Magazine Layout: MoniKe Editors: Paul Evans and MoniKe
Articles by: A. Arsov www.arsov.net DamBros Especial thanks to Claudia Picchi David Keenum Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi Kevin Burke www.kevinburke.ca Paul Evans - aka Triple-P (PPP) www.triplep.wusik.com Wouter Dullaert - aka Kyran www.kyran.wayouthere.co.uk
Proof-Reading by: Kevin Burke www.kevinburke.ca
Pictures: www.dreamstime.com
Cover and Back Cover: jC
This month we bring you some of the hottest gear reviews. As well, recently Markus Feil of Tone2 has been very controversial. Wusik has him on the hot seat for an interview; with the new Tone2 Gladiator release closing in, I figured what better time. This month we also kick off advertising in the pages of Wusik. As you will see some companies have already taken the opportunity to do so. HQ Synthetica Sounds for Wusikstation continues to expand with this issue. And we have Image Line’s newest products in our scopes and we will tell you how they performed for us. My fellow writers are on auto-pilot and were cruising right along as we proceed to give you what you need. WilliamK, the hardest working man in music software, has deals unfolding left and right for Christmas. If you need to upgrade or have been thinking about getting some NSL sounds - go to the site and check out the new deals. WusikXtation is being developed as we speak. If you check out the Wusik forum you can find William brainstorming and getting the concept mapped out. We need you to give us feedback and let us know how you want this to turn out. The more involvement from you the better it will be for you. The Wusik Engine has been put up for licensing so if you know a great sample company that is not supporting the format now is the time to tell them to make the switch. It is rapidly growing with William’s amazing work ethic. With each issue it seems the writers work harder and harder. That makes my job easier. I thank them for the dedication and hard work they put in each month. Though we are from all over the globe, we come together and deliver this magazine to you every month. I have a very solid crew here and things will continue to grow. If I have my wish, Wusik magazine will become one of the biggest e-zines for music and software on the ‘net. Maybe it’s just a dream, but that is where great success starts. Follow your dreams, and most importantly - follow Wusik magazine. Also, go to the forum and tell us what you think. Let us know what you would like to read and see in our ‘virtual pages of enlightenment’. If you need to know how to do something, let us know – it give us ideas for the magazine. We'll throw it at the wall and see if it sticks.
Wusik Magazine
#018 October 2007
Wusikstation V4 Advertising Background: Michael Knubben
First let me say we did it! And we are almost at issue 20 which is a great mark to reach for any independent magazine.
Next month, another blockbuster: Do not miss out as we raid IK's headquarters and bring you reviews of all their latest products. Be clear and be real.
MoniKe
Paul Evans akaTriple-P
ppp
The Word by DamBros
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Mastering Tips: My Toolbox by Paul Evans Diversions: Uncluttered Spaces by Kevin Burke
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Gear Review: Blue Cats Dynamics by Wouter Dullaert
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EQ for You by A. Arsov
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Dear Santa by A. Arsov
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Interview: Markus Feil by Paul Evans
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Sound Review: Sunset Sessions by Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi
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Maximus by Wouter Dullaert
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ManyBass by David Keenum
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Morphine by Paul Evans
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Electro-House by Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi
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VS Resurrection by David Keenum
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Poizone 2 by Wouter Dullaert
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Sir 2 by A. Arsov
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Tsaiko by David Keenum
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Variverb PRO by A. Arsov
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Gimme Some Money by A. Arsov
Predator by Paul Evans
hallo
The Word
hola
hello
salut
...everybody on earth spoke the same language.
The Word
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
by DamBros
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The Bible tells us of a remarkable episode in the history of humanity when it refers to the Tower of Babel. It says that until the construction of the tower everybody on earth spoke the same language and that during the construction, the first disagreements began. This caused serious quarrels which culminated in the separating of conflicting groups which had started to practice different languages. > >
olĂĄ
selam
ciao groet The Word
In my opinion, I think it would be easier if, instead of people communicating through phonemes, they would communicate through music. Children would, from birth, receive (besides the traditional gifts) all kinds of musical instruments and would be instructed to try
each one of them, even if they revealed a natural tendency for one of them. After this, they would be incentivised, even before beginning to produce the first sounds, to express their wishes and desires through the one or several instruments with which they are becoming acquainted.
#019 November 2007
Grammar books, dictionaries and support books would be edited by musicians with post-graduation, master’s degree and a PhD in universal musical language, and always assisted by masters in languages, psychologists, psychiatrists and a whole range of specialists in human communication. > >
Wusik Magazine
From that moment on, language became the root of great difficulty in communication. People from different localities had trouble understanding one another. Even today this happens - even though there have been many attempts to establish a universal language, such as Esperanto.
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hallo hola
hello
salut
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
...everybody The Wordon earth spoke the same language.
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The musical notes are the universal expression. Musicians from all parts of the world can open sheet music written by someone from any nationality and easily play with the same expression with which it was conceived. Moreover, they could play it as members of a simple or complex musical band, whose components could practice completely different languages, but who would get along very well as interpreters of a musical play. If, instead of musical notes there were written letters or words, it would be unintelligible for many or for all.
Nothing against a child who decides to use words to call mommy, daddy, granny, or any other names, but along with it one could associate a sound that meant the same thing, with the advantage of meaning the same thing in China, Germany, Spain, Iran or in any other part of the planet. What a difference it would make if we traveled on business or leisure though various parts of the world! If we wished to start a conversation with the local people, we would just have to get a musical instrument - keyboard, wind, or string and begin a dialogue. If there is empathy, the communication would soon become a marvellous jam session because inevitably each participant would try to show their virtues in that instrument that they are used to playing. > >
olĂĄ
selam
ciao groet The Word
The children would make instant friendships, and change the natural fear of dealing with new situations into one which garners immediate and guarantied satisfaction.
Wusik Magazine
The governments, on the contrary, would not make laws and norms forcing the parents to teach their children into the new musical order. They would provide contests and incentivise recitals for each age group, inciting the pleasure that such activities provides to all the family.
Imagine the magazines, books, graduation, post graduation, master’s and doctorate theses, not in heavy pages of sophisticated texts, but in light sheet music that anyone could listen to and assimilate! Not to mention the urgent and crucial communication of people who meet casually for brief moments, in the street, in line, in the elevator. The eyes meet, but the time is too short to allow for a formal conversation. A small pocket keyboard could be turned on quickly and play two happy notes: Hi! No words, no matter the language.
#019 November 2007
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#019 November 2007
My Toolbox
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My Toolbox by Paul Evans
My Toolbox I reached into my virtual toolbox last issue and shared my compressors. This month, we shift gears and I will tell you about the reverbs I am using right now. Many people say soft-verbs have not measured up to their hardware counterparts. I cannot say I disagree. I can say, however, there are some great soft-verbs. I believe I have a few of the best. I will discuss my three most used reverbs. I will keep things algorithmic. I think convolution is a different beast in the reverb realm. I’m not a big fan of convolution, aside from Nebul3. The way I use reverbs is to start with the simplest first. In my collection, this is Nomad Factory’s Blue-Verb - a very nice lush and shiny reverb. An 80's emulation, Blue-Verb nails the sound. It has a very shimmery sound with a familiar feel to it. Perhaps the familiarity of the sound is why I frequently use it. It is comfortable.
Blue-Verb is also no-nonsense. It is not as in depth as the others I will discuss, however, as stated before, the sound is exceptional. It can brighten and smooth over almost anything I run through it. It has an EQ section with low and high frequency controls, for reducing or boosting frequencies. Some reverbs have a tendency to overwhelm the material to which it is applied. Not here. It adds great sheen or shine to drums and is great at livening instruments up. Bernie Torrelli, the creator of Nomads, has a certain craftsmanship and skill for making vintage plug-ins. This is one that I truly admire. Being the easiest of my top three, it is also probably the least flexible too. The familiar sound, however, usually melds my tracks. > >
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#019 November 2007
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My Toolbox
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
If Blue can't do the job, I go deeper and reach for WaveArts Masterverb5 - one of my big guns. M5 is rich and definitely one of the smoothest verbs I have used. Unlike Blue-Verb, Masterverb5 offers a little more in the flexibility department. It comes with an excellent graphic display, helping you to see what is happening as you move the knobs and measure the reverb. This is very helpful in searching for the right space. It is extremely good for vocals; it almost seems to me it is made for vocals. The richness and smoothness sound wonderful underneath vocals. It’s also good on drums, but perhaps a little light. I think it is better suited for monophonic instruments. A transparent reverb is sometimes very helpful, and M5 is a reverb you don't get horrible overkill from if you start jacking the settings up. It comes with envelope as well. Out of the three, it is the only one with an envelope. This is an excellent feature and helps you get just the right amount of reverb.
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The controls are made up of three sections: early reflection, late reverb, and the graphic display area. The graphic display offers extra control over the other two sections, including an XY for the time and space controls. It also has plenty of algorithms on tap to shape your reverb. Masterverb indeed! > >
My Toolbox The last reverb to come out is ArtsAcoustic Reverb. This reverb is ingenious. M5 offered a great deal of control. AAR however offers almost total control!
Wusik Magazine #019 November 2007
Many would use this for their go to reverb, but I like to get things moving - and fast! AAR, however, has a very different sound from the first two. It seems much more dense and thick. The others sound light in their loafers compared to AAR. It works much better in drums than the previous two, and is great for creating drum rooms.AAR is like a rugged all terrain vehicle: it goes where others can't. This is why it is like my specialty reverb. Some things might not sound ideal with the others, or I may just need a heavier sounding reverb. In these cases I smother on a thick coat of ArtAccoustic Reverb. It can create huge sounds that are epic and just has an extremely full sound. > >
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My Toolbox
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
The handling for AAR is as smooth as it gets. It has a very intuitive interface with helpful graphic displays that can be edited, and has an area to choose the reverb type. Each knob on AAR can be double-clicked for finer tuning. This brings up a small sub-screen with three control wheels. In the subscreen, you are able to navigate the parameters as well so you do not have to double-click each knob. An excellent feature. This offers more control on top of superb control!
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AAR comes with maybe one of the most detailed and helpful manuals I have ever had the chance to read for a reverb plugin. It’s a great read whether you are a master or not, and is full of great information on using AAR and reverb in general. With AAR you have the choice of 6 room types. This is an exquisite reverb with better control than the first two. Its flexibility is good with many ways to shape the reverb here. > >
My Toolbox
These are my tried and true reverbs. Each offers something the other does not. Whether it is sound, flexibility or character. Masterverb5 sounds smoother than smooth, while Blue-Verb has shiny and shimmery covered, and AAR is all about depth and texture. Blue-Verb is my setup reverb, though it is much more one-dimensional than the others. It just has a sound that works, and works in most situations I need it to.
All of them are good and all are useful. Three top grade reverbs and none are at a crazy ridiculous price. The CPU hit is reasonable from all three, with Blue-Verb probably the lightest: another reason it is used a lot. These are really worth a try, and can be found at:
Wusik Magazine
www.wavearts.com/MasterVerb.html www.nomadfactory.com/products/blueverb/in dex.html www.artsacoustic.com/artsacoustic_reverb.ht ml
#019 November 2007
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#019 November 2007
Blue Cat Dynamics
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Blue Cat Dynamics by Wouter Dullaert
> >
#019 November 2007
Dynamics is, as the name implies, a single band compressor plug-in, but with a twist. It is windows only and comes in both DirectX and VST formats. In this review I'll be covering the VST version.
Wusik Magazine
Reviewing plug-ins sometimes feels like travelling the world. This issue I'm visiting Russia, Belgium and in this review: France. The reason for this journey is the dynamics plug-in by Blue Cat.
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Blue Cat Dynamics
When you first launch the plug-in, you are greeted by a much fleshed out compressor GUI. All the controls you expect from a decent compressor are there, and then some. In the center of this knob-laden view there is also a nice display which visualises your compression curve and has some very helpful input, output and gain reduction meters. This display is not as informative as the modern waveform views found on Fabfilter's Pro-C and Imageline's Maximus, but it still provides tons of useful visual feedback when tweaking all the controls. This expert view provides all the functions you could ever want from a single band compressor.
A lot of buttons and features sure is nice, but very often it's overkill. Sometimes you just don't want to make something sound like it's made by aliens; sometimes you just want a limiter, or a good old fashioned compressor with five knobs. Of course your big multifunctional effect can do this, but it's often easier, faster and more satisfying to just use a dedicated effect. The fine lads at Blue Cat noticed this and therefore created a very deep skinning system. This system goes far beyond your regular skinning system: it doesn't only allow you to change the colour scheme, or alter the way the buttons look, it also allows you to reorder or even hide entire parts of the GUI.
