Wusik Sound Magazine March 2008 - Vol II Issue 01
bells and whistles by Bruce David
I
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
neglected to mention, in my recent On Staff / Synth Romance article last month the influence of giants like Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and Kitaro on the electronic music scene of the 1980's. Their work, like the early pioneers of TV themes (Jan Hammer and Mike Post in TV were specifically mentioned), certainly contributed major impetus to Hollywood's movement toward the use of electronic media for movie soundtracks. Vangelis, of course, did the famous score for The Blade Runner and won an Academy Award for the score of Chariots of Fire in 1981.
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or fans of sampled sounds of traditional orchestras, here's a site that has very high quality multisamples of most every standard orchestra instrument, free of charge. It's a “lab� project at a large U.S. university (Iowa) that is completed, but the results have been made available free to the public. www.theremin.music.uiowa.edu/MIS. html
bells and whistles
If you are interested in more exotic bowed string sounds, try mixing an Malaysian (originally Chinese) string instrument known as the er-hu into your compositions. It has a sort of gritty violin sound. Here is a link for a free soundfound of an er-hu with multiple bow movements. It was created by a teachers at a Malaysian university. Oddly enough the location is called The Er-hu Soundfont Page. www.musicmallasia.com/malaysia/instruments/Erhu/ This is one of a wide variety of Malaysian instruments covered at the mother site: www.musicmallasia.com/malaysia/instruments/index .html There are also many Real Player (rm) examples and many MIDI-file demonstrations that can be adapted to all sorts of instrumentation with startling results.
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o, what about Britney Spears? Until I stumbled onto “Piece of Me,” one of her most recent offerings, my response to that question would have been, “Hunh?” Or “She's way to young for me.” But then so was Bruce Springsteen when Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., was released in 1973. What do they have in common? They are both some of the best autobiographical pop/rock ever recorded. To view the video (from her new album Blackout) though, be sure to go to her official site: www.britney.com/videos. There are some much less exciting versions floating around here and there on the Internet.
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isten to the lyrics closely in the context of her just this month being committed to UCLA's mental health clinic by her parents with whom she has long been at odds. Considering their first move was to take over her finances and holdings in court... Amazing music! Like one of her fans said in a blog about the commitment, “Ya, she's wild, she does drugs, she's rebellious...BUT SHE'S HUMAN! I'm not sure the people who committed her can say the same.”
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or fans of sample/.wav player VSTi's (for example, Cyber), if you haven't already noticed, Wusikstation covers the basics of this type of VSTi also. If each layer is used as an independent unit (including its envelopes and filters), it becomes a 4 instrument, multitimral .wav player. Then, of course, effects can be applied as desired.
S
March 2008
Sascha Eversmeier
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
of Magix Sascha Eversmeier is the man behind the famous digitalfishphones plug-ins. When I first switched to recording into the computer, I decided to try some plug-ins. I believe digitalfishphones (www.digitalfishphones.com/) were the first plug-ins I downloaded, and the amazing thing is that I still use those plug-ins from time to time. Fast forward to today and that same Sascha Eversmeier is the brains behind the effects in Magix’s Samplitude. Since we have recently reviewed the Magix’s VST effects, we thought it would be great to get to know Sascha. So without further adieu, here is Sascha.
by David Keenum
Sascha Eversmeier S. E. - beep... 1, 2, check. Wusik - How did you get into coding (or programming) audio plug-ins?
March 2008
S. E. - In 'the early years,’ I was greatly relying on freeware myself. I wasn't brought up to take without giving something in return, so it was a natural thing for me to let others download my stuff if they found it useful. But more important might have been the appreciation of other peoples' input. It feels good when you get help from somebody just for the fun of it. So why not share that with others? I started offering downloads on a free host first. But when the free host closed the free service, I opened dfp in December 2001. A word on fish: I feel connected to marine life in multiple ways. I wanted something cool, humoroussounding, without taking myself too seriously. Something bulky in your mouth when uttering its name, so that it grabs attention, in a non-technical way ;) I always liked drawing cartoons, so the whole concept, the logo and such were pretty clear right from the start. If I weren't that busy with my current projects, dfp could also be an online cartoon fish world for whatever marine species... maybe I get back to such ideas when time allows. But there are no private audio plugins in sight, really. I see this as a chapter, and I've closed this one. Oh, if anyone reads this, I repeat it again: No universal binaries. Period. Basta. :-)
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S. E. - In the beginning it was pure interest in something completely new to me. It must have been somewhere in 2000, and I was sort of idling, musicwise. Having finished my exams, I had just moved to Berlin for my first real job. I had left my old band behind, but I had a PC equipped with Cubase 3.7, VisualC++, and a bunch of tunes & tracks from the past. Considering that I’d just acquired some programming skills, it was a logical step to try out what happens when you hack in some lines of code and let it mangle some old material. I then discovered there's sort of potential and benefit for my own use as I was left with only a few external audio processors. No matter what distance lies between that time and today, the idea of creating something for my own pleasure is still my major motivation.
Wusik - Can you tell us a little about digitalfishphones?
Sascha Eversmeier Wusik - Basta.? Is Italian for "enough" Spanish No Mas?
that like
S. E. - Right. It's become common here since our former chancellor Schrรถder uttered 'Basta!' to express his authority, in an 'I am the law' style. It is sort of a running gag in various everyday situations.
