Wusik Sound Magazine December 2008 by Wusik Dot Com

Editorial

Wusik Sound Magazine www.wusiksoundmagazine.com Issue December 2008

Acting Managing Editor: Per Lichtman Assistant Editors: Damion Johnston, Leroi, WilliamK and MoniKe Production Manager: MoniKe

Articles by: A. Arsov www.arsov.net David Keenum david@wusik.com Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi www.myspace.com/gnomusic Paul Evans - aka Triple-P (PPP) www.triplep.wusik.com Per Lichtman www.soundclick.com/perlichtman VP/Music and Creative, Beyond Belief Music Corp. beyondbeliefmusic@gmail.com Squibs www.musician.ie Sergio - aka Sir Joe www.sir-joe.com info@sir-joe.com Trusty www.myspace.com/crosssoldiers Stickybeats@yahoo.com WilliamK

Proof-Reading by: Damion Johnston (EM) LeRoi Trusty Per Lichtman Peggy

Pictures: www.dreamstime.com

Covers: JC j_carieata@yahoo.com

Welcome back to the newly re-designed WSM. This issue is all about presents for the holidays and our Christmas present to you is one of our biggest issues ever! With nineteen reviews and "Trusty's Top Five", you are bound to find the right present this season. As my own present to Paul, I am letting him get some much needed R & R this month, after his intense work helping get the new WSM up and running, by stepping in as Acting Managing Editor. As many of you have already noticed, WSM has been expanding the scope of its articles to include more genres and skill levels. In the coming months you will be seeing a range of articles aimed at everyone from the beginning beatsmith (with articles like "Budget Studio") to the experienced mixing engineer (with reviews like "URS Saturation"). In the meantime, drop us a line and let us know which format of reviews you prefer: we're always happy to hear from our readers! I'd like to take a moment to recognize one of our newest staff members, Damion Johnston aka EuripidesMac (or as we call him, "EM"). With our magazine's expanding scope, EM's attention to detail has been an essential part of making sure that every article in the pages of WSM is high quality and up to our standards. That job is too big for any one person, but thanks to EM's contribution, we are able to feature more articles each month than ever before. Thanks EM! So, whether you're spending the season with your family and friends, or by a console on the job, we wish you happy holidays from all of us here at WSM! We look forward to another year of giving you the information you want to help create the music the world needs. Per Lichtman

Table of Contents

The Budget Studio by Trusty

What's On Your Amp by Squibs

Ask Doctor Jack

Interview: Poets Of The Moon by Sir Joe

Flashback: “Track This Out!” by WilliamK

How to do Easy Stuff by Trusty

85 49

Freebie Effect of the Month Anwida by WilliamK

Developer’s Corner:

Review:

Interview:

44 Synplant by A. Arsov Magnus Lidström by Trusty

Review: Dear Santa RMV from LinPlug by A. Arsov

24 28

Alesis DM5 Kit by Squibs

URS Classic Console Strip Pro by Trusty

Abbey Road Compressor by Per Lichtman

EQ Rangers by Trusty

A Silver Sensation D’16 Fazortan by Paul Evans

Hollywood Impulse Responses by Per Lichtman

Hardcore By Imageline by Squibs

Voxengo Elephant V3 by Trusty

Internal Mixing The Book by A. Arsov

Sound Forge 9 by Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi

Old World ReFill by David Keenum

Prometheus X by David Keenum

Digital Sound Factory by Trusty

Total Guitar and Bass Bundle by A. Arsov

Sitar Nation by Per Lichtman

Mini Reviews Sample&Sounds Library by Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi

Ableton Live 7 by Trusty

The Electronic Musician VS the “Big 'In-Town' Studio” by Trusty

Trusty's Top Five Bi-Monthly Colomn of Whatever... by Trusty

The Budget Studio

Rap/Hip-Hop/RnB to do Everything! by Trusty

There used to be a "sticky" thread in the Getting Started forum at futureproducers.com that I initially thought was helpful but, upon further reflection, realized it was rather ridiculous. The tag was, "If your budget is $0" …or something like that. If someone has a zero budget to get started, more than likely, that person has zero motivation. Now, that zero-budget person may disagree, but actions speak louder than words. If a broke aspiring musician/producer/whatever-they-want-tobe-called hasn't scraped, scrimped, and saved to get a working budget, that person simply doesn't care enough yet. Sure, they could either [illegally] download some cracked software, or [legally] download some freebie hosts and synths, and then click around with their mouse, listen through their crappy computer speakers, but that doesn't say a lot for their supposed motivation and dedication. These people eventually come back to the forums and ask how to do the basic things. But all of that is another matter. It must be stated here that, without any doubt, there will be the temptation to

vehemently disagree with almost everything I write here. But that is okay, considering how little I care that people disagree with me. I am going to try to present decent options, and give the best advice and recommendations possible given the framework that will be laid out. Here are four simple rules for the aspiring broke artist: 1. Do not be picky. 2. Do not be fooled by the "Musical Genius" sales assistant at whatever pro audio store is in your area. 3. Do not think you need everything a pro studio has at once, but rather be willing to settle for the bare minimum. 4. Do not start with less than $650 USD [or the equivalent in your currency]. The best thing to do until that sum is saved is to read, study, and pick around a bit on learning music - not music production, but music [composition, performance, etc] and read everything you can on the things you want to do.

! 04

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

Warning

The views expressed in this tutorial are those of the author and may not represent those of the rest of the magazine's staff, except the brackets by assistant editors... Please do not read this article while nursing, driving under the influence, committing a robbery or lacking a sense of humor.

The Budget Studio Okay, starting with a budget of $650, the first thing to do is understand what the bare minimums are. More than likely, you own a computer, so don't be afraid to use it to make music. To make any music on a computer, you need to look at the essential hardware before considering any software. These bare essentials are monitors, a soundcard interface, a midi controller(s), and a mic. If you can not play the keys but think you know enough about music to compose anyway, consider getting a pad controller instead of a keyboard controller. Anyway, you can pick up an Alesis IO2 for about $160 and some Alesis M1 Active monitors for about $200 - or even a few bucks less for both (if you haggle a bit at a store). So far, $360 gone - just like that. $290 is all there is left to get a mic and a controller. I do recommend finding a mic in the $100 range and I recommend either the M-Audio Nova or the Audio Technica AT2020... be sure to pick up a pop blocker and a mic stand. So, this leaves $190 for a MIDI controller. (All prices are in USD.)

very cool and useful controllers with the Korg Nans. One of the cool features about the Korg pad controllers is that you can configure the pads to be in certain "key signatures" and â&#x20AC;&#x153;musical scalesâ&#x20AC;? so that you can never play a wrong note when trying to compose original melodies with the pads (I personally set up a steller collection of key signatures and scales for use with the Korg padKONTROL, and will eventually do the same for the NanoPAD), the Nano pad controller will even allow for chords to be played from a single pad. Is it cheating? You bet, but why should the real pianists have all the fun? Now, you may be wondering, "I have the bare essentials as far as hardware is concerned, but what will I make music with?" Well, there are several ways. Look at what comes bundled with all the gear you bought! Cubase 4 LE Ableton Live 7 LE Korg M1 LE

vocal recording, and then he sends me the stems from it to mix). You have more of a studio than any average aspiring do-it-all producer/artist/musician could ever afford even 10-15 years ago. It may not be enough yet, but we will get to that. For making beats, recording, and mixing music, you have your core, but now it is time to add some dressing. I whole-heartedly recommend the following freebies that are more than enough to get started, and there is no one (but complete jerks) that would argue against their quality. Since you have a decent synth already in the M1 LE, and decent composing and recording and mixing tools in Live Lite and Cubase LE, you only need a few things more to round out the essential noisemakers. Note that

If you can play the keys, then an MAudio Oxygen 61 fits both your needs and your remaining budget, at $190, though if you can not play, or play well, you have some options as well. Even if you can play the keys well, the following option may be viable too. Look no further than the new Korg Nano controllers. You can get the keyboard, the pad controller, and the controller with knobs and sliders for under $190, and your budget is gone. If you have some cash, it would be a good idea to get some headphones especially when recording with the mic. You will have about $20 for some cheap headphones, after all. :) However, let us recap as to what we have. For the price range, you have some decent monitors, a decent interface, a decent mic, and either a decent keyboard controller or three

Now, don't let "LE" tags fool you, these are powerful products in and of themselves despite the perceived limitations. (In fact, my bandmate actually still uses Cubase LE for his

there are a ton of freebies out there, but until you get the hang of what you are doing, it is best to start with a small arsenal of tools.

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

The Budget Studio

Sound Modules:

To make any rap/hip-hop/RnB tracks, you need good versions of each of the following:a sampler, virtual analog synth, and a sound module with the bread and butter sounds common to the genre. Here are my recommendations of some great freebies: So, you can make beats in Live Lite, finish them off and then record vocals, and mix, and perhaps master in Cubase. Seems like $650 and the recommended freebies can turn your bedroom into a full-fledged studio. I strongly urge people just getting into this to learn one aspect at a time. Start with making beats using Live Lite and the above software instruments and effects, and even use samples from other songs or whatever it that is you want to do, and also play around with recording samples with the mic into audacity to chop up and use in your samplers and in Live Lite. Live Lite may have an 8 track limitation, but certainly some creative workarounds will be just fine. Not to mention, 8 tracks is more than enough for the average beat, and then there is always Cubase (though composing in Live Lite will be more fun). Once you feel comfortable composing tracks, you can export them and then import them into Cubase and try audio recording, mixing and all that. Though again, work on one thing at a time, and do diligent research and study on all these areas of production. With all these recommendations, despite any perceived limitations, you have everything you could need. Great software to compose in, great software instruments to make the music, great recording, mixing, and mastering tools, decent hardware units, and fun controllers to give you that hands on experience.

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

E-Mu Proteus VX http://www.emu.com/promo/proteusvx/welcome.asp Native Instruments Kore Player http://www.nativeinstruments.com/index.p hp?id=koreplayer&L=1&ft u=38a3c27f8e17148 Sampler (Live Lite 7 does great at much of these simpler needs): Vember Audio Shortcircuit http://vemberaudio.se/sh ortcircuit.php

Synthesizers: LinPlug Free Alpha 3 http://www.linplug.com/ Download/download.htm KV331 Audio Synthmaster Free http://www.kv331audio.com/downloads.aspx

Cool Effects: Any of the free plug-ins by Voxengo http://www.voxengo.com/group/freevs t/ Camel Audio Camel Crusher http://www.camelaudio.com/camelcrus her.php Kjaerhus Audio Classic Series http://www.kjaerhusaudio.co m/download.php

Audio Editor: Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.n et/

The Budget Studio

A few final suggestions: 1. Buy Wusikstation as soon as you can afford it. Best software instrument/effects deal on the planet, bar none. [Assistant Editor's Note: Of course we have no personal bias about this at WSM...] (Trusty's Note: Yes we do! Shh, don't tell anyone... ;)) 2. After you've read all the manuals that came with your software, don't be afraid to visit forums like www.futureproducers.com and www.kvraudio.com to ask questions and get tips, tricks and insights to help you learn. 3. Once you get the feel for making beats, make your music make money for you and use that money to acquire more gear. Seriously, despite the lower price ranges, essentially (read: technically), you can do in your bedroom almost everything that can be accomplished at any studio in the world (at least as far as making beats, recording vocals,

some other musical tool will not make you any better despite what you may think. It may improve workflow, or have better sounds, or increase the fun factor, but if you have the attitude that you have to earn it, it will mean more to you. Besides, if your music isn't getting you the money to buy these items, you mixing, mastering, and making a CD). really don't need any more than what Will the quality be as good? Not a you already have. chance, but you knew that already. However, the knowledge and the Finally, by no means is this the only tools to accomplish everything is route to go, and I never asserted it good enough to have serious fun and was. These are simply my get started and be well on your way. recommendations, but they can teach the aspiring A good principle to follow is to make producer/musician/artist a lot more your music habit pay for itself once than blowing a $650 budget on a you made your initial investment. Try used MPC, or workstation keyboard selling your music and/or services and some crappy headphones. The (once you think they are worthy of above list is, without question, money) to recoup your initial without ANY hint of subjectivity investment. After you recover the involved, a much better, and more first $650, your gear has paid for powerful alternative that also has the itself. Put it back into your pocket, power to teach a lot more as well as and then sell some more of your accomplish a lot more than any music, time, creativity, or whatever. single hardware beat box on the Don't buy anything until you've made secondhand market. But consider the money, from your music habit, to this if you don't believe me, you can cover it. have, with your $650, a fully operational studio, with every You will get G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition essential tool and instrument that Syndrome) [also known as "gear can handle every stage of the music lust"] along the way, but don't cave production experience from into the temptation to buy something conception to completion, or a used new. Only buy more stuff when your beat box from eBay... music habit has generated the income to afford it. A new synth or Good Luck and have fun!

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Poets Of The Moon by Sir Joe

Continuing our series of interviews with talented electronic musicians around Europe, today we stop in Hungary and Poland. Budapest is the hometown of V.e.N. (programming, vocals, synths & drums) while Comatose (synths & vocals) is based in Zielona Góra. Together, they are Poets of the Moon. WsM: How did the two of you meet? V.e.N.: We met in Poland, at the Castle Party in 2007. It came out instantly that our musical interests and way of thinking were similar and we became really good friends. We didn’t think about working together at that time, that idea came more than 6 months later when I decided to start a new project. I asked Comatose if she would like to join me in POTM, and she said yes.

WsM: How would you describe your music? V.e.N.: This is a really good question. You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about this: in which genre should I categorize what I’m doing? It is not easy. If anyone were to ask me what is behind Poets of the Moon, the answer would be that it’s everything that I think and feel. My feelings cannot always be categorized. The style of a song is always dependant upon its particular content and the different feelings cannot always be conveyed within just one genre.

Comatose: What I could say about it is that of all day I of V.e.N.’s creations, the songs he Comatose: noticed that the writes for POTM, are those which feel songs that he had composed lately The day of our meeting is one of closer to me. Yes, I must admit that I those days that you remember for the were in a different style than the ones am a fan of V.e.N.’s industrial project, rest of your life. You get so which I knew from his industrial really, but it is easier for me to write hypnotized by the person and the project; so I told him that he lyrics in the POTM style, because I situation that you cannot believe that definitely should think about a know that my words will be it is really happening. But, the story starting a new project where he could understood by V.e.N.; just like I put all his new ideas. Incidentally, with creating a new project is understand his emotions in his music. different. V.e.N. was always sending after a short time V.e.N. decided to me new ideas for songs; and then one start a new project! LOL

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

want people to get to know me a bit through my music. It is a fact that the finished work doesn’t always reflect my state of mind at that moment but I guess I am not the only one like this.

acquire the best technical tools: like a great monitoring speaker system and a laptop (MacBook). Unfortunately, this is still in the future as well as the owning of a studio. WsM: Do you like to build your own sounds or do you prefer to work with presets?

WsM: Indeed, you are not. Since we mentioned MySpace, what role is this website playing in the development of your music career?

V.e.N.: Both. It has happened to me several times, that in a song which I thought WsM: You live far away from each was already finished, I eventually other. Does this pose a problem replaced almost all of the original when composing and recording sounds because I created something songs? new; and usually if you change the V.e.N.: tone in one line, it affects all of the V.e.N.: MySpace is one of the most well rest, too. I like to experiment to find So far, no. I am the one writing the known community sites. If you want the sound that fits best. Sometimes, I music in the project. Though, I do many people to get to know what you can do that with a preset, but other show every musical idea—finished or are doing, this is one of the best ways. times I can spend days and weeks on half-finished—to Comatose, and ask You can build connections and that’s creating my own. for her opinion as well as listening to important; and yes it provides an her ideas. This part can be done opportunity for stepping forward. You WsM: How do you know when a through the internet. When we have can never know what might happen. sound is right for you song? to record the vocals, though, it will be Maybe our future label will find us a different story. But, we are working there. I am not a MySpace-friendV.e.N.: on the solution to this problem. collecting kind of person. I know from That always comes out towards the experience that sometimes you just end. I have an idea, and as the song Comatose: press on approve or deny without is getting built up line-by-line, I can I have noticed, unfortunately, that it ever listening to what it is. To me the hear what fits best. It’s very unusual takes a long time from when the most important part is when someone for me to sit down at the computer music is ready to when the whole listens to my music. I don’t care to be already knowing what sounds I’m song is finished. I’m having problems one of their countless MySpace going to use. Usually, I have a with my part of the songwriting friends. melody and/or a theme in my head, process due to lack of time; and this and I try to convert that into reality. means that often V.e.N.’s ideas are WsM: What kind of Then, when I can see that the whole waiting for my lyrics. I’m sure we’ll instrumentation do you use? Do process is turning into a composition, find a solution to the distance you have your own studio? I’ll see what needs to be changed. problem when my lyrics are ready and approved by V.e.N.. LOL V.e.N.: WsM: What do you think of Currently I am working with a software instruments in general? WsM: In one of your MySpace Novation X-Station 49 keyboard and blogs you state that “you are your an Alesis Controlpad. Sooner or later, V.e.N.: music”. Are you always when someone decides to create I use lots of software synthesizers comfortable at laying bare your electronic music it will cost him a lot and plug-ins; like Ableton Live, the emotions through music? of money. At least that is what I have Korg Legacy Collection, Toxic3, Nexus, experience. To be able to work Z3ta+, the ARP2600V, Vanguard and V.e.N.: adequately you need to have the Atmosphere. Lots of people say that In my opinion, it is not worth doing it appropriate technical background. In music composed with a computer is any other way. Every time I start my case, this is quite incomplete, but not real music because the machine working on something, I add myself one of my goals is to expand the does everything. That is just not true. to it; my thoughts and my feelings. I number of my instruments and to If you don’t want to create some www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Poets Of The Moon

stupid canned music, then it takes a lot of work; and good software only makes things easier.

Comatose: Unfortunately, I can’t say much about my creative past on stage; because only few times have I WsM: I would like to know had the chance to sing in front of something about your lyrics. What an audience which was actually themes are more prevalent? listening. They were incredible experiences, full of energy and V.e.N.: adrenaline-filled feelings. I’m sure The lyrics are being written by that I want to do that again, Comatose, at the moment, because especially with the music and lyrics they are not my cup of tea. Of course, that we have created; not depending I also have thoughts and ideas about on someone else’s songs. So yes, I the lyrics but I’d rather leave this part surely plan to play live! to her. WsM: I know this project is very Comatose: important for you. What are you As I already mentioned, it is, hoping to achieve with Poets of absolutely, my goal to write lyrics to the Moon? accompany V.e.N.’s music. I want to do it, because I’m dreaming about V.e.N.: going forward with this project. I The first priority right now is to find a have some ideas, and I would like to label, make an album and perform realize them. I wish my days had at some concerts, of course. I know I least twice as many hours. won’t turn into a millionaire from this; and I don’t even want to. I want to do WsM: Are you planning to play it right, being true to myself and our live? vision, and of course I would like to be acknowledged, also. Music is my V.e.N.: life, I couldn’t even imagine it any Definitely. I know how it feels to be other way; and I am doing all I can so on stage and I like it. I’m a live that it stays like that. With POTM I’ve member in the Hungarian terror ebm opened another gate for myself; and band Servo.Hatred, and we have all I have to do is step through it. done some concerts already. I also play as a DJ sometimes, and it Comatose: doesn’t matter if it is a DJ set or a Many concerts and many good CDs! concert; I really enjoy being I’d love to have fun and enjoy doing somewhat responsible for the mood of this for people. And, of course I’d love the audience. Yes, we’d like to have people to enjoy it too. I guess this is as many live performances as what I mean: do it for yourself and possible. It would be nice to play at for the fans. We need the fan’s festivals or clubs abroad, but that is acceptation that what we create is only a dream so far. Not for too long, working on them, that they I hope. LOL understand our sense, too. Good support can give wings. I hope that the audiences will like us. LOL 10

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

WsM: And what can we expect in future? V.e.N.: My head is filled with ideas and we have quite a number of unfinished songs. I am trying to get the best out of myself. I’d like to have enough material for an album soon, and I’d like to show what we are capable of in front of an audience. Among our plans for the future is a music video. I was thinking of something simple but striking. We’ll see. The only thing sure is that I won’t quit doing it. LOL Comatose: More songs. More good songs! I believe in V.e.N. and if he really wants, he can achieve something really great with his “machines”. My dream is to find a label and prepare our first CD, and then concerts, of course!

Ok, it’s time to leave our new friends to their projects and dreams. I always find gratifying to meet people who are really devoted to music and who are more interested in connecting with an audience than in making money. If you also feel this way and want to find out more about Poets of the Moon, make sure to check their MySpace profile: http://www.MySpace.com/poetsofthe moon.

Question: "Why are bloated software romplers all the rage these days?" Answer: Because fewer people making music these days can program synthesizers (until recently, this included me). Aside from Wusikstation (though not technically a rompler), which now has the excellent WusikPACK system that actually lets the user pick which sounds you want on your hard drive without all the fat. Most of these "samplers" and "sampling synthesizers" have tons and tons of uber-gigabyte hogging content—one more exception is the forthcoming Alchemy; so bravo to Camel Audio for also making use of their on board synthesizer capabilities for many of their presets. Most of the synthesizer content in these products are, oddly enough, simple synthesizer sounds.

What's the point?

Why add 20+ gigs of samples of simple synthesized content to your hard drive when you could get much, much better synth sounds from a less than 2 MB software instrument. The particular instrument that I am referring to is Fabfilter's Twin. This synth is just...so badass! There’s just no other way to put it. Where has it been all my life? Why was it missing from my arsenal all this time until just recently? There is one way to get out of the wilderness of being locked into the uber-gigabyte hogging nightmare of preset scrolling coupled with the often obnoxious load times: learn to program a synthesizer. It may seem daunting--it was to me at first--but it is a worthy endeavor. The best place to start is with something easy to learn, and Twin is just that. But, more importantly, don't just start with something easy, start with something that sounds so incredible, that you'll be wondering the same thing that I

where has this been all my life? had been wondering:

Seriously, almost three years after its initial released it is still the go-to for many people. It has been recommended to me countless times before I finally put my paws on it— and truthfully, I really should have

listened. It has been the secret weapon of the "inthe-know" crowd for a while; and now I see what the fuss is about. Sure, Twin “flies under the radar” in some production circles, but it shouldn't.

How to do Easy Stuff by Trusty

Don't stay lost, settling for what

envelopes. Not only is this a nice bonus, but it also assists the beginner or less-skilled programmer in seeing how things work and what they do.

some company hands you in a sample library to work with; instead learn to work your arsenal yourself. The best place to start, honestly, is Twin. Look, The sheer amount of presets included with Twin (and all of them sound in the three years that this thing has great) should give you an idea of the been out, there have been numerous variety of sounds that can come out releases of monster synths and of this “simple” dual-osc synthesizer; monster sample libraries; but very but the fact that it sounds so good, few sound as good as Twin's raw and is laid out so clearly, it begs you sound. Also, what good are they if to make your own sounds. By the way, you can't even program the smaller many of those sampled patches come scale instruments? More to the point, from other--and often lesser--simple most people that can actually dual oscillator synthesizers. And even program their synthesizers will tell for the beginner, Twin just sounds so you that a great sounding simple VA good. Even with you not knowing synth will get used a whole lot more what you are doing, you will still get than the massive hybrid modular great sounds out of it. synthesizers out there, for practical uses.

