicker 3 The Fascinating World of Convolution Reverbs

And More... What's New...................................................27 The Voices....................................................34 The Synth Romance.......................................42 Sound List....................................................52 Wusik Sound Magazine

by WilliamK

Low Budget Instant Download Drum/Percussion Loops No time to wait for the CD/DVD to arrive? Don't want to expend 100 bucks on a silly set of loops?"

ometimes you just don't want to wait, you need to finish up a project, but something is missing. It's the drums again. They sound bad, or you just don't have anything that you like. You need some loops, good loops to be more exact.

ut shipping takes so long," you may say. Or even worse, you are outside the US and your country charges you stupid custom import fees. You just need something that you can download, that is legal, and good for the environment.

again.

on't sweat, Wusik is here to help, once

here are TONS of sample-sites around, some free, some payware. But how can you find something good and fast?

wouldn't chose free sites, as most of them are just stuff users uploaded, and you have no rights of usage on commercial songs. If you are working on something for yourself, and will never sell or broadcast it, it's no problem. But this article is about those who need commercial, copyrightfree samples while in a low budget situation. 4

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e will start with a company named SmartLoops.com.

hey offer both CD/DVD and instant downloads, with very low prices and excellent quality. They offer Acid WAV, Apple Loops, and REX2 formats.

tested the following products -- all for only $ 29.00 bucks. (download format only):

ercussion Kit - over 1000 loops. All divided into variations, which is great, so your tracks don't sound too "looped". The WAV format download is only 90 meg.

hat to Phreaky - over 800 loops, also very well organized. You get both retro loops but mostly up-to-date HipHop sounds. The download is only 276 meg.

ry Studio Kit - over 700 loops, again organized by variations. This is a larger set, near an 800 meg download. But the sound is perfect for any track requiring that "live drum" feel. They have some other products that you can check at: http://smartloops.com/products/

e also found 2 other companies that have great stuff, but I haven't had the time to check the sets yet.

oopmasters.com has all its CD line on downloadable format, thanks to clickgroove.com.

nother company, Perimetersound.com, has some sounds licensed by M-Audio, but on their site they offer downloadable packs of most of the stuff. You can't download everything, but it's still a lot of stuff. I just hope that in the future they offer the same thing as Loopmasters: full CD/DVD downloads.

Considering each issue is packed with gigs of content, now you can get the Wusik Sound Magazine DVD delivered right to your mailbox every single month so you can spend more time playing and less time downloading!

$15

www.mfelkerco.com Wusik Sound Magazine

Joyful or funny? by DamBros

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Joyful or funny? always liked music, in the broadest sense of the word: if the sound pleases me, the music is good. At the age of 12 I already worked at a radio station, as a presenter and programmer. When the boxes of new releases of 78 rpm records came in it was a blast. There would be classical and pop music from Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Holland, etc… from almost everywhere in the world. The listeners liked them and requested that the programs be repeated. Since those days I have kept the special tendency for joyful music and even funny songs.

recall the Werner Muller Orchestra and its arrangements of the Les Patinateurs and Estudiantina, both Waldteufel waltzes, where the orchestra mixed the original music sheet with sounds of chariots, horses, laughter, and other ingredients that added enthusiasm to the joyfulness of the music. I recall the Swingle Singers originals, interpreting Bach on two records of Jazz Sebastian Bach and the new interpreters singing also Bach, Mozart, Handel, Vivaldi, Rossini, Debussy, Tchaikovsky and some from the Beatles.

ean Jacques Perrey gave new life to songs like Hello Dolly, The Elephant Never Forgets, Flight of the Bumblebee on his unforgettable record Moog Indigo, producing a comic/joyful remake of known songs. The same did Tomita with the arrangement of the Grand Canyon Suite of Grofé. In this case it is neither comical nor does it distort the original. It is simply a new way of interpreting the music, but enhancing the qualities. I may be criticized, but I’m convinced that Tomita’s version is much better that the orchestrated one.

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Joyful or funny? mong many others that took the songs and made us laugh and dance, I recall Liberace who mixed classical and pop, added rhythms and delighted his audiences in the theaters and on his own TV shows. He started with great difficulties until he reached TV (and he still complained a lot when the moment came to renew his contract with the sponsors, especially with a bank). One day during his program he said: "Remember that bank that bothered me to renew the contract? Now it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bother me anymore, I bought it!"

ore recently, Maestro Louis Clark, conducting The Royal Philhamonic Orchestra with the Royal Choral Society and later leading the BBC Concert Orchestra, dressed up with splendid new clothing the well known classics as well as some popular music to delight the world. In fact, what he did was to follow along in his own way the paths of Boston Pops Orchestra, led by the historical Arthur Fidler, another magnificent arranger who changed the clothing of the most beautiful music for other music that surprised and enchanted all.

ll of this is just to suggest, that someone produce something out of renowned titles with new clothing, joyful or comic. Imagine Fur Elise from Beethoven, with rhythm and dissonances of a drunk as he trips along the street, holding flowers, and furious because Elise didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t show up to see him? A Wedding March in accordance with the physical state of the groom who came to the ceremony straight from his

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Joyful or funny? bachelor party? Or of the bride who menstruates at the exact time she enters the church and is not "prepared" for it? Imagine a graduate student during the graduation ceremony, having a sudden, vicious diarrhea and gas attack. How would he hear the Pomp & Circumstance of Elgar for example?

hink of a Maestro conducting the Bolero by Ravel. Trying to hold the audience that is leaving because of a heavy rainfall, he speeds up more and more the rhythm until the music mixes with the sound of the theater caving in.

he Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart already has a very interesting musical character. But it can become hilarious if a new electronic arrangement adds sounds of screams of horror or fright, glass braking, sounds of beer mugs being filled with draft beer, laughter and nervous giggles; but all of this without exaggeration, during brief moments well selected to surprise the listeners. Remember that these musical soirees took place at night, in the village, and the lovers took advantage of them as everyone was paying attention to the orchestra...

here are many other suggestions, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure that the readers will find their favorites.

ntil the next issue...

Wusik Sound Magazine

Algorithmic Composition: Put an Atari on your PC

by Tim Conrardy

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ack in the days when MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) was still in its infancy (1983 onward) Atari was ahead of the game by providing MIDI ports on all its computers. Thus were born many innovative and experimental applications the likes of which we have not even seen today in our age of “production” digital audio workstations.These applications were meant for interaction between man and machine. They were played in real-time by the performer, using the computer as an instrument in its own right. These programs were known as algorithmic music applications. The term, “algorithmic” conjures in some people's minds a sense of “randomness” and “computer-generated music”. While it certainly entails the computer carrying out musical decisions, it is not at all random, but it is the performer who gives the computer instructions to achieve the desired goal.

Algorithmic Composition oday, a good majority of these Atari applications are now freeware, thanks to the original programmers and companies who have given their permission. Visit Tims Atari MIDI world for a huge selection of downloads ( http://www.tamw.atariusers.net ) Favorites include Tunesmith by Jim Johnson, Intelligent Music's M, Laurie Spegiels Music Mouse, and more. With the release of these applications, more Atari algo-comp applications are coming out of the woodwork such as MIDI JOY by Harry Kooperman, David Snowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s many Atari MIDI applications, AFSTS, the Algorithmic Film Sound Track System by Christian Banasik and Fractal Music Composer by Hugh McDowell (former cello player with Electric Light Orchestra). Omega KCS is also now shareware with upgrades available from Dr T himself.

This setup file takes away any of the more complicated setup instructions on the site with a simple installation.

Put on some Steem!

ow do you run these excellent applications today? You could get a real Atari on Ebay, and they are still available, or, you can install the Steem engine for the PC. Steem is an Atari emualtor, or more specifically, an Atari STe emulator. Below is a guide on how to install this wonderful free emulator. However, the faster the PC, the better Steem performs. If you really need super tight MIDI timing, then a real Atari is the way to go. However, it is very nice to be able to use these excellent free tools on your PC, just for a few minutes of installation time, so it is quite worth while. You won't regret it! Steem installation guide Although this may seem rather complicated to set up, it's really not, and it will enable you to have access to a large number of MIDI tools, and all freely avialable.

irst, go to the main Steem site and download the main program and 2.06 UK or USA TOS image. http://steem.atari.st/download.htm Next, download and install Midi Yoke, which are virtual MIDI cords. Its also useful for other things. http://www.midiox.com/ http://www.midiox.com/zip/MidiYokeSetup.msi

ext: Set up and install Steem:

On your PC, create a folder called Steem. You could put it in your program files folder.