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
> >
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Blue Cat Dynamics
The power of the skinning system does have price: it is not that easy to create your own skins. It's more of a programming language based on xml, so there's quite the learning curve for the uninitiated. To offset this learning curve, Blue Cat has included a whole bunch of factory skins: there's a limiter, a normal compressor, a compressor with display and the big kahuna expert view with all bells and whistles. You can download even more skins from their website. Some of these are really pieces of art. Each of these skins feels like its own separate instrument. Even when you compare two "compressor" skins to each other: the different layout and workflow will lead to different results.
The ease of use of this sidechaining system greatly depends on your host, but this is also the case for "traditional" compressors which use a separate sidechaining input.
Sound-wise, Dynamics is very good. I tried a whole bunch of source material with it and it never failed to give me satisfying results. Dynamics also ships with a set of presets. There's a reasonable amount of them, but it's by no means a preset machine. The presets themselves are good, and nicely varied. They often were a nice starting point for tweaking. Dynamics is also a very stable plug-in. I tested it in a lot of hosts, and I only encountered a very rare problem in FLStudio, which the latest update fixed. Anyone in the market for a good single band compressor should seriously consider Dynamics. For â‚Ź89 it is not the cheapest on the market (how can it be in this age of freeware), but it offers a very high value for money rating. It will easily become your to-go to compressor. The skinning system makes it usable in both simple and complex situations, and eases the learning curve. It also has enough tricks up its sleeve to keep the creative compression freak happy. Strongly recommended!
Wusik Magazine
Like every self-respecting compressor these days, Dynamics offers sidechain control. Dynamics’ way of implementing this does differ a bit from the competition. Dynamics has a midi out port to which you can assign various signals within the plug-in, such as the output volume or the gain reduction. You can then use your host’s midi capabilities to route this signal to whatever it is you want to sidechain. Of course this opens up a whole lot more possibilities than the traditional sidechaining. You can even write the midi information out as automation data in your host.
On their website, Blue Cat has put up a whole lot of tutorials which show how all these hidden features of Dynamics can be used, often in combination with their impressive (freeware) gain suite. They show you how to do dynamic ducking, or how to create a wah-wah effect and more. The manual itself is 25 pages long and explains every inch of the plug-in in great detail. It also contains some tips on how to achieve some common effects; nice.
#019 November 2007
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Uncluttered Spaces
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
by Kevin Burke www.kevinburke.ca
18
So there I sat, as I always do, in my studio – surrounded by racks of electronic gear which surely give off enough heat to trigger imagery on any country’s non-military thermal imaging satellite. To my right, there’s a keyboard, and against the wall to the left - a rack of still more. I stared blankly into the brightly lit dual monitors in front of me and wondered how best to jumpstart my new creative project. The truth, you see, is that I had been practicing avoidance techniques with what I like to call “administrative tasks”, but now the brain chatter calling for recompense for my procrastination had grown to a loudness level that could no longer be ignored.
The time to unclutter had arrived. Things pile up. It’s a fact. Few and far between are those who clean up after themselves, or clean-as-they-go. We tend to create a mess (physical, mental, social) with the sincere objective to rectify the matter “soonish”, and in fact do just that more often than not. But it’s the little things, when compounded over a longer than average period of time, that cause the most grief and steal away more of our precious free-time hours. They don’t really, of course, but whenever we choose to batch a process it seems like the light at the end of the tunnel has been reduced to a mere spark in a windstorm.
#019 November 2007
The creative process stops until the administrative work is done.
The keyword here is – reduction. Copy all of those free samples, your sample CD’s, and commercial sample DVD’s to a hard drive where they can be instantly accessed – and put the discs away and completely out of site. If you use AKAI or other proprietary sample CD’s (Roland, Kurzweil, EMU), load the programs into your sampler and save back to your hard drive, or use a commercial sample converter such as Extreme Sample Converter, or CD-Xtract. Test the conversion to make sure your happy with it, and then put the discs in the basement. Out of sight is not out of mind; you are more apt to use sample discs if they are instantly available. > >
Wusik Magazine
Ordinary tasks like pairing down our email folders, organizing downloads, and burning/labeling CD’s and DVD’s, when ignored for too long, suddenly become an onerous project destined to consume an average weekend and evoke disdain from our spouses for spending too much time in our collective “wombs”. Try as we might to make an appearance, and pet the dog, the nagging to get the administrative things done is now louder than that which instructs us to cut the lawn, rake the leaves, or take the family vehicle for an oil change.
One of the things I try to do is to create an environment where everything I need is at my fingertips. Many years ago I was told that when joining a local gym I had better select one that is close to my house otherwise I wouldn’t go. There is more than a grain of truth in that statement. There were better gyms around, but I believe I struck a good balance between one which had both all of the accoutrements I was expecting, and the distance from home I desired. Setting up a creative space requires much the same planning.
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Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Copy your Battery kits and Kontakt instruments into their respective library folders, and do the same for other applications which use a default library directory. If the application catalogues or compiles a patch library (such as Wusikstation), perform this function. When your creativity is in full swing, you’ll spend less time hunting for the perfect patch or loop. If you have disparate folders full of drum hits which have not been assembled into kits, put them all into a ‘Drums’ directory; you’ll find this a great resource for replacing pad sounds in Battery, Guru, and other drum VSTi’s. You’ll be able to get the exact snare and crash with little fuss. Having everything in one place means no searching.
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Likewise, keep a ‘Sysex’ folder full of files customized for the actual channel of your hardware instrument – that way you won’t need to re-patch your midi cables to get the Sysex transfer recognized. There are free hex editors available to assist in changing the channel, but you’ll need to review the Sysex byte order first. This information is usually at the back of the manual and the bytes differ for each manufacturer and instrument. The goal is to reduce fidgeting. If you have midi clips, organize them into a Midi Tools folder using obvious naming
conventions, like: Basslines, Acoustic Guitar patterns, Drums, Brass, etc. You can create additional sub-folders if you have lots of files and want to organize them by genre (Basslines/Electro, Basslines/R&B …). When the creative spark is not igniting, these can be great tools to kickstart your songwriting process. If you’re lucky enough to also have some midi clips of controller data (volume ramps, gates, pans, …) then setup a folder for those. You can lay these over any pedestrian synth line and instantly spruce it up.
Organize your creative folders. I keep a folder of new pieces I’m working on, but I arrange them according to date. So it looks like this: New Songs |_____10012007a |_____10012007b |_____10182007a I use the date format (Month, Day, Year) followed by an alphabetic character (a, b, c, …) depending on how many new songs I start that day. I use Cakewalk’s Sonar, so within each directory is a Sonar file with the same name, and all of the audio data associated with the project is in a subdirectory within. > >
At any given time, I also have a few other directories containing files related to finished or unfinished albums, like this: Finished Albums |_____Looking for Myself While Hiding |_____Art |_____CD |_____Data |_____Sonar |_____Hot Sun Ate The Sky |_____Art |_____CD |_____Data |_____Sonar Now that you’ve attacked the media aspect of studio clutter, it’s time to clean up the remainder. Put away magazines, knick-knacks, packaging, manuals, jewel cases, and reduce viewable objects to just what you require. Spartan is the new “in” décor. Try a new colour on the walls. Really! You’ll be amazed on how this can change your mood. As for me (a bit of a Grinch), I went from flat black to creamy sand and now hand out brightly coloured lollipops to strangers.
#019 November 2007
Now, dust everything. Use a can of compressed air and rid your DAW fans of dust (and by doing so, noise). Cover lengths of exposed cables with plastic cable organizers (but run audio and electricity cables in separate bundles). Hang photos that you took, or art that you made. Use a scented candle to liven up otherwise stagnant air. > >
Wusik Magazine
My ‘New Albums’ folder is arranged the same way. The ‘Sonar’ folder contains my Sonar sequencer file and associated data, and may also contain sampler files (Multi, Program, Samples) for loading into one of my AKAI S-5000’s (via USB). I also keep my original 32 bit raw exported stereo file here, and my 32 bit mastered WAV (clipped and faded). The ‘CD’ folder contains the final 16 bit version of the mastered file. The ‘Data’ directory will contain a 192kbps MP3 of the song (useful when creating an extended CD with a data segment, or for uploading and selling via the web). And the ‘Art’ directory, oddly enough, contains imagery used for the creation of the album cover, jewel card, and insert. Everything, you see, is in once place. Although the art was not created on my DAW, the result of that creative process ended up, appropriately, on my DAW hard drive along with the related files.
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A clean and uncluttered workspace (and mind) will contribute to a satisfying and productive creative experience. With a new-found ability to concentrate on the task at hand, your output will increase, and your knowledge of studio tools and software will suddenly exceed “scratching the surface�.
De-cluttering affords Peace.
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#019 November 2007
EQ For You
EQ For You by A. Arsov
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Just an ordinary day, working on a classic pop song, along with ordinary trouble, having everything expanded in a quite busy arrangement: up to ten tracks just for drum, two or more for guitars overdubs, one for bass guitar, one for lead vocal, plenty for back vocals and ten to twelve for all the other instruments, loops and effects. That quantity of tracks demands a lot of EQ tweaking to make space for all these sounds. It's true that all equalizers use more or less the same common filter types for cutting and boosting, but some of them color the sound much more naturally than other. And the main reason for this diversity is different quality of filters. It's all in math and coding.
EQ For You
Those with analog modeling type of filters sound much more natural and pleasant to ears and they give better results. So it's not hard to understand that heaving a good equalizer is more than just essential for pushing your pop song to the next level. Compressor, reverb and equalizer: that's all you need for finishing your masterpiece. The better they are, the better your song will sound. > >
Wusik Magazine #019 November 2007
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EQ For You
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
I learned of a freeware EQ a while ago on KvR forum. I browsed around, found the plug-in home page, and read some info about how this IIEQ is supposed to be the secret weapon for many producers around the globe. I've never trusted such self promotion. Honestly, I was not too impressed with IIEQ's kitchen-range knob appearance (although at present you can choose between two skins: the new one called IIEQalt is thoughtful with a modern design). And again honestly – I prefer parametric equalizers with big displays on which you can draw the frequency. It's much more comfortable to drag a frequency curve around in a graphical window than scrolling those buttons round their respective axis. Well, I downloaded it anyway and stored it away. And forgot about it. > >
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Ironically IIEQ has become my secret weapon of choice. It is one of my favorite virtual effects. I have become a classical example of the transformation from a nonbeliever to an evangelist.
EQ For You Here is the story: A few months ago I decided to make a project with mostly freeware instruments and effects. Looking around for an appropriate EQ I came across a KvR forum with an interesting topic: ÂťBest freeware equalizer.ÂŤ As always on those forums, the battle was unfair and ruthless, but despite all that IIEQ won again. I copied it to my temp-test vst directory, opened a half-finished project and changed my old equalizer with IIEQ on one of my guitars. I made the same engagement as it was on previous EQ and ... wow! It nailed my guitar to the wall. Two hours later I changed most of my equalizers with IIEQ, especially those on all main instruments and vocals. It's semi light on cpu yet it still doesn't have my personally preferred graphic window with dragging ability (which is the main reason why I haven't made the change on all the tracks). Lately, I've started using a version with alternative skin that also has a graphic
window showing the frequency curve. It is still without a grab and drag option, but at least now I can see what I am doing while I am tweaking all those knobs. IIEQ is a ten band parametric equalizer. It has gain, frequency range and q control. Nothing to write home about. The first band is a low shelf filter and the last one is a high shelf filter, all other shelves are peak filters. That's all. It almost looks like a pure poor man solution. But, thankfully, the sound compensates for all the simplification. In comparison with my sequencer's equalizer, it sounds like a hammer compared to a childs paintbrush. There is also a Small EQ on the bottom of IIEQ site for all the minimal freaks. It's the smallest EQ on the world – the same as IIEQ but it shows only one band at once. It's really quite small. At first I mistook it for a web counter. > >
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EQ For You
Let me introduce you to the pro version - lighter on CPU and with twenty filter types per band. Analog peak, Digital peak, notch filter, 12, 24 db, low high shelf and all other possible combinations. It has a nice skin, excellent sound ... in other words: it's all you'll ever need. And for – can you believe it – an adaptable price! This means that you can decide how much you want to pay for it. It's from 35 cents up to „sky is the limit“. As far as I can remember this equalizer had been sold for 50 euros not so long ago, so don't miss this opportunity! And trust me, no matter how much you'll pay for this plug-in – it is worth much, much more.