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March 2008
Wusik - What led you to work for Magix? S. E. - Magix was my second job in Berlin, which was back in 2001. But it had nothing to do with DSP and such. I had gained experience with database programming and web scripting, and that was my job there. The digitalfishphones plug-ins were a private show in parallel for almost two years. It was okay in the beginning, but two things popped up suddenly: I was about to become an antisocial nerd staring at a screen as the only source of pleasure, and the company got a feeling that there was something I might be better at apart from internet programming. As I already had a certain 'technology' at hand, it was obvious that some talk should be held. In the end, I got my life back, married the girl who believed in me but had enough of those night shifts, and I could carry on playing in my dsp sand box - at day time. Not too bad.
Wusik - Can you tell us a little about the philosophy behind Magix's current vst plug-ins? VariVerb Pro? AM Suite? VE Suite? S. E. - The main philosophy is to appear and sound somewhat unique. Although there's plenty of analog circuit modeling involved with the AM- & VE suite, I was never keen on recreating any of the 'famous' devices. One reason is that it is hard to achieve when you want to do that right. You usually end up with something that might sound a bit like the thing it attempts to model, but there are too many degrees of freedom under the hood. Modeling is always a matter of granularity. Another thing is 'why'. I personally feel more like an artist than an engineer. I'm taking the term 'creation' seriously. Almost every new project (at least the 'modeling' ones) turn into a journey into the unknown. This starts to happen as soon as enough degrees of freedom are existent, in order to perform an operation on a complex scale. One could say it's an empirical process. And that's what I like. It's actually exhausting, like ending up with a cool tune at the end of a long session. As a musician, I'm not good at doing covers. I want 'my' tunes, my sound.
Sascha Eversmeier Wusik - What led you to decide to release them as VSTs?
Wusik - Do you have any future Magix developments that you can tell us about?
S. E. - Well, the decision was mainly done by our product manager, actually. The plug-ins bundled with Samplitude/Sequoia are already VSTs, technically. So, from an engineer's perspective, it's not a big deal compiling separate DLLs. More to the point, are people expecting us to do this? Can the quality keep up with other 3rdparty plug-ins? What impact does a separate product range have on the existing core products, e.g. Samplitude & Sequoia? We've never done that before, but as more and more people were encouraging us and asking for separate plug-ins, we wanted to start the experiment. One could think this is counterproductive for our own host software, but we all know that hardly anyone is using a single sequencer application, especially on a 'pro' scale and with a diverse customer base. We thought it could be mainly an 'image' thing. But strangely, quite a number of plug-in users actually went the Samplitudeonly road and appreciate the allin-one approach.
S. E. – I’ve got numerous future developments on schedule. But I'd be playing with fire if I talk about it before any official statement gets made. I can only say right now that the current projects get updated in the near future. For instance, I already finished some improvements in VariVerb Pro, added new algorithms and such. The Vintage Effects will also benefit from added functionality. And people can be sure that the AM Suite will come with side-chain capabilities, such as one of the key features of Samplitude/Sequoia 10. But we haven't nailed any details yet. The plug-ins do not usually have an extensive 'roadmap', so to say. Que sera, sera.
Wusik - Thanks, Sascha! S. E. - So long for now.… Wusik Magazine
Link: www.samplitude.com/eng/vst/u ebersicht.html
March 2008
The Voice on the Hill An interview with
Tom Sailor of Orange Hill Audio
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
by R(t)O
Orange Hill Audio is the latest brain child of longtime music industry stalwart, Tom Sailor. I first became aware of them as the Magix distributor in the United States, but they also represent Algorithmix, Yellow Tools, and EMES. As you might imagine, handling all of these products can keep a body busy. I managed to get Tom to take some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few question for Wusik magazine.
Tom Sailor "I soon wanted to become a resource to others as well, even if I still was learning myself."
Q1. Tom, you are a total enigma to a lot of people. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
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A1. “Basically, I consider myself, still to this day, a musician...I only got into this business trying to find a way to make my own music without the necessity of fellow band members due to the frustrations that I encountered throughout the years. Unfortunately, musically speaking that is, I became so engrossed with the technology that it soon overtook my music, which I believe is a potential pitfall of computer based recording, sad to say. I grew up in a very computer oriented family. My father was in essence a pioneer in PLC automation, automating the manufacturing process of products such as Heinz Ketchup, Coca Cola…etc. So I guess that computing is in my blood, even though I had total disdain for computers in my youth. I was going to be a rock star. Nevertheless, my parents equipped me with an IBM PS-1 in college that I would do a lot of my band fliers on and the occasional term paper...very basic stuff. After my band broke up around 1992, I bought a drum machine and JL Cooper PS-2 and hooked it up to my four- track. I soon traded my sister-in-law's old Korg keyboard for an Atari 1040ST from George Cabaniss (my colleague at Orange Hill) and began trying to learn
MIDI. Then I bought Cakewalk 6, a Yamaha 01V, a Sonorus Studio audio card and built myself a new Intel Pentium MMX 200 MHz PC, running Windows 95, with an internal IDE drive and SCSI hard drive to write to and a SCSI CD Burner. I had never built a computer in my life. I know this sounds weird but I knew how to build a computer almost instinctively. I hardly had to read the manual; it was like I had already been trained on how to build one. It kind of freaked me out. One thing that wasn’t instinctual or natural to me however was digital audio. I soon noticed that there was very little info or help for a lot of guys trying to do this at that time, especially where I live in Youngstown, Ohio. Thankfully, the Internet was really beginning to take off at that time and I found various forums where there were a few guys who really knew their stuff. I soon wanted to become a resource to others as well, even if I still was learning myself. I would research people’s questions as quickly as I could and respond back. I was a big fan of German digital audio products like CConsole and Samplitude and ended up finding a great group of unknown developers along the way called RME. These companies didn’t have adequate distribution, representation, or support here in the US and Canada so around 1999 I decided to start a company
Tom Sailor Orange Hill Audio is definitely more than just a distributor; this has always been my philosophy.
called X-Vision Audio, which later merged with Synthax, the global RME distributor. I have had the good fortune of selling, supporting, marketing and representing their fine products for the last 8 years. Through those efforts I was able to work with some of today’s top producers, mix engineers, mastering engineers, studios and institutions in the world, helping them learn and utilize the various technologies that these forward-thinking and independent companies were offering. It was an incredible journey from days of my four-track in the basement to branding a line and watching them become a global player in the audio industry.”