Within the Steem folder create another folder called c-drive. You can put any Atari programs in this directory. This means it is only a matter of downloading the files from http://tamw.atariusers.net and unzipping them into this directory.Make sure the programs are in seperate folders. Recommended programs: M, Tunesmith, Grid Sequencer ( ISEQ), Pulsar, Fractal Music Composer, Ludwig(in Hybrid Arts section) David Snows Music Box and Midi Square.

Create another folder called a-drive. You can put any Atari disk images that have the .ST extension in this folder.( such as Games..go to the Steem site for this kind of stuff)

Unzip the contents of the Steem archive into the Steem folder. Also unzip the TOS image you will be using for Steem in the same directory. Most MIDI programs work with TOS 2.06, so when you are at the Steem site, download this image. Put this in it's own folder called TOS. ( Trivia: TOS actually means The Operating System ! ) Wusik Sound Magazine 11

Algorithmic Composition 5

Run the Installation program. The first prompt will ask where your TOS image is. Browse to where you have your TOS image.

Next, It will ask you where your a:\ drive is. Browse to the a-drive folder you just created.

The next prompt will ask you where your hard drive is. Browse to the c-drive folder you just created.

monitor.Then click on Perform Cold Reset Now, and Steem will change into a HI resolution monochrome view .(a much larger box!) Next, go to Ports, and select Midi device, choose MidiYoke1 as the Midi output, and whatever MIDI controller device you have hooked up to your system as MIDI input.Next, go to the Sound menu,and under Output type and select None( mute) We will be using MIDI and not the internal ST speaker emulation ( unless you want to play Atari games..then keep it on :-) We are now done with the Options menu. Close it.

It will ask if you want a folder for your d:\ drive. Choose "No" (unless you want to create a folder and call it d-drive).

Steem will go through the rest of the installation process and start up. It will start in what is called low resolution. which will be a very small box on your PC desktop.

The Atari Desktop 101 11

Setting up Options in Steem 10

Most Midi applications use what is called Monochrome Hi Resolution (although some work fine in color medium resolution) Find Steems Option menu at the right top of Steem's display by dragging your mouse across the icons asnd look for an info display which tells you "options".Once you open the Options menu,go to the Machine menu, and select a 4 MEG machine and Monochrome 12 Wusik Sound Magazine

Click on the Yellow start arrow and Steem will boot up the atari desktop. ( hint, you can press the space bar to cancel memory check) The Atari desktop will be shown. You can click on the c:\ drive icon and display any programs you have in the c:\ drive folder.TThe same goes for the a:\ drive. You can find the PRG's and drag them to the desktop for easy access to them.Note: The right top square expands a folder view, while the left square closes and goes up or down directories (just the opposite of a PC, so it may take you by surprise!) You can also display everything inside a folder as Txt by going into View on the desktop menu.

Algorithmic Composition

ontrolling softsynths with Steem. For our example, we will be using the wonderful algorithmic application called M to control WusikStation.

Install and start up M on Steem. Load any of the example files.Hit the Pause/break key to exit out of Steem.

Start your host. Insert a MIDI track. For it's MIDI input, select MIDI Yoke 1 or 0. Load up WusikStation. Choose a percussive type sound like a mirimba or bell type of sound.

nce you have the Prgs on the desktop, you need to install them. Click on the prg on the desktop so it is highlighted, then go to Options(on the Atari desktop) and highlight Application under Default Dir, and Full Path under Parameter.Hit Install. Do this for every PRG you drag to the desktop. This will insure that the shortcuts will work.

You can save your desktop settings by going into Options. You can also change your desktop colors by going into View and selecting Set Color & Style. Close and go to Options again and Save Desktop to save the settings you just created.

Go to Steem, and click your mouse into the M display. You are now able to control parameters on M. First, hit the start button, and then start minipulating parameters. You should hear some results coming from WusikStation.

On M, you can have 4 tracks going at once on different MIDI channels by selecting a MIDI channel on the orchestration screen. Set up each track with a different MIDI channel.

You can also save the desktop, or any program settings by making a snap shot. Hit the break/pause key on your keyboard. This exits out of the Atari desktop to the PC desktop. Go to the Memory SnapShot button at the top left of Steem, and save the snap shot for instant recall later. This is a very handy feature, as you can go back to any program and recall all the settings you made. I usually open a variety of programs in Steem, and save them using this snapshot feature for easy recall of a program without even having to go thru the bootup process to the Atari desktop.

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Algorithmic Composition

Hit Pause/Break, and in WS, set it to Multitimbral mode so each voice can be set up on a different MIDI channel. Set up the same MIDI channels as you have set up on M, and choose apropriate sounds for each for a sound event treat.

Hit record on your host to record the MIDI coming from Steem into your hosts MIDI track.

Once you are done recording, go back to Steem and M, and either save a snapshot, or use the file method inside M. Be sure to read the txt manuals and my tutorial on using M on the TAMW site, as M is a most facinating application.

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he above would work with any of the other algo-tools, as many allow multi channel output. Some are just fun to use on one channel. Be sure to go through the tutorials for these apps on thier respective pages on TAMW, as they really explain on how to use the program in an easy fashion. It might even be advisable to print them out as well.

Algorithmic Composition

ne highly recommended application, while it is not freeware,but shareware, is Laurie Spegiels Music Mouse, which is an alternate Mouse controller. You basically make music with your mouse. A downloadable version is now avialable so you can use it in Steem. Check out the MP3 example of a lead you can do with it below. You can sound like Jan Hammer! But of course you can do whatever you want with it.

Alternate method to use Steem in your Tracks.

ne alternate method I use is to set up Steem and Energy XT as above.after I get everything set up,I record a performance (or several different performances) using eXT's audio capturing tool. Then Save it as a file. Then open my other host such as Tracktion, and import the wave file to use inside a piece. Then play live material on top of it to give that "human" edge to it. This can also be applied to Toby Bears MiniHOst as that has audio capturing as well.

What do these Algo-Apps sound like?

http://tamw.atari-users.net/mp3tim.htm I also have several examples on my Wusik MP3 page using Steem. Some of the more interesting ones are: Mare Serenitatis. Uses M, Tunesmith and Music Mouse. http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=1167 Heres a Music Mouse lead done in real time http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=996 PianoSync. Uses Tunesmith controlling a Muse Research Receptor http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=801 Space Station. Uses Tunesmith http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=639 Exoplanet( Tunesmith again..must be my fav algo-app!) http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=741

lease visit my Atari MP3 page for many examples, although most of these were done with real Atari's, it will give you a good scope of what these applications sound like:

As you can see, there are many possabilities that can be achived with algorithmic programs, while still retaining the human element. With the help of Algorithmic applications we can explore a new world of possibilities that we have only begun to fathom in the depths of our musical heritage. Wusik Sound Magazine 15

by Bruce David Like the founder of Tangerine Dream, Edgar Froese, who most influenced her music, Vera Kinter, known to the Internet as ArtVera, is equally talented in both graphic arts and music. Unlike Froese, she has no formal education in either art or music, but was simply born with immense talent which she has only begun to tap. She is a young and vital example of the individual power that access to tools through the Internet has begun to unleash. It is hard to imagine what levels of excellence she will achieve in a lifetime. And with the rare merger of qualities like sincerity and meticulousness that she has, there is no telling in how short a time it may happen.