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#019 November 2007
If you don't believe me, just download the free version, try it for yourself and decide on your own. It's worth trying it.
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Until then, Ddmf IIEQ is one of the best kept secrets in a VST world. So please, don't tell it to anyone.
The Moog logo and trademarks, Little Phatty®, Etherwave®, Minimoog®, Voyager®, Taurus™, are property of Moog Music® Inc. used under license by IK Multimedia. SampleMoog™ is a trademark jointly owned by IK Multimedia and Moog Music® Inc.
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Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Dear Santa
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Dear Santa Antares Auto-Tune 5 letter I'm a middle-aged small town musician and producer. For most of the time I have earned my own living with recording our local lady vocalists. They have all been shy and beautiful young women with big smiles. Yes, my life could easily be heavenly, if not for one small annoying detail. Now and again it
occurs that these ladies sing somewhat out of tune. Looking like angels, there must be a devil’s hand around their throats making them hit all those wrong notes - no matter if it threatens, that one more off tune note will be the last thing they do on our planet. > >
Wusik Magazine #019 November 2007
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Dear Santa
My dearest Santa, please don't get me wrong: I don't want you to bring me middle-aged ladies with perfect pitch. I'm only asking for something that could help my young beauties sing in tune. I have been contemplating hard and came to the conclusion that Antares Auto-Tune 5 could be just perfect for that. If you haven't heard, it is a virtual effect, that can correct imperfect pitches. With it, I could keep my young ladies sounding like the middle-aged ones with a perfect pitch. Trust me; it's one of the best gifts money could possibly buy.
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I know you might think this is a bit costly for a Christmas present, at $500 a piece. But let's face it Antares Auto-Tune 5 could solve almost all my musical problems. Plus it would make me happy, and my ladies, and even the labels - for they would get quality recordings with correct vocals. It is more than worth the money. And speaking of AutoTune 5, I've heard even Robbie Williams has one. See, even he cannot be Robbie W. at all times.
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As I know you are not really a technical freak, I will try to explain what Auto-Tune 5 is all about and how it can be used, without boring you to sleep with too much technical detail.
Auto-Tune 5 is pitchcorrection software, working in two main modes, Automatic and Graphic. Automatic mode is the default working mode, containing a scale editor where one can choose among 26 different scales, from minor to major, ethnic or micro tonal scales. Some tones on a chosen scale can even be added or bypassed in a big editing window. The left upper corner offers a pop up window with various input types: Soprano Voice and Alto/Tenor Low male voice, instrument and bass instrument. I've tried all input types and got some excellent results combining just the right input type with the right scale. Auto-Tune 5 can’t correct polyphonic sounds nor can it correct the “in-theshower” singing of my neighbour, but it works wonders with little vocal imperfections. I've tried it on some of my old tracks and it has drastically improved most of the parts. Maybe you will not hear much difference when you use it only for the lead vocal (it depends on the preciseness of your vocalist), but it is a life saver for solidifying the back vocals with the main vocal. Correcting things with Auto-Tune 5 can save you from overusing reverb or getting delayed by having to manually fix vocals. > >
Dear Santa
While in Automatic mode, everything is corrected immediately. Graphic mode must first detect the sounds. When pressing the track button and playing the desired part, a graphical time line appears which shows both pitches – the desired one and the actual. This is useful also for changing some notes, not just correcting them. Graphic view is almost a kind of Photoshop for musicians. You can cut, paste, copy
and draw pitch curves with the included drawing line tools. This is excellent for sound designers! With Auto-Tune 5, notes can be targeted through midi, and if you don’t know what scale the song is in, you only need to press the learn scale button and play it with a keyboard or sequencer. > >
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Dear Santa
There are also few other controls for fine tuning the input signal: Retune speed (in extreme settings it gives the famous Cher effect), Vibrato, Scale detune and humanize knob. The last one is an excellent new feature, offered with version 5. If the retune speed is set too high, short notes will be perfectly corrected while sustained ones will sound unnatural. And with the humanize knob you can slow down the retune speed for sustained notes, so it is more accurate.
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There is also a whole vibrato section where you can add or edit vibrato. It's a science in itself, but with a little practice you can achieve really good results.
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And speaking about practice... my dearest Santa, I've tried it on a few different sounding lady vocalists with only one common point – they all shared the same sort of pitch imperfections. To be honest, it was not just a matter of correcting some notes, being a freak for a perfect pitch - now even the aforementioned singing neighbour can hear the difference. The vocal sounds more melodic and is better “glued” to the rest of the music. It adds a sweet fullness when all the corrected harmonies are joined in one rich back
vocal (as almost all my pretty ladies have considerable problems with background vocals). And finally - it is a life saver and a must have for vocalists with a superstar attitude but lacking in perfect pitch. I've even tried it with my old “out of tune” bass guitar, and it now sounds as it should. One of the best things that happen with AutoTune 5 is that you don't hear any unnatural usage of the effect. It's just the corrected sound - as if nothing was wrong in the first place. Anyway, we all know there are always two kinds of vocalists, the boring ones with perfect pitch and the temperament ones without the perfect pitch. And we also know who the ones are selling the records. Dear Santa, if you still think my present is too expensive, I have a business proposal for you – if you sell a bell or two off your wooden sleigh and get the money for my gift, AutoTune 5, we can afterwards correct a few vocal lines on our potential hit songs and I am sure we will earn more than enough money to buy you an ultra-comfortable and more lightweight sleigh – the “Rudolfready” model you like so much. > >
Dear Santa
And if you are still not convinced, please feel free to ask Robbie Williams about Auto-Tune 5, but don't give him the keys to his brand new Porsche until he gives you an honest answer. Always yours, middle-aged small town musician and producer,
A. Arsov
Wusik Magazine #019 November 2007
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Image Line Maximus
Maximus
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#019 November 2007
by Wouter Dullaert
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Maximus
It seems like all of a sudden all plug-in developers are creating compressors. Recently we have seen the release of Blue Cat Dynamics and Fabfilter ProC, two very capable and deep single band compressors - and now there is Maximus, the multiband maximizer from Image Line. It is only available for windows in FL and VST format.
#019 November 2007
All of these panels have a similar layout: there's an input and output gain control, a saturation module, controls for the attack and release of the gain reduction. The slope of the gain reduction can be customized and each compressor can be set to look ahead in time to do its peak detection (at the cost of increased latency). You also have the option to have the compressor work on an averaged volume level (RMS) instead of peak detection. Each compressor can be switched off or soloed, so you can easily single out the impact it has on your sound. > >
Wusik Magazine
Unlike the previous two, Maximus is a multiband compressor. This means that your audio signal is split into 3 frequency bands which you can then compress individually. The description of Maximus says that it can be used as: Limiter, Compressor, Noise Gate, Expander, Ducker and De-esser. That is a lot. Blue Cat Dynamics implemented a skinning system to cope with this, whereby you can, for example, just load the limiter skin and get rid of all the unwanted controls. Maximus does not have such a feature - there's only the "expert" mode. On the bright side, Image Line did take out a lot of time to make the GUI as intuitive and powerful as possible.
Maximus' GUI is divided in four big parts: on the top left there's the compression curve. The top right is the monitoring section, the bottom left of the plug-in is a tabbed panel which contains the processing controls for the current band and the bottom right contains band frequency settings. There are a total of four panels: one for each band, and a master.
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Maximus
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The band frequency section includes a low pass filter which defines the low band, and a high pass filter which defines the high band. Everything in between is processed by the mid band. These filters can be independently set to 12 or 24dB. In the extra options there's also an option to set them to linear phase filters, instead of the default IIR filters. The linear phase filters maintain the phase relations in the signal, which prove very helpful in mastering situations. The lo.cut knob prevents inaudible bass frequencies from triggering the compressor. Lastly, this section also contains LMH delay and mix knobs. The mix knob controls how much of the signal compressed by the LMH band gets sent to the master compressor. This makes some very creative effects possible.
The careful reader has noticed that the band processing section does not contain any controls for the compression curve. Image Line has decided that buttons to control the compression curve are so “last year� and instead implemented a spline based compression curve. That's right; you are now free to draw in any curve you want in the top left compression windows. The x-axis displays the input volume and the y-axis the output volume. Drawing a line from bottom left to upper right won't process the audio at all, and a line from the upper left to the bottom right will inverse the audio: the quiet parts will become very loud and vice versa. Your imagination is the limit here, and I feel that I have only scratched the surface of what's possible. I haven't seen this on any other compressor out there. Some have a similar compression curve display, but there is no compressor that I know of that actually allows you to edit the curve in this way. > >
Maximus
The last section is the monitoring section. It has two views: a waveform view and a band view. The most interesting one is the waveform view, which greatly resembles the one found on Fabfilter's Pro-C. It displays the input waveform, the output waveform and can display any other relevant control value such as the input gain, the output gain, the gain reduction etc. There are buttons to toggle various lines on or off, so you don't get all epileptic with the flashy lines. I really like this way of displaying the compression; it really visualises the magic that goes on inside the plug-in very well. I really hope that this becomes the standard on all new compression plug-ins.
Wusik Magazine
The band view doubles as a spectrum analyser. The frequencies which are present in the input signal light up on a spectral view. The frequency bands are laid over this spectral view as well. This kind of detailed feedback makes tweaking the band splitter to perfection a breeze.
Maximus is a very, very deep plug-in that is equally suited for creative effects as mastering. All this power is packed into a GUI that is accessible as can be. It's even possible to temporarily store settings and flip between those settings and the current one, so you can compare them more easily. There is also a very broad set of presets included. They are of a very good quality and I suspect a lot of people won't even get any further than these. To round things out, the manual includes some very nice tutorials which explain how to do NY compression, De-essing and many other things. Manuals don’t usually add much value to a plug-in, but this is one of those rare cases when it does. Image Line has really tried very hard to make all the power in Maximus easy to access or understand. > >
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Maximus
At $189, Maximus isn't exactly cheap, but it's certainly not the most expensive comparable plug-in out there. It’s most likely the most flexible and creative compressor though. For preset-flippers, PSP's Vintage Warmer will be very stiff competition, but if you like to turn a knob every now and then, Maximus is really worth the few extra bucks. The spline based compression curve really hit a sweet spot. I used Maximus quite a bit for more complicated compression jobs, and for mastering purposes too, and I was very satisfied with the results.
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Maximus should be on the list of everyone
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who's in the market for a good compressor and/or mastering plug-in.
V4
ManyBass
ManyBass by Manytone Music by David Keenum
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2.4 gig of Bass Samples and a great Bass Amp Sim
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ManyBass
Have you noticed how our choices for electric bass sounds have increased dramatically in the past few months? We, of course, had big broad libraries like Spectrasonic’s Trilogy and Quantum Leap’s Hardcore Bass XP. And we had some detailed libraries like Scarbee’s J-Slap'n Fingered, Manytone Music’s Upright Bass, Acoustic/Electric Bass, and Ultimate Bass Kit. There are more, but you get the picture. We already had a good selection of bass sounds at our disposal. But in the last few months we have seen a dramatic increase in options for bass. Scarbee has released Black Bass in four versions, and Red Bass and J-Slap'n Fingered with the Black Bass Kontakt scripts. Pettinhouse has released DirectBass. Chris Hein has a new bass library, and it goes on. It seems that our choices keep expanding. Manytone Music’s ManyBass is part of this new group of bass choices, but ManyBass has a different twist: it is 2.4 GB of 24 bit bass samples, but it comes with a player that contains a Bass Amp Sim. So let’s take a look at ManyBass. > >
What Bass did they use?
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We asked Paul Brown of Manytone Music about the bass they used in recording ManyBass. His response was, “The bass used in the ManyBass soundsets has dual active humbucker pickups, which give it a lot of tonal versatility. Between the neck and bridge pickup, the bass can achieve deep 70's P-bass tones, modern rock tones, nasal fusion jazz tones, and everything in between. The bass is built to sustain. The throughneck design and separate bridges for each string make each note ring long and pure.”
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ManyBass
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The Overview
The Manual
ManyBass is available as a download for $139.95. If you need a DVD, contact them and they can work that out for you. ManyBass comes in the following formats: PC VSTi and Mac AU and VSTi (Universal Binary). I had no problems with downloading or installation, and it went quickly. Manytone recommends placing the sample library in a folder separate from your plug-ins folder. If you have Wusikstation, place the sample library in the Wusik data folder. Yes, ManyBass plays wusikSND and dashSND files, but we’ll talk more about that later.