The oscillators sound great.

Synths have become more and more complex, but Twin

The filter is most likely the best on any “non-analog” synthesizer ever (hardware or software), and the GUI makes learning synthesis patch programming a whole lot of fun. Twin's GUI is also so intuitive, that you can de-construct the preset patches quite easily to use as a reference to see what does what and how. Also, if you think there is any limitation to a two oscillator synth when compared to the more recent offerings, consider that this gem gives you 800+ unique presets out of the box, and that doesn't even scratch the surface of what can come out of this thing. So what does that tell you?

makes programming easy. The oft avoided Modulation Matrix on many Forget all the VA clones of past synths is intimidating to the average preset tweaker; but Twin also helps in synthesizers that are nothing more than average sounding nostalgia learning to use those as well. If you can read from left to right, and go top boxes with familiar looking GUIs. Get Twin! Enjoy the learning experience to bottom, you can learn how to with a product that not only sounds program with this synth. The little down arrow markers in the corners of fantastic, but is designed to help you step your programming game up to the GUI sections are helpful as well. the next level. You'll be more happy, Click on them, and you get some and the rest of your gear will be more preset settings for common happy as well. For $129.00, you can't parameters such as filters, LFOs, and go wrong. www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Synplant

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+ plus +

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

developer’s

corner

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Synplant

The Panic in a quiet VSTi bar by A. Arsov

Imagine this situation: you are sitting in a bar, talking with your lovely girlfriend. You are happy and feeling so safe and secure among all the other similar couples. Then, suddenly the doors open and a new fellow steps into the bar. He is not just another guy from the down town. He's handsome, huge, well-dressed with big blue eyes. He’s every girl’s dream and a walking nightmare

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

for the guys. He just sat down at a table and ordered tea. You tried to continue your conversation, but your girlfriend can't concentrate on what you are talking about. Suddenly you realize that all the girls in the bar are a bit anxious, like when a lion sleeps near a flock of sheep. Suddenly, you realise that love is a fragile thing.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+ plus +

++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++

corner

developer’s

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Back to Earth Wall·E and Eva brought the magic seed safe back home, and now it's finally time for the mattock and shovel. Grass is green and Synplant is waiting for you to plant new sounds in your sequencer. As name already suggests, Synplant has an agricultural approach. Instead of knobs and buttons it has seeds and blurbs preserved in a bulb while all additional parameters for fine tuning are arranged in a DNA helix hiding under a gene manipulation button. All in all, it uses a very original approach upgrading the standard concept of the synthesizer in a very witty way. Under the hood it is still a classic synthesizer; but many of the parameters are not bound up with others in a common way as we are used to; so changing the genome of the sound is not always the predictable route; and talking about standard synthesizers, the closer we get to the surface, the more it differs from the branch. A long time ago, Microsoft started its user friendly story with a newer version of their Windows. The more the product became user friendly the more the user disliked it. Thankfully Magnus, the author of Synplant missed Microsoft's point of user friendliness and programmed an innovative and adorable synthesiser making an user friendly instrument without underestimating the users.

Now, imagine this situation: Synplant comes in town. Users feel a bit anxious and developers suddenly realize that their business is a fragile thing. So, what is all the buzz around Synplant? It doesn't really sound so analog and so punchy aggressive like a Sylenth1; and it doesn't sound so fat in the low end, as does the Arturia Minimoog. Those things are true, but, on the other hand it sounds so beautifully gentle, so versatile and so unique. It sounds like Synplant. Along with Jamstix from Rayzoon it is definitively one of the most original products in the virtual world lately. Its original concept forces users to forget their old “tweak an LFO” habits and brings them back to their roots: using the ears instead of an ordinary palette of knobs and parameters in a preset making process. At least, Synplant Making presets with Synplant is brings back some fun and easiness in simple and funny. Yes, funny. You a world of programming sounds. just need to be a farmer and drag a www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

+ plus +

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++

developerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

corner

Synplant

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

branch around the bulb until you find the sound you like. The farther the branch is from the seed, the more different is the sound. When you are happy with the results, just click on a seed and the new sound will be replanted as a new root seed. Yes, I know it sounds weird - but it works!

An Aesthetic View of Agriculture It looks like some crazy sexy washing machine with a weed in a waterretaining tub. It is very eye-catching and thanks to the fact that there are just a few elements in the main window, it is also easily scanned. In the dead center, there is a bulb, along the bulb are four sliders for controlling the release of the sound, pitch, effect amount and atonality. The last one determines the common nature of the sound. The higher you go, the effect is, that the sound becomes more atonal. Under the bulb, at the bottom, there are three sliders. The first

one is for mod wheel sensibility, the second for velocity and last for increasing the overall gain of the selected sound. At the top of the washing machine is lying a toolbar, with a preset window at the right side, along with the main menu button and gene manipulation button for deep programming; and then the undo and redo buttons at the left side of the interface. Undo and redo are there just in case you haven't noticed that your red socks are washing along with your white underwear. (the weed effect)

The sound of the shovel

Sonic Charge http://www.soniccharge.com/

It is definitively a synth with recognizable character. It is a clean and gentle sounding synth with a distinctive character covering all sorts of sounds. They range from deep basses through heavenly leads, and also plenty of pads along with a big number of effects with many tonal qualities. It is not hard to fall in love with all those sounds. Most of them are very inspirational and characteristic of Synplant.

Price 89 usd Ua, vst, Mac and PC

Harvest time It looks good. It sounds even better. It is easy to use and it is fun to program. So, if you consider that almost every parameter can be midi automated, along with the fact that Synplant is extremely CPU friendly-so friendly that it could even be used on some old laptop--then there can really be only one conclusion. You should visit the Sonic Charge website and download the evaluation version

Wusik Sound Magazine

of Synplant. Try it, and then buy it and use it in your songs. It is highly recommended for all sorts of nonaggressive music. As many of us already know â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a little hard work in the garden will get us back in shape; and it is definitely the best most natural way of relaxation. It's harvest time. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time for visiting the Sonic Charge farm. Reap the Synthplant and plant their sonic seed.

December 2008

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+ plus +

++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Magnus Lidström

corner

developer’s

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Instant Classics of

Magnus Lidström by Trusty

Success! The young man, not one to bother with things like Long Story Short. working for other people (I can relate), decided to market Once upon a time, somewhere this pet project, and at the in that little Scandinavian age of 20 launched his own paradise on earth, or rather, company and sold his product what the rest of the world to the world. The Typhoon refers to as Sweden, there and later, the 2000 version. was this kid who loved NuEdge Development was electronic instruments. He born out of this process. looked on them with wideMagnus Lidström, while eyes and wished and dreamed working under his company that one day, he would be name as an IT consultant able to afford some of them. throughout the early 90's patiently waited for computer Well, turns out he got his wish, specs to get to the point and one instrument in where he could do what he particular was this Yamaha really wanted to do with his sampler the TX16W, that had knowledge...develop his own him extremely excited...well, instruments! not really. A fine instrument crippled with a terrible Eventually working his way operating system. Tinkering through trial and error, time about with it he noticed that and space must have collided the CPU in it was the same as in some blah blah blah, in his Mac, the Motorola because he landed a gig 68000, and having some working with Propellerheads familiarity with it, he didn't on their first version of hesitate to see if he could Reason and then on into make this Yamaha sampler putting together the incredible better (and get his money's Malström graintable worth out of it, no doubt). synthesizer for Reason 2.0, and to this day, it is still the

best and most unique instrument in the rack in my opio...nope...dang it, it is period. I say this because since it's release, and even still today, people pine away with the hopes that one day it will be released as a VST instrument in the same manner MAC users still pine away for z3ta+. Sonically Charging Ahead He then came up with a subsidy of NuEdge Development called Sonic Charge to develop software instruments and distribute them himself. Instead of regurgitating older ideas into newer products, he released a quaint little drum synthesizer that “omfg pwns”. µTonic, of course, is that drum synthesizer, and it is a mainstay, and has been since its release, in many a musicians' setup. Along with working on Sonic Charge and the Propellerheads Reason and Recycle products, Magnus has

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

+ plus +

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++

developer’s

corner

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Magnus Lidström

also done work for XLN Audio's Addictive Drums. All this adds to an impressive resume for a guy in his thirties. For a while there, it seemed like things were very quiet on the Sonic Charge front, until the release of their latest creation that blew everyone away. Again, it was not a product people were expecting from Magnus. In fact, it was not a product the entire software music industry saw coming. In a year where massive and complex hybrid, modular, ultrasynthesizing soundboxes with an extra uber-gigabyte content thrown in for good measure, another quint little synth with an under 8 MB .dll comes along and kicks up a lot of dirt on those other much lauded releases. Synplant is why computers should host instruments. It is the garden in the sequencer. It has the coolest interface ever for a software instrument, and it gives the user no room to call it a gimmick. It is a synthesizer that does its thing the only way it can...work the plant, and manipulate the genes. Oh yeah, and the real kicker is that it sounds better, distinct, and different than almost everything you already own as well. That always helps. Most software instrument companies make decent products. Many of them make good products. Some of them even make great products. A few of them make classic products. However, only a small handful of these companies make INSTANT CLASSICS!!!!! Sonic Charge is one company of about four that come to my mind. Let's talk to the CEO and see what he says. WSM: First off, thanks for the interview. It is great to hear from you directly. Before anything else, congratulations on the new baby!!!! You know I have a 16

Wusik Sound Magazine

few questions about that. How has fatherhood been so far? How much of your life has changed, and what does Tetris think about all this? Magnus: Haha. Tetris doesn't seem bothered at all, but not very excited either. She is simply a very cool cat. Helena and I on the other hand are both bothered and excited of course. It is a lot of work but extremely rewarding too. I survived becoming a dad in the midst of the Synplant release, but it is not something I would want to do again. I'm looking forward to getting some proper time off during my paternity leave next year. WSM: I gotta say it. Personally, I think µTonic is the greatest drum synthesizer ever. For drums, for synth sounds, for weird oddball noises, whatever...it really is fantastic. I use it every where in my music. I don't think I have produced a track that doesn't have in there somewhere...even just for a weird effect sound or something. What made you decide to go with a drum synthesizer first with Sonic Charge? Magnus: Everybody loves drums. When the Malström project for Reason 2.0 turned up I had actually expressed my wish to add a synthetic drum-machine to Reason, but Propellerheads wanted another synth. Later when I decided to try my luck in VST-world, that old idea surfaced again. It was not planned to become the one and only Sonic Charge product for so many years. I had this long list of plug-ins that I wanted to do. I am glad I started out with MicroTonic though, cause it turned out to fill a hole in the market and it is still going strong so many years

December 2008

down the line. WSM: The amount of patches and kits for it available just from your website speak to its versatility and endless possibilities. For many drum synthesizers, it is fairly easy to tap out of variances before having to depend on external effects. Was it your goal to give this synth as much features and flexibility as possible, or did it just end up like that as you went on? Magnus: It was absolutely my intention to find the optimal solution to the equation n * p = f, where n is number of knobs, p is power per knob and f is flexibility in sound. :) I started out with a few weeks of research into how various analogue drum-machines achieve their sound and after that I sat down and cut down on the number of modules required to emulate them. I was actually quite worried for a long time that the hi-hats in particular wouldn't cut it, but eventually the audio-rate pitch

+ plus +

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++

corner

developerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

modulation of the oscillator made it possible to add that certain ringing to the hats. Crash cymbals are still tough of course. WSM: Can we gather from your work with ÂľTonic and Addictive Drums that you are big into drums and percussion? Magnus: Yes. Rhythm is the essence of life. It is almost like there is a pulse in my head all of the time, and a rhythm to everything I do (except my sleeping patterns, which are totally erratic). Sometimes I even type my source code on the computer in rhythmic phrasing. I have thought of looking for (or creating) a little app that assigns different sounds to the keys so that I actually create music while I program, but I haven't got around to it yet. :)

you loved working on Addictive Drums and love using it...but, and be honest, do you prefer synthesized drums or acoustic drums in your music? Magnus: I don't think I have ever had what you would call "acoustic drums" in any track I've ever done in my entire life. Even when I was a little kid in the early 80's I was overly enthusiastic for electronic drums and drum-machines and I loathed the boring rock / jazz / acoustic sounds. I've broadened my musical taste since then of course, but I still prefer synthetic abstract sound-worlds to real conventional ones. Actually, I knew very little about how "acoustic drums" are recorded and mixed before joining the Addictive Drums team. But of course, I use AD a lot in my music. What appeals to me with AD is that I can easily mangle the drum sounds to obscurity and create something new with it... something personal.

WSM: Addictive Drums and ÂľTonic, polar opposites in terms of drum and percussion sounds and approach, but are by no WSM: What is in your studio setmeans mutually exclusive up if we may ask, and what within the context of any instruments can you play? given track. I am sure, given that it is an Magnus: I can play a little piano, but outstanding product, that nothing to brag about. That's it. My "studio" is my office nowadays and I am just too lazy to dig out my analogue gear / old samplers from the storage room where I keep them, so my studio is my laptop. Although from time to time, I still use my very first synth, an Ensoniq ESQ-1, as master keyboard. :)

WSM: Now, Synplant has become a huge hit with everyone across the board. Music producers, regardless of their genre, have flocked to this thing, and the amount of patches already floating about speaks a lot about the synth on many levels. Did you

honestly expect this kind of warm reception for your plug-in, especially given how jaded many electronic musicians are these days when it comes to software instruments in general? I mean, Synplant is talked about and loved everywhere. Magnus: Before the long and intensive beta-period began I had no clue whatsoever if and how Synplant would be noticed. During the beta, it became fairly obvious that people had a lot to say about it. Not all positive of course, but mostly so. The beta certainly helped me to more clearly define what I wanted to say with the product and how I should launch it. Still, I had not expected the massive response and sheer amount of talk it caused right on the launching day. If I would have had time I would have loved to get more involved on some of the forums, but the hundreds and hundreds of e-mails I received prevented me from doing that. Now, things are slowing down at last and this is almost welcome so that I can have a chance on catching up with work. Regardless, I am very, very happy with the response on this release. I won't argue with that. WSM: When manipulating the branches in the upper part of the GUI, it is easy to form a very familiar looking plant leaf...completely unrelated to that, what was your inspiration for this synth. From the GUI to the sound, to the actual implementation with the design? People have been saying for years that they want to see the evolution of the way users can interact with software instruments, but I imagine that

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

+ plus +

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++

developer’s

corner

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Magnus Lidström

actually doing something different like this, and not have it be gimmicky, but rather directly interacting with the sound design process in such a way that it couldn't operate any differently. I'd imagine this requires a lot more thought, effort, creativity, and imagination that people would think.

plant a new random seed) because I thought that would make things easier, but in the end I never use those random names anyhow. If everything else in Synplant is random, I like at least for the patch names to be deliberate and descriptive. :)

observations (user interface stuff). But then when the products begin to take shape and I can start making new music with them, they affect the form of music I produce as well. So it goes back and forth. My music affects my products which affects my music again. It is a symbiosis thing.

WSM: Even though the target WSA: As a musician as well as a usage is designing your own developer, do you have any goals sounds, can we expect patch Magnus: Yeah. I think, when you put expansions and maybe even some for your music itself? out a product like this, and people more seed expansions in the Magnus: As in "making money on my haven't seen the long and bumpy future like with µTonic? music"? No not really. I don't think road that led to it, they might be I've ever had that. As in "having inclined to label it a "stroke of genius" Magnus: We will definitely be ambitions with my music", yeah, of or a "brilliant innovation". I don't see offering more free patches for both course I like a few other people to it quite that way. In my eyes this has Synplant and µTonic in the future. I hear it and enjoy it, but my main been a very long straining journey of can also reveal that we are working ambition is to have fun and music experimentation and exploration. I on some form of community around making is primarily a form of have lost count over how many patch exchanging, but it is too early recreation to me iterations this product has gone to tell exactly which form it will take. (instead of doing through already. As you've noticed, I sports or playing WSM: As a privileged beta-tester don't release stuff too often, but of Synplant (full disclosure thing), computer games or instead I keep things under the lid something equally I know from the forums that the until I feel that the design is as good healthy). Synplant radio and the website as it will ever get. I guess that as re-design was a big priority. You much as 80% of the code I write and had mentioned that some of your WSM: As a company the designs that I draw on never end philosophy, you best music has been coming out up in any finished product. But it all keep your prices lately with Synplant, and you've leads me down the path to where I very reasonable for can put out products like Synplant. put it into rotation over there. Do your instruments, these new musical ideas come especially that given WSM: The patches, the seeds, etc. from a culmination of creating their quality, you Synplant, or just forgetting the all have ingenious names fitting work put into creating it and for Synplant. How did that come approaching it with as fresh eyes about and how much digging and ears as you can and look at it around did you have to do to from a purely musical standpoint? come up with all that? Both? Magnus: Naming can be terribly hard Magnus: I try to develop software for me. I think I probably put too that I like to use myself, and if I much work into it. Sometimes, would ever stop making music I especially with Synplant, coming up with a good patch name has taken as would probably stop making music long as creating the actual patch. :) software too. The ideas behind my products come partly from musical But it says more of how ideas (I want _this_ for my tune!), quickly you can come up with patches in Synplant than partly from technical achievements (inventing some new dsp algorithm) anything. I added the random and partly from psychological latin name thing (when you 18

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

+ plus +

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++

corner

developer’s

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Magnus: Yeah, the little free time I had kind of blew away with Kasper. But I can't say I've ever been very good at "having free time" or having many interests outside of computers and music. The boundaries are very freedom of choice later on. If there is blurred in my life between work and one thing I have learned over the recreation. I've always enjoyed, also years it is to trust my gut feeling and on a non-professional level, focus on what I personally believe in programming and experimenting with and what I find most intriguing to Magnus: Software pricing is tricky, work on. It has been Synplant now especially for download-only products. things like esoteric computer for a while, but who knows what may The price-tag becomes more arbitrary languages etc. I guess I am pretty single-minded in a sense, but I enjoy come next? I won't tell, because I than for hardware, having only the partying, hanging out with good honestly don't now, and that is part of development costs to cover and no friends, eating good food and drinking the charm. I hope that I will be able production costs. I can't claim that I a few too many beers also of course. to give you something new soon, but am an expert in economics but if the I can only promise you this and that question boils down to selling a few WSM: If you weren't designing is that Synplant is not the final expensive products or many brilliant musical instruments for a chapter. inexpensive products I choose the living, you would be... latter. My reasoning when setting a ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ price is "how much would I be willing Magnus: working less and making to pay for it if I hadn't done it more money perhaps? :) Seriously, I It is a good thing to hear that we'll myself?". Perhaps that is am a computer enthusiast foremost, get more brilliant plug-ins to come. why my products are musician secondly. If there wasn't He may get that interface right for cheap. Because I am a music, I could probably do anything that compression algorithm that cheap bastard. :) else that has to do with computers to makes that weird voice sound in the a certain degree of success. If there µTonic demo, perhaps we'll all see WSM: Other than your weren't computers though, I would be some sort of VST comparable to new expanded family, Malström, or perhaps an effect plugmusic, and developing, in big trouble. in with the warm µTonic distortion what interests you WSM: To wrap up, I won't ask coupled with Synplant's cool when you have what I what you have next, but I will ask chorusy/reverby sound. Who imagine to be very if there will be as much time little free time? knows...but it is somewhat doubtful, between Synplant and your next but then again..you never know. Like product as there was between µTonic, that no one saw coming, and µTonic and Synplant? I only ask Synplant, that no one saw coming because after this, we are already either, chances are, Magnus will excited about what is to come deliver yet another powerful and next...though understanding that unique instrument that no one will these things take time and all see coming. Such is the nature of true that...Also, do you have some genius. ideas kicking around that are gonna top your current offerings? Stay tuned for the next Wusik Sound Magazine issue where your's truly will Magnus: I already have a pretty make not one, not two, but three clear idea of where I could go with tracks in a step by step manner for Synplant if time and economy allow you all using µTonic for one track, me, but I never commit to projects Synplant for one track, and one track officially by giving away details too using both together. early. That would only hinder my could charge more than you do. Does part of that come from being younger and wanting all those instruments that were beyond your ability to afford, and didn't want anyone to feel that way towards your products if they wanted them?

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Dear Santa by A.Arsov

It is me again. This time I am just writing you to say thank you for bringing me the long awaited RMV from Linplug-even before Christmas Eve has come. I'm sure that you are aware that I asked you for it in last year's letter- but never mind that, I owe you anyway because it is never too late to get such a nice present. I can't blame you for the delay: sometimes that just happens.

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

RMV saw the light of the day. As soon I'm sure that you know how much I as I got it, I started downloading admire Peter from LinPlug. He is one plug-ins along with the huge libraries, of the most reliable and respected and I have to admit that I had some software developers I know, and I'm problems getting all those things in pretty sure that you will distribute a theright shape. A few “O my gosh” lot of his stuff during this Christmas. Most of them are "top of the pop" VST moments later, I've started Cubase and tried the program. It had a nice goodies, and the same goes for their graphical interface, but as an new new RMV. Regarding the big release date delay - every river needs a hitch user I lost myself immediately in some uncommon situations and a had to make it stronger after it has some big troubles in establishinghow overtaken it and the same goes for to load the external beats and loops. everything else in life (at least So, for that reason, my dear Santa, according to crappy self-help books). I'll be glad if you could please inform Obstacles are there to make us Peter that I've really missed having a stronger and better prepared to “Getting Started.PDF" or some survive in this competitive world. I presume that RMV arose as a strong “Essential Starting Guide” video on YouTube. RMV was pretty product mainly because it was born complicated; and for that reason I through... started to read the user manual in good faith that this would solve most of my problems.

A Series of Unfortunate Events I'm pretty sure that RMV is one of the best things that happened in the virtual drum world lately. Peter has always been a visionary. He intends to fulfill all our drum wishes, but as you know, my dear Santa, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". The first unfortunate event was the initial release date... and then next one, and the third. It took almost a year to iron out all the bugs before

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Dear Santa

when I reread it again, I found that at the end of the page a man comes in front of the castle door. But, having been pretty stoned at that particular moment, I hadn't a clue who came there and why he came? Why a castle? Which castle? Which hill? Who said anything about a hill? It was simply too much for my affected brain.

it; but thankfully LinPlug soon released two fixes. Now I have my RMV version 5.03 and it is stable as a rock and pretty light on processor usage. Well done LinPlug team!