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ave you seen her work? It's all over the world of KVR VST/VSTi's, and you may well have seen it without knowing so, for while always recognizable, it is not always conspicuously credited. It appears in the form of immaculately conceived GUI's for a wide range of plugin's and, once you have identified the artist, it is unmistakable in the the mix of so many other GUI's. It is, to use a word rarely applied to art forms, precise. It has the clean precision of an architectural landscape without being rigid. It is reminiscent of advertising air-brush art of the late 1950's and early '60's with a soft flow of light over hard metal surfaces, making them more soothing to the eye. Elegantly colored, the quality of the images is unmistakably high, the execution of the ideas, clean and precise.

nyone who has not seen her work is missing a real delight for the eye. For quick reference have a look at the wonderful set of GUI's she has produced for the current Wusikstation: list a few

ut it's well worth a trip to the source at http://www.artveramusic.com/. Having not yet found Wusikstation, that is where I first found Vera Kinter's work. Having over 30 years' experience in graphic arts I was stunned by the standout quality and generosity... yes, generosity. A user of Synthedit, I was searching for decent GUI components to use for some simple projects. Suddenly I found myself in a world of beautifully executed graphic design sets marked as freeware and available for even commercial products without charge. When I emailed a note of thanks that day, I received a gracious and humble reply from a person who seems almost not to know how good she really is, and who is simply grateful for a moment's recognition for hundreds of hours of work.

era's excellence does not stop with her graphics, however. There are a number of music projects posted at her website which have, like her graphics, a soothing precision in the way Bach can be both precise yet relaxing; ,more like, say, Tangerine Dream or Kitaro than Bach, but there is a precision... a certain precision, and a high level of craftsmanship within a swirl of tones and movement. She offers here a "pad synth, called Golden Aset, after one of the central female figures in Egyptian mythology, Aset (Isis in Greek). The name is an unintentional pun because the Wusik Sound Magazine 17

swirling textures the synth produces with Vera's finely crafted PCM-rom file and a mixture of digital oscillation and modulation are an asset to any music system. They remind me of her music, of course, which she refers to as "New Age." But I think you will agree the level of work you will hear is like that behind modern movie sound tracks and art film productions. And for a meager 30 USD (far below its value) you are invited to have her brilliance at your finger tips to develop your own themes.

ne of the reasons Vera Kinter has only one synth offering at a minimal price in a sea of free graphics is that she spends much of her time programming sound banks for instruments all over the VST/VSTi industry and providing them with GUI's. Her rich New Age Collection, expanding by the month, is a prize offering in the massive Wusikstation sound library. Her programming expertise rivals that of any in the world of New Age sounds. But when I began to work with her sounds, I quickly found they have a dimension that can span many types of orchestration and easily be mixed into modern ambiance music or even the electronic "classical" music of our time. They are a fine

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premium to those who subscribe to Wusik Sound Magazine, also priced far below it's value in this regard. You've received the value of the subscription price for WSM every month by gaining Vera' presets alone.

he Internet has brought us amazing things in a very short time. I came up through it's history from the days of it's inception to the robust explosion of the the '90's. In some ways, ArtVera is only be possible as a result of it. Not in any way to diminish her unquestionable talent, the Internet as we know it today gave that talent an opportunity to learn and flourish that no other known age of man has seen. There was a famous tabloid magazine during the 60's in America, the Hippie era, named Whole Earth Catalog and subtitled "Access to Tools." They had realized all cultural development was controlled by exactly that: access to tools and information. When such access to learning, distribution, public awareness, is coupled with vital talent, you see people like Vera Kinter and MoniKe and William K sprout into their full bloom without the aid of formal academic education and the connections that go

with it. Bach and Mozart both had fathers who were major music teachers in their time and known the royal circles. And that's the ONLY WAY they could have done what they did in that time. Only the privileged had the opportunity to study music and have instruments. Now with the Internet and low priced computers, talent like theirs can be developed without such privilege because of the availability of information and resources: the Internet.

herever you see ArtVera's sounds, collect them. If they are sold, buy them. You cannot go wrong. If you have not already, go and visit this inspiring website. If you have, go back for a considered visit and bask in the brilliance of its author. It is not possible to go there without seeing something new, if only something you have already seen, seen in a new way. Drop Vera an email and enjoy the grace of her response. Watch her site and KVR for release of new art and products. I can assure you it will be well worth seeing, hearing and purchasing. http://www.artvera-music.com/ Wusik Sound Magazine 19

Daydreaming In Digital by Zachariah Weckter

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Daydreaming In Digital

he MMA (MIDI Manufacturers Association) has announced an update to the standard MIDI protocol, entitling this new version HD-MIDI. The MMA claims this update will provide a greater resolution in data values, increase the number of MIDI channels, and support the creation of entirely new kinds of MIDI messages.

nfortunately, not a lot of information has been released so far for this new version of MIDI, but the MMA claims it will be backwards compatible, so as to work with current MIDI devices as well as provide more precise control over devices with the new protocol integrated into their core systems.

he current standard already provides countless uses to the "average" computer musician, giving access to hands-on control of parameters without the need for a mouse. Using

hardware MIDI controllers allows us to control our virtual instruments more precisely, as well as giving us access to control not so easily obtained in a virtual studio environment.

W I B

ith the release of HD-MIDI dawning upon us, perhaps it is time to investigate the benefits of what MIDI can offer our current digital audio workstations, to truly harness the power of what HD-MIDI could provide. n forthcoming editions of WSM, we will be going over the basics of the current MIDI protocol, as well as reviewing ways to use MIDI to our

advantage.

e sure to check this space next month for a list of common MIDI controllers, and suggestions on what to look for in purchasing, using, and exploiting these tools to their fullest potential.

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MIDI to Megabyte:

Evolution of Computer Aided Music The

From Mayhem to MIDI (Mayhem) by Bruce David

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MIDI to Megabyte

s grandma Kettle used to say, "Everyone wants a 'pie-annow.' They're just so dang 'spensive." And it took electronic instruments awhile to be discovered for just this reason: everyone wanted a piano not an electronic keyboard with it's vast range of new sounds. My drummer friend (who I mentioned last month's article) and I often teased each other about the new world of sound emerging before our eyes. He taking the conservative, acoustic position would respond to a DX-7 fantasy patch with, "That's not music! That's an elephant burp!" I would counter with,"If it's not someone hitting two bricks together, you don't think it's music." He was a very well educated and aware musician. We both knew where it was all really headed. We were no longer in the age of plucked and sawed strings nor the age of hammered skins and metal. The medium was already here -- we just had to catch up. The Casio story that ended last month's article, their foresight as to the power of electronic music instruments in the consumer market, was the opening bell for an enormous transition -- and desktop computers had not yet even seriously entered this marketplace.

The television: another Unprecedented new tool to spread the new view sound bites and music themes.

hough an unparalleled opportunity for musical sound was before everyone in the music field, it took the innovative uses of the new instruments by folks like Mike Post (theme for "The Rockford Files"), Jan Hammer (theme for "Miami Vice") and Bob James Fender Rhodes theme for the series "Taxi," for the public to begin to accept these unprecedented new tools. It also took television another unprecedented new tool to spread the new view sound bites and music themes.

o having realized where it was all headed, with foresight and leadership, Roland put together industry conferences on a new intercommunication system they had developed, which came to be called MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). But Yamaha, an arch competitor and a company only slightly smaller than the Andromeda I Galaxy wasn't in a cooperative mood. But finally after months of wangling between industry giants the MIDI Standard was born so that any instrument with it implemented could communicate musical information (notes, pitch bend, modulation, etc.) to any other device with it implemented -- kinda'!

he early days of MIDI cleaned up the independent manufacturer connection chaos with MIDI chaos. This all happened about the time Yamaha released the magnificent DX7. And there it was, storming the musical scene with never-before-heard bell-clav sounds, musicians were waiting in line to buy it, the industry had finally arrived at a point where all manufacturers' instruments could be interconnected to form linked systems of timbers and the new DX7 MIDI version was released -- WITH A FULL 1 CHANNEL IMPLEMENTATION!!! And while everyone using MIDI, or attempting to, was saying, "ahhh...where'd I get the idea there were 16 channels?") a remarkable young man was gearing up to begin a whole new peripherals industry, thanks to MIDI , Roland (1-channel JUNO-106), and the Yamaha DX7. His name was Jim Cooper and he new how to build electronic music devices very well. J.L Cooper Electronics was open, and they had a magical box called a "channelizer."

s the former head engineer of the Oberheim, Jim Cooper brought to the new MIDI scene a deep understanding of music and electronics, the experience of the most quality-control conscious company in the industry, and an unmatched enthusiasm for what was happening. I had the great pleasure of meeting him on the telephone, unexpectedly.

The new DX7 MIDI version was released WITH A FULL 1 CHANNEL IMPLEMENTATION!!!

Wusik Sound Magazine 23

MIDI to Megabyte I was the proud owner Roland's new MC-500, their new hardware MIDI sequencer. It would record multiple channels (and had enough memory for almost a whole song!), but if you had a DX7, and I did, you had a problem. It would record it, but the DX7 would not transmit it. I was already mystified by digital electronics and still trying to make the comic analogies, so common to that day, like audio feedback, etc., when understanding MIDI hook-up. So after reading about J. L. Cooper's new line of MIDI peripherals in Craig Anderton's Electronic Musician, I decided to call them directly. The phone was answered by a typically corporate sounding woman who sounded quite official but friendly. When I told her my problem, she politely said she would locate someone to help and put me on hold. After a very short wait, I heard on the line, “This is Jim Cooper, may I help you.” J. L. Cooper Electronics was not a megacorporation but neither was it a “mom-and-pop” organization, headed by an industry super-star. After a few minutes of stammering, I asked if there was a solution to my Roland/Yamaha mess. I received two things: an order number for the J.L Cooper Channelizer, and a gratis 10-minute MIDI lesson from the gentleman at the other end. When we had finished I asked Jim Cooper why he was answering phones, and he said, “Ah, I just like to keep my hand in.” These were for sure the early, personal days of MIDI.