The 24-page manual is clear and concise. It covers all the basics but focuses on editing the ManyBass player. It also covers information about the soundsets and their mapping.
When I first opened up ManyBass in my host, I could immediately see how to play the instrument. Everything was on one page and was easy to navigate. No surprises… well, there were a couple, but they had to wait until I read the manual. It was easy to change effects, speakers, and the preamp. I could go on, but let’s take a detailed look at ManyBass.
The Soundsets There are 3 separate bass sounds sampled: Deep Bass (neck pickup), Growl Bass (bridge pickup), and Smooth Bass ((both pickups). Each of the sounds is divided into 3 or 4 different articulation styles. Deep Bass comes as Fingered, Slapped, Picked, and Picked Muted. Growl Bass comes as Fingered, Slapped, and Tapped. Smooth Bass comes as Fingered, Muted, Picked, Tapped, and Slapped. There is also a set of extras for the Smooth Bass. These include whole-step slides, trills, and half-step pull-off grace notes. The Manytone web-site has detailed descriptions of each sound and articulation, so you can check there for more information. > >
ManyBass
Email Paul @ ManyTone All the soundsets are all mapped out from C-2 to G8 and have a lot of similarity between them. I did find that my M-Audio Keystation 49 could not reach all the notes. My Roland RD-700 (88 keys), on the other hand, could reach the low notes by transposing down. I don’t really see this as a big problem, because the fret slide noises can be inserted by hand into a MIDI track. With an 88 keyboard transposed down one octave, you can play the low notes live.
and receive a special
20 % off paul@manytone.com
This offer expires on December 20th
There is no round robin feature, but there are staccato notes at the top of the keyboard range. These can give you variety if you use them for short notes. Again, it may take some editing, but I think it will be worth the effort. I did find something that I did not count on: the upper range of the sustained notes sound really good. They can easily work in an exposed solo role. The Presets The presets load as a default FXB file and use your host's FXB menu. There are 76 electric bass presets and an assortment of synth bass, lead, and pad presets. There is a
#019 November 2007
C-2: Short fret slide noise C#-2: Long fret slide noise D-2 – B-2: Slides C-1 – C#-1: String slaps D-1 – F-1: Open string rakes F#-1 – A-1: String mutes Bb-1 – F#0: Harmonics G0 – A#0: Space reserved for keyswitches B0 – Bb4: Sustained notes B5 – G8: Staccato notes
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> >
Here is the mapping for the Smooth – Finger soundset:
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ManyBass
wide variety of electric bass patches, all with descriptive names like Basics (my favorite Smooth finger sound), Eckhart Thumbs (slap), George P (Smooth Mute), Punk's Not Dead (saturated/distorted and compressed Smooth Pick), Sheehan Tone (saturated/distorted, compressed Growl Finger with echo), and Wild West (Smooth Pick). The patches are a really good representation of what ManyBass can do, but the player's interface is so easy to use, you can fine-tune any patch to suit your needs.
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ManyBass is a great asset for synth bass sounds. There are several synth bass soundsets and presets included, but remember that you can play any wusikSND and dashSND files. And you can use the player to program your presets.
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The Player The ManyBass player was designed by Manytone and coded by AraldFX to meet Manytone's specs. It loads the Wusik Format. When you look at the ManyBass Player you will see everything you need to edit a sound. The player is laid out in a logical manner, with everything on one page. No sub-menus. The Sample Library Browser is in the middle of the left side of the page. This is where you choose a soundset. After you choose your soundset, you set your amplifier (ADSR), filter (LP, HP, BP), and the general settings (glide, > >
ManyBass
mono/poly/legato, number of voices, pitchbend, volume, led, and softclip). The LED button switches the VU meter on or off to optimize CPU usage. The middle of the player window is where you turn on and adjust the LFO, Modulator, and Echo. The bottom of the player window is where you turn on and adjust keyswitching, Amp Sim, Cabinet Sim, Equalizer, and Compressor. Although it is in the top right-hand corner of the player, the General area is the final stage in the chain. Along the very bottom of the player page are the Global Readout, the MIDI Learn, and Microtuning. The Global Readout window shows you the actual numerical setting of every knob.
Wusik Magazine
Keyswitching is an interesting addition to the player. With Keyswitching you can, with MIDI notes G0 – A#0, change between as many as four different soundsets. Let’s look at a couple of scenarios when keyswiching would be helpful. > >
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ManyBass
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First of all there is an extra soundset for the Smooth sounds. It is called Smooth-Extras, and contains halfstep trills, half-step pulloffs, and whole-step slides – common performance techniques. By using keyswiching, you can switch between the two soundsets. You could also use keyswitching to change between two or three different articulations (i.e. finger and slap) or two or three pickups (i.e. neck pickup – Deep and bridge pickup – Growl). All in all, it’s a great addition.
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Programming Your Own Sounds The manual is helpful in learning to program or edit a sound but if you are already familiar with basic synth programming and amp sims, you’ll be able to quickly navigate your way around the player. And with that in mind, let’s take a look at how you would program your own sound. First you choose a wusikSND or dashSND file in the Sample Library Browser. After that it gets easy! Under the ManyBass name, right in the middle of the player, is the Sound Wizard and the FX Wizard. These two wizards will get you really close to where you want to go. After the two wizards, you simply tweak your preset until you’re satisfied. > >
Under the name ManyBass you can see the buttons for the Sound Wizard and the FX Wizard
ManyBass The Conclusion
The Websites and Forum Manytone’s website www.Manytone.com has a lot of information. In addition Manytone has a forum on KVR www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.ph p?f=56. A website specific to ManyBass is planned. According to Paul Brown of Manytone Music, www.manybass.com will contain tutorials and videos to help you better use ManyBass. Right now, there is no definite date for when manybass.com will be up and running. The Update There is a pending update for ManyBass. It mainly involves disk streaming technology called "Advanced Cache Technology" or ACT for short, and, like the ManyBass player, is a joint collaboration between Manytone and AraldFX. The update will be released officially about the same time as the launch of manybass.com. Until then it is available to all registered users by emailing Manytone.
ManyBass is easy to use, rock solid, and sounds impressive. It feels like a nice bass amp with effects. By that I mean that the different effects and devices seemed to interact with each other just like a bass amp/cabinet would. The equalizer was easy to use. The boost knob, under the Amp Sim, can dial in anywhere from a warm saturation to an aggressive distortion. I’m not a big fan of effects on bass tracks, but I have to admit that the presets showed how to use them subtly and effectively. I am a big fan of saturation, and you can rest assured that every track will have at least a little dialed in! ManyBass comes with an assortment of Pad and Lead sounds and they work fine. But I feel ManyBass sounds best when using organic sounds that benefit from amp sims. That way I get to use the boost knob! Okay, I’m not being totally serious. It works well as a basic synthesizer, but every time I tried loading a wusikSND file, I found myself mangling the file with ManyBass.
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So would I recommend ManyBass? Without reservation! With appropriate playing and careful editing, you can make ManyBass sound just like a real bass. For $139.00 you can’t go wrong.
Wusik Magazine
I compared ManyBass with Scarbee’s Fingered and IK Multimedia Ampeg Bass amp sim, and the Scarbee/Ampeg combo does sound really good. But it didn’t sound, at least in my opinion, any better than ManyBass - just different, and ManyBass costs a lot less.
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Markus Feil
Markus Feil of Tone2 and REFX fame
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by Paul Evans
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Markus Feil
First things first Markus, could you tell the readers a bit about yourself and Tone2? About Tone2 Tone2 was founded in 2005. Tone2 is an independent brand which develops high quality audio applications for a fair price. Who is Tone2? The brains behind Tone2 are Markus Feil (known from reFX Synthesizers), the scientist Dr. Hartmut Pfitzinger from the Ludwig-MaximilianUniversity in Germany and Bastiaan van Noord from the Netherlands. Where is the website www.tone2.com Products which use Tone2 technology: - Tone2 BiFilter2 (Audio engine, graphics, sounds) - Tone2 FireBird (Audio engine, graphics, sounds) - Tone2 FilterBank3 (Audio engine, graphics,
sounds) - Tone2 BiFilter (Audio engine, graphics, sounds) - ReFX Slayer 2 (Audio engine, sounds) - RefX Slayer (Audio engine, sounds) - ReFX Vanguard (Audio engine, sounds) ReFX PlastiCZ! (Audio engine, sounds) - ReFX JunoX (Audio engine, sounds) - ReFX Beast (sounds) ReFX Claw (sounds) Imageline Fruityloops VST host (Slayer plug-in) - Receptor hardware VST host (plugins) - Tracktion VST host (plugins) Steinberg XPhraze (filters) Ueberschall PLP (filters) Ueberschall VLP (filters) - All Sound Tracker for EMU8000 (audio, interface) - BMW car navigation systems (audio enhancement) AST - (PC) (All (www.obertone.com) Sound Tracker) SoundGenerator. > >
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Markus Feil
What got you into digital audio software? And how did the start of Tone2 come about? Why are these products released under the brand of Tone2 and not reFX? Tone2 gives me the potentiality to create my own plugins which Mike from reFX thinks would not be economic enough for the mass market and to implement completely new ideas. You already run a website called obertone.com . Why a new brand "Tone2"?
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Obertone is a page which I do for fun. The plugins and material which are stored there are unsuitable for commercial market, since it does not match quality criterions like GUI, performance, handbook or built-in presets. Tone2 should be more serious.
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Do you still speak with anyone from reFX since you had your fallout with them? Yes. After some dissension and misunderstandings we help each other again, since collaboration is more productive than contestation. Michael Kleps and myself are rather idiosyncratic persons. You have made some very good plug-ins. Firebird uses a new kind of synthesis and the yet-tobe-released Gladiator uses a new kind too, right? What inspires you to create these unique plug-ins? I get a lot of mail from users with feature requests. I read every mail and every comment. Sometimes there are good ideas which are implemented in future products. Besides that I'm an old stager in audio software. > >
Markus Feil
I'm developing audio software since 17 years now - this should be enough time for new ideas. Only a very small part of the ideas is implemented to a final product. The most experimental stuff is kicked, since it does not sound good enough or it does need too much performance. What kind of mark do you want to leave on the digital audio world? I think I already have left my mark in the audio world. A big part of today's trance and techno sound is made with Tone2 products. Some people call me 'the trancehead'. Future products will be more comprehensive for other kinds of music.
You announced Gladiator recently. What is the concept behind that and what made you decide to make it. It looks to be a very impressive synth! Gladiator will be one of the most powerful synthesizers. It comes with a new synthesis. There is a huge list of features. It will be able to create these sounds: - HCM FM - AM - PM - Phase distortion - Resynthesis Additive Wavetable Vocoder It will be semimodular and offers flexible routing, a mod matrix, a programmable arpeggiator and step-LFO, plenty of effects including an excellent reverb and the famous Tone2 filters. The sound quality will be highend. But you will be also able to reduce the sound quality for slower machines. > >
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Markus Feil
Is there anything you have planned after Gladiator? Is there anything else in the works right now for Tone2?
easy to use and suited to make music. A lot of our customers use them in every production.
Yes. A lot of people have asked me to create a separate reverb plug-in, because they like the Lexicon-like sound of the high-end reverb types which come with FireBird+ v1.8. Besides that, Urban Rideo is working on content for another (still secret) product.
Tone2 has a pretty impressive resume. I had no idea the technology was in the BMW navigation system. You said that you have made you mark, what else would you like Tone2 to accomplish?
What does a Tone2 product have to offer that others do not? What edge do you have on the competition?
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A lot of companies claim to offer high-end sound quality. We *really do* that. - We offer a fair price. The products of the big companies are simply overpriced. Every musician should be able to afford good software. - Tone2 products are
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The new, unheard sounds should also inspire and influence future music styles. Making music is a very creative process. We want to support this creativity as good as possible. Musicians should not have to deal with technical details. They should be able to use products from the scratch, concentrate on making music , but should be also able to fit sounds exactly in the way they need them easily.