My dear Santa, I know you must be wondering why there is all this buzz about some "drum" or something. As I presume you are not daily connected on the net, up at the North Pole, so I will refresh your knowledge. Though normally, I'm aware that you More than twenty years later I got the know everything, just like my wife. same feeling, without the use of Do you two talk? hallucinogens, just from reading a manual. I know,it is not rocket So, among other things, RMV is a science, and I found my way out drum sampler with an impressive kit pretty soon, and I successfully loaded library. The included sounds are a few external loops and samples. punchy and versatile: from natural There was only one problem; that sounding kits to various emulations of I don't want to sound prejudiced, but next day I already forgot how I did it well known drum synths. Along with reading manuals from big German day before. Again, it didn't take drugs being a sampler, RMV is also a drum companies is always, for me,a form of this time, just children, life and other synthesizer. It's the best one I've torture. Those German fellows are geriatric stuff. Thankfully, after a seen and heard to date, and further really great developers and they have month or two, I became pretty much more, it is also a drum loop slicer and a clear vision about their products, familiar with all those small windows player. The included drum loops are but their user manuals are like a cook and zillions of possibilities. I had to not to my taste, but they are not bad book written by Hegel or Kierkegaard. confess that RMV crashed my PC a either. Maybe it just bothers me that few times and was pretty high on they are not sorted into categories. It Oh my dear Santa, I hope this will processor usage before they updated is pretty time consuming to find the stay between me and you - all those manuals, like for RMV, Samplitude and others like them, remind of the time in my youth when a friend of mine brought a small piece of "hashish" from Amsterdam. The two of us small town idiots decided to try this "forbidden fruit" from the west. After we had smoked that stuff, that friend of mine discovered a small imaginary point on a wall that he gazed at for hours trying to reach Nirvana. Meanwhile, I ransacked through his bookshelf and found the book Castle by Franz Kafka. I opened to the first page and tried to read it. After I got to the bottom of the page, I realized that I hadn't aclue what was going on. So, I started reading it over and over again from the beginning. Over the next few hours I read it more then twenty times. Later,

Deja Vu

Here It Comes

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

It also contains an impressive library of MIDI drum patterns, with a neat MIDI pattern browser; on the other hand, I really miss some sort of a MIDI bar editor window. Whenever I found some good loop patterns, I had to drag it into my working sequencer for further editing. I would rather see this implemented inside RMV, but at least I should mention that dragging MIDI to the sequencer works smoothly and nicely.

Here Comes Another "Sachertorte" Well, that's the end of my complaining. All ofthe other things implemented in RMV are just superlative. It has 48 drum pads divided in three windows. Each pad has plenty of functions and modules that one can use for all sorts of normal or abnormal drum treatments. Choke, pan, trigger, mute, solo, ADSR, LFO, distortion, bit crusher and a bunch of similar drum additions are all included. Each pad can also contain up to 30 samples, so you can go totally crazy layering hits until you have got your “end of the world” kick or 'monsta' snare. Each pad can be routed to some of the RMV internal effects, EQ, delay, compressor, filter, reverb, chorus, flanger, wah wah, etc. There is also a sample waveform display for tweaking and fine tuning the slices or separate drum hits. The internal sampler supports WAV, AIF, REX and RX2 files. RMV also comes with 10,drum sounds, 2,600 MIDI grooves and 1,500 audio loops. Speaking of loops, RMV has six

independent "Audio Loop Modules" with up to 64 slices each. RMV has a nice graphical interface and a new almighty browser with the ability to preview loops that sync to the host's tempo and same with the hits in a song context. All this makes RMV an absolute winner in the drum manipulation category regardless of all the small imperfections that I mentioned before. My dear Santa, I'm afraid that this letter is not long enough to write in depth about all the other functions and abilities I haven't mentioned yet, so you can take my word for it: RMV has almost everything--yname it, it's got it. I reallyhope you haven't gotten the wrong impression because I complained so much at the beginning of my letter. But I must tell you that I'm totally satisfied with this “all inclusive” drum beast and it looks like I just needed some extra time to get more familiar with it. For the money, it is hard to find any more “all-embracing” drum tool and I hope you will find some way to bring all these comments and complaints to Peter. Though, of course, not as literally as I wrote you, but more in your well known polite and kind way. From what we know of him, Peter will try to fix all of those small imperfections because he always pays so much attention to the end users. I just want to say thanks again for this wonderful gift! I really appreciate your efforts and please don't forget to bring another "sachertorte" to Peter. Last year he got it for his CronoX 3 and for this year he deserves an even bigger cake.

http://www.linplug.com/Instruments/ RMV/rmv.htm Version 5.03 works even with my trusty T 30 laptop. Price: 139 Euro or 179 usd

To Alex

desired one as they are crowded in one common directory. Also,I was a bit disappointed that an individual slice in a loop could not be replaced with an external sound. Otherwise, RMV has all that a man could wish from a dream beat machine.

All the best, and send my love to Rudolph. Your Still Believes in Santa, Alex www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Ableton Live 7 out of

by Trusty

Yes, I am a little late to the party, but Ableton Live 7 is definitely everything I've been told by the faithful users, and then some. Those who took the dive early on, be it the DJ's, producers, bands that want that little extra in their music, or all of the above, are now so ahead of the curve in their musical approach that for the rest for us late-comers (or those who still haven't made the jump) it seems like it will take years to catch up to this fresh approach to musical creation and creativity...check that...no it won't. The reason is that Ableton goes way above and beyond the call of duty to help new users acclimate themselves to the Live workflow.

want to stick with a host that can take me into the next decade of software music production, Live seems like a sure bet -and probably the best

Sure, I've played around with the Live Lite versions that came with just about every hardware product related to software music production. Though, I never gave it my full attention. With so many Digital Audio Workstations either slugging along with pathetically slow development or falling off entirely, many people are in the host shopping mode as I am. Well, here I am with Live and, if I 24

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

bet. It feels complete and, going back through various Lite versions, I've noticed that all the enhancements and upgrade versions have added worthy additions to make the upgrade worth its price. Also, unlike many Hosts, new features never seem â&#x20AC;&#x153;tacked onâ&#x20AC;?, but rather immersed into the overall workflow of Live. The fact that workflow is the key with Live, and the sustained support, especially in keeping the program together as a unified whole rather than random parts strung together, is very encouraging. I do like that Live has multiple purchase options for extra content, and those of us who don't need much in the way of new extras can get just the program from Ableton, with little in the way of more samples and instruments, for less money. Those looking for goodies can get the whole package or some combination of the selections they offer (though at a higher price). In the past, when giving Live Lite a casual glance, I always did the instinctive thing, which was to look for whatever was familiar and try to impose my way of working onto what bits of Live

mirrored other sequencers. recording limits, even using Rewire in Honestly, that was probably the Live gives way to opening new dumbest thing I (or anyone) could possibilities in workflow and song do with Live. Considering the creation. Though, I will say that once amount of effort Ableton went to Live has full step recording, it would making Live usable in the fastest take a miracle for my old sequencer time possible with the built-in to get any use whatsoever... tutorials, the easy-breezy manual (of which I read all 475 pages...in Whew, where to begin with all the fact, it was so well written that I wonders of Live 7. First off, I will say read the stuff that pertained to the that many of my previous sampler instruments that Ableton sells purchases and tools have now independently of Live, unless you become useless bystanders clogging get the Live Suite, which I don't up my VST folder. Pretty much all have). And with all the wonderful phrase sampling tools I had to collect videos on the Ableton website (some getting long in the tooth as (http://www.ableton.com/movies), well) in the past have the address my first and only complaint. the absolute BEST thing one could do There is no step-recording in the functionality I originally bought them is forget applying what that person sequencer for direct note input from a for directly implemented into Live's thinks he or she knows and start from midi controller. There is either real workflow. I say this as a big plus, not scratch learning what Ableton knows. time recording (Recording Quantize a minus. I'm always glad to simplify Here is a piece of advice: Ableton and abandoning some older, now options are also available, which is a knows more than we do and they useless tools is always a plus in my big plus) from a controller or using really know what we want, even if we the pencil tool in the step sequencer. book. I don't do much sampling don't know we want it yet. besides re-sampling my own stuff, Sometimes I have complex and when I do use other samples, be arrangements in a pattern that are I took a whole two weeks reading the beyond my playing ability and using a they loops, REX, or bits lifted from manual, working through the tutorials, pencil tool takes too long and is too vinyl, I always had to either record watching the videos, and playing them offline, and/or load a VST tedious. Now, my lacking piano skills around on my own. And after those sampler to handle the audio sample isn't Ableton's fault but, still, adding two weeks, I can honestly say I feel and manipulate them in my this feature would make Live a like I've been using Live for years and complete tool for me. Without it, I productions...well, those days are wondered what and how I ever did gone. I can now import a REX or found myself still using my old without it. Now that I know it really audio loop, record a bit from my sequencer in Rewire to step record well, I can go back to my pre-Live audio input from a turntable or my more difficult arrangements (and pool of knowledge and conform it with only for those). The upside of this is whatever, and begin to work them Live in order to take Live in my own into my song...and even do it all that Rewire is handled so well within personal direction and create my Live that it is almost unnoticeable. without ever stopping the audio unique workflow with Live. In the end, Also, any pattern I make in Rewire engine. It is almost otherworldly. once one is understanding of the ins from my other sequencer can be and outs of Live, it is obvious that bounced to audio in the Session View I love to create my own custom drum there is no workflow limitation. It is of Live, perfectly in sync and lined up kits to use in my productions. Unless so flexible that anyone with little with the rest of my track. This was a I am designing a kit with a drum effort can take the program wherever very pleasant surprise since I was, synthesizer, I usually rely on my they want to take it to suit any before getting more familiar with carefully selected drum samples. myriad of needs and wants in Ableton, thinking that it would only go What was once a time consuming productions or Live DJ sets. Seriously, to an audio track like every other process of building kits is now a snap it is that good and that easy to get product on earth does when bouncing with the new Drum Racks and the around on...if...and this is an if and Rewired audio. Another upshot is that drag and drop features in Live. only if statement...if one is willing to with Live's audio editing tools, MIDI Picking and auditioning my drum spend the time to see what Ableton and audio have little difference in Live samples was never the time knows first and then bring back one's for manipulation possibilities, and consuming part, but rather it was the own knowledge second. loading, sample by sample, and with chopping/slicing of audio and all the other fun things, variations of any saving of my samples into my old Before I get into describing the nittyaudio taken from Rewire is open for drum sampler. Now, I simply multigritty about what I love, I need to select all the samples I want to use mangling. So yeah, despite step www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Ableton Live 7 handy as well. Organization outside of what. All of the four basic divisions of the GUI can be resized and/or hidden Live of all of one's tools makes if needed, and this allows for direct organization inside Live all the more simple, and is just another seemingly focus on the current task at hand. minor workflow enhancement that and just drag the whole lot to the Sequencing is a breeze, whether you Drum Rack. From there, moving them makes a huge difference. Dragging and dropping VST's, samples, and the do want to use a controller, or use the around on the pads to a setup I am happy with is just more drag and drop like, and getting straight to work with pencil tool. I like the various linear or pattern recording options available goodness. Each cell has its own fader them all lend themselves to a very between the Session View and the in the mixer, as well as its own effects speedy song creation process. Below Arrangement View. You can select the browser is the wonderful rack. Oneshot samples default into from any recorded part from either a Simpler (Live's onboard sampler) and information box that helps you along Session Clip or a Clip recorded in from there any effects can be dropped when figuring out what widget does in for that particular sample for manipulation as well. Another cool feature is that if you have a ton of samples for a single drum rack, as you scroll up and down the pads the controller settings follow. So whatever samples I had in view in the drum rack always match up with my Korg padKONTROL. No more stop and select scenes or whatever on my controller...just scroll and go. Another awesome aspect of the Drum Racks is that any custom chops of an audio loop or any REX file fed into an audio channel or Clip in the Session View can be automatically sliced into a new Drum Rack. While the addition and depth of the Drum Racks is a significant enhancement to Live's overall workflow, one still can't get away from the usefulness of Simpler. It is always present the second you make use of a sample or REX file within the Drum Rack, and it is also a very easy, yet powerful bread-and-butter sampler. Impulse is still very useful when all you need is a simple, but well-featured mechanism to trigger some oneshot samples with ease. Kudos go to the internal browser along the upper left side, which can be hidden if needed. This makes finding plug-in's, internal instruments, and effects, samples, REX files, etc. very easy, and the preview button comes in very handy. The customization of selecting favorite folders as the root folders is very 26

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

Arrangement View and have the MIDI data opened in the step sequencer below for any further editing that may be necessary. All the input/output for MIDI and audio are always present in whatever view you are currently working with, which is real nice. All the MIDI and audio effects are of high quality. Along with the "usual suspects", there are some are very original ones as well. My favorites are the much touted Beat Repeat and the awesome Grain Delay. The MIDI

effects that stood out were Chord and Scale effects that are a great asset for folks, like myself, that have really questionable piano playing skills. Also, I am really getting into the whole DJ functionality of the program. Having that unique option of a crossfader and assigning different patterns in the Session View to either one side or the other (A or B) and, with Session View jamming in general, dumping the predictable song format of my musical genre's of choice is a refreshing change of pace. Sometimes it is the

tools that inspire new ways of thinking for song composition and Live is that tool for me. Another thing that I want to mention that is a breeze is dealing with multiple MIDI controllers and customizing them to any particular Live Set I am working with. When you toss in the 64 bit mixing engine, multi-core support, and the comfort of knowing that development and improvement of this product will continue on well into the future, it makes Live the best choice for those on the "host hunt". Though, even if you are not on a host hunt, I can't see how you would not want to have Live in your tool kit, anyway. When considering that the line between producer and DJ (and in many cases mixing engineer, as well) is blurring more and more every day, Live will prove invaluable in the future (and hopefully get more producers out on the stage with the artists that use their productions in the case of certain musical genres). Of the the choices out there for software music creation, or at least the choices that remain these days, there is no better option than Live. Right now it'll handle all tasks imaginable and, in the future, in the areas in which it might not be as optimal as other programs right now, Live could within a single update or two out shine them in their particular strengths. As well it could add that unique enhancement that no other host has that will give way to another of those "how did I live without it" thoughts within moments of using it one time. Live is just that kind of product. There are many store and online purchase options for acquiring Live either directly from Ableton or a third party outlet. Prices range from $349-$799 and I am sure any configuration you get will be well worth the money, and then some.

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Alesis DM5 Kit Budget Electronic Drum Kit by Squibs

Drums are the bane of many bedroom producers. No single part of a song takes more time. The end listener might be happy with a programmed 2-bar loop copied and pasted throughout the track, but a producer would rather eat his own spleen than resort to such laziness. He will agonize over the timing and velocity of every hit, and wish he had a real drum kit to record.

So programming every hit doesn’t work, a real kit is prohibitively complicated to record and drum software doesn’t quite give you exactly what you want. What about an electronic MIDI kit...something

Until he gets a real drum kit… and realizes that he needs to tune it, change the heads periodically, have a couple of snares for different applications. And that’s before you consider the cost and hassle of a set of drum mic’s and overheads, along with associated stands and cables, an audio interface that can handle all the inputs, a good sounding room to record it in, and the ability to play it. Many people wisely decide to do it all in software. As regular readers may know, I use Rayzoon Jamstix a lot. Software such as this allows you to put together a drum track pretty quickly, putting together patterns and tweaking various parameters to humanize the drums and approximate the feel you are going for. The problem with this kind of software is you can get 80 percent of your perfect drum track implemented in 10 to 15 minutes, 95 percent in an hour, and 99 percent in a day or two. Allow several years to get to 99.99%, and they won’t even be listening to that type of music anymore by the time you get to 100%.

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

affordable, with reasonable results? Well, you could look at products like the Yamaha DD series of tabletop percussion, but I’ve never seen anybody get really good results out of these. Alesis makes a similar product

called the Percussion Pad which performs a little better. Then there are the really cheap electronic drum kits like the Ion kits, which are a little too flimsy for everyday use and the triggering leaves something to be desired. The Alesis DM5 kit sits between these cheaper kits and the more expensive Yamaha and Roland professional electronic kits.

The DM5 drum module has been around for donkey’s years and shows every sign of living on for another decade.

I was pretty impressed with how well it worked out of the box. I fired it up and started pounding away and everything worked. The default kit sounded fine, pad response seemed okay, and the only problem was a tendency for some of the drums to trigger when other drums were hit. This is called crosstalk, and every drum pad can be set up with a different crosstalk rejection setting. My crosstalk issue was gone in a matter of minutes. I spent a few more minutes setting up the response curve on the snare, until I was completely happy with the response of the whole kit.

direct from the DM5 when recording MIDI, and playback with my chosen software drum module. It is so liberating to be able to lay down a drum track in a couple of minutes. I can do an 80% quantize to tighten up my notoriously loose timing without losing the feel. I can use the MIDI functions of my sequencer to “compress” if necessary, and then I can audition the part on numerous drum kits using various effect chains.

My friend, a drummer and one-time owner of a Yamaha DTX kit, thought the DM5 kit was superior in terms of sounds and playability. It’s a shame This module is at the heart of the kit that the pads are not dual trigger, and is mounted on a rack fitting and there’s no choke feature on the above the frame. It is a 19 inch 1-unit cymbals, but for the price (I paid high box, with a good sized backlit The operating system is simple, and €350) it would be churlish to LCD display, backlit rubber buttons, most features have a dedicated complain. I really can’t comment on and a jog wheel. Around the back is button. An occasional feature has a the longevity of the kit yet as I have the connector for a “wall-wart” power couple of pages of parameters, but only had it for a few months. But I supply, MIDI in and out, audio outs the manual is well written and it’s all suspect the snare and hat pads will and 12 trigger inputs (not including pretty intuitive. The 20 preset kits are probably wear out over time. This is the footswitch input for the high hat), a mix of the standard and the wacky, not a big deal, as usually they can be of which 7 are used by the supplied with some sounds showing their age. fixed with a soldering iron. I would pads, leaving plenty room for You can overwrite the factory kits with definitely like to add a few pads as expansion later. your own kits, and you will find a my tom rolls sound a little sparse at large palette of acoustic and the moment. The frame itself is sturdy metal tubing, electronic sounds to choose from. The and the pads attach to this by metal acoustic kit sounds are fine for rods. The whole lot can be assembled gigging purposes, though as you’d Overall, I’m delighted with with an Allen key, and feels quite expect with an 8Mb ROM sample set, this kit and the avenues it robust, with the exception of the the cymbals won’t win any awards snare, which needs to use the full has opened for me musically. with their short decay times. length of the metal rod to sit in a comfortable playing position. This But hey – there’s a MIDI out port on means that the snare travels about the back, so you can explore the half an inch when forcibly struck, but sounds on your computer. it doesn’t really affect playing. Regular ¼ inch mono cables are I’d always wanted to play supplied to connect the pads to the some of my larger software module, along with Velcro to keep it all tidy. There are enough pads for a drum libraries “live”, kick drum, snare, high-hat and two toms, as well as two cymbal pads. but I found that latency was definitely There’s also a fairly decent, real kick an issue. I was fine playing straight drum pedal, a cheap plastic foot pedal 8’s on the hats, but when I moved to for the high hat and a set of drum 16’s I could definitely perceive an sticks to complete the package. off-putting lag. I now tend to monitor

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

URS Classic Console Strip Pro (plus Classic Console Strip included)

out of

is an Understatement!

by Trusty

Salutations! Who said channel strips can't be fun? Normally, "fun" is a word attributed to playing an instrument, and "very good" or "fantastic", "very musical" or even "wonderfully functional" are descriptions ascribed to dynamics plug-in's; not the case here. There is much fun to be had investigating Classic Console Strip Pro for a variety of reasons. One reason is determining to see if the models are just marketing descriptions or really actual variants within the plug-in. Well, rest assured that decades of quality has been expertly modeled and wrapped up in this plug-in. Every knob turn yields excellent results and one is hard pressed to rest on any one configuration of settings. Another fun bit to be had is hearing the quality of your sound increase channel by channel by channel.

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

change while Includes Classic Console Strip free! previewing the plentiful compressor presets, First off, a huge compliment is Presets Galore including: the setting on the input extended to the good folks at Unique Plug-in presets, global component presets, stage must be locked, Recording Software for putting and individual component presets. a simple, painless together an outstanding quick start Best Quickstart Guide ever! guide; very nice indeed, and definitely click...no problem. Decades of models in one box! Each band of the EQ worth looking at before and during CCS Pro - Actually light CPU consumption can have custom model initial tests with Classic Console Strip CCS - Even lighter CPU consumption settings also, either Pro. This is especially for folks, this linked or independent reviewer included, that were born of the other bands and after 1972 and didn't care about the rest of the plug-in. The amount of Diggin'! being involved in music production customization to reach towards and engineering until somewhere It's hard to not be blown away by around 1992. The quick start guide is establishing a "personally perfected sound" is nearly limitless. URS's creation with the Classic a helpful, informative, and a well Console Strip Pro. It isn't hyped and it written tour de force about the plugInterfacing! doesn't use gimmicks (and neither in and the gear it models. Wonderful does their marketing). When they descriptions of each component, each The layout of this plug-in is brilliant. offer up models, that is exactly what model, and practical and common they give the user. Other plug-ins of uses for each model are included and For being so feature rich and having so many models to choose from, vintage gear can't make the same presented in a very concise and easy getting the interface just right was claim. Not here. Classic Console Strip to follow manner. The full manual is probably high on the priority list of its Pro passed the honesty test. When good as well, worth a read at least design...mission accomplished! switching between component preset once, but mainly for more in-depth Reading left to right and top to models, especially the compressor reference. At 33 pages, reading the bottom, navigating the plug-in is very models, more than just settings whole thing won't hurt anyone. easy and intuitive. However, the change. The sound changes and it routing architecture is not fixed. was tested by running the same audio Instant Gratification, Perpetual There are toggles in the compressor side by side with the same settings Customization! and filter components that allow redialed in from one model to the next. routing of the signal chain. Each Again, it can't be stated enough that Classic Console Strip Pro helps users effects the EQ component's placement, everything tried in this plug-in sounds get going out of the box. Presets are and the filter toggle has the amazing and, unlike many of its everywhere, and are also helpful in internal/external sidechaining options competitors, it actually sounds learning the plug-in itself. This is one for the TDM version (which I don't different with each model. The level of those cases where the user can have). Clicking the buttons in the trust, and needs to trust, the of commitment to delivering with routing configuration will bypass that such a model packed, feature rich manufacturer. There are plug-in component (for whatever reason one plug-in is stellar in its own right, but presets that are tailored to specific would want to do so). Simple to deliver with sonic firepower, instrument, channel, vocal, etc., dropdown menus per component where it counts, makes this channel needs. They are all expertly crafted make selecting the various setting strip downright unbelievable. and very usable for most situations. presets easy. The filter offers high On top of that, there are global pass and low pass and the input stage Input Stages: parameter settings from the offers a lot of various colorization compressor component that set the No less than thirty options are offered input component into certain settings possibilities. The compressor is straight forward as are the four bands for the input stage. Each of them, as well (though the input stage of the EQ. settings can be changed after the other than the digital setting which is a "transparent" setting, model a fact). It is important to note that in different input stage of various order for the input settings to not Hats off!