The dimensions of electronic music in our time exceeds anything we know of in recorded history.

ere we saddle up the magic dragon of digital electronics and it's impact on music in every form. Anyone having spent a few weeks editing a song on a hardware sequencer in the early 1980's will have a deep understanding of why computers took over this market. Like Yamaha, Roland catered to professional musicians, and built metal encased circuitry bands could drive a truck over and still use that night. Those of us at home in the “hobby” market were thus foiled. For within a short time you were bound to do just that: drive a vehicle over the device in hope of revenge. Slow, grueling

24 Wusik Sound Magazine

hours of paging through small windows small back-lit fonts, made any computer screen and access astounding. In days when 7Mhz speed was blazing, the computer was already quickly preferred by all who were attempting to compose electronically and to edit instruments in the same difficult windows. Reliable editing software for digital music instruments was scarce then but soon to become very available like composing and scoring software. The hardware just hadn't yet caught up with the marketplace. Now in the “retro” days of admiring the early synths and computers (and they are admirable), I read things on the Internet like an Ebay advertisement by someone reviewing a MC-500 sequencer saying, “The MC-500 is a breeze to use, but of course it cannot compete with a good MIDI sequencer software running on a computer.” Yeah, I think I'd agree with that! Or a MIDI World Forum inquiry saying, “How do I convert Roland MC-500 sequencer files to standard MIDI files?” My first response was, “Why would anyone want to?” My second response was, “Don't. Make new ones on Sonar.” But there were, of course, good times. I just like the days of 2.5 Ghz better. I don't have to take so many showers waiting for the single song file to load.

ut in a short few years with the entry of faster computers and more memory, clambering lines of musicians and Christmas consumers by the truck load, the industry resolved the worst of these kinks and entered the computer age lead by the likes of Jim Cooper. By 1990 it was no longer a question of whether to use computers for music sequencing, but what size computer one could afford; and, if you were a traveling music group, how reliable would it be on the road. The day of the laptop was just around the corner.

Humans create technologies, then the technologies recreate humans.

MIDI to Megabyte

What Bach Didn't Have

n Bach's time, a composition for "four hands" was innovative. It naturally involved a duet. But how about a composition for 32... and no fair bringing along extra performers!! I personally still enjoy taking short, multi-part MIDI sequences of Bach's Inventions, Mozart's minuets, and "switching them on." "But Wendy Carlos already did that," you will say. Well, that's true and false. Even Wendy Carlos, let alone Bach and Mozart, could not have imagined Wusikstation. Depth of timber, control over resonance, the reach of scales are things, all of them only dreamed of (and I believe they did dream on them), along with computer aided control of their use. The dimensions of electronic music in our

time exceeds anything we know of in recorded history, and offers to us all an opportunity to take music another step of its evolution we have only begun to take. Early contemporary composers like John Cage, Morton Subotnick, Toru Takemitsu, and Terry Riley, stretching the limits of acoustic instrumentation, led directly to Tomita and Vangelis taking it to its next plane. Tones never heard in compositions, harmonies only possible with electronic tuning, reverberation and echo no canyon could ever produce. By the time Tangerine Dream and Kitaro became popularly available, electronic instrumentation was settled into the core of the music culture, as it remains today.

Wusik Sound Magazine 25

MIDI to Megabyte

hanges of the magnitude of digital electronics changed more than technology. They changed music itself: humans create technologies, then the technologies recreate humans. When the first human looked through a lens, the vision (in all the senses of that word) of mankind was changed forever. Without any visual aid, it is not possible to see, in intimate detail, the nesting of a spider. It is not possible to see the explosion of a Super Nova. And there are riffs, arpeggios, random note gatherings, that no human hands could accomplish without the aid of electronic devices.

WHAT THE HAND CAN'T DO ALONE A COMPUTER CAN DO,

and probably much better than the human hand ever could have.

t's ironic to watch the processes we humans go through while engaging new technologies. A past Director of NASA once commented in an article on future computer influence, “Only a carbon chauvinist could not now realize that silicon intelligence is not the medium of the future.” Yet the first twenty years of the digital music industry spent its greatest energies on producing the highest possible silicon imitations and recordings of wooden instruments. But now the trend is changed, reflected in a massive library like the one for Wusikstation, dominated by not acoustic instrument imitations but wonderfully electronic ambiances and overtones, executed in music like that of Kitaro and like groups. Listen to the music of William K or Vera Kinter, reviewed in this issue, and experience the glorious movement of tonal music sliding into the era of orchestration and composition yet to be unveiled. The word “music” itself, from the ancient Greek meaning “presided over by the Muses” is happening in a majestic new way through the magical power of silicon and human invention.

Companion PreOrder now and save 50% Three new Tools for Wusikstation V3 - Sample Editor - Sample Converter - Multi Preset VSTi 26 Wusik Sound Magazine

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Wusik Sound Magazine 27

by Roy Queenan

Mastering

Tips

Put your Wallet Away! 28 Wusik Sound Magazine

Mastering Tips

"Get the best audio quality that you can, before getting the urge to spend money" T

here are very few of us in the world that can say that we make our music in an environment perfect for recording music. Even less of us have the equipment that we think we need to achieve what we consider the perfect recording. The reality, however, is that our environments are probably not as bad as we think they are. On top of that, it isn't very likely that we need all of the gear that our minds and desires say we need. There will always be recording problems, and one more toy to buy. With any of today's current crop of DAW's, professional quality recordings are quite possible. I know what you're thinking: "Why then, don't my recordings sound like the music I buy?" I hope that my tips can help you get closer to that goal.

hrough my years of recording music, making tons of mistakes and listening to people with more experience than me, I've learned at least this much: EVERYTHING matters. Each thing that you do poorly contributes to the mess, or takes away from a masterpiece. Your recording is an historical record of artistic creativity and technical prowess. It isn't just the music, but the quality of the recording that even determines if people will ever listen to you, take you seriously, or try to emulate you. So keep it in mind, from begining to end, that everything does count. Considering this, everything can be broken down into a few, not necessarily, linear stages. Viewing the details of the input, editing and processing, mixing, and finalizing can only help the quality of your recording. And most of this costs very little money.

I hope that my tips can help you get closer to that goal.

f you are recording sources from the outside world, you may be tempted to buy an expensive microphone. Many people will tell you that those who are serious about recording should spend most of their money on their microphones. If you can only afford one good microphone, you should probably not consider the best microphone that you can buy. The best microphone on the planet cannot overcome the absence of an appropriate input chain. The right combination of microphone, preamp, compressor/gate, and mixing channel will define your sound. This is a realm where hardware still holds the advantage over software. Many people will tell you that they have not touched the settings on their hardware preamp and compressor in years, and that the sole purpose of these boxes in their rig is to provide a great sounding path for the microphone to enter the digital realm. As well, there are people who still hold onto their hardware mixers just to add color to the microphone signal before it turns into "0's and 1's." With the beefed-up input, you won't just be recording sound anymore, you'll be recording your sound. It shouldn't be hard to find a serviceable single channel preamp for under $300.00 (US), and a digital compressor gate for under $200.00.

Each thing that you do poorly contributes to the mess, or takes away from a masterpiece. Wusik Sound Magazine 29

Mastering Tips

o, now, you can record anything that comes your way, including a great deal of noise. So, what do you do? Build an isolation booth? Feel free, if you have the money. If not, do noise reduction the old fashioned way. Prevent the noise. Your environment can be fairly noisy when it comes to recording. People can get so used to particular amounts of noise that the noise becomes evident only after a recording is completed; this leaves a large amount of work needed to salvage a would-be masterpiece. You may need to stand near where you have placed your microphone, and pay real attention to what you hear. Now, do whatever it takes to eliminate all noise that you have control over. Here are some suggestions for eliminating common noise makers: -Wrap a blanket around the sides of a PC with noisy drives and fans -Turn off any buzzy flourescent lights. Bring in a floor lamp, if needed. -Record all your input as loud as possible. Lowering the volume in your mix will lower any existing background noise; having to raise the volume, or normalization, will also increase backgound noise. -Make sure that you are only recording the channel that is desired. Unused channels should be turned down or off if their input gets through to your recording destination. These tracks can introduce unwanted hiss or hum. -Noise follows the rules of physics. Make it hard for the noise to travel to your microphone. Shielding your microphone area with a mattress or hanging quilts over a room divider helps.