Artvera presents her first commercial sound project for Wusikstation - MISTRAL. This sound library offers Wusikstation users the chance to own a collection of ethnic sounds - string instruments, drums/percussion, woodwinds, vocals and more. With more than 300 presets and 300 megabytes of sample data it's a great inspiration for musicians in any kind of music, especially composers of Film, Ethnic, NewAge or Ambient music. The presets contain not only individual instruments but also longer melodic sequences. Many presets take advantage of all the new features of Wusikstation version 3. In addition, there are very interesting pads with extra sounds which can be used in different music styles. These pads have been created by combining multiple ethnic instruments. The package also contains percussive/drum sequences and even some nature sounds, which have been used to create some special sound effects.
MISTRAL contains also a free bonus - two variants of a new skin for Wusikstation, in both normal and large sequencer formats (see the preview of main page below). The MISTRAL presets have been created by Vera Kinter (Artvera), Daniel Kemp (dnekm) and Stephan M端sch (rsmus7). The price is very friendly - only $30. Release is scheduled for March 2007. www.artvera-music.com/ Wusik Sound Magazine April 2007 #012
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Morphine
by Paul Evans
Image Line and Maxx Clasters’ Morphine is said to be a revolution in additive synthesis, It has great functionality
and
powerful
capabilities, and is supposed to be easier to use. Morphine promises a
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lot
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indeed.
synths
are
Maxx's nothing
Image short
Line of
spectacular, so I was interested to see if he could go even further. The marriage between Image Line and Maxx Claster is a sweet one for users. Many find the process of additive synthesis to be a tough task. They deliver an additive synth that is set up in a way that you can walk right through it.
Morphine
Upon opening the GUI, you can see everything in Morphine is in a solid structure. Sound is produced from Morphine’s four generators. Each generator has a large display that consists of 3 sections: breakpoint, spectrum, and keyboard zone layout. Each generator can be morphed between and mixed as you see fit; there is another screen for this. There are different views on the morph page to edit the path of how you mix and morph between generators. One path shows all four
generators and another path lets you edit the generators in pairs. On this same tab is a noise generator. This allows you to load untuned samples and also has a dedicated filter for the noise generator. The noise generator is for synths that cannot be re-synthesized, and Morphine comes with some untuned samples for this use. > >
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Morphine
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Like most synths, it comes with a mod-matrix. Unlike most synths though, Morphine is equipped with four envelope generators. These are fully customisable envelopes. These envelopes can be looped, synced, have key and velocity tracking, and you are able to set them your destination of choice. Morphine has an effects section with chorus, reverb, and delay. The chorus, in my opinion, is very good. Now, Morphine’s generators are where the magic is made. Each generator is a voice that consists of 128 harmonics. These harmonics are a series of sine waves. This comprises the breakpoint section. It allows you to set the pitch and detune amount of each harmonic, and more. Any settings in this section can be saved and imported for later use.
Below the breakpoint is the spectra envelope. This is to take snapshots of the breakpoints. Some spectras can contain a large number of snapshots, while others - not so many. It also allows key mapping like a multisampler would. As described in the manual, it is like a multisampler with which you can synthesize sounds. Fortunately, Morphine also allows you to save your spectra and key mappings as well, enabling you to use them for other sounds. This is key for Morphine. It really helps the process along to have good starting points. Making Morphine’s generators mix for truly organic and evolving ever-changing sounds, and making amazing sounds is what Morphine indeed does best. > >
Morphine Breakpoint? Spectra? I know, I know. Morphine however offers a resynthesize function. This allows you to load any sample and Morphine will try to harmonically copy it. So, if you’re still not totally sure how to do additive synthesis, simply load a sample and Morphine will make it for you! And again with the ability to copy and paste, import and export your generator settings - the power of Morphine is phenomenal. Another impressive aspect of Morphine is the most impressive library of presets on offer; probably the most realistic synth sounds I have heard. There’s amazing horns, impressive strings, ambient rich pads... it goes on and on. I can use the library sounds and be totally satisfied. Also presented are
the best guitar sounds I have ever heard in a synth. All of the presets give you wide range of sounds to study and break down. If you have trouble making a horn, save the settings from a preset horn and work with that. It gives you a lot to work with for sure. Most of my ventures into additive sound have been frustrating. I agree with those who say it is hard or tedious. I also agree that Image Line have made the process much easier. The included presets do an amazing job at showcasing the power and beauty of Morphine. Additive synths generally are not too easy. Morphine still requires some effort too - so does everything though!! > >
Wusik Magazine #019 November 2007
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Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Morphine
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For creating real instruments, additive synths can be the most convincing. Morphine is like a toolbox full of the tools needed to manufacture any sound imaginable. Toxic III and Poizon proved Maxx's talent, and Morphine has proved sheer genius. It carries on the tradition of user friendly usability that Image Line is known for with a synthesis type that is not so user friendly. This has been one of three new releases from Image Line on the road to FL8. Maximus has proved quite impressive as well, and the Varazdin Orchestra samples sound sweet. Image Line is positioning itself for a great release, and they already have a very refined product line. No digression there. Maxx and Image Line keep it moving with this one.
Website: www.image-line.com/documents/morphine.html
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Sound off
Predator by Rob Papen
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
by Paul Evans
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Predator
My venture into synthesis has led me to many synths. You can find 100's of free ones and 100's of commercial ones. This sometimes makes it hard to separate the men from the boys. With Rob Papen and Jon Ayres's Predator, however, it was apparent from the first time I played a note that this was indeed a monster; a true beast of synthesis. Raw, brute force, slick, and shiny are all words that could describe Predator’s sound - surely not the only words to describe it however.
#019 November 2007
Predator also has a very well thought out modulation scheme. It is not a huge matrix but is more than capable of creating great sounds and effects via routing. It is setup to be very mindful of the user. In the preset area of Predator, you can tab to reveal an advanced section. This area has a setting for up to 16x oversampling. Also, you can turn over-filtering on. Controls are also present here to better shape envelope curves. You’ll find an analog knob as well. > >
Wusik Magazine
Predator is a subtractive synth that represents that hard to find gray area of uber-power and excellent functionality. It is a juggernaut in sound with all the right features. On the surface, it looks very straightforward. Everything is grouped together nicely. The first thing that immediately grabbed my attention was the fact it has 128 waveforms to use! I love and use synths a lot, especially now. All these waveforms mean all the more sonic possibility. Most synths I have do not have as many, just the "normal" sine, saw, etc.
Predator has three oscillators each. Each has a PWM square wave sub oscillator, and a spread knob that enables you to detune several oscillators against each other with just one oscillator. The filters on Predator are more than impressive as well. Each kind of filter has up to a 24db slope. There are several controls to manipulate the filters including, but not limited to, an envelope and a LFO. It even has a predistortion control.
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Predator
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Another hidden section is the arpeggiator. It is below the modulation and LFO section. It is a 16 step arpeggiator in which you can set the notes and adjust swing, save patterns and manipulate in numerous ways. It’s one of the best arpeggiator set ups I have seen, and
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represents true power in Predator. The ease of use is amazing. Predator is a more than capable subtractive synth, to say the least. A superb effects section, with three inserts and preset morphing, tops off the features. > >
Predator
At under $200 Predator is a must for any synth lover, sound designer, and musician. I really love that it has so many great presets. Mr. Papen flexes Predators’ muscle in a most impressive way. It really shows the broadness of its possibilities. Also, this would also be a great synth for the novice. It comes with an FX version as well. This allows you to use Predator’s filters and effect section. The effect section also has an input driven Vocoder.
This synth can be found at: www.robpapen.com/synths/predator/index.php
#019 November 2007
There are no compromises with the sound quality, yet it still runs very efficiently and has never crashed my system. Jon Aryes made the monster and Rob Papen’s genius can be heard in every preset.
Wusik Magazine
The synth has an irresistible sound. It easily became the workhorse in my arsenal of instruments. Some say it reminds them of a virus. I say it has a sound unto itself and is in a class of its own. Rob Papen displays these sounds brilliantly and has a large quantity of them. The presets range over many different genres and types. It is made in the friendliest way possible, probably contributing to the fact that making sounds has never been so satisfying. The sound quality is a step above the rest. The large collection of waveforms makes it untouchable and irreplaceable for me.
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VS Resurrection
VS Resurrection by David Keenum
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Nucleus SoundLab’s salute to the Prophet VS waveforms
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Have you checked out Nucleus SoundLab? They have some very interesting sounds for a variety of software synths. If you haven’t been by there recently, stop by www.nucleus-soundlab.com and have a look… and a listen. One of their newest products is VS Resurrection, a Wusikstation sample library based on the waveforms from the Prophet VS. The cost is €29.95. In addition, there is a multi-format version that also contains the raw waveforms in Soundfont/SFZ format. The multi-format version is €39.95 for download and €44.95 for the DVD. Before we look at this library, let’s first look at the keyboard that started it all, the Sequential Prophet VS. The Prophet Synthesis
VS
and
Vector
When I designed Wusikstation, I mainly based it on the Ensoniq TS/ASR. Those keyboards had something called Transwaves. Transwaves were just a clone of the Wavestation wavesequencing, but simpler and easier to use. Someone asked for a vector-styled X/Y pad and I added it. So, you can say that Wusikstation IS a vector synthesizer. We even call it that.
Wusik Magazine
WilliamK #019 November 2007
In 1982 Sequential was the top electronic instrument company, but by 1986 they were struggling to stay in business. Sequential decided to develop a new cutting edge instrument and name it after their famous Prophet synthesizers. So the Prophet VS (Vector Synthesis) was born. Vector Synthesis basically meant assigning four waveforms to the Prophet VS’s four oscillators (vector points), and then moving the VS's joystick. You could create a static sound or change the sound over time with the joystick. The sound was like nothing before.
Despite its totally new sound, the Prophet VS was short-lived with approximately 2500 units manufactured, but the VS technology lived on. The Yamaha SY22 and SY35 and the Korg Wavestation were all direct developments of the VS technology. In fact, Wusikstation, with its 6 blend-able oscillators and XY pad, owes, at least a little, to the Prophet VS. > >
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Installation Downloading and installation went without a problem. I did, on the other hand, have a problem with some of the sounds playing. Several presets just refused to play. After discussions with Jeremy Janzen, Mr. Nucleus SoundLab, and WilliamK, I found that the problem may have been specific to my host, Acid Pro 6.0. But, in any rate, it was cleared up with version 4.1.6. Since then I’ve had no problems.
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Description
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According to the Nucleus SoundLab website, “VS Resurrection includes all 94 classic waveforms from the VS...” These are the original 96 Prophet VS waveforms, but not the original presets. In addition, there are 14 more waveforms described by the website as, “complex, filtered and effected.” As I said, the presets are not based on the original Prophet VS. Rather, they are Wusikstation presets using the original waveforms… and there are some great presets! The Sound The website describes the sound as “an eminently playable, rich - and very '80s digital' - sample library,” and I agree. The sound is digital, but not in a bad sense. To me there is nostalgia to the sound; it’s difficult to describe in words. You’ll > >
More Information on the Prophet VS A great Sound on Sound article about the Prophet VS: www.soundonsound.com/sos/N ov01/articles/retroprophetvs.a sp The Dave Smith Ego Museum: www.davesmithinstruments.co m/other/museum.html Sonic State’s info, reviews, and links www.sonicstate.com/synth/sci _prophetvs.cfm Wikipedia’s article on Vector Synthesis: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_s ynthesis
have to hear it for yourself. As for me, I like it. Also, there is something of the Wavestation in the sound. I know the Wavestation came several years later and was an advancement both in complexity and sound, but VS Resurrection still has “that sound,” at least in a small part. The Prophet VS was a favorite among movie soundtrack composers, and I can see why. There is a sense of drama to the sound, and there is motion and evolution to many of the presets. The sound is big, with most of the presets taking up a good chunk of sonic territory. The Presets
#019 November 2007
The presets are divided into Atmospheres, Bass, Bells, FX, Lead, Pads, Synth, Keys and Poly, Raw Oscillators, and Wavesequences.
All of VS Resurrection’s presets utilize Wusikstation’s XY pad, so you can blend the sounds in real time, and on some of the presets, the adjustments can make a dramatic difference. You can use the XY pad to, in essence, create a new preset. You can also map a CC to the XY pad, and change the sound while you hold the note. This is cool stuff! Now I wish my keyboard had one of those vector style joysticks! Here is a short list of some of my favorite presets: Pad- Rhythmic Pad dk - It is a lovely pad, but, because of the rhythm, it could have been a Wseq. Pad-Flashy Sparks vk – It has a nasally analog type sound with a number of layers underneath. One of the layers sounds a little like a triangle rhythm. > >
Wusik Magazine
Of course, the original 96 Prophet waveforms are the heart of this sample library, but they are just the raw material for the presets. The preset designers did not disappoint! Almost all of the presets have a complex sound that has a character all its own. The presets are designed by tasmodia, Daniel Kemp, Vera Kinter, elv, and Ugo, all of them are familiar names to Wusikstation owners. Ugo only has two presets, but one of them, Pad-Old School ugo was one of my overall favorite sounds.