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

URS Classic Console Strip Pro

classes and types of gear that include tapes, tubes, and consoles and combinations of console and tape. Each one of them colors the sound in a different way and can serve a variety of needs, depending on the sound one wishes to achieve. This alone is worth the price of the plug-in, as various effects that recreate these dynamics can add up independently to more than the cost of this single plug-in. Again, it is important to remember to lock the input setting when tweaking compressor preset models if the input setting is to be retained. There is a useful fader that adjusts the amount of colorization applied to the signal from 0 to 200% saturation.

technology with a click on the menu. The response of the compressor is very accurate and the settings also include, besides the manual release control, seven different auto-release options with each modeling a certain behavior. The gain reduction meter, as with the input and output meters, is very accurate...[a novel idea for plug-in's to be sure, but nonetheless, thankfully true in this case. Below the compressor are nice high and low pass filters that add even more colorful flavor to the audio signal. The EQ:

"Its very musical!" Just kidding...not that the EQ in this channel strip isn't, but I am kidding about using this cliche most reviewers apply to EQ's because they URS Classic Console Strip Pro read other writers who use the Copy Protection: iLok phrase when referring to EQ's, Formats: TDM RTAS AU VST despite having no clue what it Platform: MAC and PC means. There are five models Price:TDM (includes Native versions): $1199.99 to choose from, four being Price Native Version: $599.99 console models, and one being a tube model. Those original units must have been amazing or the coders over at URS are...or Compressor and Filter both. The filter curves are so pleasant Components: to the ears that the knob turns bring This is where the modeling really kicks about a constant smile. The four bands include high, high mid, low mid, into gear. A whooping sixty different and low, and the high and low bands models are at one's disposal. Each one sounds great and really adds that feature an option between peak or shelving. Despite the knob interface, extra warmth people are always tweaking the settings recalls a mental desperate to achieve inside their image of the perfect parametric EQ computer DAW. More importantly, plug-in displaying in the mind the each model provides a different most wonderful curves just from warmth and different characteristics. listening to the audio. Except this EQ Decades of different and warm

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

component, when selecting the right frequencies, and adjusting the Q, it doesn't LIE to you visually (like a lot of EQ plug-in's) what you know to be false from your ears. It didn't need the graphics...it is honest with you and doesn't need to use graphics to fool you. It is a sweetener that crafts that final or initial perfection into the audio. Normally, the best thing to do with channel strip plug-in's is to bypass everything but the EQ and test it. With plug-in's of this sort, the EQ is usually tacked on and some sort of output colorization is applied internally at the end of the whole signal chain to deceive the user...not mentioning any names...to cover for the EQ hacking and slashing at your frequencies (while the compressor is squashing more than anything else already) without too much thought going into how responsive and honest the EQ really is. It was tempting, given all of URS's EQ offerings, to ponder "which code did they regurgitate for this thing?" But I'd imagine all of them and then ten extra miles more worth of code. Yes, it is that "musical". Use it...everywhere! And the kicker is, you actually can use it everywhere! This plug-in, despite packing so much into it behind the interface, is surprisingly light on the CPU. In personal use, at one point I had it running on the drum buss, two different busses collecting various instruments divided between synth sounds and realistic instrument sounds, on the vocal bus, and as a

brother; and I am sure that I will channel insert on a saw lead track. I settle into this pattern once the initial had no problems, given all the other stuff I had processing...and on an old wonder of the Pro version wears off...if it ever does. single core 2.6 gig processor dealing with Windows XP...imagine that! A End zone! testament to the coding skills over at Unique Recording Software. As Am I overly exited? Perhaps, but mentioned earlier, I am too young and too removed from performing any seldom does a dynamics plug-in, and one that is claiming to emulate dry test to see how accurately this vintage gear, deserve enthusiasm. To recreates the gear it purports to be honest, a lot of them are let downs. model, but I do know that it sounds We all know this. Some are decent amazing and the audio from my (though often not faithful) and a few monitors is sounding more and more are great but still not worth the like the warm and airy, fuzzy crisp of asking price. But most are mere the audio coming from my vinyl collection than it used to, considering gimmicks and are often overpriced hatchet jobs at that, despite the fancy my entire rig is inside a PC. What more is there to say? Well, I'll tell you. GUIs. This one, however, knocks it out of the park on all levels. As an artist, I care most about what my voice sounds like. That always comes first in the mixing process. As "Justificationalism"... long as I sound great...you can figure The price may scare some people off it out. This plug-in gives me the sound I want to hear from myself...so (even for semi-pro and pro's that spent several grand on various FX on that most important front (for me anyway), it is as close to perfection as suites that barely deliver 5 decent plug-ins and 25 crappy ones), but it I am likely to get. shouldn't. Pay attention. It is worth every penny and then some. There is Bonus!

a lot packed into this plug-in (both plug-in's!) that takes the quality of music coming from software systems to levels once thought impossible. For the native version, that many aspiring musicians will probably opt for, it is less than the cost of three quality software instruments...and a lot of people buy a lot of instruments to compensate for the lack of "sounds" coming out of their existing lineup. This plug-in makes existing instruments, mic's, other gear, etc., sound better...a lot better. It goes a lot further for a lot longer than the shiny new synth will go before it is on to the next instrument. Focusing on the sound at its source is always the best place to start...there may always be a fatter oscillator or "squelchier" filter out there on another synth or whatever, but this plug-in will make your existing gear leap well beyond it. Quality starts here with Classic Console Strip Pro.

Yours truly, Reviewer turned unashamed URS fanboy

As a bonus, it comes with the regular Classic Channel Strip plug-in, which, while not as fully featured, is even less CPU intensive and sounds equally wonderful, given that the compressor models only one unit and the three-band EQ is tailored mainly to three genre's of music with the frequency selections; though it does model after three analog units. It performs its duties to perfection in its own right and probably makes for better use on a per-channel basis than its bigger

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Abbey Road TG 12413 Limiter: A Vintage Compressor and Limiter by Per Lichtman

Compressors are everywhere. Modern Both compressors feature your choice compressors can be found in your of 2:1 ratio compression or a limiting DAW, as freeware on the forums and mode that provide up to 20 db of as expensive payware from many of limiting. According to the the top audio companies on the documentation, the attack times are Internet. We're seeing new fixed at 47 ms for the compression visualization modes, extensive mode and 8 ms for limit mode. The customization options, and more "recovery" knob adjusts release time features than you can easily count to one of six settings. For the limit popping up in even the lower priced mode, these range from 50 ms to 2 compressors. So why is there still seconds. For compression, they range such a market for "feature limited" from 250 ms to 10 seconds. In other vintage outboard gear or DSP based emulations such as the UAD cards? Because they don't just compress the sound, they change it. So what exactly does it do? Well, a less netural compressor can take a sound and make it bigger or smaller, "beefier" or more "rounded", "heavier" or "lighter", bring out more of the room or bring out more of the attack. These compressors are known for coloring their sound. The Abbey Road TG 12413 is just such a compressor, and unlike many vintage or vintage emulation competitors, it's a native plug-in so as long as you have an iLok, you won't need to add any gear to your studio to get its sound. Well, its sounds actually, as it includes two plug-ins with two modes each. The TG12413 1969 emulates the Abbey Road and EMI consoles from the 60s and 70s while the TG12413 2005 emulates the Chandler Limited TG1 Compressor. Their interfaces are similar, primarily differentiated by their threshold/input gain controls, but the character of the sound and the best application varies between the two. 34

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

words, compared to many digital compressors, the attack time is very slow and the release time is designed to go to longer lengths. This is part of the reason why it's very difficult to get "sterile" results from the plug-in: it tends to either make a big deal out of the attack or work in a very slow smooth way, but it never "puts a straight-jacket" on the signal the way that is often easy to do with overaggressive compression settings. One of the things that may take a little getting used to, if you work with extremely hot or extremely quiet signals, is that these plug-ins

require you to make sure that the input level is in a certain range for best operation in a way that many modern plug-ins do not. So don't expect to send them signal peaking far past 0 dbfs and expect to get "subtle compression". In my testing with the 1969 plug-in in compression mode, I found that with the "hold" knob all the way to the right that the compression threshold seemed to be set somewhere around -43 dbfs peak and that the level of compression would increase up until roughly -0 dbfs peak. In the limit mode, once again with the "hold" knob all the way to the right, the threshold seemed to be in the vicinity of -25 dbfs peak, increasing once again until the maximum limit when the input signal reached -0 dbfs. I found that I would often audition both the 2005 and 1969 version on each track, to see which was better in a given situation. I didn't come up with any hard and fast rules, but I would reccomend trying both for yourself. I used the 2005 version on a live electric bass part we'd just gotten at Dreamtown. To put it simply, it was exactly what the part needed and sounded better in the song than any other compressor we compared it to. We used a slow release time with decent compression (quieter parts got none while the average peaks would be tamed by about 5 db with the higher peaks getting up to 9 db of compression). It really made the part feel more solid and sit in the mix "just right" with far less volume automation than we tended to use on our bass part. One thing I loved was how natural the compressor sounded coming out of the release stage: even at faster settings, the release felt more like natural dynamic movement than artificial correction. And we found the right settings really quickly. That's part of the charm of the TG 12413: once you've got the gain structure setup right, you can check it's range of sounds pretty quickly and see whether it's right for the

part or not, in a fraction of the time it takes with more complex compressors. I also found that I often ended up using a bit more compression than I was accustomed to: it almost seems as though the unit is designed for that. I often stuck the TG 12413 into long signal chains, sometimes including other compressors, for coloration purposes. Especially in the case of tracking, this compressor really shines being one of the few that provides strong coloration and good results with out adding latency or requiring additional DSP. If you send it a signal below the threshold and then boost the ouput gain, the plugin can also be used purely for coloration purposes without compression. Not limited to the "band" instruments and vocals that the original units were designed for, the units can be add warmth and character to everything from electronica drum loops, 808 or 909 emulations to synths and basslines. Perhaps that's why headlining electronica act Hybrid mentioned in a recent interview that they use the plug-in frequently, At the price, the plug-in at first glance faces a lot of competition, especially from lower priced offerings. In terms of quality, it really can't be compared to budget offerings and the only real competition is from Nebula, UAD, Waves et al. Also, its sound is truly distinctive and to date no other emulation of the gear exists on any platform. Not only is the compression effective and musical, but the gain coloration is both pleasant and noticeable. Once you download the trial, you will probably find, as I did, that you want to use it somewhere on almost every session and can't go back to working without it. It is simply one of the best vintage compressors available anywhere, on any platform, at any price and makes a wonderful compliment to any more neutral or transparent compressors you may already have.

Abbey Road TG12413 Limiter Price: Native $335 U.S., TDM $560 U.S. Available for download and purchase at www.abbeyroadplugins.com. Trial license available for iLok users. Sample Rate Support: Up to 192 kHz. Formats: VST/AU/RTAS or TDM. System Requirements: Windows XP or OS X, a VST/AU host or Pro Tools 6.4. Copy Protection: iLok (required and sold separately).

Test System A: Windows XP Pro SP 2, P4 (single core) 3.2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, M-Audio Audiophile 2496. Host VST Version: Xlutop Chainer, Jeskola Buzz 2008, Cockos Reaper 2 (evaluation version), Cakewalk Sonar 7 PE. Test System B: OS X Tiger 10.4.9, Dual G5 2.5 GHz, 2.5 GB RAM, Digidesign 003 Rack Factory Host RTAS: Digidesign Pro Tools LE 7.3 Host VST/AU: Ableton Live Lite 6

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

EQ Rangers' SPL

out of

Vol. 1

by Trusty

User-able:

Overview: SPL, while being solid for decades now in the analog hardware gear, being carefully crafted and made by hand has helped engineers craft and shape the perfect mixes and masters. The quality is not in dispute for anyone. That same craftsmanship and quality has been delivered in their software products as well. Modeled after the same hardware units, with superb sound quality and ease of use to match, the EQ Rangers' Vol. 1 delivers on the promise that comes

Wusik Sound Magazine

bearing the brand name SPL. Software companies love to put labels on their coding, whether to describe the sound engines of synthesizers or to describe (or rather evoke) a sense of class surrounding their effect processors. Sometimes the labels deliver, sometimes not. With SPL, their "The Analog Code" tag is no gimmick, it truly describes the character and quality of the three EQ plug-ins that are included in this package.

December 2008

Each of the EQ's included have the same design, resembling their hardware siblings, is very well laid out, simple and effective. The EQ's, as the name implies, has eight bands with frequencies that are specific for tasks. In this case, there is the full frequency spectrum for the Full Ranger and the Vox and Bass Rangers have eight bands tailored to the needs for those specific, targeted ranges to maximize usage. The manual is not only well written but it

Full Ranger Bands: 16kHz, 10 kHz, 4.7 kHz, 1.8 kHz, 500 Hz, 150 Hz, 90Hz, 40 Hz Vox Ranger Bands: 4 kHz, 2.8 kHz, 1.6 kHz, 800 Hz, 560 Hz, 420 Hz, 330 Hz, 220 Hz Bass Ranger Bands: 2 kHz, 800 Hz, 500 Hz, 230 Hz, 170 Hz, 95 Hz, 65 Hz, 30 Hz

is also both mercifully short and very "very musical." The main reason to different parts of the song. This is informative. The section at the end suggested here as to why these EQ's magnificent...and easy to set up. The called "EQ Principles" is a nice touch, are "very musical" is because of the CPU usage is surprisingly low for as are the tips given for each sonic characteristics that really come plug-in's of this quality but that is a individual plug-in in their sections of to life from your instrument and vocal testament to the craftsmanship the manual. Also, inclusion of the sources when applying these EQâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. applied to the sound, as well as code diagrams for filter responses is both The word "colorization" doesn't do efficiency. helpful and, amazingly enough, them justice. As from before, the honest. Honesty, an odd choice of a word honesty also comes back into Full Ranger: word to be sure, is something that view. This is not meant in the sense can be lacking in many EQ plug-in's that if there is a flaw in the mix, This EQ is great no matter the task, when it comes to the curves of the especially with a vocal track, this will whether it is slapped into the filters, and this applies to EQ products make it more obvious; on this count, mastering chain, on a bus (or two) in of any price range. With these plugquite the opposite. These EQ's can the mix, or even for tweaking a ins, one can be confident of what they actually fix things. How these EQ's complex instrument patch. Especially are getting when they tweak the matter most is that they don't just when a person becomes more sliders help one get the vocals or lower accustomed to the filter curves, this frequencies to cut through the mix, can be the "go-to" channel insert â&#x20AC;&#x153;It's Musical!â&#x20AC;?: with a nice sheen and gloss to go with equalizer as well, if needed. For using it, but they also deliver that most it to mix a bus of like instruments, It is at this point where the typical sought after air around the sound, the four settings come in handy, reviewer covering EQ products sounds giving it presence without disturbing considering how transparent these off with the cliche "it's very musical" the rest of the mix. plug-ins can be. Having four slightly (for those reading EQ reviews different settings, as opposed to wondering what that meant). This is Intelligent Design: drastic differences (unless that is the merely a way to express how the musical goal, of course) is where this curves effect the nearest frequencies The interface is fantastic and easy to feature works best. That is because when you begin to shape your sound navigate. There are very few controls for each part of the song the vocals, using the EQ and how it gives off an but some nice features as well. Each or some other part, may need certain instantly good sound that works in a instance of the plug-in's can hold up frequencies out of the way mix. The cliche definitely applies here to four different settings. These temporarily, but just to give way with the passive filters but that isn't settings can also be automated so when the vocals are present. When the only reason why these EQ's are that different settings can be applied www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

EQ Rangers' SPL

Vol. 1

Product: SPL EQ Rangers Vol. 1 Available Formats: RTAS, AU & VST Price: 239.50 € TDM (includes Native versions) 385.00€ Copy Protection: Pace iLok Check it out: http://www.soundperformancelab.com/

working with these EQ's in various situations, it becomes more and more obvious why they come in a package and why they were designed the way they were.

a high frequency whistle-like synth sound that riffs up and the higher the note played...well...one can imagine. It did a job, for sure. Bass Ranger:

Vox Ranger: The tips included in the manual with this element were most helpful. Everything possible was thrown at it. Vocoded vocals, sampled and heavily filtered vocals, mutilated vocals from every possible combination of the awesome Antares' AVOX 2 and Autotune EFX processors, rap vocals, sung vocals, spoken word audio recordings, etc. With the exception of some heavily pitched down vocal samples (I used Bass Ranger for this one), this EQ performed like a champ. Clear, crisp, and warm are accurate terms to describe its performance. Because of the specific nature of the design, it is a most welcome change of pace from having to start from scratch and "re-twiddling" general purpose EQ's to get to the starting points with vocal tracks. Given its frequency range, it has other uses as well besides vocals. I was particularly amazed at how well is smoothed out 38

Wusik Sound Magazine

Bass Ranger is perfectly great for working with lower frequencies. So great, in fact, that side-chain compression has become less and less necessary since working with this EQ. Thank goodness for the low CPU, because it won't be uncommon in DAW’s for a person to want to inset this thing anywhere lower frequencies are present. Bringing up the "very musical" thing again, working with this EQ on several different sounds in the same mix is great. The filter curves allow for everything to be heard and sound even better, without sacrificing the desired presence of each sound, be it the thump, rumble, growl, or knock in the lower end of the spectrum within the context of the whole track. Reckoning: EQ Rangers Vol 1 represents a new standard in quality and usability for

December 2008

EQ plug-in's. An ingenious idea in hardware brought to the software realm. The “bells and whistles” of some other EQ plug-in's are not missed in EQ Ranger, as they aren't needed to enhance the quality of these EQ plug-in's. These EQ's simply have no need for bells and whistles to compensate for a lack of actual sonic power like others may need. For those needing quick and easy EQ's designed for specific tasks, and needing outstanding sound quality to match as well, these are a "must have." The usability and versatility will probably cause people to clean out a lot of the junk EQ's clogging up their effects folders. One of the best things about this set of EQ's is in the product's name...Vol. 1, in which case it follows there will be more. So SPL, bring on Vol. 2!!! Keep watching for the next issue. Some cool articles on using EQ Rangers Vol 1 will be well worth reading...and expect some unique uses for these outside of their specified “range”.

A Silver Sensation:

D16's Fazortan by Paul Evans

Fazortan isn’t jam packed with controls and all sorts of extras. That for me is a plus. With only 11 knobs to twiddle you’re able to get great phaser action without wasting time on tedious adjustments. I’m a big fan of effects with a simple layout and a “knock out” sound. Of course, it always comes down to how it sounds. Right?

It used to be, when you thought of D16 products, you thought of amazingly accurate emulations of classic Roland synths. Expanding its reach, D16 has begun an effects series called Silver Line, that is available for both Mac and PC. It began with a stunning multi-band distortion unit named Devastor. The effects are modeled after the sound of classic gear. I would not call them emulations though as, with the capabilities and advantages of software, they take it much further. All D16's products have stunning GUI's - including Silver Line. Old School and simple. But ultra-classy. Fazortan is the newest release in the Silver Line series. It was modeled on a classic analog phaser from the 70's. I know; with so many analog modeled products out there, the word “analog” is thrown around so much that it loses its meaning. But with D16, it’s

This unit is astounding in it's quality. And, at only 35 euros, it’s hard to resist the urge to buy! In this price range, most “analog” phaser emulators are a let down - not just on the accuracy of their claim (to be not just a good buzzword for “analog”) but on the usability and advertising - they make software with quality in general. But Fazortan has true analog character. an in-your-face sound that can breathe life into the simplest of The layout and signal flow is fairly melodies and sounds. Whether you simple. Made up of a phasing filter like slow, soft and winding, or thick that processes in stereo, it acts a lot and quick, Fazortan gives the goods. like a notch filter. Four stages – 2, 4, While D16 says it is modeled on a 6 and 8 – are made available to you. phaser from the past, the ability, The filter’s cutoff frequency is quality, and control of this unit show distributed evenly throughout the a great step towards the future in audio spectrum, providing a balanced effects plug-ins. and level modulation. Your modulation source is a pair of LFO's, The Silver Line is quickly rising to be each having 6 waveforms, that are one of the top series of effects. At the produced in stereo. In fact, Fazortan’s time of print, D16 is already accepting all-stereo signal can be manipulated pre-orders for a new bit crusher in the by a stereo phase control, causing the Silver Line range, named Decimort. I left and right channels to react at have long felt Audio Damage had the different times. As the stereo phase is market cornered on affordable and ‘turned up’, the offset between amazing effects. Now, not so much. channels increases. Fazortan is a bold sounding phaser, combining old flavor with fresh new ideas and possibilities. www.WusikMagazine.com

October 2008

Hollywood Impulse Responses by Per Lichtman

IRs "Inspired by the Ambience of 20 Blockbuster Films" IR reverbs are some of the hottest FX plug-ins on the market today: they allow users to transport their recording into the ambience of real or synthetic spaces by using the digital fingerprints called impulse responses. But users often have to choose their IR library by choosing their reverb plug-in because almost all the professional collections are proprietary and tied to a particular piece of software. No where is this more true than in the case of IRs of real spaces. But there has been one notable exception: the developer Numerical sound, with acclaimed engineer Ernest Cholakis. 40

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

Numerical Sound have been providing the highest quality IRs (or 'RI's as they call reverb impulses) from the most desirable acoustic spaces for years, in formats readable by every major IR plug-in on the market today. Their two previous Pure Space collections each feature 55 stereo IRs (one per place) of real spaces, including concert halls, sound stages and churches and exotic locals from around the world. Available at sample rates from 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz, at either 16-bit or 24-bit, with prices ranging from $299-599 U.S, they have long been considered the best IRs money can buy, for those that can afford them. But their newest product, Hollywood Impulse Responses, is a lot less expensive. With Hollywood Impulse Responses ("HIR" for short) Numerical Sound is reaching out to a broader market. By offering the collection at 44.1 kHz (with both 24-bit and 32-bit files included) and sampling 20 spaces instead of 55, they have kept the price down to $129.95 US. Though it samples fewer spaces, it actually contains more IRs--600 in all. More on that later. According to NumericalSound.com, the 20 spaces sampled are "inspired by the ambience of 20 major Hollywood blockbuster films released between 1977-2006". Spaces range from small to huge sound stages and from large to huge concert halls. The manual on the inside of the CD cover mentions the location (either by city or country) and the relative bass, mid and treble of each space. The 20 spaces are provided in each of six folders: 01 C-2, 02 G-2, 03 C-3, 04 G-3, 05 C-4, 06 G-4. The names of each folder refer to the "cutoff note", with C-4 being "middle C". Frequencies below the cutoff note don't get reverb.

The intent behind the use of the different cutoff notes is to provide IRs for the ranges of different instruments to enhance clarity. For instance, the lowest note on an alto flute or violin in standard tuning is G-3. So by using the IRs from the G-3 folder, you insure that no frequencies below the range of the instrument get reverb: for example, no low frequency stand noise, bumps or hum.

with lowest cutoff note would be "101_SmSndStg_Flat_C2" and the warm version would be "101_SmSndStg_Warm_C2". So, if your IR reverb lets you push a button to choose "next reverb" and "previous reverb", you can quickly hear all five timbral variations of the space--just by moving back and forth--thanks to the naming system.