30 Wusik Sound Magazine

-Unless a guitar player has to have it, turn the guitar amp's reverb off. Add it later, from within your DAW. It will eliminate all of the "woosh" that the reverb creates, whether or not the guitar is playing. You can always route reverb to a headphone mix for the guitarist. -Quit spinning in that squeeky chair! -Turn off the air conditioner (I don't like it either) -Turn off your cell phone

Noise follows the rules of physics. Make it hard for the noise to travel to your microphone.

Mastering Tips

ow that you have recorded the pristine audio signal, its time to dive into editing the sound. Actually listen to what you've recorded and, if any imperfection is found, fix it. I know that there is a tool out there to fix anything. But why pay, when you can fix most things within your recording software? Be sure that you only use the tools that you need. Most problems cannot be fixed by covering them in a soup of effects. Most problems, however, can be fixed. There is no substitute for knowing how to use your software. Read the manuals and help files. Get acquainted with every aspect and trick contained in your DAW of choice. As well, make use of what you have. Upgrades to the newest software provide desired features, but rarely fulfill your particular recording woes. Here are some tips that may be helpful. They are not DAW specific: -If you don't have a capable gate, simply edit away the portions of your track that contain no useful sound. -Try to get as much of the same linear audio material, from the same source, on the same track as you can. This will eliminate the need to duplicate your EQ, volume, etc. settings to ensure that all your material sounds the same.

Be sure that you only use the tools that you need.

-Increasing volume to make a particular phrase, word, instrument passage, etc. to stand out is a mistake. The result is an "amaturish" sound. Dropping some, or even all of the tracks surrounding what you want to emphasize is a better way to go. Another solution is to add delay, or flange to the part that you wish to emphasize. -If recording multiple vocalists, do your best to match the sound of one track to the next. This may require you to use EQ, volume, and compression settings that vary from track to track. -"Bass" and "Loud" are not the only two concepts in music that matter. Don't be afraid to cut low bass frequencies to bring things "closer" in a mix. People will still hear the bass, they would like to hear the rest of your music, as well. The same concept applies to turning up the volume on sounds that you like. People will realize how clever you are by being able to concentrate on everthing in your mix. Leaving just one sound out in front of the mix will force people to be fixed on wishing they could turn it down. Panning in a stereo mix can get you further than pouring on the decibles. Wusik Sound Magazine 31

Mastering Tips

-Sometimes, there is no substitute for the "do it myself" approach to solving a problem vs. letting a plugin do it. There are several plugins that emulate "doubling" a vocal, and one of them I use on a regular basis. However, if doubling a short passage, I ask the vocalist to sing it. It actually takes less effort (especially for the engineer) than tweaking the plugin to get the sound just right. -Learn to bounce track. There will be times, where using multiple tracks of the same source is unavoidable. When this is the case (i.e. complicated hooks, words that overlap), "bouncing" or exporting that specific multitrack audio to a single track will offer ease in further manipulation, or reuse of that audio elsewhere in your project. -This is important, but overlooked often. Mix with a positive attitude. Maintain the best mood that you can. Being in a poor mood can lead to a closedminded mentality that shuts out good ideas that come from others. A sour disposition might also lead to rushing through the project, and not caring about what really matters in a mix, which, again, is everything. -Emotionally, "buy into" the song that you are mixing. This may be especially difficult if you are a member of a group. You have to trust and support the ideas of others, implement them, and make them work in your mix. Just be ready to save several versions of the mix with each band member's contribution overpowering everything else. The consensus, eventually, will be that things need to sit well in the mix. -Learn that, no matter how many tools you have acquired, EQ, compression, panning, and volume are the tools that are most crucial to your mixing 32 Wusik Sound Magazine

prowess. Experiment with them, learn to use them well, and save presets as starting points for solving common mixing problems. -Listen to your mix(es) everywhere that you can, and make note of how things sound on each system. Also, pay attention to having to adjust bass and treble settings. -Finally, compare your mix to commercially successful songs that you consider to be mixed well. How does your mix compare? Make note of the perceived frequency ranges of each instrument in the commercial mix. How loud are the effects? Which effects are applied to each element of the song? How loud are the vocals in the mix? How much bass is there compared to your mix? You may be surprised at how dull, or bright a mix is compared to yours, or how "plain" the commercial mix sounds, especially if listening through headphones. That mix is more complicated than it seems.

Be carefull to avoid moving the track too much.

Mastering Tips

ealize that a good mix is a blend of art and science. You'll be learning to mix well your whole life. Spending money, will not improve your mix. Knowing how to use the tools that you have is the best way to a good mix. DAW software can be obtained for as little as $150.00(US). If a recording interface is needed, affordable soundcards bundled with recording software are available for under $300.00.

carried away with the ratios. You should leave room for compressing the project as a whole. If you still find yourself yearning for more magic, move one of the high frequency tracks forward, or back just a few samples, and pan it slighlty for a wider sound than you already have. Be carefull to avoid moving the track too much. You dont want the delay noticeable. Again reference a good mix to see how you sound, compared to that.

ow, you have your mix completed, but you notice that pro quality is just a step away from your mix. There is yet another step. Finalizing your mix is a crucial step, as well. Some people call this stage "Mastering", but real mastering refers to mixing finalized tracks together. So, back to your DAW after having mixed your song down to stereo. If you have a good multiband compressor, it is now time to break it out. If not, dont worry. You can acheive the same goal without the expense. Again, this process is not DAW specfic, simply duplicate your stereo track into as many copies as you would like to handle. Beyond six is too many, Solo each track after having applied bandpass equalization, in separate ranges, on each track in the middle. Apply a high pass filter to the first track, and a low pass filter on the last. Name your tracks from top to bottom "high", "midhigh", "mid", "mid-low", and "low", adding or subtracting to fit your taste. After that, try first, simply to adjust the volume of each track to suit you. If further enhancement is needed, add compression to each track, but dont get

Being in a poor mood can lead to a closed-minded mentality that shuts out good ideas that come from others.

he art of making a good recording is much deeper than I have laid out here. These are just tips. The point is that you have considerable professional quality potential with the tools that you probably already own. Spending money should be a last resort in the quest for professional quality sound. Attention to detail, and knowledge in recording and mixing will most likely get you much further than new gear or software. Happy Recording! Wusik Sound Magazine 33

s a e d i y r a Vision K m a i l l i by W How about a centralized super-server that would handle, in real-time, the total musical workstation task? e all know how bad piracy can be for all types of developers. Months ago I was wondering if maybe that would lead us to a totally new internet-based set of products. Why? Simple, if the product only works online, you wouldn't be able to copy and distribute it. But why hasn't the industry changed much in that direction? We have seen Google spreadsheets, Windows Live and a few other Web 2.0 products. But nothing really BIG is happening, at least not that I can see. o, how about a centralized superserver that would handle, in real-time, the total musical workstation task?

A bit crazy, you may say, but why not? 34 Wusik Sound Magazine

ou could access your projects from anywhere, by using any computer. Of course, some work-arounds would be needed in order to reduce latency. But again, with the new technologies for super-fast data-streaming over the internet, we could arrive at something totally usable, with low latency, at any time. But then again, it comes to the question. "Would that really be worth using? I mean, computers are getting more and more powerful every year, so why bother?" To be honest, I don't know. Maybe I'm just envisioning something that I can't even understand myself. magine this: you pay 100 bucks a month and get access to something we would call the super-workstation. Would you say that this is expensive? You get one Terabyte of sounds to choose from, you can run multiple effects and instruments at the same time, and everything

has a backup in real-time thanks to multiple-array disks. Not only this, but no need to mess around with configuration, or anything for that matter. You just open up a special music browser, and let the internet do all the rest. The sound path could be 128 bits / 190khz -- totally insane, but it would produce a near analog feeling. his "super" computer could handle special designed DSP's, with superoptimized code to handle multiple situations. Overall, it could handle multiple users with a very low maintenance cost. idn't Google announced a total webbased operations system some time ago? They wouldn't think about something like this if it wasn't doable. But wouldn't this kill companies like Microsoft, Intel, AMD and other computer manufactures? To be honest, I really don't know, hard to say. I, for one, would be happy to see the future going in this direction. Small developers could rent special data centers to handle such workstation projects, or even design special add-on's for existing centers, and get paid for that without having to worry about crackers.

t would also be great for the user, since he wouldn't have to worry so much about his own DAW organization. If you had a machine failure, you wouldn't even know. The data-center would just replace the defective hardware and assign you a new cell to work with. t does sound a bit like the Jetsons. But who knows, people said the same thing about the Internet back in the 90's.