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March 2008
Q2. What made you decide to start Orange Hill Audio? A2. “Well, the winds of change have a way of directing ones course, shall we say? I wasn't really seeing eye-to-eye with some of my former business partners and decided I needed a change. I wanted to push for a total recording system concept, being comprised of software, hardware, speakers, microphones and total integration, while others wanted to spend their time, money and resources on just their company and brand, which I can totally understand
and respect. So I decided to move on and try my hand at doing it my way. The name came from a very comical night at the Orange Hill restaurant near Anaheim, California, which was basically my last supper at Synthax. It was the end of the beginning, so the name Orange Hill Audio seemed appropriate.”
Q3. Is Orange Hill Audio just a distributor or do you offer professional services as well? A2. “Orange Hill Audio is definitely more than just a distributor; this has always been my philosophy. We take our tech support very seriously, as a matter of fact. I consider that to be our greatest offering to our suppliers and our customers who buy the products we represent. Anyone can move and ship a box, there’s not much value in that. We offer training for all our products and plan on rolling out some very good remote training and assistance this year. This is certainly not a new concept but not very many companies embrace the support side of the business. They usually view it with disdain. I, on the other hand, find it to be the absolute best opportunity to increase sales, customer loyalty, and the user base through referrals and quality service. Plus, it brings me a lot
Tom Sailor
of satisfaction to develop relationships with my customers and learn from them while helping them get on their way to making music. So, we have tried to create some support documents that will help most people have a reproducible system on their machine and try to answer people’s phone calls all hours of the day. We also continuously work with our suppliers keeping up to date with their products and actively participate in communicating user concerns, usability issues, bugs, and new feature requests. We also develop Skins for Samplitude and Sequoia. Our Alloy skins offer a wide variety of environments for various stages of the recording process and are offered in three suites: the Silver Alloy, Dark Alloy, and Blue Alloy. All offer something different for various people’s tastes and needs. They offer additional features not found on the default skins. Many find them to be a great way to give their eyes a break from the same old scene from day to day and a way to add a very “pro” look to their studios. For more info go to: We www.pixelarranger.de/alloy/ currently are representing Magix, Yellow Tools, EMES, and Algorithmix, and we hope to add some more lines in the near future.”
Q4. What do you feel are the strengths of the Samplitude / Sequoia products?
March 2008
There are a lot of people who always want to challenge sonic clarity and imaging of various digital audio engines by saying they are all the same.
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A4. “The audio engine and editing ability are second to none. There are a lot of people who always want to challenge sonic clarity and imaging of various digital audio engines by saying they are all the same. But I am convinced that all DAW's are not created equal. Most applications have a low-latency engine with higher fault tolerances, but they are making trade off's for that stability. In other words, they are rounding off math or truncating. Many people think that digital audio is all ones and zeros but what they fail to realize is how many ones and zeros are being calculated. That is the difference. Samplitude and Sequoia use consistent 32 bit float calculations and pay great attention to the phase coherency, jitter, and transparency throughout the entire signal path, which helps create the superb imaging of the sound that they have become renowned for. As of Version 9 we have introduced the new Hybrid Audio Engine, which is two engines operating simultaneously in a high and/or low latency mode. This offers you the ability to adjust latency within a project on a track-by-track basis. You can turn on Economy Mode in your playback tracks and play them
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March 2008
Tom Sailor
in a high latency engine, which improves calculations and processing. At the same time, you can record and monitor a track’s live input, which accesses the low latency ASIO driver’s buffer. This allows for better program stability while maintaining superior sound quality and functionality.
equation, the possibilities are endless. This gives you so much creativity and a new way of working that you just can’t deny its power and flexibility. Others are now beginning to try and imitate this paradigm but still are far away from completely matching its power and concept.
The Object Based Editing approach, which has been the basis of the program since its inception over 16 years ago, is still light years ahead of the competition. For those unfamiliar with the term Object Based Editing, it is Samplitude’s and Sequoia’s unique capability to cut your audio into various slices, which are called Objects. You then have access to the Object Editor, which is a complete environment dedicated to just that Object with the ability to group various objects, insert plugin's, time stretching, pitch correction, fades, pan, volume and auxiliary sends. All of this is done non-destructively and can really maximize your computer's performance since all the plugin's are not consuming the computer's resources until the Object is played. Once it is finished playing, the plugin's are then no longer in use by the computer's CPU. Object Based Editing really negates the need for a lot of traditional automation routines but when you add automation to the
Furthermore, Samplitude and Sequoia offer Track Freezing, Object Freezing and Aux/Bus Freezing. No other application offers the ability to conserve resources on such a global level within the various layers of your work flow. When your track counts and plugin's begin to escalate in your project, you have all the tools to tame the beast and bring new life to your system. This all translates into better resource allocation and better sound and stability when used correctly. And it allows the program to run on less than stellar or aging machines. Finally, I am totally convinced that they both are the most comprehensive DAW’s available today. As I always tell people, you would have to spend thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, to assemble a system of various applications (high end plugin's, CD/MP3-CD/DVD-Audio authoring, multi-track recorder/sequencer, notation, visualization metering, pitch correction, room simulation, audio
No other application offers the ability to conserve resources on such a global level within the various layers of your work flow.