Most of the information about the IRs themselves is included when you Each space is also available with 5 open the CD case on the inside cover. timbral variations: Bright, Clear, Flat The installation itself is very (the original IR), Dark and Warm. straightforward and a PDF "Readme" These make a huge difference to the sound. "Bright" tends to cut through a file is included to help further explain mix more, "Clear" has a transparency the installation and format options. Here's the short version: write down that lets you use more of it than any your serial number printed on the first of the other variations without CD before you start the install, and muddying a mix, "Dark" focuses on the low end of the IR and can be used don't choose SD II format if you are on a PC. In fact, don't choose SD II to add solidity or recess an overly unless your software won't support present part, while "Warm" gives anything else. The rest is exactly what you would expect from straightforward, whether you are on a the name. "Flat" of course is the original version of the reverb. So with 20 spaces and 5 timbral variations, each of the six folders contains 100 IRs. The naming system makes it easy to find and audition the reverb you want. The format is: "folder number then space number"_"space type and size"_"timbral variation"_ "note range". So for instance, the original version of the first space, www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Hollywood Impulse Responses

Mac or PC. The installer offers a dropdown menu to change the install format and defaults to 24-bit WAV files which are readable in most reverb engines. Just enter your serial number, get ready to switch CDs and the installer will update you as it progresses. The 600 IRs copy quickly and easily. There's no intrusive copy protection, and the files are digitally watermarked to ID the user. Somewhat unusually, users are required to accept the license agreement by e-mail or fax; but unlike authorization, this is nonintrusive and doesn't stop the IRs from working. So, you don't need to hear back from the company after you have sent them your acceptance or wait for any form of an authorization code.

an HIR reverb than an Altiverb one more as reverbs were applied to each and I consider the HIR ones to be instrument and eschewing the need higher fidelity. However, Altiverb for a lot of the EQ-ing and filtering offers more microphone positions per that I often apply to a signal before it space as well as many spaces not hits the reverb. Similarly, the timbral covered in any Numerical Sound variations let you quickly audition a library. The new HIR timbral lot of variations of the same sound variations address a point sometimes without needing to use additional FX. raised about the Pure Space libraries: I found that I gravitated toward the occasionally, I would have a client "clear" and "warm" variations most pick an included Altiverb IR instead of frequently in my own mixes, with the a Pure Space one when they felt that "flat" ones following shortly after. the latter was too clear and they Other users are likely to find the So, now that you know all about the wanted more warmth. Now, in those "Bright" and "Dark" ones equally useful. setup and history of the library, there cases all I have to is load up the are still many questions to be "warm" or "dark" versions of the IR Using HIR in my mixes tended to answered. First of all, does it live up and it's no longer an issue. Thus, I have several positive effects: I found to the preceding Pure Space libraries? would have to say that HIR, I achieved greater clarity without Having worked with the 48 kHz supplements and compliments the IRs sacrificing realism or sense of space; versions of one of the Pure Space in Altiverb excellently. and that I didn't have to spend as libraries, I can tell you that these are much time on EQ and filters regarding of the same fidelity and only users of Do the range and timbral variations the reverbs. I also found that it was the 88.1 kHz and above versions of really make a difference? My repeated much easier to avoid the "mud" that the previous libraries might miss the experience was an unqualified "yes". can easily accompany the overuse of higher sample rates. HIR sounds The difference between using a C-2 reverb (or the wrong reverb) in a great. and G-3 reverb on a violin could mix; and that instrument positions sometimes be subtle, but in cases sometimes seemed more clearly The next inevitable question is, how where there was a lot of low defined in the sound stage/stereo do these reverbs compare to Altiverb frequency content in the original field. This was especially true when 6's included library, the most well signal the result was much more using the "clear" variations, where I known and extensive one in the pronounced. In all cases, it increased found I could really add a lot more business? For the types of spaces it the clarity of the mix, an effect that reverb than I was accustomed to, offers, I am more likely to reach for was cumulative, adding up more and without muddying the mix. 42

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

While the HIR may seem to be targeted specifically at classical and film score composers, I found the IRs worked excellently in every other type of music I applied them to as well, from singer-songwriter compositions to world music and electronica. Many vocalists will find they love how it "opens up" the sound around their voice and may find the only other reverb sound they need is a good plate. That was certainly the experience of both the vocalists I worked with while writing this review. Getting back to the orchestral and classical composers, however, I would like to add special emphasis. Users of dry orchestral libraries, such as VSL, should consider a good IR reverb completely essential. In my experience, if you are using the library included with any IR engine other than Altiverb, you should put a Numerical Sound library at the top of your list of needs. For

Altiverb users, as mentioned before, Numerical Sound IRs offer a higher fidelity and different sound to many of the included halls: they won't replace the included library, especially if you've fallen in love with particular halls, but the Numerical Sound IRs really are higher fidelity and offer much greater clarity. And HIR lets you expand into Numerical Sound's IRs at a very low price point. Which brings me to my conclusion: If you want realistic reverbs, HIR is not only one of the highest quality offerings out there but also the lowest priced and most flexible. Beyond providing beautiful reverbs, it provides IRs that make it much easier to obtain a clear mix and uses an organizational system that makes it easy to try out different variations and find what you're looking for. An excellent buy, both for the value and the performance.

Hollywood Impulse Responses by numerical sound Price: $129.95 U.S. at time of writing. Available for purchase www.numericalsound.com. No playable demo available at time of writing. Format: 1.1GB library that ships on 2 CDs. 44.1 kHz stereo 24 bit or 32 bit files in WAV, AIFF and SD II formats. Content: 600 impulse responses, divided into 20 spaces, with 5 timbral variations for 6 ranges (cutoffs at C-2, G-2, C-3, G-3, C-4 'middle c', G-4). OS Compatibility: Windows 98, XP, Vista and OS X 10.3, 10.4, 10.5. Copy Protection: Serial number and digital watermarking. Users are also required to e-mail, fax or mail a license agreement.

Test System A: Windows XP Pro SP 2, P4 (single core) 3.2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Reverb Engine: Perfect Space Test System B: OS X Tiger 10.4.9, Dual G5 2.5 GHz, 2.5 GB RAM, DigiDesign 003 Rack Factory Reverb Engines: TL Space, Altiverb 6 XL

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

by Imageline

Guitar Effects VST plugin by Squibs

Guitar effects have improved in leaps and bounds over the last 20 years as digital signal processing power grew in accordance with Moore’s Law (doubling roughly every 18 months). Real-time modelling software wasn’t far behind and now companies like IK Multimedia, Native Instruments, and Line 6 compete for your hard earned dollars. Many of these premium packages have already been reviewed in the pages of WM. There are many respected freeware solutions for the impoverished "axe" man, such as SimulAnalog’s guitar suite and Fretted Synth’s Free Amp, but there isn’t a huge amount of quality mid-range guitar software out there. This is where Hardcore from Image Line comes in. It is a VST guitar effects suite implemented as a 5-slot pedal board with 5 guitar amp models.

The layout of Hardcore is straightforward enough. A control section at the top allows you to browse presets, adjust input and output levels, set a global multiband EQ or choose from one of 5 amp Installation is easy and uncomplicated models. and a registry key handles the copy protection. The demo version won’t The amp models are black boxes – save presets and cuts out the audio you have no control over them; no tone controls, no gain, just select the for a few seconds every couple of minutes. I think they got the balance model you want. If you want to change the tone, you use the global right here. Other plug-in developers like to have their demo versions emit EQ (or EQ stomp pedal) and if you a loud beep every 2.5 seconds (You want crunch, you use the distortion box. know who you are!).

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

The 10 stomp box effects are the core of the product and you can chain up to 5 at once. If you want to connect 5 distortion boxes in series, Hardcore will let you do it but will take no responsibility for the condition of your monitors afterwards! The list of effects is as follows: Distortion, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Reverb, Delay, Noise Gate, Equalizer, Compressor, Modulator. The noise gate, equalizer, and compressor are all efficient workhorses with controls and ranges that make sense for processing electric guitar. They work well, so there is little reason to say more about them.

Modulator, however, more than makes up for any small shortcomings in the phaser and flanger. There is a speed control for a LFO which effects pan, amplitude, and pitch; each of which has its own control to determine how much it is modulated. Autopanning is works easily and the amplitude modulation makes for a nice tremolo effect. Fooling around with the parameters, I achieved a reasonable emulation of the classic The chorus effect is lovely: warm, univibe effect that Hendrix loved so with none of the brittle overtones much. At extreme levels the pitch common to so many software chorus control is capable of inducing effects. The speed and intensity seasickness and, if also combined controls give you a range of sounds with an extremely high rate, the from subtle to extreme. Putting the chorus in series with distortion gives a sound takes on a ring modulation/drone-like quality. All in sound with power and finesse. It all, this is a very versatile tool. punches you full force between the eyes but apologises and buys you a The delay and reverb are well suited drink afterwards. to a guitar sound. Delay times range from a few milliseconds up to 1 The flanger doesn’t color the sound second and the reverb sounds pretty much until its three controls are good in a mix. beyond the mid-way level, so the range of achievable sounds is a little So would I recommend this software? limited. Similarly, the phaser is fairly tame and I found it difficult to exactly The answer is yes but with a few caveats. The price is right, it is recreate my own vision of the classic completely intuitive to use, and there phaser sound. The distortion effect has a nice tone once the Dist knob is cranked up half way or so. Further tonal shaping is provided by the Inferno (bass), Glass (treble) and Comb (comb filtering?) controls. Heading for the global EQ section, I was able to get further control on the tone and was soon moving on from classic rock to heavy metal, using a smiley-face EQ curve.

is a good range of effects. This software is a good stepping stone between the free offerings and the more expensive packages. If you want a clean chorus, a screaming distortion, or a spacey modulation, Hardcore can do it. The preset library is large and preset surfers will find enough sounds to keep them amused for hours. You should be able to coax a sound out of Hardcore suitable for whatever genre of music you are making, whether you start with a blank pedal board or adapt an existing preset. What it can’t do is closely emulate an exact sound, e.g., Petrucci’s rig and, to be fair, that isn’t what Hardcore is about. Hardcore is made by Image Line and you can order it for $99 or try the demo at http://www.image-line.com.

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Wusikstation V5

Improving by the minute

Voxengo

Elephant v3 by Trusty This is sort of a biased review. I will admit it up front. I have used Elephant v2 on quite a few albums and demo EPs since I got it a while ago; and when the update came out, I got really, really excited. I did wonder though, what could actually be improved? Well, I found out that great can become even greater. This release is a whole lot more than just a GUI facelift. Oh, for what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worth, these newer GUIs from Voxengo are looking real nice these days as well.

there was a little more presence none the less. To see about any other obvious improvements, I decided to dial it up to those annoying Metallica levels to see if my track had turned to poo (input on 10db), and nope, it still

The first thing that I did when I got this thing was to bring up my old mastering chain, and swap it out for v2 after dialing in the exact same settings for v3. Then, I went back to some unmastered mixes, loaded them up, and listened for any obvious initial differences. Sure enough, there was a difference, a slight one, but 48

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

sounded sheen and shimmery. This was really impressive, because I already export my mixes a tad bit louder than normally recommended anyway (Rap/Hip-Hop music). This

FREEBIE EFFECT OF THE MONTH out of

by WilliamK

DX Reverb Lite from Anwida (now in VST format) thing handles like a champ in this area, no pumping, and no ear ache. As for the improvements, there are plenty. The new GUI makes accessing all the old features a lot less fidgety; and all the new features are laid out plainly and in a very organized fashion. The mode editor for limiting modes to shape the transients is a very nice touch, making what is sometimes a difficult task a lot easier. The multi-channel support will be a welcome addition to many people, and for me, multi-channel processing along with easy internal channel routing is very handy. There are preset modes already set up for 2.1 stereo, 5.1 Surround, and Dual Mono, which is very helpful, but the routing is flexible enough to handle plenty of other needs as well--DJ's using software applications may want to make use of this as well. Also, these two features: user naming and import naming from the host, when dealing with the groups, makes things a lot easier to handle. I may not have kept up with the .x updates of v2; so my version before v3 only went up to 4x oversampling, but now, with v3, you can choose up to 8x linear-phase oversampling. Mac users can get a hold of this wonderful Mastering Limiter since it is now a multiplatform product. If you want a professional plug-in for either professional or semipro needs, or you are just simply tired of your homemade demo's sounding weak, this should be your first look. At $89.95, it is a no-brainer purchase and definitely worth three-times that much. It is certainly better than similar products that cost three times-as much. Yes, it is that good. However, if you do indeed feel that it is worth so much more, do yourself a favor and spend some more money with Voxengo, and the more you add to your cart, the lower the price of each item. It is the best dynamics deal on the planet.

www.anwida.com/images/int_dxrevl.jpg

Silky, low CPU usage and easy to setup. Download URL: (VST version) http://www.anwida.com/dc.asp?file=http://www.anwid a.com/progs/asdxrl20.zip&pid=7 Product Page: http://www.anwida.com/product.asp?pid=7 The greatest thing about this Reverber (DX Reverb Lite) is the low CPU utilization compared to its silky sound. While most reverb effects have a metallic sound, this one is clean and smooth. The interface may seem a bit strange at first, but once you get a grasp on it (or you could say “come to grips with it” your choice), you will see how easy it is to work things out. The commercial version (DX Reverb) comes with even more features. One that I don't see often is an Inverse Reverb Algorithm or a gate effect which only a few reverb units have. Visit the product page for more information: http://www.anwida.com/product.asp?pid=2. Sadly though, this big brother only works in DirectX mode, they don't offer a VST version. Note: Wusik licensed this engine a while ago and included it with Wusikstation. So, if you own Wusikstation already, you can use the DX Reverb Lite version that comes in VST format. The “Studio Verb” series of effects within Wusikstation uses the DX Reverb engine by Anwida. William, please verify that these edits of this last paragraph, especially are correct. You had used FX in one place and I couldn’t find FX on Anwida’s site, so I assumed you meant the Lite Version and in the other instance the “non-Lite” version.

True to their word, Voxengo is Sound with a Soul

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Internal Mixing by Friedemann Tischmeyer

by A. Arsov I'm not a big fan of recording studios. They make me nervous. I simply can't relax if I know that every minute in studio is eating my hard earned money. So, for this reason I've tried to learn how to mix my own songs. I've tried everything: subscribing to Computer Music Magazine; analyzing some articles from the net; reading a book or two about this topic; asking a few friends and getting their advice--I suspect it wasn’t essential. I've tried almost everything, but somehow my songs still don't sound as they should. Then, I saw a short informational piece about the book Internal Mixing in Computer Music Magazine. I visited the Tischmayer Publishing home page, http://www.tischmeyermastering.de/pwde/default.asp?lang= EN; saw that they had a few videos and thought: “Why not, it can't hurt if I try this?” A few days later, I got the book and DVDs. They are selling the book separately from the DVDs, and more or less both media cover the same topics. The book costs $74.99/€49,95 and the DVDs are $99.99/€99,80, or $64.99/€49,90 each. So, the whole package costs the same as one quality virtual synth – $175.00/€150,00. If you are not 50

Wusik Sound Magazine

satisfied with your mixes, then this could be the best money you could invest. To tell you the truth, the Internal Mixing book is not the best written book that I've read in my life; but in combination with the DVDs they have composed one of the most useful tutorials I have ever used.

especially in regard to the author’s wide base of knowledge; that it wouldn’t have been impossible for him to find a cheaper equivalent for all those effects used in the lessons.

Up to this point in my life I don't have Waves, Sonalksis or UAD software installed, so I can only listen to the before and after files. I'm pretty sure Internal Mixing – the book that Alexey from Voxengo or some I read Internal Mixing in one weekend, other respected developers like and I learned quite a few things that I did not know until then. It is very systematic, and it will lead you from one thing to another; but sometimes, I got the feeling that the author wasted time on some commonly known issues; especially at the beginning of the book; but for the complete novice it is appropriate. I'm also not so sure if there is a need for the detailed presentation of various sound cards and expensive software (at least for most readers). Secondly, my main complaint goes toward the effects which are used in the demonstrations. I'm glad that author uses all the top gear along with top notch expensive effects; but I'm sure,

December 2008

Internal Mixing - DVDs 1 and 2 To quote Roger Taylor, of Queen: “This could be heaven for everyone”. It’s a pleasure to view, though it is almost the same as the book, but without the Jaguar and Bentley detailing, and secondly, as they say: “a picture is worth a thousand words.” All of the chapters are well done, clearly structured, and will lead you through the whole mixing process from the first beat to the last sound. There are many good examples and a bunch of useful advice. After some basic explanations on the first DVD about tweaking effects and at the end of the second DVD there is a detailed tutorial for the separate parts of an Christian from DDMF, or even Christian Knufinke, the SIR Developer, arrangement: lead vocal, backing would be more than happy to provide vocal, etc, all the parts are included. a demo of their programs and offering So, is the book really necessary? A some kind of discount to Internal few essential things are always better Mixing customers. If that would explained in writing. That's why it is happen, there would be no problem loading all the presets and hearing for better to own the whole tutorial bundle. The audio is in English, yourself how the different set-ups French, Spanish and of course the effect the sound. Likewise, there are also tons of excellent freeware effects original German. There are 90 video around; and I'm sure that developers sequences. All in all, it is almost three hours of material. would be happy to get some free advertising through such a book. Conclusion Since I'm still in the middle of One, two, three all together now: complaining, it can't hurt to mention “Friedeman Tischmayer, you are my that I'd be glad to see a few more best friend. Thanks a million!” Finally, example pictures or screenshots tutorials that representing some of the theoretical actually make a explanations and how they could be difference! solved in practice.

mistakes in the essentials! I've heard some of the advice before, here and there, but now, they are all sorted in a logical order: from panning, through equalisation and compression; from the drum kick to the lead vocal; and they make sense. Some of you are naturals, but I'm not. I'm a good musician but I’ve always had problems with the final mix. And now, I'm finally happy with my final mixes. No, I'm still not a top producer. But, honestly, there is a huge difference between my old mixes and the new mixes. They are wider and cleaner. Despite my lack of experience and natural talent, and the difference in the quality of the effect, the mixes actually sound pretty professional, even in comparison with expensive productions. If you are really good at production, then this book and DVDs will probably not make any difference--I presume that in that case you wouldn't even be reading this article. But, if you have any problems regarding the mixing process, then these tutorials could work wonders on your whole process. Tested on a long sighted dioptre and watched on an old IBM T30 laptop. You can find more info about the book and DVDs at http://www.proworkshops.de

The best thing Except for the above mentioned issues, the book really is very good, is about the book and DVDs are detailed, with easily understood their explicit explanations about equalization, instructions: compression, reverb, delay and the rest of the basics of mastering. All of “Don't do that”, the lessons could be easily applied to “Never use this if you want to do nearly every type of effecte, not just that” and similar the particular ones used in the examples of do’s lessons. All in all, (despite my niggling) Internal Mixing will lead you and don'ts. I've never realized till nicely from the beginning of the now how many mixing process to the sweet end. mistakes I've Despite its imperfections, it is a very made before— good aid to use along with the DVDs. www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Sound Forge 9 by SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE by Ginno Legaspi

Sony Creative Software's Sound Forge has been on the block since the early 90's. It is, undoubtedly, one of the best audio editor applications for the Windows operating platform. Even folks who have switched to Mac OSX platform say they miss working with Sound Forge. They confess that there is just nothing like it. Throughout its almost-20 year history, Sound Forge (SF for short) has grown and flourished significantly into a capable and mature program. And by adding new features in each update/revision, it makes it even more powerful. That's not to say there isn't any stiff competition out there. In fact, there are many. But SF has survived over the years and still has many faithful followers. Because of its simple graphical user interface, dead-easy workflow, and powerful features, lots of modern desktop musicians, producers, sound designers, mastering gurus still swear by it. With version 9, Sony Creative Software has again raised the bar by incorporating a slew of new features, especially multichannel recording, editing and processing. Furthermore,

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

this 'Professional Digital Audio Production Suite' (as Sony dubbed it) now includes Noise Reduction 2, Mastering Effects powered by Izotope, and Sonyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CD Architect 5.2 authoring program, all bundled at no extra cost. Here are some of the highlights of this new version.

MULTICHANNEL FILE PROCESSING The biggest improvement in version 9 is that it is now capable of multichannel recording, editing and processing. When using an audio interface/soundcard with multiple inputs, each audio stream (e.g. Input 1 to Channel 1) can be set to a particular channel and then edited just like a stereo file. By the same token, users now have the luxury to open, edit and save up to 32 tracks, again, just like you would on a stereo file. The new multichannel recording and editing feature in SF9 is ideal for transferring multitracks from analog and hard-disk recorders with multiouts, users of multichannel microphones and preamps, 5.1 multichannel recordings for TV and other broadcast media, etc. This is an awesome addition and I would imagine long time Sound Forge users are rejoicing over this. SF9 opens a wide range of multichannel file formats including Multichannel Microsoft Wave (.wav), Multichannel Video for Windows (.avi), Broadcast Wave (.bwf), Material Exchange Format (.mxf), Dolby AC3 (.ac3), Multichannel Windows Media (.wma,.wmv) and Multichannel ATRAC (.oma, .aa3). For those who need to edit XDCAM (Sony's own camcorder) audio files, you're in luck as SF9 also supports it.

PHASE SCOPE AND MONOCOMPATIBILITY METERING and MULTICHANNEL SPECTRUM ANALYZER The new Phase Scope metering in SF9 helps users monitor files of real-time audio signals to find phase cancellation among the channels in an audio file. There are four meter types which include Lissajous and Plot (XY, rotated, circular or linear). Also, the

new mono-compatibility meter is handy for detecting phase cancellation problem when mixing multitrack files to mono. The Spectrum Analysis tool has also been updated, boasting real-time frequency analysis of mono, stereo, 2.1, quad, 5.1 and 7.1 multichannel files for users to view. The sonogram display has always been my favorite because of its eye-candy appearance.

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Sound Forge 9

DOLBY DIGITAL AC-3 ENCODING

When I auditioned them, I can tell that they are clearly based upon their SF9 can now export multichannel files bigger sibling Ozone's interface and in Dolby Digital AC-3 5.1 surround sound engine. I've tested these plugformat with the AC-3 plug-in. ins on a couple of mixes and various Although the plug-in is sufficient to audio files, and I was impressed with get the job done, note that it does not the results. The Mastering Reverb allow any customization option. If you sounded lush and full when I ran a want to use the full AC-3 Pro plug-in vocal sample thru it. I am also (including full customization options), you can buy the license from within SF9 for $199.95. BUNDLED GOODIES I've always thought that Sound Forge lacked a good set of plug-ins for mastering. And although Wave Hammer, Acoustic Mirror and Multiband Dynamics got the job done, they just didn't have the â&#x20AC;&#x153;wow factor.â&#x20AC;? The new Mastering Effects Bundle changes that and has finally covered my needs completely. It's good to see that Sony has teamed up with Izotope (maker of the popular Ozone mastering plug-in) to bring these quality plug-ins to users. The bundle includes Multiband Compressor, Mastering EQ, Mastering Reverb and IRC Limiter.