Taking to the next level... Wusik Sound Magazine 35

The Compulsive Tire-Kicker 3: Funkychickendance looks at the Fascinating World of Convolution Reverbs

36 Wusik Sound Magazine

The Compulsive Tire-Kicker

f you want a really distinctive sound, sometimes you have to go out on a limb. Synth designers can only include just so much in the way of simulation or sound-bending, if you’re not going to drown in multi-screen complexity or choke on folders full of samples. That’s why there’s been a surge in the number of ‘FSU’ –fuck stuff up – products, and why such neat off-the-wall soundwarping products as CamelPhat prosper.

ut the most interesting journeys can start from quite humble beginnings, without requiring a vast range of phasers, flangers, gates, noise generators, filters, and other postprocessing features. In fact, some are based on the humble reverb, pushed a little past its generally recognized parameters. Reverberation is almost

universally present in natural music, unless it’s recorded in an anechoic chamber. It’s what makes music sound alive and have presence.

nce you start artificially holding sounds back by more than about 0.5 seconds, you’re moving into the strange shapeshifting world of dub music. And that’s the most common use of longer reverb settings…with delays heading out as far as five seconds, you can change sounds of drum ‘n’ bass combinations, or the simplest percussion, into waves of clashing and complementary sounds. The good news is you can do this either for free, or at modest cost (where we Wusikstation types are most definitely coming from). But it’s not just ‘dub’ music that benefits from the use of freakish reverb settings: this is the backdoor to all kinds of amazing ambient and industrial sounds, too.

Wusik Sound Magazine 37

The Compulsive Tire-Kicker Reverb 101. Most synths worth the price of admission have built-in reverb, along with their other processing features. Reverb, in electronic music, is the effect you get when a delayed signal is mixed with a dry signal. When the delay is very short, it just tends to thicken the sound (flangers are of this kind, as are simple vocal multitrackers, they’re the styling mousse of sound processing). Longer delays lead to the kind of sounds you associate with old rock ‘n’ roll records, made in primitive boomy studios or recorded live, and beautifully emulated by such first-class free outboard VST reverbs as Kjaerhaus’s Classic freebie reverb.

Getting Dubbie. There’s quite a family of free and cheap reverb VSTs that address the ‘dub’ field of music. An excellent family of freebies is provided by a Swiss-based site – why not? – called The Interruptor. The owner has a broad range of delays, tape effects and other dubbie musical VSTs on hand, along with more dub music lore than you’d anticipate wanting to know. Check it out at: www.interruptor.ch/vst_overview.shtml Some of these effects are pretty good.

38 Wusik Sound Magazine

Our buddy liqih (Luigi Felici) of DASHSignature and NUSofting also mines the farther fringes of reverb with his $24 Morphing Delay, a rather clever product from several perspectives. [There are no bad products from this pair of companies, as I explained in CTC-1]

So What Is Convolution Reverb? I guess the answer would be something along the lines of ‘reverb for adults.’ In convolution, the aim of the exercise is to either emulate the sonic properties of real places without actually recording in them, or to create, by the use of the same signal processing techniques, completely unreal sounds.

The Compulsive Tire-Kicker Intrigued? You should be. Even if you’re merely playing dance music – I’m not suggesting this is the low end of the food chain, by any means, that would be, um, acoustic folk! – the idea of creating some kind of performance space that sonically frames the music is appealing. After all, you hear most of this music in clubs or at concert halls, with their own unique acoustics. Why wouldn’t you want to set your PC-created music in a simulation of a damp, sweaty cellar with a vaulted ceiling? Or an abandoned supermarket? Or at Milan’s La Scala? Or at the bottom of the Grand Canyon? Any of these becomes possible with the use of convolution reverbs.

If you own Sony’s Sound Forge package, you already have a free convo: the built-in Acoustic Mirror, once sold separately but now only bundled. The selected impulses provided don’t model too many interesting spaces (they’re mostly in the vicinity of Madison, WI where predecessor Sonic Foundry was based, and where the Sony developers still hang out.) It has the air of an ‘abandoned product,’ but it works nicely. Try their demo of the ‘heavy metal band playing downstairs, heard from a stairwell’ as an example of the kind of things you can get up to.

There’s a big difference between a convolution reverb and a conventional timedelaying version. What makes convolvers different is that that while they operate as effects, they have dual feeds: the sound you’re sculpting and an impulse response (IR), in essence a WAV-form snapshot of how any sound will behave in the space that’s being modeled. Many IRs are recorded and thus ultra-realistic, while others are created, and can be as weird as you can imagine.

Good and Bad News. Once upon a time, convolution reverbs (and the IR presets that go with them) were horrendously expensive. Now, they are not. The bad news is that what you get for free, or at low prices, is a shadow of what you can get for higher prices. But, either way, you can spice up your music in amazing ways with less than $100 to play with. Let see how:

Free. Available for some time now, the daddy of free convolution reverbs is SIR, now in version SIR 1010. It’s not very simple to use, but it’s a good place to start if you don’t want to put any money on the table. Its many fans think you’d be strange to pay money for anything else.

Budget Priced Solution. The smart money – if you’re not sure you really want to follow this route, but are just trying it on for size – is to buy Convo Boy. It comes from Eleveyta, and costs a princely $20. You’ll see other stuff at the site that you’ll like too. It’s not a highly sophisticated product, but the price is certainly right, and it is pretty self-explanatory in how it works. Definitely highly recommended. Voxengo once had a fairly modestly priced answer called Pristine Space Light, since withdrawn. You see it on KVR Market Place from time to time. If you do, buy it. The pro equivalent is Voxengo Pristine Space ($120; I picked mine up for $80. It’s a wonderful piece of software and worth the money, like everything from Voxengo.)

Wusik Sound Magazine 39

The Compulsive Tire-Kicker

Others. Native Instruments’ Kontakt is IRenabled, but that’s a bonus, you wouldn’t buy it for just that reason…DelayDots’ SpectrumWorx seems appealing, but runs to $99. I haven’t been there, but their products have a good reputation.

Now Feed the Mutha. You can make your own impulse responses, get them for free, or you can buy them.

Make them? Sure…all you need is a good digital recorder, a balloon and a pin. Go to some suitable space, turn on the recorder, pop the balloon. The WAV you record, that fading echo, is an IR. The trick is, find a good space.

My vote, 99% of the time: BUY THEM! But there are some classy packages of freebies to be found:

1 2 3 4

Voxengo’s website has four packs of assorted reverbs The www.noisevault.com website Cyber Kitchen Sound Design Enterprise It’s quite common to see packs of Helicon reverb IRs for sale or free. Keep your eyes open.

40 Wusik Sound Magazine

Sellers of good quality IRs aren’t numerous, and I’ve only dealt with one, Spirit Canyon. I have only nice things to say about them, my good experiences are why I haven’t been more adventurous. I’d listen happily to any ideas or experiences readers might also have had.

Spirit Canyon has three huge collections of IRs: Spectral Relativity, Kaleidoscopy and Sanitarium. They’re available on CD or as fat downloads. If you buy one, it’ll cost you $35. Subsequent sales run around $25. I’ve never seen these products for sale outside the company’s website, http://www.spiritcanyonaudio.com

What’s particularly cool is the way in which the Spirit Canyon devs have pushed their concept further by adding other signal processing algorithms to their WAVs. In other words, they have IRs that push convo reverbs into pitch-shifting, sound spectrum smearing, time reversal and other tricks. Definitely a Mercedes-quality product, as the multiple demos on the site demonstrate. Some of their IRs are very long, and too much of a mouthful for simple convo engines.

Along with their products on the site they also give a rundown of affordable and unaffordable convolution engines, far more comprehensive than mine. I think you won’t go far wrong if you take my suggestions, but that’s up to you.

The Compulsive Tire-Kicker Caring For Your System: Since convolution comes from the wild side of town, be a little cautious when you first try out IRs. It makes sense to forensically test them with loops: simple piano, non-hostile drums, basic bass lines, to see what the effects turn out to be. Keep your hand near the volume control, unless you have a brickwall limiter in your effect chain…feedback loops can start pretty suddenly and blow speakers and eardrums. Seriously!

Live? Whether you’ll graduate to using convo techniques with ‘live’ instruments is up to you. Personally, I find that loops give the simplest, most controllable results, which can in turn be looped, trimmed or otherwise sampled for further use.