Don’t expect piano, organ, and other emulation type presets. For example, Keys-AmPiano doesn’t sound like a real piano, but it is cool, with a buzzy sound and multiple delays. Let me generalize about the presets: tasmodia has some really nice basses and Poly presets. The poly presets, especially, have a FM sound to them. Daniel Kemp and elv both have nice keyboard and pad sounds. Daniel Kemp has the coolest bells and my favorite lead sounds. And Vera has some really complex sounds! Some use all four oscillators and both wavesequencer slots!
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Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Issue 12 of Wusik Magazine has an interesting article on using the XY Pad. Also the Wusikstation Manual has a short description of the XY Pad – it’s at the end of the Mod Matrix chapter. But go ahead and try it. The XY Pad is easy to play with. You can find it on the Master page (just click the Master button), at the middle of the far right of the page. Just click on the little dot, where the lines intersect, and drag it around.
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Keys-Twilight Keys dk - Digital... but complex... and cool! Many of the leads remind me of my old DX7II, but thicker. This is one of them. Lead-Silver Bells vk - More of a synth or pad sound than a Lead. It sounds like a bell with the attack removed. Pad-More Pad elv – A melancholy digital pad with higher and lower layers coming and fading over time. Synth-Metalion vk - More of those digital bells. I really like the bells! Wseq-Spring Thaw vk - More like a pad than a wavesequence. The sound is smooth with digital rhythm in the background. Wseq-Green Bells vk - You can hear the 4 layers on this sound. I really liked using the XY pad on this one. I found the perfect setting for me and saved it as another preset. Keys-Moving Keys dk – A cool synthy keyboard sound where the highs get softer as the velocities increase. Atmo-Nocturnal tas - An atmosphere that sounds like a slow pad and even a little like a Wseq. > >
Conclusion So, is Resurrection VS worth €30? Will it give me a new palette of sounds? Of course, only you can make those decisions, but let’s take a look at the pros. VS Resurrection will give you a view into a classic synth, and Wusikstation is a great synth for exploring this classic. Sounds like a deal!
As I listen to the soundtrack of current television shows (think CSI: Miami) it seems that groove and texture are the important elements. If I were scoring a series like that, Resurrection VS would be one of my first choices for sounds. But don’t let that limit you. Just like the Prophet VS before it, VS Resurrection has a broad appeal. The Nucleus SoundLab website has demos that demonstrate VS Resurrection, including demos of tasmodia and ArtVera’s presets. Listen to the demos and if you hear something that will fit in your music, give VS Resurrection a try.
Wusik Magazine
And, as I said above, VS Resurrection has a sound of its own. My opinion is that it provides a color or a sonic spice. Even one track (preset) of VS Resurrection can go a long way. As far as what musical styles would best use this library, it’s hard to say. I guess it’s obvious that these are not classic trance or house sounds, but I think it could provide an atmosphere for an intro or breakdown. And, to be fair, many of the Keys and Poly presets could find a home in an electronica or dance
track. Obviously, Ambient and New Age music could easily integrate these sounds, but I don’t want to limit this library. If you write music that needs drama or if you need sustained sounds that still have motion, this could be for you.
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Image Line
Poizone 2
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
by Wouter Dullaert
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Poizone 2
Poizone is the first synth ace programmer Maxx Claster made while working for Image Line. The first version was released at the start of 2007 and got updated to version 2 in October of the same year. Apart from a new GUI, some bug fixes and minor tweaks to the envelopes, not much changed in the new version.
The synth is available for both windows and Mac in FL, VST and audiounit formats (universal binary). This means that 90% of the computer musicians out there should be able to use it (except for those few who run Protools).
Wusik Magazine
Poizone follows the mantra of Maxx' previous hit synth Toxic III: get as many sounds as possible with a minimum of controls. Toxic III managed to strike a perfect balance between the two; it made FM synthesis as easy as it can be without compromising its potential. The question at hand is whether Poizone can do the same for subtractive synthesis as Toxic III did for FM. > >
#019 November 2007
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Poizone 2
As mentioned earlier, Poizone is a subtractive synthesizer - of the 2 OSC variety. The oscillators have 2 waveforms: a saw and a pulse. The pulse on both oscillators has a width control. A dedicated noise OSC, ringmod and oscillator sync complete the oscillator section. Two waveforms might seem a bit sparse, but making creative use of the ringmod and PWM controls makes up for this.
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Next up is the filter section which comes in lowpass, bandpass and highpass varieties. Apart from the standard cut-off and resonance controls, the filter also features keyboard and velocity tracking. All filter modes are analog modeled and have a very pleasing "phat" sound.
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Poizone also comes equipped with two ADSR envelopes and an LFO. The first envelope is hardwired to the amplifier; the second one can be assigned to a variety of targets. The list with targets is quite large, but you can only select one at a time, which is a pity. The same goes for the LFO: it has an extensive list of modulation targets, but you can only select one. Other features of the LFO are tempo sync, and a few selectable shapes such as sine, triangle, random and more. Like all self respecting synths these days, Poizone comes with built-in effects as well: a delay effect and a chorus effect. Both of these effects offer all the controls you'd expect and nothing more. Their quality is superb; they can really work magic on a sound. > >
Poizone 2
Other features that modern synths can't seem to live without, such as a built-in arpeggiator, a trance gate and unison are present here as well. Again no special tricks - they do what they are supposed to do, and they do it very well. All the controls are laid out very well, in a clear easy to read GUI. I personally liked the look of the Poizone 1 skin better, but the new skin has more contrast and is easier to read. The GUI also includes a LCD display of sorts which handles things like the builtin patch browsing and the midilearn functions. The midi-learn function is very well thought out: turn a GUI control, a knob, press the link button and you're done! Unlinking is just as easy.
This brings me to the last and probably most important point: the sound. As the large amount of presets shows, Poizone is indeed capable of a large variety of sounds. It sounds very high quality, but I don't feel like Poizone will be useful for everyone. Poizone is very suited for trance or other forms of modern dance music. It was build to make as many useful sounds for this kind of music as possible. This makes it a kind of hit-and-miss synth: you will either find that all the presets are brilliant and that you only need two seconds to come up with yet another killer sound, or you will constantly bump into the limitations of this kind of design.
Wusik Magazine
For $79, Poizone is not expensive, but there is a lot of competition in this price bracket. Poizone does what it does very well, and offers all the features needed to make killer modern dance music sounds, but once you move out of that bracket, its use is very limited. Try the demo and find out for yourself.
#019 November 2007
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BlueTubes
www.nomadfactory.com
SIR 2 Convolution is the solution
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
by A. Arsov
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A few years ago freeware world got an excellent gift. SIR - the first free convolution reverb. I downloaded it and tried it along with the demo of a well known and overpriced reverb. The only difference I have found was that SIR has a fixed latency of 8960 samples. In practice that means that you can’t record with SIR in real time.
SIR 2 SIR 2 is a playable and modernized version of SIR convolution reverb with zero latency and an improved sound.
Convolution Convolution reverbs digitally simulate the reverberation of a physical space. They use pre-recorded samples of specific spaces modeled with their impulse responses. Like almost all samplers (and those impulses are a sort of sample), they sound as good as the sample they are using. And speaking of that, on the SIR site you will find links where you can download more than 2 GB of various impulses.
Let's get to some dirty details
Wusik Magazine #019 November 2007
SIR 2 offers some good editing tools for fine-tuning the included impulses. The equalizer window is most welcome in this sort of software. It always helps cutting the low and high ends to prevent the appearance of messy or blurred sound in the mix. A big waveform has two curve envelopes; with first you can edit the amplitude envelope, while the second one is for low-pass filter editing. By clicking the right mouse button on one of the envelopes, you get an option to choose between time and beat scale. Beat scale is synchronized to the sequencer tempo and is suitable for > >
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adding some rhythmic delays to the impulse response. Other controls are more or less standard for similar allinclusive reverbs. There are also dry and wet controls, pre-delay time, stereo spread, and some not so common options such as signal path (for various routings of the signal), HDIR direct (for adding dry information of the impulse response for more natural reverberation), a reverse button and an excellent big browsing window. SIR 2 comes with a few preloaded high quality impulse responses. They cover the most used range of reverbs, from small recording rooms to big halls and churches - with a few variations of each impulse response included.
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Solution
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It's always good to have one convolution reverb in your artillery. It sounds natural, and you’ll likely be able to find an appropriate impulse response among the vast quantity of samples that are available for free on the Internet. Most of the convolution reverbs are CPU hungry, so it is not recommended to use one as an all purpose reverb, but for some situations they are more than appropriate. SIR2 sounds the same or even better than most of the high priced convolution reverbs. If you need a good convolution reverb with zero latency then SIR 2 is the right choice for you.
Tsaiko
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Psycho for
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Tsaiko (pronounced s î k ô as in “psycho”) is a Taiko drum library for Kontakt 2
by David Keenum
Tsaiko
I can’t remember when I first heard about Taiko drums. It could have been with my Roland MT-32. It had a taiko preset. Or it could have been in a General MIDI keyboard or sound module. It is part of the General MIDI spec. But I can remember seeing a video of Japanese or Asian men feverishly playing those giant drums. There was visual impact in the sight of the men, with scarves wrapped around their foreheads, pounding the drums with bachi, the wooden dowels used to play taiko drums. And the sound of those drums was as big as I’d ever heard! Real big! Even on videos the sight and sound combined to make a visceral experience. You could feel the power!
(As an aside, how come you never see middle-aged men with their rotund bellies beating on those drums? I have this mental image of a bunch of shirtless Chris Farley-types ferociously playing the Taiko drums! But I digress….)
and it is deeply rooted in
the daily cultural and
spiritual life of Japan.
#019 November 2007
> >
for 'big drum' or “Fat Drum”,
Wusik Magazine
Keyboard and GM Taikos have never achieved the sound on those videos. In fact the GM taikos sounded a lot like big floor toms with a lot of reverb. And they lacked detail. Because of the limited size of GM samples, the taikos sounded the same when they were played soft as when they were played loud. So the GM taiko was relegated to big boom and not much more.
Taiko is the Japanese word
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Tsaiko
Libraries like Storm Drums and the ProjectSAM’s True Strike 2 percussion library contain improved taiko multi-samples. In fact, I’ve heard people define Storm Drums by the taiko and taiko-like programs. But these are big expensive libraries with a wide variety of percussion sounds. What if you just want some taiko drums, or maybe you need some big reverb-soaked drums with lots of detail and power? Along Comes Tsaiko Tsaiko (pronounced s î k ô as in “psycho”) is a multi-sampled taiko drum library for Kontakt 2 (specifically 2.1.1.001 or higher). It contains both individual and ensemble hits of four taiko drums. Both left and right hand strokes are recorded at multiple velocities.
The Reason I Made Tsaiko:
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
We asked Sean Beeson why he created Tsaiko. Here is his reply:
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With many sample libraries currently on the market, when purchasing you receive a static set of samples. You can alter the sound of the samples, to a certain extent, using different techniques of post-processing, but there are still timbres of instruments that are difficult to emulate using a static microphone perspective. My solution? Capture the Taiko at as many perspectives as possible. In total, there were seventeen microphone perspectives during our session, with the end user having access to all seventeen. > >
Each drum is recorded from four perspectives: close, stage, hall and balcony. The close perspective uses separate mono microphones: top head, bottom head, and three feet above the drum. Each perspective is recorded with, in words from the website, “dozens” of velocity layers. This gives you a detailed perspective of each of the four drums, and the sound of those drums in the context of stage, hall and balcony. The people behind Tsaiko are Sean Beeson, Justin Wasack, and Dan Rogers. Sean is a (www.seanbeeson.com/) videogame and movie composer, whose latest credits include a trailer for Hairspray (2007). Rumor has it > >
Tsaiko
that he has worked as a Kontakt patch programmer for other sampling companies. This is Sean, Justin and Dan’s first commercial sampling product as producers.