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

impressed with the analog-modeled EQ due to its natural sound. Even boosting a few dBs in the higher frequency to my drum loop didn't sound harsh. On the other hand, the dynamic duo of Multiband Compressor (very sexy-looking plug-in, I should say) and IRC Limiter might finally be your one-stop dynamics processors in

Sound Forge. Both are excellent and capable of sounding clean and natural. If you're after that super punchy sound on your mixes, these two plugins have the character to do just that. All in all, these four plug-ins sound musical, look great, and are a welcome addition to an already extensive array of effects included in SF9. Also worth a mention is that these superb DirectX plug-ins are custom designed to work well within SF9. Just like the other effects in Sound Forge, the Mastering Effects Bundle's parameters are fully automatable. The installation discs also come with CD Architect 5.2 authoring software. This was one of the first professional mastering and layout application programs for creating Red Book audio discs. It's still popular to this day and

Sony has updated it to be full Vista compatible. This application costs $149.95 but now comes bundled at no extra cost. Also, included in the package is the Noise Reduction 2 plug-in, another professional set of noise removal plug-ins. I admire Sony for being generous here because these two programs alone are well worth the price of admission.

and process (precisely and uniformly) those multi-samples into a 'multitrack' project and batch process them in one 'go'. SF9 is superb at that. The cropping, editing, looping and processing features have been excellent and easy to use since its early versions. BOTTOM LINE

At $399.95, Sound Forge 9 represents a good value. You get so much for Installation was pretty quick and easy. paying so little. I love the inclusion of I didn't come across any problems at the bundled plug-ins, especially the all when putting the programs to test. Izotope-powered ones. With version 9, Sound Forge 9 is super stable and Sound Forge finally became a reliable. As a sound designer who complete beast for audio relies heavily on sampling, Sound editing/mastering solution. If you Forge gives me the luxury to record haven't bought or upgraded to samplesets (in WAV format) directly version 9, do it now! You'll love it. into the program. And with the new SF9 comes highly recommended. multichannel feature it is easy to edit IN USE

CONTACT: www.sonycreativesoftware.com LIST PRICE: $399.95, $149.95 (upgrade from any previous version) DOCUMENTATION: Printed Quick Start manual, 290-page PDF manual, Keyboard Commands shortcut list card, CD Architect also comes with the same good documentation DEMO: Yes, 30 days to activate SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows Vista, XP or 2000 SP4; 800MHz processor; 150MB disk space for program installation; 256MB RAM, Low-latency Windows-compatible sound card; DVD-ROM and supported CD-Recordable drive (for CD Burning); Microsoft DirectX 9.0c or later (included on DVDROM); Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (included on DVD-ROM) TEST SYSTEM: AMD Athlon64 3400+ 2.4GHz, 1GB RAM, Windows XP SP2, M-Audio Audiophile 2496

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

by Digital Sound Factory by David Keenum

An extensive ethnic percussion, wind, and string refill for a great price

Digital Sound Factory (hereafter referred to as DSF) has a unique place in sampler content companies. As of now, most of their instruments come from the amazing E-MU sampling collection. Their products are available in SoundFont format, as well as Cakewalk’s Dimension format. Recently DSF has started making some products available as Reason’s refills. For more information about DSF and their products, be sure to check out the October 2008 issue of WSM. It contains an interview with Timothy Swartz as well as a review of DSF’s products for Dimension /Dimension LE.

MU’s Emulator sampler. The content is similar to the Old World SoundFont collection, but not identical. Old World is a collection of African melodic and percussion instruments, Chinese and Indian (from India) wind instruments, Russian ethnic string instruments, and steel percussion instruments. The samples were originally used in the Proteus Planet Earth sound module, as well as E-

On a personal level, E-MU sounds, specifically the sounds from the Proteus series, have always had a spot in my musician’s heart. The Proteus 1 was one of my first rack modules, and I used it for almost 10 years. I used it for everything, including the 90’s sine wave hip hop bass. And my go-to piano was the E-MU Proformance 1 piano module. E-MU sounds, for me, were clean and un-hyped. So the idea of bringing those famous E-MU sounds (specifically the Proteus sounds) into my soft-synth, computer-based world has a definite nostalgic appeal. And I was delighted to find that they still sound fresh!

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

Incidentally, Ed Mann, avid world drummer, experimental musician, and one time percussionist for Frank Zappa, was involved in the source recordings for the samples used in the Old World refill. Nice point for credibility!

The refill contains instrument programs for NNXT as well as Combinators. The NNXT programs are divided into folders for African Melodic, African Percussion, Chinese Winds, India Winds, Ireland, Russian Strings, and Steel Percussion. The Combinators are divided into folders for Combos, Effects, Percussion, Strings, and Winds. I want to note that the samplesets are in the SoundFont format. This isn’t a problem, only an interesting note.

First, let me focus on the NNXT programs; so here is the breakdown of the Old World Instruments. The African Melodic sounds focus exclusively on Kalimba/Xylophone/Marimba type sounds, and I am impressed with the variety of choices! Some of the sounds have a limited range – the Balafon has a range of 1½ octaves using only white notes. But some other instruments are stretched to 76 chromatic notes. My favorites in this folder are Bamboo Marimba and West Balafon Oct. Good stuff here.

legato programs to help you construct a realistic sounding Penny Whistle. That said, I’m sure there are plenty of commercial projects using these very samples. The Russian Strings folder contains Balalaika and Balalaika-like instruments. There is one interesting and Shekere, but there are also some really nice jingle/bell sounds. 5 program called Bell Rattles is the first program on the Upright Bass that plays octaves. It list, and I was sold as soon as I started playing with it. It reminds me sounds similar to what I would call an of ankle bells, but it is very clean Upright Bass, and sounding. It would work great as a could sound great shaker or tambourine replacement. as a bass There also a great sounding program replacement. called Little Carillon. It has a rich, tuned cowbell sound, but with a little bit of a chime ring. The Chinese and India Winds folder contain flutes and reeds specific to their respective cultures. I found a couple of interesting pads in the India folder. They were based on flute samples and sounded interesting. And I’ll admit to playing a little bit of the Stairway to Heaven flute part. I know it didn’t sound exactly like the Mellotron recorder sample, but it sounded cool nonetheless.

The Irish folder contains some Penny Whistle, Bazouki, Bodhran, The African and Bones sounds. My favorites Percussion folder were the Bones and Bodhran contains the usual programs. Both will be useful in Djembe, Ashiko, a variety of contexts. The Penny Talking Drum, Djun Whistle points to a limitation of Djun, the sample size in the older samplers and sample players. While I like the sound of the instrument, there are no gliss and www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

The Steel Percussion folder contains, of course, some nice steel pan programs, but that is only the beginning. There are Brazilian Percussion, Toms, Snare Drums, Pandeiro, Cricket (the instrument, not the insect), and Cuica sounds. It also contains a useable Church Bell sound (Big Bells) as well as 6 sets of ChromaBells. The ChromaBells sound a little like tuned metal pipes.

the Combinators provide a Matrix module - or 3 Matrix modules in the Drum Circle Combinator. Jones According to Timothy Swartz, Bones might be my most favorite one of the objectives of the percussion sound of the entire refill. Old World refill was to It is a delightful blend of Bones bring the old world sounds Combo, Djembe Drum, and Brazil forward into a wider Street Dr, and the result is a complex variety of musical styles. drum sound. Besides being accurate and authentic, The Strings and Winds folders are the similar to the percussion folder in that Combinators the layered sounds are similar. But provide the result is less “ethnic” and more hybrid sounds “interesting.” Plinker, from the Strings that will be folder, is a simple setting of the suitable for Plinker NNXT program, with delay and electronica, house, reverb. But the effects bring out the urban, and other modern best of the sound. styles. The combos folder provides those hybrid-blended sounds. It was interesting to me that those flute sounds that I questioned are put to good use in the Combos folder. My favorite was Stringed Pipe, a blend of Dizi 2, Irish Bazouki 3, and Balalala, with effects added. The effects folder is more atmospheric in nature. My pick was Metallic Passion, a chromatic metallic sound featuring Little Carillon, Big Toy Piano, and Tuning Again. The Percussion folder is mainly layered percussion, but most of

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

How do these samples sound? Well, besides great, they sound like E-MU samples! The sound is clean and detailed, and a little dry. When you audition the NNXT programs, it might be best to load a RV7000 or two. A little reverb – or at least some ambience – will help the sounds. This is not meant as a criticism. Dry sounds give you more options for effects, but we rarely hear dry samples now. Of course the Combinator patches have the effects included, and they highlight Reason’s ability to easily build complex sounds.

My favorite sounds were the mallet percussion, followed by the African, Steel, and Ireland percussion. A lot of the string sounds have a similar sound – I’m assuming this has to do with the source instruments sounding similar – but they sound good. The winds were not my favorite. I like them, but I had a hard time getting convincing parts. This may be because I play and program flute parts so poorly (guilty), and it may also have something to do with my comparing these samples to larger, more specific libraries. But even if you don’t like the flutes, there is so much to like. And at $49.00 (us) the price is right.

Old World refill by Digital Sound Factory– a set of percussion, string, and wind instruments from around the world. Developer: Digital Sound Factory (http://www.digitalsoundfactory.com/) Distributer: Propellerheads Software (http://www.propellerheads.se/) Direct Link: https://www.propellerheads.se/shop/ind ex.cfm?fuseaction=product_detail&ID=1 0402&Cat=4200 Information: info@digitalsoundfactory.com Formats: Reason Refill – also available as individual SoundFont downloads from Digital Sound Factory Price: download for $49.95 Test Computer: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM, Windows XP Pro SP 3, Echo MiaMIDI Audio Card

DSF also offers a cool free refill on the Props website. The Digital Sound Factory E-MU Rack is available here at http://line6.com/club/promos/655/ and then register or log in. This refill will give you a great idea of the sounds DSF offers. I think you’ll be impressed.

If you are a fan of world sounds, or if you are looking for some new and unusual sounds for your music, this collection is worth a serious look. And when I think about how much a Planet Earth module cost “back in the day,” $49.00 is a steal!

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Dangerous Bear’s

Prometheus X

“Times, they are a changin” or “The more things change, the more they stay the same” by David Keenum 60

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

Prometheus VST with a new, smaller, There are 18 Bass presets, and if you are a synth bass fan, you should be downloadable soundset of 900 happy. The presets are useable, megabytes of all-new samples.” I functional synth bass sounds. asked John Gibson about this and he replied, "There are six soundsets There are 5 drum (DRM) presets. taken from Prometheus Pro's library which include the three electric pianos Okay, they won't replace your BFD, (one of which is a Wurlie), an electric but we all want more drum sounds, don't we? And these work. My grand piano (Piano 102), Scorpio favorite was DRM-Down-N-Dirty. It is Tiger Percussion (or ST Percussion) all that! LoFi groovyness! and Kitchen Gamelan. All the rest of the samples have never been There are 27 keyboard presets. The published before, and some were organ presets, for the most part, created specifically for the ProX sound like organs. And there is a project." pretty good variety of organ sounds. You know, all that matters is But the other keyboard sounds, with a couple of exceptions, don't sound how it sounds and will it like any keyboards I've played. Don't Dangerous Bear has work in your music. get me wrong, they sound cool: supported Wusikstation unique, sometimes unusual, and for a good while. So let’s look at that. definitely cool. There is a funky Electric Piano preset that sounds a But before I break down the library little like a cross between a Wurlie They were one of the first developers into its different categories, let me and a RMI – both pluses in my to license the Wusikstation engine, say that Prometheus X sounds like… opinion. and I believe they are the first to like… well, it sounds cool. As I support Wusikstation 5’s newfound There are 10 lead (LED) presets. ability to use .sfz files. And the sound auditioned the sounds I kept writing the word “cool.” I can’t use “cool” as LED-Space Lady Lead-dk is a "funky designers for Prometheus X are John my only description… but I want to. worm"-like sound with portamento Gibson and Daniel Kemp. These two I’ll try to not let the word sink in too and delay and reverb for an preset designers are well known in often, but I do want to issue a “cool” interesting atmosphere behind the “Wusikland.” So I was really sound. LED-Voyages Lead-dk is interested in getting my hands on the alert. typical, though not exclusive, of the Prometheus X library. Let me tell you The Presets – or in the words of lead presets. It sounds analog in what I found. origin with some tasteful portamento. James Brown, “Give me the breakdown!” All in all, the lead sounds are what I Prometheus X comes as a look for in lead sounds. I can play a Wusikstation-based There are 14 atmosphere (ATM) solo with them, be it Lucky Man over instrument and as a library presets. I would describe them as a funky groove! deep, rich, and sometimes foreboding. for Wusikstation. ATM-Mandarin was one of my There are 46 pad presets, favorites. It is also one of the simpler Prometheus X is kinda like a little and they are coolnice! atmospheres, with an anvil-like sound brother to DB’s Prometheus Pro VST. at the beginning, followed by a stringI say kinda because Prometheus X’s There are a number of presets that like sound. It's more complex than samples are new, but I’m guessing would work well in the Jarre Tribute that, but you get the idea. that the sounds are in the same vein. band. Don't get me wrong. There DB puts it this way: “The power of the are some "ordinary" pads as well. I heard about Dangerous Bear Underground soon after I bought Wusikstation. They are one of an impressive number of sound content provider companies I have found on the internet and through forums like kvraudio. Great sounds at great prices. One of my favorite things about these companies is that they don’t feel constrained to give us “standard fare” sounds. They seem to want to set themselves apart with unique sounds. I believe this describes Dangerous Bear. Maybe that has something to do with why they picked “danger” for part of their name.

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Dangerous Bear’s

Prometheus X

Prometheus X VSTi and library – 900 megabytes of the kind of samples that made Dangerous Bear famous. Creator and Distributor: Dangerous Bear Underground Web-site: http://www.dangerousbear.com/instruments.html Price: $60 VST, $30 Library Only Format: Wusikstation 5.6.8 or higher Test Computer: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM, Windows XP Pro SP 3, Echo MiaMIDI Audio Card

You know, string pads, buzzy pads, and analog-like pads. But pads like PAD-Pad 330, PAD-A Quiet Place, and PAD-Distant-dk sound Jarre-licious to me!

downright sinister. But many of them would fit into one of those 70s synth creations… and I like that.

Conclusions There are 4 percussion presets, and most have a “found-sound” theme. One of the presets contains drum, tambourine, and shaker sounds, but pots and pans are more the fair. And I must say that the “found sounds” are interesting.

There are 12 Rhythm presets. Only 12, but a very cool 12! There is 1 Sequencer preset and 3 Special Effect presets, but the icing on the cake is the 21 synthesizer presets. To me they follow the same theme as the pads – they have a synthesizer sound about them. They have a Jarre/Vangelis quality – not that they quote Jarre or Vangelis, but they catch the sound. Now not all the synth sounds are like this - some are

Wusik Sound Magazine

Earlier, I stated that “all that matters is how it sounds and will it work in your music.” Well,

Prometheus X sounds unique and varied. It’s not an ambient set of sounds, although you could use the atmospheres, pads, and synth presets in ambient. Heck, I think the keyboard and percussion sounds would work in ambient if you look at it in a broad context. The bass sounds are analog-ish and sometimes funky. And the lead, pad and synth sounds were my favorites. I guess it’s obvious that they appealed to me because they

December 2008

reminded me of the “classic” synth era. To me that is the 70s. You may be a decade or so off. But they would work in modern compositions as well, so I wouldn’t want to “pigeonhole” them. If you’re interested, listen to the audio demos and download the Prometheus Free demo. And the price is right. I’m guessing that most people who read this already own Wusikstation, so the price for you is only $30. Not bad. And it sounds cool!

More Goodness from

by Trusty Ensoniq CDR Bundle Proteus VX/X - Emulator X$199.00

A wee bit pricey at $199.00 for 1198 patches that register in at a little over a gig; but Digital Sound Factory is great about having sales going on all the time; and hopefully you can catch them at the right time; for this is a must have for any Pop, Hip-Hop, or RnB producer out there. These are patches that can hold up year in and year out; and always a welcome addition to any arsenal. This collection is also divided into four individual sets that are available at $59.95 a piece, so getting them over time is a good option as well.

These are those sounds heard on countless records. Seriously, the ones that the typical hobbyist producer has heard and thought about all the awesome tracks they could make if only those sounds were available in their own arsenal. These are the sounds many feared would only be locked to the Timbaland Niko/Meko in their revival. Well, here they are, finally available to anyone who wants them; and they sound better than Ensoniq MR SoundFont ever: the basses sit very well in any mix; the strings have loads and loads of character; the synths have a This is a fun collection of sounds. To memory lane feel to them; and the brass patches are very good--which is those that remember, this was that wonderful mix of sounds with an a nice change of pace from many emphasis on urban instruments and sound libraries as these don't make you cringe. Some standouts are: the world percussion instruments. If anyone is looking for a set of patches very usable distorted guitar patches; as well as the vox and effects patches to bring that Golden Era of Hip-Hop goodness to their productions; which bring lots of fun to the table. whether they be Hip-Hop productions The keys, organs, percussion, and or not (any genre can benefit for that woodwinds all sound great, as well. matter); because this is a one-stop set of the finest. At $49.95, it is a This really is a great collection of bread and butter sounds that have an no-brainer as well. It has all the charm and character you remember, edge over more recent software and and to those young musicians who hardware rompler collections. That edge is the sonic character and punch have never heard them first hand, this set contains an outstanding that went into the original recording of these samples. The drum kits have foundation of sounds that fed the inspiration of those later modules you that thump that many producers may have heard of. Still, these crave, and the drum loops are still worth a listen for their old school feel. sounds don't just add the Old School Hip-Hop heads that get this collection sound just for the sake of it. The World Instruments here are still will see why the ASR-10 is still a among the best of any collection; and coveted piece of hardware.

the Urban Dance sounds still beg to be tweaked and used in new ways on more modern style productions. Given the flexibility and tweakability of modern software samplers, the possibilities remain endless.

Ensoniq ZR SoundFont The now discontinued E-Mu rack modules have one expansion card that is hard to find. When it can be found, on the second-hand market, it will usually fetch a higher price than many of the actual modules themselves. That ROM, of course, is the Sounds of the ZR expansion card. Originally shipping with the Ensoniq ZR76, then as the aforementioned expansion card, and afterward as an E-Mu keyboard as well; these sounds can now be available to all with this collection for $49.95. To be sure, you will hear why these sounds are still sought after. The pianos, the drums, electric keyboard sounds, percussion and FX sounds are definitely still standouts. They hold up better than many new ROMpler software collections available today that take up to five or six times the amount of hard drive space, and at a better price. The only thing that takes away from this collection is the rather bland GM sound set, but that really matters little. These sounds, at this price, are definite keepers for anyone in the market for some great sounding lightweight (on the hard drive) patches for use in any style production.

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Total Guitar and Bass Bundle

Total Guitar and Bass Bundle IK Multimedia by A. Arsov

Dreams come alive

A Walk-in Closet For Your Guitar Needs My wife and I watched the “Sex In The City” movie. To make a long story short, the main man character bought a flat for the main lady character and she was really touched when she saw a big, big walk-in closet for her shoes and other ladies' stuff. I have to say, my wife was really touched too when she saw it. She just said “You see, that's what a women wants! I want it too!” To tell the truth, I didn't understand her need regarding walkin closets until I saw the IK Total Guitar and Bass Bundle. Now I know: “I want it. I want it badly.” What else would you expect me to say. Maybe:

Wusik Sound Magazine

“I already have Amplitude Lite and I don't need anything else.” Come on!!! Just try to imagine you go to the isolated island. They present you with four marvellous naked ladies. You know the details, one with a black hair, one blonde, one brunette and one with a red hair. So which one would you choose to go with you into solitude? In your dreams, all of them. But in reality it could easily happen that you end up with your mother in law, performing a brainwashing while screaming: “If she hadn't married you, that would have never happened.” So my dear readers, do not share with me my little private nightmare at the moment and talk how it would be if ...

December 2008

IK Multimedia decided to join all their guitar products in one big guitar bundle, selling it at a reduced price. For less money you get them all: black amp, blonde amp, brunette amp, and red amp along with plenty of stomp clothes to dress them as they were Barbie dolls (dear ladies, substitute Ken for Barbie ) They made a walk-in closet for covering all your guitar needs. So, it looks like the guitar world is changing again. Back in 70's we got permanent waves and st now at the end of first decade of 21 century we got guitar walk-in closet. That is something which I call the emancipation.

The presentation of a perfection Is that bad? Regarding the permanent wave, yes. But if we talk about the amplitude revolution, no. The amplitude range of amps is one of the best things that has happened in the guitar world during the last decade. Bright sounding, pretty stable on cpu (considering the competition) and versatilities of included amps, preamps, stomp boxes and other effects, make Total Guitar and Bass Bundle one of the best guitar recording solutions so far. It is nearly perfect. I said nearly just because, there are a zillion various presets included without containing a single preset for acoustic guitar. I asked IK about that and they promised that they will fix it within the next upgrade. The second thing that bothers me is a preset incompatibility with older versions of Amplitube. I understand that IK are "wizo" fellows who rewrote a whole code for version 2 but I'm not so sure it was really impossible to implement this feature. Aside from this, everything else is just perfect.

It is a collection which contain a full range of IK amp models: Amplitude 2- guitar amp, Amplitude SVX – bass amp, Amplitude Jimmy Hendrix – vintage amp, Amplitude Metal – hi gain amp and Amplitude X Gear – expandable rig. All in all, 2 tuners, 51 stomp effects, 26 amps and 11 power models, 33 cabinets along with 11 microphones and 23 rack effects. All those things can be matched and freely combined to find a desired sound. Guitar players can be really picky about details, but while browsing through the included presets it was hard to find room for complaining. Before I got the bundle I was a bit suspicious about the metal amp. I thought that it is not possible to emulate the powerful sound of hi gain amps. But it happened that Amplitube Metal became one of my favourite amps. I also tried SVX with my vintage bass guitar and was very pleased with results. Whether or not you are a Hendrix fan, Jimmy Hendrix amp has a few really adorable combinations and some presets are simply unbeatably enjoyable. While Amplitube 2 is one of the best guitar workhorses in a virtual guitar world.

Overall, it is a walk-in closet made to spend a whole lifetime in. After spending plenty of hours playing my guitar through those amps, even my wife started to suspect that it was maybe not just a matter of testing it for reviewing purposes. All included amps sound realistic and all included effects are excellent. If you have a bit of experience from using hardware, then setting a desired sound takes a matter of minutes. The only thing that should bother you is a endless number of combinations. There are almost too many choices and decisions – but it is o.k. At least you can finaly find your own sound. I love the amplitude rack of amps, but real fun begins with bunch of included effects. A plentitude of choruses, delays, screamers, fuzz and distortion effects, along with octavers, wah-wahs, gates, flangers, and all other fruits and beans. And the thing I like most is that all effects sound as a guitar effect should sound. There was a time in the past when I had big problem finding a delay to substitute for the one from my old Line6 Pod 2. Not every delay is a good guitar delay, same for all other effects. So having a good preamp is just a first step toward building a good guitar sound.