In Passing:

New Kid On The Block. For the true experimenter, I’d recommend QuikQuak’s only product so far, the RaySpace effect. Based on the sensible scientific principle of ‘bubble tracing,’ this $90 software can emulate just about any 2D building geometry you can imagine and draw onscreen with a mouse. The concept imagines a stream of bubbles streaming from the sound source and reflecting back to the hearer’s ears. The effect comes with 40-plus presets that cover a wide field from train station announcements, to tunnels, concert halls, and an amazing lively guitar space, plus a real soundreinforcing drum room. It’s very clever, and very classy.

You can obviously set up your own real or imaginary space: I used mine, based on physical measurements, to help a local club with pretty good natural acoustics decide on PA speaker placement and a mixing board, and above all avoid minimize overpowering the space with amplification.

I haven’t tried them but there are deconvolution packages available, said to be able to tame out-of-whack reverb by signal processing. Unless you have screwed-up live tape or digital audio from a miked PA at a gig that needs rescuing, you probably won’t need this kind of fancy ability.

I Wouldn’t!

There’s a product called IR 2 from Waves that sells for $800. See if you can figure out anything about it that is worth more than $50.

Formats. I’ve assumed all along here that PC and VST forms are what interest you. There are plenty of Mac, RTAS, DX and other (native) software format offerings. Check the Spirit Canyon list…

My Rx:

If you have a little money, buy Eleveyta’s Convo Boy and Spirit Canyon’s Kaleidoscopy. If you’re on a tight budget: try SIR plus some freebie IRs, and see how you feel about the concept.

Funxi Emulates the Sand in the Oyster: Wouldn’t some carefully crafted convolution-processed sounds make phenomenal Wusik soundsets and presets? Oh, Jeremy Jantzen, Zvon, John Gibson… Wusik Sound Magazine 41

The Synth Romance by WilliamK

Why do you make it so cheap?!

What is product value to you? People ask me this question all the time, wondering about the low price of Wusikstation versus its high quality. "Why do you make it so cheap?!" 42 Wusik Sound Magazine

It's funny, but some people do think that just because a product is inexpensive that the quality will also be low. I blame this on real-world sales. When you see two products on a shelf, they both look the same, but one is just cheaper. The first thought is why one is so much cheaper than the other?

The Synth Romance

There are two answers for this: 1 The cheap product is indeed poor in quality, poorly made, and will break faster than the other, more expensive product. 2

The expensive product is selling you a "brand", not actual quality. They could even be made by the same small factory, but one gets a brand name, while the other doesn't. That happens, trust me.

Back to the "virtual" world of software. Although this rule applies to the marketing world, here we can't follow the same trends. Although, for some reason, people still think that inexpensive software is "damaged goods."

I'm glad I was miles away from all the people that read my comments in the 80's, otherwise I would have been in big trouble. I got all sorts of angry replies. It is strange that today I still get those when I try to talk about this subject. To show how hard-minded some people are, I got a new magazine this month that claims that Cubase 4 has over a million registered users. I'm not sure if it's true, but if that's the case, small and big developers should really re-think price structures. Charging over 200 USD for a single software reverb unit is just crazy, if I may say so. Of course, I'm pretty sure that I will get tons of emails saying that I'm just crazy, or even too optimistic. But you know what? I already see other companies doing the same stuff their competitors do, for less than 1/4 of the price. I won't give names here, but there are companies out there, small and medium sized companies, already reducing prices. I'm sure that with time, this situation will be even more common, thanks to the international awareness that comes with globalization.

"But why is the other company's product, that does the same thing as yours, so expensive?" Simple, they are a big company with a large staff to pay, heavy taxes, big advertisements in several major magazines and other expenses like that. That all adds up to product cost. "I don't get it. Don't they sell 100 times more than you do?" Yes, they do. And still, they have a higher price tag. "I'm lost." And so am I.

I remember back in the 80's, when the Internet didn't exist yet and Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) ruled the computer communications world. I asked some developers, should they drop prices by 80% and raise sales by 300%, wouldn't the world be a better place? They would still get paid for their work. I mean, software distribution, even in the Shareware days, was cheap. Today it is even cheaper, thanks to the Internet. Therefore, the more you sell, the better it is. Unlike when you have a real product to be shipped around the globe. So why can't this work?

Of course, I'm pretty sure that I will get tons of emails saying that I'm just crazy, or even too optimistic.

Wusik Sound Magazine 43

Kawai Synthesizer 100F by Autodafe

44 Wusik Sound Magazine

Kawai Synthesizer-100F The Kawai Synthesizer-100F is a small analogue synth with a tiny 3-octave keyboard, in the line of small portable synths of the past. It appeared back at the beginning of the Eighties (1980-81), and is a strange example of double-branded synth. In fact, it also appeared under the Teisco brand. Apparently, Kawai originally had the Japanese name Teisco - or they took over a Japanese firm with that name - but it soon appeared to be a "not-so-smart" marketing name in Britain, where they have a supermarket chain named "Tesco." So they probably re-branded their entire product line for that reason. It's quite a limited synth, but has some unusual features for a synth its size.So let's see why it still has lots of fans.

Tech Talk Let's make it clear: the small 100F is a single VCO monophonic analogue synthesizer. This is its main (or should I say "big"?) limitation. A second oscillator would have made it quite a killer. Its only oscillator has a 7-position knob (2', 4', 8', 16', 32', 64' and "low") for footage control. An additional slider controls tuning, with a simple "High" and "Low" setting. Waveform selection is very limited, only sawtooth and square, but you can also add noise or an external audio signal and route them to the VCF, instead of the VCO. The VCO can be modulated by either envelope I or II or the LFO. Despite the fact that it has only one VCO there's quite a good selection of modulation options to pump up the sound a bit.

The LFO can modulate pretty much everything: the VCO, VCF and VCA. It has a slider for rate control and a switch for waveform selection (sawtooth, triangle, and square only). The VCF has the usual controls for cutoff and resonance (here called "peak"). The filter, like the VCO, can be modulated by different sources: the LFO, an envelope generator or, as a more unusual choice, by the oscillator itself (again, you can choose between sawtooth or square waveforms). The VCO-to-VCF routing is really something quite

unique to this synthesizer, at least as compared to others in its same class.

Envelopes are quite basic, though there are options for AD/ADS/ASR envelope types. Both of the envelope generators simply have a switch for envelope type, a slider for attack and one for decay. The first switch position results in a simple AD envelope. The second position creates an ADS with no release. The third creates an ASR, with sustain set to max. Small icons close to the EG's switches graphically show what each option does. A switch between the envelopes lets you choose if the two EG's are triggered by the keyboard or by the LFO. A portamento slider completes modulation controls. It's a simple slider with a 3-selection switch (labeled only A, B and C). The manual doesn't help much about this control, but it looks like you can play legato with its different settings.

The VCA can use its own level slider, Envelope II, or a keyboard gate. At the end of the audio path there's also a high-pass filter with a slider to control filter cutoff. The synthesizer was quite well built for that time; the keys have a lesser plastic "feel" than those of many other synths -- even bigger and more expensive names . The front cover is made of metal, painted grey, quite solid. Oh, and those lovely wooden side panels! Wusik Sound Magazine 45

Kawai Synthesizer-100F

Sounds The 100F, as I said, is quite a small and perhaps limited synth; it has only one VCO but quite a lot of modulation options (and some of them unusual for this kind of synthesizer). It shows a lot of character for bass sounds or lead sounds. The filter is one of the things that sets this one apart from other synths in the same category. The 100F Filter has filter patching options that you normally cannot find on similar synths, like the aforementioned ability to modulate it with the VCO, which you only find on modulars or semi-

46 Wusik Sound Magazine

modulars. You can get quite unique sounds with this option.

And, the Kawai 100F can also route external audio through the filter. Try feeding it with some drum loops, and set the "peak" at max. Resonance easily goes into self oscillation if set close to its maximum position, and it screams a lot if cutoff is set close to minimum. However, it lacks some other basic controls such as a Mod Wheel and Pitch Bender, that could extend its sonic possibilities further.

Kawai Synthesizer-100F

Connections Needless to say, the 100F has no MIDI. Sadly, it also lacks CV/ Gate controls, like many other "cheap" synths of that era. It only has a CV control for VCO modulation, an "Exp Pedal" jack input, and that's pretty much all. ÂŚThere is a retrofit available form Kenton which adds CV/Gate and Filter controls for about 77 GBP (100-120 USD). I might try to install one sooner or later.