Tom Sailor Orange Hill Audio seems to be a fresh breath in the world of music distribution.
restoration suites, DDP import and export, four-point crossfade editing, Surround Sound mixing, 384kHz support, etc.) to equal what Samplitude and Sequoia offer for one affordable price. Also, you would have to deal with all the support (or the lack thereof) from the various manufactures. Once people experience the ease of working within one application for just about everything, it is hard to go back. You are also free to use whatever hardware you like, whether it be a built-in sound card or a “high-end” interface. These are all compelling reasons to consider Samplitude and Sequoia to be the program of choice for all your needs.”
Q5. What trends in the industry do you find exciting and what trends do you find disturbing?
Things I find disturbing? Corporate greed and corruption, poverty and hunger, genocide, the decline of our U.S. currency, home foreclosures, growing unemployment, high insurance rates, the war in Iraq, gas and oil prices, fees and taxes, global warming, fear mongering, lack of good bands, devaluing of music sales, the decline of Western manufacturing, urban sprawl, Internet neutrality being lost, Internet radio disappearing, the Patriot Act, and the list goes on and on, and is not in any particular order. It’s a strange time that we currently live in.” Orange Hill Audio seems to be a fresh breath in the world of music distribution. Tom’s keen insight and years of experience will give him the opportunity to do something special. He has stocked his arsenal with some of the highest quality products on the market today. I recommend keeping your finger on the pulse of this company. If you don’t, you just might kick yourself.
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A5. “As for exciting trends, I guess the launch of Intel Mac's excites me. The previous lines of delineation between operating systems and their boundaries are becoming blurred, or certainly less relevant. This is great for Samplitude and Sequoia, as many Mac users have always wanted to run the program but did not want to go and buy an additional PC. A lot of Pro Tools HD users can now also use their hardware via their Windows ASIO
driver which eliminates the need to go out and buy or connect additional hardware. We also have parallels working here as well. It is really quite impressive to have the ability to drag and drop audio and MIDI files from the OS X desktop right into Samplitude or Sequoia.
March 2008
bells and whistles by Bruce David
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
A subscriber was kind enough to comment about my recent combined On Staff / Synth Romance article and mentioned he would like to hear some of the music I produced on the DX-7, "back in the day." But sadly, many moves and packings later, it has gone the way of all flesh. It was recorded on analogue open reel tape, of course, (digital was just around the corner but only for studios with lots of money), bulky, and heavy, thus.... You know, Silvio, there are times I'd like to hear some of it again myself. It was wild atonal stuff that was around a bit more in those days but has almost vanished now.
bells and whistles It's truly amazing to me in an age of computer music technology to see a furniture cased electric piano in the den, activity room, or living room of a home. Especially when a high-powered PC with all the media tools is sitting in the children's room a few feet/meters away. I realize many people learned music via piano or organ, but as many as those are lots of them would greatly enjoy the power or new media and are stuck where they are by habit or lack of information. But therein lies one of the many ironies of changes in technology. "History goes forward looking through a rear view mirror."
Beyond these two basic historical reasons, lack of information is probably the biggest reason for everyday consumer disinterest in computer-based music instruments. Here the industry, companies large to very small, has failed itself miserably. Rather than reaching
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There are a few justifications for "old tech" in the realm of music instruments, especially keyboard based instruments used in home environments. A lot of people grew up learning music by piano lessons. The plastic, unweighted keys of a synthesizer feel very different from the heavy, hammer driving keys of a conventional piano and the transition from one to the other is usually difficult for the player. Having learned one of the two does not insure grace on the other. However, this reason diminishes quickly when the instrument in question is a synthesizer keyboard versus a home organ keyboard or a home electric piano. The keyboards are very similar feeling in those cases. Also, having come to see it as furniture, a piano or furniture-type
home organ, people tend to associate the device with valued possessions not replaceable by a sterile black computer case from an entirely different genre of furniture design (and a very confused genre at that). The computer industry, over its short few years of time in the spotlight, has presented a confused, inattentive image of physical appearance, at best. The initial years had the look of an engineering booth in the average radio, TV or electronics industry shop with little attention to aesthetic considerations that might apply to a home environment. The evolving solutions, primarily in the American marketplace, were little improvement and essentially archconservative: paint it beige or occasionally black! I'm sad to report with the exception of some Macintosh models, there's been little improvement in the U.S. market (not so in Japan). We have now evolved to paint it black or occasionally beige, but that's about it. The desktop models are still clunky boxes lined with rows of device drawers and buttons. Give a child a box and some crayons and you’ll get a move interesting visual object.
March 2008
bells and whistles
out into the realms of everyday use unapproached by music software companies, where plastic-key hardware synthesizer/sample players (from specialty stores to WalMart) dominate and letting consumers know there is a real, much more flexible alternative, they tend stay cloistered in the very limited "techy" world in which they were born, working around and around the same internal circles of product development. Thus, they exist in small specialized markets only with little direct access available to the potentially enthusiastic home user who would like not to have to wax their music instrument and easily extend it beyond the factory program load to whole new worlds of the imagination. In this regard, I am happy to report I have never nor have I ever desired to wax my Wusikstation.