Download and Install
Manual
It wasn't that we need a Taiko library. There are already a few great ones on the market. I think we needed a dedicated Taiko library that is priced where Tsaiko is, and one that cannot be expended tonally as quick. Some libraries have that "branded" sound, and for the most part, a majority of composers can pick out every library used in a mockup score/piece, which over a matter of time can be detrimental to the uniqueness and charm of a library. In the end, Tsaiko has nearly 5,000 recorded hits. Not all made it into the final product, but I don't think Tsaiko will reach the point of being expended as quickly as some other libraries.
The manual is an 8-page .PDF document. It is attractive and thorough. It explains all the usual stuff (i.e. installation, contact information), and also explains Tsaiko’s organization, the different microphone perspectives, and the two scripts. The only thing I find missing is a preset list, but that isn't a big deal. I would really like to see a manual included in all sample libraries. I know it is an added expense for the sample developer, but I found this manual very helpful. > >
#019 November 2007
If a user is looking for a punchy Taiko sound, there is a microphone perspective for that. If they are looking for a boomy Taiko sound, there is a microphone perspective for that as well. The goal of Tsaiko was to provide as many tonal/timbre options as possible to the user at an affordable price. I hope that every user that purchases Tsaiko feels that they have gotten a great deal for their money. If so, I feel that my goal as a developer has been accomplished.
Wusik Magazine
When you purchase Tsaiko, you receive a download link. With Microsoft’s Internet Explorer I couldn’t get the download link to work, but with Mozilla Firefox, it downloaded without a problem. Go figure! I’ve not had that happen before, but, with Sean Beeson’s help, I got it sorted quickly. The .RAR file weighed in at 769 MB, and expanded to 1.92 GB. That’s a lot of taikos! Anyway, it installed without a problem. As a side note, you need to drag and drop two scripts into your Kontakt 2 script folder. The manual details that, and speaking of the manual ….
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Tsaiko
Presets
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Tsaiko’s presets are arranged into two main folders, Ensemble Constructor and Patches. Ensemble Constructor is basic programming to give you the sound of the taiko drums, where the Patches folder contains presets that use the taikos as a basis for powerful and creative sounds.
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Basically, the Ensemble Constructor folder is for recreating the sound of the four individual taikos. It contains individual presets for each drum, and each drum is represented with presets for each of the three close mics, plus presets for the Stage, Hall and Balcony mics. You could use these presets to create an ensemble performance for four different taiko players. The Ensemble Constructor folder also contains a sub-folder of scripted presets. The Tsaiko Scripts are M.P.C. (Microphone Perspective Control) and Far-Mic Verblay. The M.P.C. allows you to mix three microphone perspectives. This gives precise control over the sound, and allows you to create your own preset. The Far-Mic Verblay simply delays the Stage, Hall or Balcony samples. This is useful when you want to increase the size of the room. Far-Mic Taiko is a good example of a preset in the scripted folder. It contains volume controls for the Stage, Hall and Balcony perspectives. > >
Tsaiko
I think it would be good to note that almost all of the presets contain 2 or 4 notes. C3 is the left hand hit, D3 is the right hand hit, C#3 is the shell hit, and D#3 is the stick click. This mapping pattern is consistent throughout most of the presets. If you are expecting stretched programs you'll be disappointed. This library, especially the Ensemble Constructor folder, is focused. An exception to this is All Close Taiko- Economy in the Scripted Instruments folder. In this preset, all four taikos are mapped to different octaves. In fact, this preset can show you the difference between the four different taikos.
The folders of Tsaiko are arranged as follows: Ensemble Conductor Natural Instruments Balcony Hall Stage Taiko A Taiko B Taiko C Taiko D Scripted Instruments Taiko A Taiko B Taiko C Taiko D Patches Economical Patches Instruments
Resource Intensive Patches Instruments Multis
#019 November 2007
Multis
Wusik Magazine
The second folder is the Patches folder, and it contains creative presets. This is where you go when you want your Big Booms and other impact sounds. The Patches folder is divided into 2 different subfolders: Economical Patches and Resource Intensive Patches. Obviously the Economical Patches folder uses less memory, but both folders have great presets. Dinosaur Footsteps are Shaking my Beer is an example of creative presets. It is straight out of Jurassic Park! You can easily imagine seeing the glass of water vibrate. But most of the presets still sound like taikos. > >
Tsaiko's Folders
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Tsaiko
Both the Economical Patches and the Resource Intensive Patches folders contain sub-folders of Multis. These Multis give you more layers. The Resource Intensive Multis also contain scripts. One of my favorite Multis is called Earthquake. It is deep, with lots of reverb, but you can still hear the stick hit the drum. It is a complex sound, but it sounds like a drum. And it is very easy to play!
Tsaiko Details www.tsaikodrums.com
The idea of Multis and Resource Intensive Patches brings up the question of how much RAM is needed for these sounds. The manual recommends 3 GB of RAM, but discussions on various forums have put the limit a good bit lower. One person stated that they thought 1 MB would be sufficient. I don't really know how to advise you about this. I have 3 MB of RAM, and I had no problems. Update
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Price for download is $55.00
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For Kontakt 2.1.1.001 or newer. RAM: At least 1.5 GB RAM Hard Drive Space: At least 1.8 GB of hard drive storage
As if all of this isn’t enough, there is a soon-to-be released free update, which includes, according to the posting on KVR audio, “more patches, improvement, stomps, shouts, ha's, sha's, yells, and some other vocal FX, recorded all in the same fashion.” There is no date set for the release except for “soon.” All owners of Tsaiko will receive the update. > >
Tsaiko
Conclusions Tsaiko is a narrow library, but it has broad application. I know it may sound confusing, so let me explain. Tsaiko is a detailed picture of four taiko drums, and the room in which they were recorded. The drums have their own individual sound, but they are all four about the same size. No giant two-person drums. Now, for $55 this is not a problem. In fact, I have paid $100 for a library of similar size and focus, and I like doing it that way. I like focused, well programmed, detailed libraries, and this is definitely one!
The Tsaiko Development Team has announced a 10% sale for readers of Wusik Magazine. This sale will last until December 12, 2007. To take advantage of the sale price, just input the code: “wusikandtsaiko� at checkout.
#019 November 2007
www.tsaikodrums.com
Wusik Magazine
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But, the useful applications for this library are certainly broad. Tsaiko can cover anything from recreating a taiko ensemble to sub-rattling booms. The sounds can have impact or subtlety. And between the three close microphone positions, the Stage, Hall and Balcony microphones, the scripts, and the excellent programming, you have the ingredients for a wide variety in tonal colors. That makes for a versatile library. And here I thought that Tsaiko was just a crazy taiko player!
Sale for Readers of
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Sample Magic
Sunset Sessions Sample library
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
by Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi
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Sunset Sessions
Sunset Sessions is a new multi-format sample library DVD from UK-based developers Sample Magic. The library covers a wide variety of material that is suited for chill, lounge, latin, dub, downtempo, and even smooth jazz. Any slow & sexy genre just about suits. The bulk of this library is in high-quality 24 bit/44.1kHz WAV format, but the samples also come in AIFF (Apple loops) and REX2 flavours. All loop names are labelled with the specific key/pitch and tempo information (where relevant) it was recorded in, and are split in different folders with tempos of 80, 90 and 100bpm. As an added bonus, the DVD also comes with instrument patches that you can use for HALion, Kontakt, EXS24 and Reason's own NN-XT Advanced sampler – and each comes with 20+ patches.
#019 November 2007
In the Rhodes mkII department, you'll find plenty of silky-smooth chords, licks and broken chords loops. The loops are recorded dry and sound nice. Just for sake of experimentation, I ran some of these loops thru a modulation plug-in, with moderate settings, and then processed them a bit with a lo-fi plug-in. The result came out good, and was even tastier sounding than the original. Sample Magic left most of the samples dry so that you can process them to your heart's content. Additional tips on how to manipulate, process, and mangle your samples are found in the supplied booklet. > >
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On the supplied liner notes insert, Sample Magic noted that they've commissioned sounds from renowned artists, producers and sound designers, such as Ian Boddy, Eat Static, Jake Island, etc. to create this massive 3.32Gb library. With the enlisted contributors on hand, there is plenty of diverse material to play around with
here. When I auditioned the loops in Acid Pro they sounded sonically excellent. The drums and basses have a laid-back “groovy” feel to them. The 80BPM drum loops are perfect for creating that slow, sleazytype sound found in chill records. I used to listen to a lot of smooth jazz back in the early 90's and some of the drum loops included in this library would be perfect for backing beats in similar smooth jazz songs. The double and electric bass loops sound classic and authentic with a lot of built-in musicality. They have enough bite to cut through a mix.
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Sunset Sessions
There are a great bunch of acoustic instrument loops on offer here too, like flute, guitars, piano, trombone, etc. The recording of these acoustic loops is top notch with a lot of detail going on. Rounding out the collection are synth, pad, FX and texture loops. These are available to those who need to add washes to an existing track, or they can also be used to provide inspiration to create that next lovely chill track.
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Also worthy of mention is the packaging design and artwork cover of this library. As with other sample libraries released by Sample Magic, Sunset Sessions’ packaging looks good. Their distinct designs are simple yet stylish. It's funny because when I first got my hands on this library, I thought I was holding one of those Cafe Del Mar/Ibiza-type electronica compilation CD’s. Nevertheless, it's appealing.
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Verdict: Overall, the content of Sunset Sessions is pretty impressive. The wealth of live instrument loops is worth the admission alone. I'd say that Sample Magic did a good job in producing and recording this library. The quality is evident with the huge selection of useable material. With that said, this library should put Sample Magic on the map as one of the upper tier soundware developers out there. An instant classic.
CONTACT: www.samplemagic.com, www.bigfishaudio.com, www.timespace.com FORMATS: 3.32GB CD/DVD multipack (2,954 files), includes Audio, 24-Bit Wavs (1.78GB, 1,516 files), Rex files (579MB, 621 files), Apple Loops (946MB, 625 files) plus EXS24, Reason, Kontakt and Halion patches (20+ of each) and audio CD for auditioning. LIST PRICE: $99.95, £59.95 including VAT.
VARIVERB PRO
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
It's a kind of Magix
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by A. Arsov
VARIVERB PRO Dear Arthur! It's hard to believe how the world has changed in the last few centuries. Your dear Merlin is still alive and now he is coding for Magix. And as you can see, those German fellows can't even spell it correctly. Their Variverb pro is pure magic and not Magix as they wrote! By the way, I haven't yet met Merlin, but when you hear this „magixal“ product, you will see yourself that it can only be our good old friend Merlin who’s behind this.
Let's go beginning.
back
to
the
I got my Variverb pro in a nice blue box with the printed manuals and with an installation CD. Our friendship started in bed while reading the manuals. Glancing through the booklet, I've found that Variverb pro has got everything that a pro reverb
should. Let's make it clear before going into any details: it's an algorithmic and not an impulse response reverb. In a convolution world this could be a drawback, but it seems like Merlin has done a hell of a good job. Variverb pro is buffed with all sorts of rooms. Small, plate, big, hall etc ... you name it, they use it. All these rooms can be tweaked in various ways. In normal mode you can change size, decay or high dump. Two knobs are present for dry and wet balance and at the top of the main window you can find three test knobs. Stick, snap and the vocal. If you press one of them, you hear a short sample, which I find more than useful for fine tuning of some parameters. Talking about fine tuning – it should be mentioned that in expert mode one can tweak various controls: low and high EQ, pre-delay, size, decay, Er tail, width, Er absorption, high dump, diffusion and high freq. > >
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VARIVERB PRO
But honestly, there is usually no need to use all these parameters because Variverb pro is equipped with almost fifty presets. You’ll find all you'll ever need. There’s vocal plates, drum rooms, some non linear models and some high quality algorithms which are more CPU intensive than some other more common presets. Some of the presets are doubled in the Aux section where they are prepared for use as a send effect with the mixing ratio set to 100 %. These are the facts. But how does it sound?
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
I can hear, I can hear!
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After including it as an insert effect I found out that it is the first reverb that doesn't change the general level of the sound. It is usually so painful to redefine all the levels after inserting reverb that I find it's this effect that is the first in the rank of all the magic that Magix put in. Variverb pro adds just a reverb without increasing any level.
After being a beta tester for a few effects and instruments, I gave Variverb pro a real test. You can always recognize a reverb by listening to its tail. Bad reverbs have pretty annoying tails. They are buzzing like metal bees. I used Variverb pro as an insert effect and killed the dry setting, and listened just to the wet sound. It sounded unnaturally natural. Wet signals never sound natural. It's against their nature. So I downloaded a demo of one of the best known VST reverbs and compared the tails. Variverb pro sounded noticeably better.