Conclusion:

Finding a used Kawai 100F It's not impossible to find one, and if you are lucky enough, there's probably one sitting in your local pawn shop for a very little money. The 100F is one of the small synths that can still be found quite cheaply. Asking prices can go up to 400-500 Euros/Dollars, but, to be honest, this freaky synth is not worth that much. I think that a reasonable price for it should be about 150-200 Euros/Dollars; maybe just a bit more if the machine is in immaculate condition. ÂŚI paid the equivalent of 170 Euros for mine some years ago. It really was like new, but with a terrible sticker of a 70-80's Italian pop artist which looks really ugly!

A small freaky synthesizer; but if you can find one cheap, don't let it go! Wusik Sound Magazine 47

C r e a t i n g S o u n d s

by Roy Queenan

Size Does n' t A lway s Ma tter "Compliment your synth

arsenal by going small" Every time a new megasynth plugin is announced, I can't wait to get my hands on it. After getting my hands on the new toy, I initiate the ritual of playing through each patch. I used to be able to remember the sounds that I liked, but that's when an elite synth would come with about 128

48 Wusik Sound Magazine

patches. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I can no longer keep track of all of my favorite patches across my favorite VSTi, DXi, RTAS, and hardware synths. These days, it is not surprising to see more than 1,000 patches included with a synth. Technology's reward, which is more and better stuff, is a bit of a two-edged sword.

C r e a t i n g S o u n d s

We benefit from huge amounts of realistic emulations of real-world instruments, the synths of the past, and things that we have not yet heard. The problem is dedicating a huge amount of your hard drive's real estate may eventually force you to choose between what gets run regularly, and which synths become stored. Add that to the fact that you really don't want all of the material that is included with any of the synths that you own. All of that is fine. The good far outweighs what gripes we may have about our modern softsynths.

e still need to be able to find the sounds that we need to use for music making, and surprisingly, with all of the "oohs" and "aahs" that occur when demo'ing a synth patch, finding a patch that truly fits into ones track can be tough. Sure you can dive into that monster synth's wealth of soundshaping resources...And all of the waveforms that made up those 1000+ patches. But there is an alternative approach to finding the sounds that you need. I have personally been doing this for years, and have been happier for it. In a pinch, just make the sounds that you need from a small soundset of single waveforms. Don't concern yourself with the pitch or root note of each sample. Don't concern yourself with the quality of the looping. Don't concern yourself with the grittiness of your aged samples, or any of that. Our miniature soundset is designed to emulate what most of us need commonly, or have lost over the years. History is on our side when it comes to doing this.

emember that D50 that you traded-in for the M1? Didn't you get rid of the M1 for a K2000 or Triton? I really used to love the pads and the D50. There are hundreds of songs that showcase those sounds, or the organs on the M1, or FM synths. While time has marched on, it has forgotten these sounds, and opted for pristine renditions of sounds that were less than perfect. Let's get those old imperfect sounds back. Any Wusikstation owner will be able to do this. You may need to dig into Wusik's own extensive sample set, or use a program that generates synth waveforms and/or white noise, such as Sony's stallwart Sound Forge. Alternatively, there are various sources on the internet that offer samples. It should not be too hard to track down the samples needed for our project. These are the samples needed:

-Sawtooth Wave -Square Wave -Sine Wave -Triangle Wave (Optional) -White Noise -String Waveform (Sampled around C6, or so) -A "Spectrum" Waveform -Male Vocal Sample (Around C6) -Female Vocal Sample (Around C6) -Digital Waveforms -Organ Partials

Wusik Sound Magazine 49

C r e a t i n g S o u n d s

he digital Waveforms you can fake by looping a sinewave, or anything "chimey" to the point that it buzzes in a high pitched fashion.

3. From the Filter Bank a) Click on Filter 1 to make sure that is on b) Adjust Resonance value to 24 c) Adjust Frequency value to 0

on't fear if you can't get these waves. We've included a generic sample set with this edition of Wusik Sound Magazine.

4. Pan the layer to the left giving a value around -30

5. Duplicate the layer by right-clicking an open area and choosing "copy layer"

6. Choose Layer 2, and right-click--> "paste layer"

fter knowing what goes into the sounds that you like, it can be easier to dial up a quick patch as opposed to wading through thousands of sounds spread across several synths. So, what does go into a quickie synth patch? Here are a few recipes, in "Wusik Speak" (which is pretty standard "synth speak") that may work for your needs:

7. From the Mod Matrix assign Mod Envelope 1 to "02 Filter 1 Freq"

8. Duplicate step 3 this layer (?) 9. Pan the layer to the right giving a value of 30 10. Detune the layer + or - 8 cents 11. Adjust Mod Envelope number 1 to these values: A= 0

Classic Synth Bass: From Within Wusikstation

1. Dial up a sawtooth wave in Layer 1 2. From the Mod Matrix a) Assign Mod Envelope 1 to "01 Filter 1 Freq" b) Assign an Amount of 127 to the Mod Envelope Value

50 Wusik Sound Magazine

D=48 S=18 R=30

12. Adjust each layer's Amp Envelope to mirror Mod Envelope 1 Tune to your needs.

C r e a t i n g S o u n d s

Arpeggio Sounds: D50 Style Pad:

ollow the instructions for Classic Synth Bass, but use two layers of the same vox sample. Adjust the amp and filter envelope release values to allow a good tail. Lastly, add a third layer. Assign a digital waveform, the "spectrum" transient, or an organ partial. Don't assign a filter to it. Just give it a sharp amplitude attack value, and assign an amplitude decay value that allows the sound to be heard for a good duration. If you feel like getting fancy, pitch the three notes down or four notes up for an interesting timbre. Add chorus to FX1, and reverb to FX2. Adjust each layer's effects assignment to your liking.

hese can be combinations of just about any sound. The important thing is to assign a short sustain and decay value to the amp envelope. Assigning extreme velocity sensitivity to the frequency and resonance of each layer will prevent the patch from sounding static when being played. Light Delay works best with these types of sounds.

here are, of course thousands of recipes to get to thousands of sounds. However these, and the small soundset provide a means of dialing to your sound in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. Add to your small sample set, only as needed. Realize that a single sample may not play the lenght of a 61 or 88 note keyboard without aliasing, so shoot for the playable range that you need. You might be amazed by the number of genuinely useful sounds that can be made in less time than it takes to find one that is just close to what you wanted. A small set of patches has been included to demonstrate a portion of the range available with this approach to sound making. Enjoy.

Wusik Sound Magazine 51

70 SoundSets - 110 Meg - 62 Presets

resolution) at every white-key from C1 to C6 (sometimes over to B6) The resulting files are very large, so Disk-Streaming is recommended.

www.artvera-music.com

4 SoundSets - 280 Meg - 15 presets

Location: Presets\Wusik Sound Magazine\Artvera NewAge Collection\Volume 04

Location: Presets\Wusik Sound Magazine\HQ Synthetica\Volume 01

ArtVera NewAge Collection Volume 4

General Midi (GM) Set by Grymmjack.

With this volume we present you a very special set of SAW Pads and one Pulse FM SoundSet.

Edited and Programmed by WilliamK

Kawai 100F Sounds

Third and Final Volume

by Autodafe - www.autodafe.net

52 SoundSets - 170 meg - 50 Presets

13 SoundSets - 24 Meg - 21 Presets

Location: Presets\Wusik Sound Magazine\GM

Location: Presets\Wusik Sound Magazine\Issue 0007\Kawai 100F

HQ Synthetica Volume 1

ZWusik Weird Sounds

by WilliamK - www.william-k.com

by Zachariah Weckter www.strict-9.com

This is the first volume of our special High Quality (HQ) Synth Sounds. All sounds were recorded/generated at 96khz and downsampled to 48khz (plays with any

52 Wusik Sound Magazine

9 SoundSets - 40 Meg - 31 Presets Location: Presets\Wusik Sound Magazine\Issue 0007\ZWusik

by Roy Queenan www.redshiftaudio.com

Note that on some programs metallic harsher overtones appear the higher you play on the keyboard.

23 SoundSets - 1 Meg - 50 Presets

Let me know what you think of it.

Location: Presets\Wusik Sound Magazine\Issue 0007\Small Emulator

Zvon

Small Emulator Sounds

Visit our website for more sample sets.

The Zvon MBH mod soundset for the Wusikstation 7 SoundSets - 14 Meg - 7 Presets

email: info@lesproductionszvon.com Forum:

Location: Presets\Wusik Sound Magazine\Issue 0007\MBHmod

Web site: www.lesproductionszvon.com

An experimental soundfont that I made with processed Marching Band horn samples. There are no loops and all the sounds have short durations. There are 7 waveforms and they are mapped chromatically. All are multisampled.

www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=58

Wusik Sound Magazine 53