Ever wonder why art and music are
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
even made at all? That might seem to big a lump to put them together in the question but, in fact, their evolution have followed each other pretty closely over known history. Certainly because
they sound and look good (not all art and music, for certain), but that answer is known as begging the question. It's not an answer at all, but a restatement of the question in answer form. Art itself is the proof that necessity is not the mother of invention. An irony lies in the expression having been coined by an Irish dramatist, George Farquhar during the 17th Century. And why a particular group of sounds, or visual objects, are appealing remains a long pondered mystery. As with most every mystery there have been scientific attempts at mechanistic explanations, none convincing or very useful to understanding artforms. However the process of creating art continues to engage an enormous number of human souls, often at great expense to the artist. Indeed, there are those who have talent of a specific type, technical skill and the ability to use it such that it produces results desired by a large public, and thus they have converted that gift into a means of creating wealth for themselves. Many successful Pop music artists might be examples. In their
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case greed might even have become the primary motivation. But why their artform has such power over people as to make them spend their money in this manner takes us back to the mystery. Ancient Greeks expressed their awareness of the mysterious nature of music and its creation in the Orpheus legend, a poet musician with the power to charm when his lyre was played. The legend lives on in modern times with such vehicles as the award wining movie "Black Orpheus" and as recently as March 2008, the opera remake of Tennessee William's play "Orpheus Descending." (www.nytimes.com/2006/03/25/arts/musi c/25orph.html). Also, of course, Greek legends of the Sirens who played lyre, flute, and sang seamen into havoc is another powerful example. It is interesting here and also mysterious that the musical artform is used for entrancing destruction. Sirens, incidentally, have wings and the body of birds.
support, whatever the motivation for creating it might be. The magnetism of performers confirms the Orpheus legend and that of the Sirens. So, on the days you get up to go work with a lackluster notion of why "things tick," tune the radio or TV to a pop music station, or just insert a CD/DVD if you have one, and listen with an aware response to the entrancing sounds of Orpheus or the Sirens, depending on your mood. They are alive right here in the heart of River City (The Music Man). We'll explore (or stumble through) more aspects of the mystery and magic of the arts, especially musical-based arts, in future installments of Bells and Whistles.
Anyone who has experienced the frenzy of a pop/rock music concert has recognized the sensual power of music with visual Wusik Magazine March 2008
Samplitude
Samplitude: Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby?
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
by A. Arsov
Samplitude
I started my sequencer odyssey in the last century with an ancient version of Cakewalk. A few years later I switched to Cubase and later won the first version of Acid in some magazine's give-away. I tried a demo version of Logic before it went bananas (or some other fruit) and got three additional versions of Ableton Live Lite, along with various new hardware. On this long sequencing road of my life I've met Magix on several occasions. Many years ago a friend got a budget sequencer for a review. It was Magix' first try in the sequencers world. It wasn’t bad for a budget thing. Some of the essential tools were missing, but back then it was what you got for that price range.
Hundred or maybe just fifteen years later
Samplitude for you, Dude Samplitude 10 is a full featured sequencer, so ASIO, piano roll, markers, track automation, VST, DX support, quantisation, stuff view, mixer, a low-latency engine, and all other standard sequencing things are covered. If you know any other DAW's, then you are already familiar with all these essential tools. The truth is that top sequencers differ only in some special
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Fast forward to present time: Magix is somehow one of the most underrated companies in the music world. When music magazines compare main software sequencers in their round-up articles,
they usually skip the Magix top sequencers. It isn’t funny and it's true. And if they write about Samplitude or Sequoia anyway, they usually end up with some unsupported conclusion like Magix products are almost there, but not quite. I've spent more than two months with Samplitude 10 Pro and found that it is definitely “there”. Of course I've found few minor drawbacks, but nothing that wouldn’t be there also on other top sequencers. Anyway, more on possible reasons for this ignorant behaviour from musical press follow later. Now, it is time to check what Samplitude can offer us.
March 2008
Samplitude
additional tools, and with Samplitude 10 I will try to present just the most distinctive ones. It is in general a very deep program. It has a rank of endless menus and you can settle it and arrange it to satisfy all your needs. This can be a minus or a plus but, when you get used to it, it becomes definitely a big bonus.
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
One of the most unique Samplitude features is the so-called Hybrid Audio Engine. It is a combination of a low-latency engine and a normal playback engine. Low-latency is used for recordings, enabling direct monitoring, while the standard playback engine is used for already recorded tracks as it uses far less cpu than a low-latency engine. The next useful addition is audio quantisation; I know some other sequencers also have this function but Samplitude does it in a unique way. With just a few clicks a bunch of tracks can be played in perfect rhythmic order. This is ideal for synchronization of live drum recordings. Of course you should look at the video clip about video quantisation before you try it
for your self. It can be easily found on a YouTube. Just search Samplitude 10 Audio Quantize Tutorial. One of the most desirable and unique functions is the object oriented audio editing. It just sounds fancy, but it works even better. Every clip of every track on arrangement can have its independent settings along with the common ones used for that track. Every clip can have its own eq settings, along with six additional effects, pitch shifting, time stretching and independent volume settings. Setting the effect just for one clip is dead easy, almost like setting it for the track. Powerful fade-in and fade-out functions allow cross fading the effects; and not just clips or objects, as they are called in Samplitude. Loop mode for objects: When an object is marked as a loop it can be copied as many times as you want with just a drag of the mouse; ideal for drawing the arrangement, like with Sony Acid.