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Total Guitar and Bass Bundle

Details There will be no details. Too much of a good thing can hurt you. Anyway, all the amps sound good cutting through the mix, and you'll need a big imagination to find some amp model or effect simulation that should be included but it isn't. Thanks to Zeus for the Amplitude Xgear, a common interface intended for combining effects, preamps, speaker

Wusik Sound Magazine

cabinets, and all other things from one amp to another. Let's say you open Amplitube Metal with Xgear. Now Amplitude Metal is your main amp but all other goodies from all other amp models can be implemented with this particular amp. I found some really good and weird combinations using preamps from Amplitude Metal combined with effects from the Amplitude Jimmy edition. The only limit is your imagination.

December 2008

Tweak, tweak, gui, gui Pure joy. All the amplitude line of products is so nicely designed that you should be really proud of your walk-in closet. O.k. the wooden-floorlike background in the stomp section is not a peak aesthetic experience, but included stomp effects look pretty sexy, so you just need to fill the stomp section and everything will be just perfect. Otherwise the whole

graphical interface is clear, nice, and sexy with all the essential things reachable with the touch of the mouse button. One click will bring you a tuner, stomp, amp, cab or rack section. Browsing through the presets is also a breeze.

Cons and Roll If you are owner of a recording studio or if you are just a recording guitarist or a producer, then Total Guitar and Bass Bundle is a perfect solution for expanding the sound arsenal adding a neat colour to your sounds in a home or professional studio. If your synth lines sound lifeless or if you simply need two different sounding guitars, then you maybe really don't need the whole bundle. But the problem is, all included amps sound different â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in a good way. Before I got it, I thought that most of them wouldl sound alike with just few additional small differences. I was pleasantly surprised with the individual character of every

IK Multimedia Total Guitar and Bass Bundle comes in all shapes. PC, MAC, Vst, Rtas, Audio units. Price: 379.99 EUR or 499.99 USD More info: http://www.ikmultimedia.com/totalgu itarbass/

amp. Jimmy sounds distinctly different than Metal and same with Amplitube 2 and SWX. So you can maybe live happily ever after with just one of them. But which one to choose? Black, brunette, red, or blonde? Or get all four of them for a Pros: reduced price? I think it is a nice offer. Custom amps building Innit? Pretty stable on CPU Quality and versatility of all elements So, it is up to you, my dear reader. I Sharp sounding will continue my life on a guitar island without my mother-in-law, only with Cons: all of the four of my favourite amps. Backward incompatibilities with You maybe really don't need to share Amplitude 1 my nightmares, but I invite you to No presets for acoustic guitar (will be share my dreams. fixed with another upgrade)

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Sitar Nation

by Per Lichtman

Sitar Nation is an ethnic instrument Before diving into the instruments close mics have a bit more bite that library for Kontakt owners from themselves, I need to make special allows them to cut through a mix, Impact Soundworks. Neither a loop note of the excellent manual. It is one especially with the use of effective colection, nor a sampling of of the most useful, well-constructed compression and EQ; more so, than instruments from around the world, it manuals included with any sample the room mics, which have a more instead focuses on four Indian library to date and goes far beyond rounded tone. Both sets lend instruments (sitar, tambura, tabla those included with most other ethnic themselves equally well to using and baya) and takes them further libraries. It shows the classical additional reverb. The samples have a than any library before. The 2.7GB of notation for each of the sitar phrases quality of "naturalness" and "ease" content consists almost entirely of and ornaments sampled, suggests that makes them easy to place in a unlocked--completely editable-usage for each patch, tells the key mix and encourages the player to Kontakt patches and multis; and each range for each instrument or really perform with them instead of of the four instruments is provided in articulation, and explains every simply employing them as effects. three categories: close, room and keyswitch used on the sitar. It also This is further enhanced by the patch ambient. The first two are gives the key range and traditional design. independent mic positions, while the name for each drum hit and an third makes use of Kontakt FX to let explanation of how the articulation is Sitar Nation set a new standard for the user add distance to the room obtained (e.g. muted palm stroke vs. ease of use and patch design in ethnic samples with a single knob. Each of open hit). It even mentions the sample libraries. Arguably, the the above categories contains 16 number of velocity layers and round biggest stars of the show are the patches and 2 multis. There is also an robin variations, where appropriate, tabla and baya-- often collectively FX folder containing 15 instruments for each patch. The final section referred to as tablas. In lieu of and 2 multis that are difficult to features notes on the recording mapping phrases and ornaments, categorize, containing everything sessions; which were conducted at 96 several MIDI files are included for from "melodic tabla" to many kHz and downsampled for use in the each percussion instrument, with both decidedly synthetic timbres, including library. The only things missing are "straight" and "groove" beats. The various drones, chimes and pictures of the instruments, tabla and baya can each be loaded workstation style sounds. The final performers and developers separately or in a combined patch. elements are a small collection of themselves. The combined patch has independent MIDI files for the drums and a manual pan controls for each drum and uses in PDF format. The sound quality is unexpectedly the same mapping for each drum as high class from a new developer. The the individual instrument patches do.

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

Sitar Nation by Impact Soundworks Price: MSRP $119 U.S. at time of writing. Available for download and purchase at www.impactsoundworks.com No playable demo available at time of writing. Format: 2.7 GB Kontakt library with unlocked 24 bit / 44.1khz waveforms (that can be exported to other samplers) and PDF manual. Content: Completely open/editable Kontakt files with waveform access. System Requirments: The full version of Native Instruments Kontakt (version 2.2.4 or later), currently available for Windows and OS X. Copy Protection: None.

Out of the many sampled tablas that to the key range above. The "Sitar All" I've used over the years, these are multi loads several additional the first that seem to have been truly articulations to subsequent MIDI designed with the player in mind. channels; including the key-switched Instead of using armies of phrases explained in the manual. keyswitches or pre-scripted ornaments, the 5 to 7 articulations for The single patch for the tambura each drum (clearly detailed in the offers the simplest programming out manual) are quick to learn and easy of all the instruments. This makes to perform. The attention to detail in sense for a patch designed as a drone. real world usage is apparent at each The instrument's rich harmonics let stage; from the way each hit is the close miked version sit up front in mapped to at least two keys and a mix (even in its lowest register) and round robin scripting is employed so lend the instrument an air of mystery that rolls can be performed more in the room miking. easily; to the effective velocity switching and elegant sample The FX category is a real wild card for mapping. The patch design is so an ethnic instrument library--likely to effective that it has inspired me to remain unused by purists; but an re-program my older ethnic libraries unexpected bonus for the more to emulate it. creatively inclined. It includes some highly unusual timbres; and while The sitar has the most patches of any several can trace a path back to the of the instruments sampled and four sampled instruments, most are accounts for both multis in the close, better thought of as synthesizer room and ambient folders. The "Sitar sounds. The 15 instruments are of a Main" multi is a great starting point; consistently high quality, are varied in including release tails, and allowing content, and many provide timbres you to switch between sustains and that would seem at home in a sound mordents with the mod wheel; and design library; or with synths like with the sitar's chikari strings mapped Omnisphere or Alchemy. In short, it

broadens the appeal of an otherwise acoustic library. If I were to nitpick, I would say that I wish they had included more instruments such as the sarangi or bansuri; and that there were pictures of the instrumentalists, or at least the instruments themselves. But, that might be missing the point: the library takes a small selection of instruments and just plain nails them. At a price of $119 U.S. by download, Sitar Nation is not only one of the best ethnic instrument libraries available but also one of the cheapest. Early adopters get an even better deal with the introductory price of $99. With its unique sound and patch design, Sitar Nation can not only stand on its own, but can also effectively compliment other ethnic libraries. Impact Soundworks have a bright future in sample libraries. Sitar Nation may only be their second library, but it has set the bar for all future Indian instrument libraries to live up to.

Test System A: Windows XP Pro SP 2, P4 (single core) 3.2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Host: Xlutop Chainer, Jeskola Buzz 2008, Cockos Reaper 2 (evaluation version), Cakewalk Sonar 7 PE. Test System B: OS X Tiger 10.4.9, Dual G5 2.5 GHz, 2.5 GB RAM, Digidesign 003 Rack Factory Host: Pro Tools LE 7.3 www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Sample&Sound Libraries by Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi

Sample Magic Minimal + Tech House

that - a library with an attitude, yet spot-on to the genre's distinct sound.

You may ask, 'What constitutes a good house sample library?" For me, the material has to have an awful lot of brilliantly programmed drum loops. Sparse or complex, the patterns have to have kicks that are deep and tight, bass loops that jam rhythmically to provide a solid foundation to build other sounds on, and synth samples that sound interesting. Sample Magic's Minimal & Tech-House is just

Minimal & Tech-House continues Sample Magic's tradition of releasing award-winning high-quality products. It is an absolutely fantastic library that many producers will find useful. Produced by Sharooz Raoofi, the loops and samples on M&TH sound great, fresh and useable. You'll find a wide range of sounds specific for minimal house production but the samples/loops themselves can also easily fit into other electronic genre. Featuring 800MB+ of 44.1kHz/24bit samples, you'll find plenty of woofer-shattering kicks, cool bass sounds and inspiring synth loops along with processed vocal and EFX sounds. Format delivery comes in Apple Aiff Loops, WAV, Stylus RMX compatible REX files, and patches for samplers such as EXS24, Reason's NNXT, HALion and Kontakt. Like other Sample Magic libraries, Minimal & TechHouse's samples and loops are neatly organized by instrument types, such as Bass, Combi (combination of loops), Drum Hits, FX, Music, (some melodic loops)

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

Synth, Tops and Vox. And each instrument loop folder has subfolders of 125, 127 and 130bpms indicating their tempo ranges. Bottomline: Minimal & Tech House is a sizzling release from Sample Magic. This DVD + CD multipack is a good collection if you want to invest in a useful sampling material. Although I've seen and heard so many house sample libraries, you can’t go wrong with adding Minimal & Tech-House to your arsenal. Given that the producers have vast experience in this genre, it is no surprise that the sounds are accurately “right-on-themoney.” CONTACTS: www.samplemagic.com www.soundstosample.com FORMAT: - 2.41GB DVD/CD multipack (3287 files) - 44.1khz/24Bit WAVs (800MB, 974 files) - Stylus RMX compatible Rex files (347MB, 705 files) - Apple Loops (706MB, 704 files) - EXS24, Reason, Kontakt and Halion patches - An audio CD is included for auditioning LIST PRICE: - £59.95 including VAT with free shipping - Download for only £42.95

Sony Creative Software Rondo Brothers: Trip-Hop Loops & Samples Sony Creative Software's Rondo Brothers Seven Minutes to Midnight: TripHop Loops & Samples is unlike any other sample library I have reviewed before. I've reviewed so many libraries in the past, but this one is unique. The content contains ALL the loops and samples extracted from their full-length May 2007 CD release 'Seven Minutes To Midnight'. Meaning, the entire original session file of the album was broken out to sequences, loops and one-shots and released as a library. After all the samples were gathered, further editing and assembly was done by Leo Cavallo. Seven Minutes to Midnight is an ACID WAV loops format sample library suitable for trip-hop and hip-hop production. This 555MB library is packed with good sounds ranging from groovy drum loops to fat basses. It contains 17 "construction kit-type" folders that correlate to songs of 'Seven Minutes to Midnight'. The loops play well together and are useful for either remixing the existing songs or using them as a basis for your new production. After some auditioning, I find the drum loops fresh-sounding, although some sound similar to each other. Whether using Seven Minutes to Midnight to augment your existing tracks or just messing with the samples for remixing purposes, either

for the job, placement of and micing the speaker cabinets, mix & matching various amplifiers for the song, and so on and so forth. That’s why I rely Bottomline: A great on samples in my compositions. selection of loops. If Sample libraries are the answer to my you want to take a crack at remixing The guitar sound needs. No more dirty guitar recording work for me. I want Rondo Brothers for fun, the original sound to focus on writing music. files should help you Toxic Guitar Vol. 1 is a guitar sample out tremendously. library produced by Chereo Music. It Plus, the inclusion of was recorded at their own facility the full-length album using an assortment of guitars and (as a bonus) makes Marshall amplification, along with this library a worthy unconventional recording tricks buy. employed in the studio. “Heavy” is the name of the game for this sample CONTACT: www.sonycreativesoft DVD, so expect full-blasting samples from the six-stringed instrument. ware.com These are not for the wimpy either, as the library is comprised of fast guitar FORMAT: riffs, powerful heavy chords and - Royalty-free ACID various playing styles that would WAV, 44.1khz-16Bit make your granny yell: “Turn that WAVs (555MB, 581 down.” files) - Includes free limited edition of As the name suggests, Toxic Guitar is 'Seven Minutes to Midnight' album - Compatible with programs such as one screaming library, chock full of poisonous guitar sounds. Although its Live, Cubase, Sonar, GarageBand 2, cover suggests it's geared towards Logic and Soundtrack the styles of Electro, Breakbeat and LIST PRICE: DnB; I find it more $59.95 appropriate for Nu Metal, Hard Rock and Progressive Best Service Rock Toxic Guitars Vol.1 productions. This library is Guitars, in general, can be available in 3 a pain in the neck to record. different audio The process of getting good formats: WAV, guitar sounds can AIFF Apple sometimes be daunting. It loops and Rex2 all involves many years of files. There are experience in the studio 91 folders in and uncanny skills in each audio capturing that special “tone” format, for that special including the performance. Not to demo song. mention setting up the Each folder appropriate microphones way, you can't go wrong with this library.

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Sample&Sound Libraries

gives you 3 different sets of samples. All 3 sample sets sound the same, but different processing has been applied to each folder. So you have samples called Phat, Destroyed and Filtered along with tempo and key information. Tempo ranges from 80bpm to 160bpm. When I auditioned Toxic Guitar, I noticed that most samples are played and recorded in 8 bars or longer. The samples sound very mechanical, but in a good way. Some of my favorites are in the 'DripDrop' folder which features FX guitar samples that are good for adding FXtype sounds to any composition. And the stand outs for me include the 'Rooaar', 'Saint Jimmy' and the 'Sick Lickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; folders. They are tastefully done and good for intros or for rhythm parts. CONTACTS: www.soundsonline.com www.bestservice.de FORMAT: - WAV files, Aiff Apple Loops, Rex2 files - 44.1khz/24bit LIST PRICE: $130.00

XLN Audio AD Retro AD PAK for Addictive Drums When XLN Audio updated their virtual instrument called Addictive Drums to v1.01, I knew it wasn't just for minor tweaks, fixes and program stability. Although those are important updates for any software program to be useable, the best thing that this update offered was to make Addictive Drums an expandable instrument. 72

Wusik Sound Magazine

With its already huge palette of sounds, the AD Retro PAK makes Addictive Drums even more enormous in terms of sound/sample content. AD Retro is the first library released by XLN Audio as an expansion product for Addictive Drums. It consists of three meticulously sampled Ludwig drum kits, representing some of the most used drum sounds of the 60's and 70's. The kits were recorded at a spacious recording studio in Stockholm called 'Studios 301'. The XLN team selected this studio primarily because of the 'rich ambience' of its rooms. All the kits sound great and each has its own distinct sound. The Ludwig Black Oyster 60's Vintage is good for genuine retro pop. Think Beatles, Detroit Motown and psychedelic pop. This medium size kit uses a 20"x16" bass drum that has a 'light' sound to it. The Blue Oyster Vintage kits are geared for that Heavy Rock style. It has a rather bigger 26"x14" kick for that thunderous tone. This kit is setup to capture John Bonham's drum sounds of the 70's just browse thru the presets and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll know what I mean. The last kit in this collection is the Vistalite 70's Vintage. The acrylic Vistalite became popular in the 70's because of their slick look. They were used

December 2008

by countless famous artists such as Keith Moon and Bonham. Sound-wise, it has a fast attack and a lengthier, clear sustain. This kit is great for Rock productions, also. Also worthy of mention is that AD Retro comes with a healthy selection of presets that rely on Addictive Drum's built-in effects. The starter presets are good, but the fun begins when you start tweaking the kits. AD Retro also comes with over 1000 midi files of grooves, fills, and beats to get you started with your retro-sounding productions. CONTACTS: www.xlnaudio.com LIST PRICE: $149.95

Zero-G Classic Disco During the 70's and early 80's music was dominated by groovy funk and

hot disco music. People were having fun on the dance floor everywhere this type of music was played. Bellbottomed pants, glittery tops and huge afros were the latest fads in those days. Yes, disco was always in the charts and was king on the dance floor as well as the airwaves. Classic Disco from Zero-G tries to recreate the vibe and sound of the 70's and early 80's. It's a library created by producer and multiinstrumentalist Davo Devcic aka D3. All the instruments were played by Devcic himself along with the vocal talents of Andrea C. and Mirza T. from Zagreb, Croatia. Classic Disco is a huge 1.6GB collection of authentic classic disco loops, consisting mainly of 35 construction kits with tempos ranging from 107 to 125bpm. Each folder in the construction kits includes full-mix, bass, keys, drums, percussion, strings and piano loops. The library also has separate folders for bass and guitar, eighties drums machine (Linn drum), percussion, piano and vocal chant loops. All were recorded in pristine 44.1khz/24-bit audio. The samples sound very polished. When you inject them into your own productions, little processing is required to fit them in the mix. I wish there were more percussion loops offered since I find these to be the most useful. Overall, the whole library does not disappoint. I'm sure Classic Disco will make its way into the hands of many producers who are craving these types of dance sounds. CONTACTS: www.soundsonline.com www.zero-g.co.uk FORMAT: - Over 700 samples and 1.6GB of multi-format on DVD - 44.1kHz/24Bit - Acid WAV, AIFF Apple Loops, Stylus RMX Rex2 and patches for

Reason NNXT, NI Kontakt and Logic EXS24 LIST PRICE: $159.94, ÂŁ79.95 GBP

Best Service Hardstyle Samples Vol. 2

Hardstyle Samples Vol. 2 from Best Service is the second library produced by Blutonium Boy and DJ Neo. It is, as the title suggests, geared for producers who are into Hardstyle, Hardcore, Jumpstyle and Oldskool Techno. This new library has a massive 1.2GB of new content. Additionally, you will also get all of the original Hardstyle Vol. 1 CD as a bonus. Not bad.

I admire Best Service for being generous here. This new collection includes 500 effected vocals, drum loops, stabs+hits, efx sounds, Reason NNXT patches and lots of one-shot bass kicks. When I auditioned the samples using Sound Forge 9 under the 'FX ' folders, I noticed that most of the sounds are drenched in reverb especially the Explosion sounds. Even the Stabs are dipped in 'verb. These sounds I think are useable for intro and transitions within sections of a song. The drum loops are nothing special. In fact, they sound the same. With the huge amount of single hit samples, I suggest that you load up these samples in your sample player software and program your own grooves. You do get high quality and useable hard kicks, basses and strangely-processed noise samples with this library--if that's what you're cravin'. In my opinion, the solid, banging, one-shot samples are the strength of this library along with the inclusion of the Vol. 1 samples. Overall, this library is not for the faint of heart.

CONTACTS: www.soundsonline.com www.bestservice.de FORMAT: - Acid WAV files, Rex2 files and Reason ReFill - 44.1khz/16bit stereo LIST PRICE: - $130

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Sample&Sound Libraries

blend altogether. I find these loops rather useful for thickening up anemic drum parts, and fantastic for augmenting programmed Techno beats.

Zero-G Carnival Drums: The Spirit of Brazil Ahh...Brazil, the land of diverse people and rich culture. It's the world’s biggest producer of sugar cane and a country crazy about their favorite sport of futbol (soccer). There are many things Brazil is widely known for, like, the gigantic Christ the Redeemer statue, the Amazon Rainforest and the festival of Carnival. The latter is very interesting because it is considered as one of the greatest shows on earth. Held annually, the Brazilian Carnival is celebrated throughout many parts of the country. But the most popular one is just outside Rio de Janeiro where spectacular costumes and drum-dominated vibrant music fill the streets. If you've ever wanted to sample the whole Carnival experience but can't fly to Brazil, no problem. Zero-G has done everything for you. They've hired 10 Brazilian percussionists and recorded their performance using close, overhead and room mic techniques. The result is Carnival Drums: Spirit of Brazil - a library that captures the power and atmosphere of the baterias of Rio. This multiformat library offers 1.4GB of samples. There are 1400 loops to play with; and more than 600 single drum hits included that I would call pure Brazilian energy. All are recorded in different mic positions. The audio loops (Acid Wav, Apple AIFF and Rex2) are organized into two-folder groups, the Full Ensemble Mixes and Individual Parts. The Full Ensemble Mixes folder contains loops that feature different types of drums being played together in a full ensemble arrangement (ala unison). What you'll get is a thick sound coming from a body of 74

Wusik Sound Magazine

Bottomline: Whether you’re looking for ethnic one-shot samples or the huge loops included here, one thing is for sure: Carnival Drums is truly an excellent library that has 'street beat' credibility. In my opinion, the collection doesn't just deliver, it goes way beyond my expectations. The content is full of dramatic, lively and authentic sounds. It's guaranteed to move you and give energy to your compositions. If you need to sprinkle your productions with percussion loops, Carnival Drums is hard to beat. CONTACTS: www.soundsonline.com www.zero-g.co.uk

excellent percussion instruments. The loops sound powerfully great and should be useful in any production situation.

FORMAT: - WAV, Acid WAV, AIFF Apple loops, Rex2, - NI Kontakt 2, Logic EXS24, Reason NNXT and Halion sampler patches. - 44.1khz/24bit Stereo

While the Full Ensemble Mixes has LIST PRICE: loops with different mic positions to - $159.94, £79.95 choose from, the Individual Parts folder contains loops of one particular type of percussion. It has 8 subfolders of Agogo, Caixa, Pandeiro, Repinique, Surdo de Corte, Surdo de Primiera e Digital Sound Factory Segunda, E-MU Vintage Tamborim Pro ReFill: Keys and Timbal from the 60's, loops. The 70's and 80's Individual Parts loops When E-mu started are not only releasing their tasty but genre-specific come with versions of the multiple mic Proteus 2k modules position also, back in 2000, there in which you was something can mix and about them that match or

December 2008

tempted me to buy one. I know that E-mu has always been known to have powerful synthesis engines, to offer good soundsets, and to have excellent filters (Z-Plane) throughout their entire range of synths and hardware samplers. Maybe that was the reason why I wanted one; or simply because these new modules were colorfully eye-catching. There was the Orbit, Planet Earth, XL-1 Extreme Lead, Vintage Pro, etc., and they all looked really nice and would make good additions to any studio.

possible to that of the original hardware unit.

you'll find a bunch of useful patches for your production needs. The "Synth" folder aims to provide sounds and patches reminiscent of analog yesteryear. It covers a wide range of styles from 70's fusion to today's sophisticated electronica. Standouts, in my opinion, are the Oberhiems and the ARP patches.