So far, so good Reverbs always add some so called space to music. I’ve liked the Lexicon sound because it gives you the feeling of the sound being present in both speakers. All reverbs give some space, but I have never felt it as three dimensional. Reverbs add the space between speakers. A straight line between the left and the right speaker; the good old flat “second dimension”. > >
VARIVERB PRO And here it comes, the scary part I've beta tested some Ugo synths, and in trying to make a short demo, got lost in the wrong melody. I decided to try it with Variverb pro. After testing many presets I decided to give it a try with the High Quality presets. I turned the dry knob to 100 % and the wet one to 70 %, leaned back on my chair and almost fell from it. For the first time in my life I heard the instrument in a room. Not between the speakers, but in a space. Merlin, don't ever pull such a surprise on me again. There is also one other thing I need to say. Most electronic instruments don't sound good with third party effects. That's the reason why almost every synth has some kind of reverb. So, I tried out this aspect and found that Variverb pro sounds quite good even with instruments whose internal reverb is replaced with Variverb pro. Try it out for yourself with some other reverbs. It's almost impossible to find one that works well with synth sounds without their internal reverbs.
All in all, it looks like I've finally found my all purpose reverb. I opened one of my finished tracks, changed my old reverbs with Variverb pro and found it added it some really nice space and definition. It works well with all my drums, with the vocals, synths and guitars. And if you don't use high quality presets it's not even CPU intensive. It is an excellent workhorse reverb. OK, maybe it's a shame using an award winning racing horse for such petit purpose, but that's life. Use it and be the mixing winner every day. If I have to give this reverb a mark from one to ten, I can only say this: I give you eleven, my dear Variverb pro. And let your mama come to school (coz sweetie, if you look so good, than your ma must look even better.) Well done, Marlin!
Wusik Magazine #019 November 2007
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Sample Magic Electro-House Sample DVD
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
by Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi
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Sample Magic Electro-House Sample DVD
When I get my hands on a sample loop library, the first thing I do is paint a couple of loops in Sony's Acid Pro sequencing software and see if they blend really well. Electro-House is one of those rare sample libraries with contents that seem to meld together beautifully. This house+disco-punk+synthpop+electro+techno themed collection boasts a huge 1.6+GB of groovy and twisted content. Organized in folders with tempos of 125, 127 and 130 BPMs are fresh drum loops, guitar, FX, synth, bass, top and music loops, etc. The loops are professionally well recorded in pristine 44.1 kHz/24bit format. The library also has a couple of sampler patches included for EXS24, Halion, Kontakt 2 and NNXT samplers. Kudos to the Sample Magic crew for having thought of this.
CONTACT: www.samplemagic.com, www.bigfishaudio.com, www.timespace.com FORMAT: 1.6GB CD/DVD multipack (2,250+ files), includes, 24-Bit/44.1kHz WAVs (840+MB, 1000+ files), Rex files (580+), Apple Loops (580+) plus sampler presets for EXS24, Reason, Kontakt and Halion (10+ of each), and audio CD for auditioning.
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LIST PRICE: $99.95, ÂŁ 59.95 #019 November 2007
The perfectly looped 8/16 bar drum loops are superb and sounded tight when I previewed them in Acid. The bass loops are punchy and "ear shattering". The synths sound wicked, dirty and have a certain 'bite' in them - especially "whackfuzz" and "wetslapper" (under the synth's 125 and 130 BPM folders respectively). The guys at Sample Magic must be big Roland fans because I hear a lot of loops made with vintage TB303 and Juno instruments. The thing I like about this library is the inclusion of a good selection of single drum hits. These one-shots are very handy for making your own kits - just load/import them in your favourite drum sampler plug-in, save them as presets and you have tons of drum kits for future use. There are also a couple of guitar loops and chords thrown in for good measure.
Verdict: Electro-House is one inspiring collection of fresh samples. The content is so massive that you won't exhaust this sample library anytime soon. It's guaranteed to spark your creativity in many song writing sessions you will have in the future. Very highly recommended.
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Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Gimme Some Money
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Gimme $ome Money by A. Arsov
or how to start making money with your music
True? Almost, as we seem to have been born into a MP3-against-musicians battle realm and it seems there is no way to win. Wrong. There is always a way.
#019 November 2007
All of this is cool. A lot of money should be earned with this musical knowledge, but we all know it's a hard time for everyone in this business right now. The music industry is on its knees yet no one seems big enough or is willing to fight it.
Wusik Magazine
So, the talented musicians and one man bands are now armed with all known VST instruments, and have in their possession a mighty DAW, and production wizards ...
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Gimme $ome Money
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
It's time for TV ads
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It is really hard to infiltrate oneself into a glittering and selfsufficient world of TV advertising. The main reason for this is much more simple than you might have thought: advertisers are accustomed to work only with trustworthy people. And among these, only with those whom they already know. It's as simple as that. There is no place for the novice. It's not important how good you are, what matters is how reliable you are. There is huge money rolling around in this business and they can't afford failure. The job must be done in a day or two and it must be done right – period. So how can you prove yourself as a reliable musician if they won't give you a chance? It's hard, almost impossible, but if you give up without trying you will never know if maybe they might be prepared to give you a try. The fact is that in TV commercials, music is one of the last things on the list. It is when everything else is finished that the time for music and voice overs arrives. It often happens that advertising agencies run behind schedule by a few days, and then (of
course) the director loses a few days because he can't get the whole team together. or the weather is too bad to shoot some cruical cadre. When it's time for synchronization, it is usually only a day or two before the deadline, and the penalty for missing it is usually enormous. As you can surely assume by now – rule no.1 is: Don't work with unknown and unverified musicians.
How to break the rule Some years ago I composed twenty short music clips for fictional commercials – as an absolute outsider. Then I sent nearly a hundred letters with enclosed CD's to various advertising agencies. I waited for more than a month before I got the first call.
Two years later I won the first prize for best music in a TV commerial at the main advertising festival in my country. Lately, I had job as a producer and a copywriter.
> >
Gimme $ome Money Yes, yes, but how to do it Pick a few TV commercials you like. Get them on a disc and watch them carefully. You will soon notice that they almost all have the same structure: short intro, the plot thickens and suddenly – suspense. The product comes in as a true life saver, something you can't live without. After the suspense comes an aviso or a voice over with the headline and the name of the product. Doing your versions of music, you should keep in mind that when agencies listen to them they must get the impression that you completely understand some basic TV ad-business rules.
#019 November 2007
This should be your personal first rule: Never say I can't do it. You'll get enough money, so you can as well hire some musicians ready to play the lines with which you are uncomfortable. It is not at all an unknown practice in this business. There are plenty classical musicians willing to play for payment. > >
Wusik Magazine
First of all, think about the target audience. A heavy metal background will hardly satisfy the target audience for a Tea product. OK. It is a drastic example, but you should think about this when things are not so obvious. If the commercial adresses the upper middle class, you have to ask yourself, what does the upper middle class like to listen to, or what would be acceptable for them. It will be a lot easier if you try to think about people you already know. And
this is only one audience, which means – if we have various target audiences, we shoud be prepared with various musical styles. Sooner or later you'll be confronted with everything possible (and impossible). From reggae to waltz, d'n'b to jungle ... but don't worry, nobody will expect you to be an expert in all those styles. It's enough if you can bang a few chords and the basic rhythm in the right manner. It happens quite often that ad directors already have some music in mind, so be prepared to also sound like the desired artist. OK, again – you won't have to copy them, as long as you are able to catch the general mood of the whole thing. But if you say that you can't do it then this might as well be the last commercial you will be involved with from a musical perspective.
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Gimme $ome Money
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To tell you the truth – I have never been good at imitating other musicians' styles, yet I know the main characteristics of a wide range of them. So I have always listened carefully to what the director or the person who placed the order wanted from me, or even more I have tried to understand their vision of what music should do in the ad and then I did as I thought best. Honestly, that's the only way I know how and I have only been turned down once.
You can always combine your midi equipment with some prerecorded classical phrases from sample CD's. Be creative – your VST Moog can make wonders joined with a prerecorded symphonic string section. If your string section sounds lifeless, record a live violinist over it and the whole string arrangement will sound as if it were a live orchestra. But don't waste your money until the agency confirms your music.
It's also good if you are acquainted with various classical instruments.
Structure and instruments
There is no need to be a piano virtuoso or a string Paganini. What is important is that you can compose something with your midi keyboard in a classical mood.
What you should also keep in mind, is that most people don't have the latest model of television, so too wide stereo or too much sub bass are a no go. Ditto, be careful with using instruments that use the same frequency range as does human voice, especially when it comes time for a voice over. Violins are not announcers' best friends. When choosing your instrunments, remember that every ad needs to be noticable, so feel free to break the rules and use anything that you can think of. Use the whole musical spectrum. Combine low sounds with extreme highs. Questions and answers, fast and slow. I like being in this business because > >
Gimme $ome Money everything becomes great fun. But at the same time, keep it simple and don't overdo it. Don't lay thirty tracks. Remember - less is more. Ads are sounds and pictures, not just sound, so you don't need to mix a symphonic orchestra with a whole jazz band. If you think things are too simple, just by adding a few effects, along with the pictures, you might find it sounds much better.
With a picture always present, don't be afraid to use silence in parts of TV commercials. A musical peak can have a much bigger impact if it comes after a short silence.
When you are looking at a clip, try to find its inner rhythm; clap your hands or do whatever you do in a similar situation. Every movie director uses some proper constant tempo for changing cadres. It's fine to try first if 120 bpm works well with the picture because it's the easiest to work in this tempo; four beats last two seconds, so you always know excatly where you are and how many seconds are left. > >
#019 November 2007
Most of the music for TV ads is also used for radio commercials. Therefore, be careful – silence can work for TV clips but for the radio it's better not to use absolute silence as
Movie and creative directors always talk about memorable melodies - but don't let this confuse you. Their expectations concerning hits are not as high as yours. They are not musicians. You'd be surprised at how much they can like a simple melody.
Wusik Magazine
On the last commercial I did, I used a simple bass, one drum loop, a few sax notes and a bunch of effects. A slight change in melody along with reversed crash or a few notes of a new instrument can make an excellent plot. Don't play too many notes when the voice over comes in because it will cause a big mess. And when the end is near, try to make an open, positive finale.
many radio stations may not accept it. When using silence, put in some white noise at low level or from some quiet pad. It will be enough for radio technicians if VU meters show any sound even if we can't hear it. It's good to make some additional mixes for radio stations.
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Gimme $ome Money
Wusik Magazine
#019 November 2007
Keep in mind that commercials usually last 30 seconds because the television has a common price for this time length, while every additional second costs more. So never ever make the clip longer than it should be. Be careful with fade so it doesn't come in the dark area. If you do a 30 second long clip with a half second additional fade, they will cut it exactly on the 30th second and it can happen that in the end it will sound unnatural.
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After airing for a few weeks, and when consumers get the general idea about the product, there is no need to play entire clip any longer and a shorter version is required. So be prepared to also make a 15 second version. If you do complicated phrases through the entire clip, you will have many problems shortening it. Remember, keep it simple. For demo purposes, 30 second versions will be just perfect.
When your first order comes, you will notice that almost everybody involved has a completely different vision of how it should sound. Don't worry. It happens all the time, and nobody ever died because of it.
Look smart when the creative director explains to you his vision, but take it in consideration mostly what the film director explains to you as he is the one who will put everything forward. These totally different visions are the weirdest part of the game. This is one of the main reasons why I don't play this game anymore. > >
Gimme $ome Money Who is the musician Advertising agencies are not the only ones making decisions about music or the musician. You should also send your demo to ad directors. Most of the time they are the ones who choose musicians. It can also happen that the advertising agencies suggest one person, but if the film director already has someone else in mind, most of the time his decision trumps. Also don't forget to send your demo to synchro studios. They are doing a synchronization beetwen the sound and the picture and quite often the agencies let them choose musicians and speakers.
It is not a mission impossible to find all these directors and synchro studios. Just pick up the phone and ring a local or even the main TV station. They will tell you who are the film directors doing commercials. They will also give you the names of all the main synchro studios and most other information you need to know. These things are not state secrets, so they will usually be happy to tell them to you. Don't be surprised about how much the doorkeepers know. Actually, most of the time it is them who are the best informed in a big corporation.
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Good luck and send me a note if you score some success!
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