Samplitude
Samplitude Pro offers also a so-called “full elastic mode” which is a combination of Antares Auto tune mixed with Celemony Melodyne, together with classic time stretching and pitch shifting. There are also a few big control bars with plenty of symbol buttons for customizing the workspace to fit our needs. Here we can find various zoom settings, a few mouse modes, and most of the other items from the menus. These control bars give Samplitude a little of a retro look, but besides aesthetics they are very useful and speed up the working process.
for the first upgrade”. And I have to admit at this point, I got my version of Samplitude 10 Pro in the week it came on the market. All this misbehaviour is common to many sequencers. They are pretty extensive beasts and there is always something lacking. And talking about that, it is time for some --
Missing parts
Samplitude 10 is not as rock stable as it should be but this new version is pretty fresh on the market, so I believe that Magix team will fix all these crashing and freezing issues in the coming months. I bet you've heard this old software saying: “Never buy a software with a round number, always wait at least
Samplitude has a bunch of very good effects filled with interesting presets, Variverb being one of the best sounding reverbs on the market at the moment, and there is also a convolution reverb included along with few mastering effects. It is hard to complain about the quantity and quality of effects, but
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All other functions are mostly the same as they are in all top DAW's. Some of them maybe differ in names, but their functions are more or less the same.
I really miss some options to preview loops in a host tempo. This has become a standard for all new DAW's and furthermore I have to mention that Samplitude can't preview 24 bit wav's when loading them in the sequencer. OK, there is a way to preview them in a file manager, but that is just not as user friendly as it would be to load them directly.
March 2008
Samplitude
Samplitude is packed with only two virtual instruments. The first one is Robota, the drum synthesizer and the second one is Independence LE, a rompler. They are not bad, but I can't imagine a powerful sequencer without any analogue modelling synthesizer, these days. The next “miss” does not concern the quality of sound or functionality, it is more a matter of learning curve – Samplitude manuals are a total nightmare. It is hard to imagine one could actually learn the program out of them, but thanks to a kind user, Kreznet, who recorded plenty of excellent “getting started” videos, it is possible to learn it. As they say, one picture is better than a thousand words, and there are a lot of pictures in these videos.
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
Adam to God: It can't be just the apple? There must be some other reason. Apple, with their Logic 8, has set a new standard in the price battle field. I think that Magix should rethink their price policy or maybe what they offer for the money they ask. Pro version costs 999 euros and, to be honest, it does not differ so much from the
normal Samplitude 10 version which costs just 499 e. It is pretty funny to have the same price in USD dollars and euros these days. 999 dollars is not the same as 999 euros. Am I more stupid than Americans to buy the same thing for a bigger price, or are Americans just a more penniless nation so they deserve cheaper prices? Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Americans. I just have this feeling that Magix has something against me, a European fellow. Samplitude 10 for 499 euro is not a bad deal. It has this funny limitation of 64 audio and 64 midi tracks, which automatically puts this version in comparison with low budget sequencers from some other developers with the same limitations. But if you are not a movie composer, you will probably never reach this limitation, but browsing virtual musical stores you can't find why some Stainberg or Cakewalk products with similar limitation cost far less than Samplitude. I presume it is just a wrong marketing disposition of the product. Samplitude 10 is more powerful than those low cost products, but an average buyer can't learn this by comparing just few written characteristics from the net store.
Samplitude
The Pro version has got just a few things more but costs much more. What's the use of full-featured Elastic Audio if the equalizer has just four bands? That's not enough for a professional approach. When Magix decides to abandon limitations from the normal version, like number of tracks, number of effects, and an instrument per slot, and when they add some more “pro” goodies in a “pro” version, I think they could easily become one of the big names in the sequencer market. Variverb pro could be reserved for the Pro version, as could be some mastering effects and few more fancy options. One or two additional VST instruments couldn't do any harm either. Splitting a few “all in one” effects to more separate ones could also help get a better image.
I might be wrong, but then again not. I like Samplitude and I wish all luck to the whole Magix team. They are kind and supportive. Even with all these limitations, I can easily recommend Samplitude 10 to you. Try it and maybe you will like it. At least visit their site and download the inspiring Kreznet video files to get in touch with the magi(x)c of Samplitude and the magic just might enchant you too.
Wusik Magazine
All in all, Samplitude’s range of sequencers is top notch, but they are restrained by wrong marketing decisions. Sometimes it is enough to put the product in another category, changing its marketing position and, thus, making it more successful. Samplitude Pro should be called and sold as a Samplitude bundle, because
it already has Variverb Pro and full Elastic Audio included. Maybe a few additional mastering tools with a few other small improvements there would be enough basis to sell Samplitude 10 for the same price ( 499 euro ), without any limitations, as the main version. I have a feeling that customers and press people are a bit confused with these versions and always compare Samplitude Pro instead of Samplitude with Cubase and Sonar. They are simply not in the same price range. I dare to believe this could be the main reason why Samplitude Pro has always lost this battle. I remain convinced that Samplitude is an excellent sequencer, though it always misses something on the shop shelves.
March 2008
Magix's AM Suite (Analogue Modeling Suite)
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
A suite of 3 VST’s: am-track, am-pulse, and am-phibia
by David Keenum
Magix's AM Suite
I’m afraid it’s all too much for me! It makes my head hurt! So as I discuss Magix' Analogue Modeling Suite, I’m going to focus on the sound and quality of the plug-in’s 3 elements. I have never used Neve 1173, so I’m not going to pretend that I have. Using the word analog or analogue is all the marketing rage right now, so it only makes sense to look at “analogue” products with a bit of skepticism. And, when it is all said and done, all we really want to know is will the plug-in do the job for me, and will it sound good. So that will be my approach. Magix' Analogue Modeling Suite (henceforth we will call it AM Suite) contains three elements (each a plug-in) with the intention being to model analogue hardware, although specific hardware is not mentioned. The suite started out as integrated effects in
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If you want to start a heated discussion among softwarebased recording musicians, just make a dogmatic statement about a certain plug-in’s “warm, analog” characteristics! Put on your fire suit before you start that fight! And when you think about it, there is a reason for the disagreements. What is warm? What makes a sound “analog-like”? From what I’ve read and heard, there is no consensus answer. Everyone has their own opinion. Some feel that warmth is typified by good converters on their soundcard and, at least in my opinion, they have a point. Good converters sound more like how I remember tape sounding. Others refer to clipping the signal, distortion, and emphasizing harmonics. Or they may refer to the “asymmetrical characteristics of analog tape saturation,” and if you understand that my hat is off to you!