The samplesets are in SoundFonts format (SF2) and were recorded in mono with 16bit quality. Although this library is only 86MB in size, it comes with a healthy selection of patches. In fact, it's comprised of 433 NN-XT instrument programs and 90 custom made Combinator patches for Reason Bottomline: If you've always wanted to have those E-mu modules in your 4 only. The NN-XT patches are studio but couldn't afford to buy them, divided into 13 different instrument rejoice! DSF has done all the folder categories namely: Clavs, countless hours of work for you. The Combination, Drums & Percussion, Vintage Pro ReFill, and other fine DSF Effects, Electric Pianos, Organs, Fast forward to the winter of 2002. I Strings, Synth Bass, Synth Brass and products, will give you an opportunity finally decided to buy an XL-1 to experience these sounds on your Winds, Synth Leads, Synth Pads, Extreme Lead module. The price had MAC/PC, for cheap. At less than $50, dropped dramatically. Needless to say, Synths and Vox. On the other hand, it represents a good value. This ReFill the Combinator patches have that steep price was the only reason is highly recommended. optimized a bunch of NN-XT patches that kept me from owning one. I just by adding extra effects and couldn't afford one when they first INFO & CONTACTS: processing them within the came out. Six months after I info@digitalsoundfactory.com Combinator device. You'll find 90 purchased it, I expanded my XL-1 with the Peter Siedlaczek's Orchestral ready-to-use Combinator patches. www.digitalsoundfactory.com They are divided into six different expansion board, and I've enjoyed www.propellerhead.se this module ever since. I’ve used it in folders: Brass & Winds, Drums and Perc, Keyboards, Strings, Synth Bass, FORMAT: countless productions. Synths and Vox. - PC/MAC Now, thanks to Digital Sound Factory - Reason 4 ReFill (86MB) When I auditioned the NN-XT (ex E-MU sound designer Tim - 433 NNXT Sample Player patches programs, I noticed right away that Swartz's new venture) these 1U rack and 90 custom Combinator patches the patches sounded familiar and hardware modules have been converted into sound libraries which clean. Although they sound dated for LIST PRICE: contain various audio and sample my taste, one thing cannot be denied: - $49.95 (download) formats including SF2, SFZ, they have that distinct E-MU flavor. In the "Electric Piano" folder, my Dimension Pro/LE and Reason ReFill. TEST SYSTEM: AMD Turion64 Mobile, Modern or desktop musicians can now favorites include the Yamaha CP70 1.58GHz, 768MB RAM, Windows XP easily access these sought-after patches; but the ones that I'm SP2, M-Audio Fast Track Pro, E-MU particularly fond of are the Wurly and X-board 49 MIDI Controller. sounds on their computers without the FM pianos. The FM piano patches breaking their bank. included in this collection are The new Vintage Pro ReFill is a ReFill comparable to that of my Yamaha CS1x's synth. I loaded up the patch format sound library from Digital Sound Factory (DSF for short) geared called "DX Style", added a bit of the CF-101 chorus/flanger module and for the vintage-centric folks. This RV-7000 reverb in Reason, and I was ReFill is a collection of sounds from getting that lovely 80's piano sound: the vintage keyboards and analogue synthesizers that dominated the 60's, “Just Heaven”. If you're into 70's and 80's. DSF have meticulously DrumN'Bass or Hip Hop, this ReFill comes with plenty of dirty, growling edited the original waveforms from and rumbling synth basses. The bass the hardware ROM to create a department doesn't disappoint as playable sound library as close as www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

what’s on your amp

Bag of Knives Bob Bradshaw and

Chad Manning by Squibs

“Bag of Knives” is an intriguing album. Mixing traditional American fiddle with contemporary songwriting, it defies pigeonholing. It’s unusual to hear a nicely recorded fiddle these days. Modern American country music has a lot to answer for, not least of which is the clichéd fiddle riffs that are bolted on to a song as an afterthought (in case you might mistake it for pop) and then processed beyond recognition. Fortunately, Chad’s fiddle is expertly wielded and competently recorded. He has been playing since the tender age of 8 and his bluegrass leanings poke through in many songs, but he’s not a one-trick pony and produces some unorthodox and innovative sounds from his instrument.

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

Bob Bradshaw, vocalist and guitarist, hails from Cork, Ireland but is now resident in Boston, Mass. He has a deep, resonant voice which suits the reflective bittersweet tone of many of the songs. Make no mistake, there is some dark material here. Rather than coming over all gothic and laying on the pathos with a trowel, the guys do a nice line in melancholy and introspection. There is some lighter material to balance the album. “From the 2-step to the 12-step once again” is an uptempo little ditty with Cajun undertones. “You Got No Say Around Here” is another lovegone-bad number, and the lyrics are contemporary. A lightly plucked pizzicato comes in on the second verse bringing to mind Buddy Holly’s “Its Raining in My

Ask Doctor Jack

what’s on your amp Hear more at: http://www.myspace.com/bobbradshaw

Heart”. The track features very lush instrumentation from all sorts of stringed instruments. Guitars, bass, fiddles and mandolins all feature with no single instrument padding its part, and Annie Lynch’s backing vocals add depth and texture. Synth’s and screaming guitars are all very well, but it is an increasingly rare treat to come across an album of acoustic numbers with a big sound. The singer/songwriter craze has given us a multitude of one-man-and-a-guitar clones. ‘Bag of Knives’ reminds us that it is possible to have a lush sounding acoustic album.

Ask Doctor Jack “Being such a new format, why is SFZ so popular?” The main power of the SFZ format is that it uses a human-readable text (TXT) file to map sounds across the keyboard. Also, you can create several SFZ files reusing WAV files but in different mappings. Most formats would require duplicated sound data, while with the SFZ format you get to re-use sounds without extra disk space. Another big plus is that a lot of software supports the SFZ format today. By late December we should also see an update for Wusikstation with full SFZ support, including disk-streaming. Plus, there are several other VST's that supports the SFZ format, including some that are free.

messier. One is to use a VST player on each machine and send audio and MIDI via network. But this is a bit more complicated as you will need to save the project file on each computer. While with FX Teleport you get everything in the main computer host/sequencer project file. Another thing to keep in mind is latency. Effects and instruments that run on the slave/server computers will introduce latency into the project. FX Teleport recommends Gigabyte network cards and cables to reduce latency.

“Is there a way to connect all my computers together and make a big “Which program do you workstation without much recommend to start fuzz?” playing with electronic Yes, more than one, actually. computer music?” But the simplest solution Definitely Orion from Synapseseems to be the following Audio: http://www.synapseone: network the computers audio.com/. It comes with with FX Teleport. (. The great several effects and thing about FX Teleport is that instruments and it is very it's very easy to setup and use. easy to use and low on CPU But be aware, you will need to resources. Orion is pattern set up another software called based and has basic mixer VNC to be able to see the options, but it is still a great Editor/GUI of the VST's loaded tool for a starter program. on the other machines. VNC is Keep in mind that you can a free solution, with several always add new effects, options out there, so you need instruments and sounds to to choose one. A Orion, as it supports the recommendation is: famous VST plug-in format, http://www.realvnc.com/prod something that not all competitor workstations do. ucts/free/4.1/index.html – which is free. You will need to That way, once you are ready to go deep, you can always run the Server on each expand Orion with VST's from machine and the Viewer on third party companies. the main machine. There are other solutions that are a bit www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

Trusty's Top Five

Top Five Updated Software Instruments of 2008: 5

BLUE:

What? Get over it. This thing didn't need much of an update at all, but I’ll use it as an excuse to put it on this list. It did receive some minor bug fixes, lowered CPU usage, more Rob Papen sounds for a Rob Papen synth--that murders 95.945135% of the instruments in your collection—so it is a no brainer. If Rob, so much as released an update only to change the type font on the GUI it would have made this list. Whine and rant all you want, I'm not changing my mind.

WIVI Version 2 (Brass):

Bland brass is everywhere in software instruments. Decent brass is achievable on occasion. Good brass is hard to come by. And in most instruments, great brass is no where to be found. WIVI isn't most instruments; and Version 2 takes it to the next level. It is the best brass I've heard in software, is a fun instrument to play, create sounds, and to manipulate. Accept no substitutes.

Wusik Sound Magazine

Wusikstation Version 5.whatever it is now...:

Come on, face it, Version 5 made an already incredibly useful, flexible, great sounding instrument even better. Now it’s got lightning fast updates, great support, great new features like the integrated GrooveBox, SFZ support, the new WusikPACK format--making the loading of new sounds super easy; round robin, etc, etc. etc.. It just does not get any better than this, for a workhorse instrument.

RMV Drum Addiction:

WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW! They took RMIV and put it (and the included content) on steroids; and then went and added looping and slicing to boot. Spot on, perfect Drum sampler, awesome drum synth modules, and fun, fun, fun with the slicing and dicing of loops. Bang out some serious heat with RMV. With all the modulation and effects tossed-in, it makes for one heck of a one-stop drum solution.

December 2008

Zebra 2.3: "You're still the one!" Everyone knows why... (editor’s note: it’s because of the black and white stripes, isn’t it?)

Bi-Monthly Column of Whatever...

by Trusty

Top Five New Software Instruments of 2008:

Beatscape (Sonar 8

Producers Edition...probably won't stay that way): I haven't had this much fun with REX files since Cakewalk gave us RXP in Sonar 5 Producers Edition and me simply hitting the randomize button for countless hours. It makes owning Recycle mandatory again.

Omnisphere is a fine synth and all, but my criteria is different than other people. Mainly, I've only played with it once. So how would I know...but anyway, Omnisphere is expensive, it is a luxury item with tons of awe inspiring sounds that probably don't fit in actual songs anywhere, it is a sluggish CPU killer for us plain folk, etc. Alas, sorry Shannon, you really earned this spot with your little gem (and have it by all intents and purposes).

Omnisphere (and by

Omnisphere, I mean Poise Percussion Sampler): I don't own it, I am just being polite. Besides, I can't alienate everyone because I already left Sylenth 1 and Nexus 2 (the other white meat for many people) off the updated top five list. If I weren't anticipating the whine fest that inevitably follows from lists like this, Omnisphere would be just as absent as Sylenth 1 and Nexus 2 from my lists. Poise Percussion Sampler really belongs here for its price to feature ratio being perfectly matched to the incredibly efficient, quick, and an unfailingly-useful-inany-scenario drum sampler that it is. Omnisphere doesn't really belong here, considering it is the opposite of all the words that were just given to Poise. Don't get me wrong,

RG: How freaking cool is this plug-in? Tired of huge sample libraries to cover guitar? I'm not, but still, using this intuitive plug-in is a marvel at getting the best possible realism from samples ever. I love it; and when paired with a nice amp simulator, it is beyond comparing to other products.

Synplant:

Is this not the coolest plug-in, like, ever? The design speaks loudly, but the sound speaks even louder for it. This thing is too much fun. Complicated sound design made easy--Super Easy--and this instrument constantly inspires. Besides, it takes the headache out

of programming and puts the fun right back in it. A person averages, what, ten great patches on the way to making the one needed for the song currently in progress every time Synplant is loaded? No doubt about it, this one is a surefire winner.

Alchemy:

It is everything that everything else is, but better. And it has everything that everything else left out. It is the most versatile instrument on the planet for samples. It even looks like it is going to kick the Roland V-Synth in the teeth on that count. It screams to be tweaked! It screams out for your own samples, and heck, even your favorite photos to use to make sounds uniquely your own in a way that doesn't work against you every step of the way. Quite to the contrary, it is a breeze to use; and everything fed to it ends up sounding excellent. It is the first and probably the only sampling synthesizer (or sampler period) that breaks the "garbage in, garbage out" rule. Oh, and it has its own great sounds as well with more to follow.

www.WusikSoundMagazine.com

December 2008

Trusty's Top Five

Top Five Updated Software Effects of 2008: 5

Elephant 3: Those who are in the know, know that Voxengo is simply gold. I can not let go of the Sound with Soul. Especially considering it gets even better with each update. Read my review!

Volcano 2:

Fabfilter has the best filters in the business. More to the point: Volcano 2 is so awesome and fun to use; and so easy to get around in the GUI as well. With loads of features, this is one of a few plug-ins that will turn your existing arsenal of instruments into all new instruments (or at least new sounding instruments) all buy itself. If you have 5 or 6 quality VSTiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, buy this instead of that 7th instrument. You WILL thank me later because it just turned your 5 or 6 current instruments into 10 or 12 new instruments. Okay, really, more than that, at least multiply your 5 or 6 instruments presets by 1000. The possibilities with this thing are endless. The massive amounts of presets alone are a give away to what I mean here.

Wusik Sound Magazine

Artillery 2

Again, like BLUE, this is a .0.? type update, but that's an update. So, thusly it is enough to get included. Artillery 2 gets better with every update, and it is my main keyboard instrument. Yeah, yeah, it is an effect; but since my live keyboard playing ability is shoddy at best, it is better that I ride the effects when performing live or entertaining myself in the studio. Artillery 2 is a pure joy.

AVOX 2

What an incredible package!!! What incredible plug-ins!!! Creatively, they go well being just vocals; but I love them for everything vocal related even if they didn't. Now if I can just find that secret new tweak to blow the Cher/T-Pain effect out of the water with a different Antares effect, I'll be a millionaire, or at least whoever bites my new style will be. There will be full review in the next issue.

December 2008

Classic Console Strip Pro:

The best plug-in ever created. Any plug-in that can make a petty and insecure vocalist, like myself, no longer want for a $2000 mic and a $2000 channel strip hardware unit will always win hands down. Oh, and read my review!

Bi-Monthly Column of Whatever... Top Five New Software Effects of 2008: 5

Ricochet:

What a great sounding, fully-featured, well targeted, and well designed delay unit. Yeah, you are probably thinking: â&#x20AC;&#x153;it is just a delay unit"; but how many "just a delay units" are this awesome? That's what I thought!

Automaton:

How cool is this thing to play with? It is the coolest. I guess Audio Damage can do no wrong doing all kinds of "wrong" to tracks in a very fun and odd way with this thing. Think the best mangling effects from Reaktor without the hassle and CPU hit. Need I say more? I didn't think so. Pair Kombinat: Audio Damage with Sugar Bytes, and Grit always wins in the 4 live performances with that glitchy end. And no one does damage like Audio Damage. edge; and intricate studio work will never be the same again: What a great sound at a T.E.D.I.O.U.S. great price. All the quality you expect at a price you don't, especially for something with this kind of quality and features.

Autotune efx:

That's the Top Fives in 2008--for me anyways. Sorry if your favorites didn't make the cut. I love Dimension Pro and Rapture, and they didn't make the cut even though they had updates in 08.

EQ Rangers Vol.1

I'll admit I am a sucker for From a perfect that "sound effect". Plus, I concept, to perfect actually use it for on the fly (as possible) pitch correction too, when I recreation of risk singing a hook if I can. hardware. It hits on But, while I love that effect, every point possible I applaud Antares for giving for a no-frills EQ it away at a very collection that goes reasonable price point so the aspiring beyond its own musicians can get in on the action-simplicity and sound brilliant move. Plus, this reduced quality to be useful in almost every plug-in version of the flagship product scenario. Read my review! is no less a powerful plug-in on its own. Well done Antares, well done.

www.WusikSoundMagazine.com

December 2008

“Track This Out!” From Fasttracker to Voyetra by WilliamK

My first IBM PC compatible computer was actually a model 286. It had a black-and-white monitor and was perfectly slow. With time, I upgraded to a 386 and got a color VGA monitor. This is when the whole mayhem of music software started... My previous computer was a CocoMax Color II, also know as a CP 400 in South-America. I discovered that by using the printerport (RS-232) I could send MIDI information to a MIDI keyboard I had, a Casio CZ 1000. But there was no software that could make the computer output real sampled sounds. Not to mention that I had to use one software to compose and another to playback. That year, at the computer fair we held at school every year, I saw a computer playing “Can't Touch This” 82

Wusik Sound Magazine

by MC Hammer. It was an Amiga computer. It was running a MOD Player that could play 4 channels of previously sampled material. I was very impressed by that. A friend told me that there was something similar for the PC called Noise Tracker. I had to take a look at it. After some work I was able to install Noise Tracker on my computer and use the internal tiny speaker to output the audio. It was nice, but a bit low. My cousin had a very large

December 2008

woofer speaker that I connected to the PC using the same PC speaker's wiring. It worked! I was very impressed. It was actually much louder and clearer. I tested several other pieces of software for modcreation and playback that week, but I wanted more. Another friend was selling a kit that you could plug to the printer port (LPT – Parallel) which had much better audio. It used a FM transmitter to send the audio to any receiver. It was

Noise Tracker

a nice toy. I could use the computer keys to make music using the instruments from other MOD files. But again, I wanted more...

Fasttracker

My “software-go-to” guy was going to travel to the border where people were selling those Sound Blaster cards. “I must have one!” I said. He told me to give him the money and he would bring me one (in the 80's, it was illegal to import software and hardware from outside our country).

I was very excited by this, until I noticed that he brought me a mono card, not the stereo version. But still, I could finally sample my own sounds. It also featured a MIDI kit which I could use with my old Casio CZ 1000 again.

Voyetra

The first song I did was from UB40, using the Fasttracker software for the PC. I had to sample first to a .voc format, convert and transfer to FT. I was a bit famous for a while, as the song had a lot of vocals and instruments, all sampled by me. So I did a series of songs... people were excited by it. It was a pain to work with the computer keyboard. I wanted to use my MIDI keyboard instead. I don't remember which program had this feature but somehow I was able to use my MIDI keyboard with the tracker. But it had some IRQ problems and would freeze the computer very often.

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008

“Track This Out!”

and copy/paste the drum sounds, started using mostly it and nothing creating great grooves. The quality of else. the audio was very good. But... yes, again, things didn't work out the way It was a nice solution. Cakewalk could I wanted. The card sound uploading handle Sound Fonts directly inside it, software was very problematic. It save effect parameters, sound would crash or hang the computer parameters and other things. With often. But I was trying to work things time I realized I didn't need my old out. TS-10 or my AXS program anymore. I At that time, real-time soft synthesis was doing everything with this new on the PC was just a dream. Until a setup which was, by the way, much small company released a software more reliable. I still missed the filters that today is called AXS (check my from the GT64 chip. But since I was previous article about it). I could use I did try some alternatives for using doing mostly New Age songs at that the computer sound with the rest, but my Pentium 100 computer with it and time, I didn't really need it. have several voices playing both VA the quality was starting to get on my and sampled sounds. It was still for nerves and the computer CPU power The Internet was born that year, at DOS, using a protected mode. It was not good enough to play several least for me, introducing a whole new didn't feature a real sampler, but you world. After entering some groups sounds at once. I had to find another could load a WAV file and have it solution. and visiting some sites, I found out pitch the sound for an entire octave. I that sbLive used the same chip as the My next move was to sell everything had to use 2 sound cards, one for EMU APS system. Someone made a and get a workstation: the Ensoniq audio and another for MIDI way to run those drivers on the TS-10. I could use sampled-sounds information, and keep the whole sbLive card. “Whoho! Those effects from the computer in it, thanks to a setup separated from my main are much better!” So I sold the TSconversion software from Rubbermachine. 10 right away. Chicken. Sadly, it wasn't perfect. The In the main computer I had the GT64 It was a long way from trackers to TS-10 was slow and "buggy". I lost card, Cakewalk Pro Audio, and the several songs from crashes (Yes, Voyetra. Now I was in a totally AXS program in the Pentium 100, plus different world. I would stay there for hardware crashes too. Actually, the external TS-10 workstation. It anything that uses a processor chip a while, until Reality was released. was a good setup which I used to can crash). create several songs...until I Reality was a total solution. It could I wanted something for Windows, as managed to fry the GT64 card. do a lot of real-time VA synthesis plus Somehow I wasn't sad, but actually Windows 95 was a nice workstation physical-modeling and sampling. I happy. I had an excuse to go and buy was very excited with the idea. But too. So I got the Game-Theater-64 something that would work better. A sound card. It had 64 channels of somehow, it didn't work that lot of people were talking about the sampled sound with resonant filters well...too much hype around it. The new SB Live card. So I had to take a and good effects. It was a very nice sound was not good. Several friends look at it. I was able to borrow one to told me the same thing. But the idea solution. I could use it along with the TS-10 to create some complex songs. test. I was actually impressed. The got me thinking the computer could After some months, I noticed that I effects were good, sampling was also do much more, for sure. good, the signal-to-noise ratio was could do great songs by using better than my old GT64, and it Cakewalk Pro Audio and the sound If only I had only known what the seemed to be more stable. So I card alone. I would layer drum future would bring me in VST form... sounds directly into an audio track [to be continued] So I traded all my gear and got a X5 keyboard from Korg. The Sound Blaster card came with Voyetra, my first MIDI sequencer. I also got an Alesis DR-16 drum machine. With this kit I started making some new songs. But I wasn't happy with all the MIDI mess I had to handle. Not to mention that I couldn't use the sampled sounds from the computer. Also, the internal X5 sounds were nice but not great.

Wusik Sound Magazine

December 2008

The Electronic Musician

VS the “Big 'In-Town' Studio” by Trusty These days, the average budget MIDI controller or soundcard interface comes bundled with software that is as capable as, or even more capable than, the “Big 'In-Town' Studio” of just a few years ago. If you have no need to mic a real drum kit, there is no need to leave the house. Even if you need to mic drums, the cost to buy microphones and a multi-input interface that can take them, will cost about the same as it would to record just one album at the “Big 'In-Town' Studio”. While it’s true that it’s trial and error, frustrating and, not to mention, FUN to learn how to do this stuff, in the end the results are absolutely worth it. Now, I have nothing against the “Big 'In-Town' Studio”, and those folks need to make a living, but really, unless someone else wants to foot the bill, why bother going anymore? Is your budget studio going to crank out the same quality?

Probably not. But also, it is very possible that it can as well. Either way, are you really going to sell more tracks or albums by spending more on recording at the “Big 'InTown' Studio”? No, probably not. Your fans and following are either going to like your product, or not. Many of them could not only care less where your music was recorded, they probably wouldn't tell that much of a difference - if any difference at all. You’ve just got to work hard at it. So by all means, learn to do things by yourself, and have fun doing it. The whole “production” process for electronic musicians is going this way. In fact, to get along in today’s music world, do-it-yourself recording, mixing, and even mastering is almost a requirement these days. With the proliferation of music on the internet, and the DIY trend increasing, the sliding scale of quality between talented DIY's, the not-very-talented DIY's, and the “professionals” (whatever

that means these days) is more of a minor slant, rather than the steep slope it was just a few years back. So, until someone else is willing to pay for your “Big 'In-Town' Studio” fees, invest in yourself. For one thing, no matter what your recording needs, it is cheaper in the long run. For another, it is much better to be in control of your music than to be watching the clock. You can also avoid dealing with someone who doesn't care how your product turns out, when your money runs out. So let me say it again. Take your time, and invest your money in yourself. The payoff is huge. And remember: Have fun with it. It’s your music, after all.

www.WusikMagazine.com

December 2008