March 2008
Magix's AM Suite
March 2008
Sequoia and Samplitude, but they are now available in VST format. They have been on the market for about a year now, so you should expect to find a stable mature product. And that is exactly what I found -- no crashes or glitches. Before I go further, let me tell you about the programmer of AM Suite (and VE Suite and VariVerb Pro). His name is Sascha Eversmeier, and you probably know his work. Whenever someone posts a forum question about the “best free pc vst plug-in,” you will invariably see digitalfishphones (www.digitalfishphones.com/) mentioned. That is Sascha’s project. A few years ago, he went to work for Magix and AM Suite, VE (Vintage Effects) Suite, and VariVerb Pro reverb are his creations.
More from Sascha If
you
would
information
about
Eversmeier’s modeling
like
more Sascha
ideas
analog
on
circuits,
and you don’t mind wading through a 29-page thread (and all the nonsense that it
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entails), point your favorite browser to the following link: www.kvraudio.com/forum/vi ewtopic.php?t=167880&pos tdays=0&postorder=asc&st art=0
Magix's AM Suite
The AM Suite consists of 3 effects: am-track, am-pulse, and am-phibia. Let’s look at them individually.
am-track The am-track is a combination of an “analog” compressor and a tape simulator. The compressor can be styled after a VCA compressor or a FET compressor. From the name “track” I guess it is obvious that the primary use of am-track is as a channel insert (used on individual tracks), but it would also be useful on a bus or sub-group.
Wusik Magazine March 2008
Magix's AM Suite
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
am-pulse The am-pulse is a “transient modeler” effect. Transients are the attack portion of a sound, and they are especially noticeable in percussion or plucked sounds. am-pulse is designed to edit the attack and sustain portions of a track. It also has “tube saturation and treble exciter” effects. am-pulse has been compared to digitalfishphones’ Dominion. They have the same programmer after all. But Sascha states the am-pulse (and every Magix plug-in) was newly coded from the ground up.
am-phibia am-phibia is a tube amplifier/channel strip with an optical (vintage) compressor and a pre and post filter unit. It can model anything from a vocal pre-amp to tube guitar amplifier and its main use is to color a sound.
Magix's AM Suite
Installation
Manual
I received the boxed version that loads AM suite, VE suite, VariVerb Pro, and Samplitude SE. Without a serial number the effects work in demo mode, but demo mode allows for a lot of freedom. The demo mode restrictions are: no saving of your own settings, no automation, and you are limited to 44.1 kHz only. That’s it! But I am beginning to wonder if it is really a clever conspiracy to trick you into buying all of the plugins. They are all good and the demo mode gives you a lot of opportunity to use them. So you grow dependent on the plug-ins and “have” to buy them. Wickedly clever!
A great printed manual is included in the boxed version of AM Suite. Online it is in .pdf format. The manual gives a lot of information about using the plug-ins and even a description of the schematics each plug-in is attempting to model. For example, the manual explains the difference between a VCA compressor and a vintage optical compressor.
When I think of AM Suite in a general sense the word “elegant” comes to mind. True, the names, the modeling, and even the GUI are meant to emulate vintage analog equipment, but the overall impression is one of elegance. There is “richness” to the sound of these effects. They can make a good track sound better.
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Authorizing the AM Suite consisted of inputting the serial number and then connecting to Magix site. The user code is tied to your computer. For me, the process was quick and painless.
Impressions
March 2008
Magix's AM Suite
Another word that comes to mind is “subtle,� because these effects, especially am-track and am-phibia, are best when used subtlety. Don’t get me wrong, you can use them to squash or mangle a track. But, at least in my opinion, their strength lies in their ability to add a finished, polished sound to an already good track. The optical compressor is especially gentle and the tape simulation can add an understated smoothness.
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
If my processor allowed it, I think I would try to put am-track on every channel! As it is, I usually edit tracks in Sound Forge. And I have been reaching for AM-track most of the time. am-phibia can give you a wide variety of colors, from a tube vocal preamp to a guitar pre-
amp to a vintage optical compressor. And am-phibia does a nice job on them all. But I think my favorite has to be the compressor. It is smooth! I have never used transient modifying plug-ins, except maybe in look-ahead compressor, so working with am-pulse was a new experience. The manual gives some possible uses of am-pulse which include increasing or decreasing the ambience of drum tracks and dampening the pick sound in a bass track. I tried it on an electric guitar track and was impressed. I used it to lower the pick sound, and it helped the track better sit in the mix. The effect was subtle but it was discernable. And it sounded really nice!
Magix's AM Suite
Conclusions The AM Suite, especially amtrack, has moved onto my most-used-effects list. I really like am-track’s and am-phibia’s ability to add a finished touch to a track. And the vintage styled compressors are smooth! am-pulse opens a lot of creative possibilities, and it has the “sound” of the other two effects. If you are considering AM Suite, the best plan would be to download the demos. And the best part of that is the small number of demo limitations. But if you download these effects, just be careful! They are habit-forming.
Purchase Information 199 EUR for Boxed Version 169 EUR for Download Version The AM Suite plug-ins are available in VST format. They are
available
from
Music
Retailers and directly from
consult the Magix website: www.samplitude.com/eng/vst /uebersicht.html
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Magix. For more information
March 2008
Dash Signature’s HQS1
HQS Volume 1 -
Ultimate FM -
Dash Signature’s Sample Library based on the Yamaha FS1r
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
by David Keenum
Dash Signature’s HQS1 When the Yamaha DX7 hit the market in 1983, it changed the synthesizer industry. MIDI was new, and the DX7’s MIDI was limited. But that didn’t matter. The DX7 brought Frequency Modulation (FM) Synthesis to the common musician, and it sounded nothing like that old fashioned analog subtractive synthesis!
The pianos, mallets, and plucked sounds were
soooooooo real!
And by that I mean “so real” by 1983
standards. The DX7, or one of its DX brothers, went on to make a mark on most pop songs in the 80s. It was almost the stuff of legend.
But the overuse of the DX7, coupled with the development of sample-ROMbased keyboards with built-in effects, brought on the demise of Yamaha’s DX line. In 1992 Yamaha introduced the SY85, a sample-based keyboard, and it seemed the age of FM was over. Then, in a surprising move, Yamaha introduced one last FM Synth in 1998, the FS1r. It coupled 8 operators of FM synthesis with Formant Shaping Synthesis. It was a complex instrument that was difficult to program without a computer editor, but it made FM sound new. The FS1r was only manufactured for 2 years, and sales were slow. But later the FS1r attained almost cult-like status, with used units selling for high prices. So if you’re interested in this instrument you need to be prepared to shell out some serious cash and then spend some serious time
programming this instrument. Or you could pick up Dash Signature’s HQS Volume 1. Dash Signature is the company that markets Eve vintage synth, and HQS1 is actually in Dash’s DASHsnd format. Wusikstation reads DASHsnd format, so we Wusikstation owners can use the sounds as well. Dash Signature offers 6 add-on libraries, and the first 4 (HSQ1 – HSQ4) also contain presets for Wusikstation. HQS Volume 1- Ultimate FM comes with 135 Wusikstation presets. Actually, it comes with 128 presets for EVE, 32 presets for the Twin Dash Player, and the 135 presets for Wusikstation V3. Also, the Twin Dash Player comes free with every Dash sound library. We’re going to specifically look at the Wusikstation presets. Wusik Magazine March 2008
Dash Signature’s HQS1
Installation Installation is quick as long as you remember that soundsets go in the “Soundsets” folder and presets go in the “Preset” folder. In each of those folders, I created a HSQ1 folder and put the data in there. When you first access the library in Wusikstation, Wusikstation will need to find the samples. This may be because the Soundset is in the DASHsnd format. You will need to click on each individual preset, and let Wusikstation find its samples. This will take awhile, but you only have to do it once.
Organization
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
The HSQ1’s samples “weigh in” at 300mb and encompass 90 multisamples of FS1r sounds. The multisamples include Bass, Brass, Electric Pianos, Voices, Formant Sequences & FX sounds, Organs, Plucked & Mallet Sounds, and Synth Voices. When I went through the raw samples, my favorites were the nice plucked (including mallet) sounds, the voice sounds, and the sounds with a bell-like ring. DXs were famous for their plucked, mallet, and bell-like sounds, so I guess this is no surprise. What was surprising was the complexity of the presets!
Simple Edits Tutorial I mentioned that some of the presets in HQS1, although they sounded cool, did not exactly fit into my style of music. Here are the quick and easy edits I used to modify the presets. First of all, to simplify a preset I just turned off layers. That simplifies a preset quickly. If you click twice on a layer’s button, the light turns off. That means the layer is off. Second of all, to get a new variation or a new preset, I changed the multi-sample for a preset. The multi-sample browser is at the upper righthand corner of the Wusikstation GUI. That’s how I found those cool plucked, mallet, and bell multi-samples. You can then adjust things like your Amplifier Envelope (ADSR). Don’t forget to save your new preset. Just right-click on the preset browser (bottom of GUI) and choose “save preset.” I put a “2” after the original preset name.
The second “issue” is a matter of taste, and it also has an easy solution. Many of the arps and wavesequences have a resolution of 1/6 or 1/12. It gives the preset a cool sound… but it is hard for me to use it in a song. All I did was change the resolution to ¼, 1/8 or 1/16. This, for me, simplifies the arp so it can fit into a song in 4/4 time. The change was simple. Single click on the wavesequencer button (there are two) and click on the "wave sequencer" button. You can see the resolution (looks like a fraction) at the top of the screen, right under the word "SPEED." Since most of HQS1’s arp and Sequencer presets use both wavesequencers, you may need to edit both wavesequencers. Now, there is one more thing to do. Click the “Main” button and then click the edit button for each of the effects (FX 1 & FX 2). Look for the delay or echo effect. You can then change that delay or echo to ½, ¼, 1/8, or 1/16. Incidentally, I also made this change on a couple of pad presets. And, as before, don’t forget to save your preset.
Dash Signature’s HQS1
Presets Before we get into specifics about the presets, let me say that HSQ1 has a distinctive sound. I guess it is the FM synthesis coupled with the Formant Shaping, but whatever it is, it is nice… and unique. If you remember FM synthesis as thin, you’ll be surprised by these sounds. Daniel Kemp, Vera Kinter and Teksonik supplied the presets for HSQ1, and you will not be disappointed. They are evolving, complex, and rich. The 135 Wusikstation presets are broken down as follows: 4 Arpeggiator presets 5 Atmosphere presets 9 Bass presets 5 Special Effect presets 3 Guitar presets 14 Keyboard presets 3 Lead presets 2 Organ presets 25 Pad presets 1 Percussion preset 41 Sequence presets 21 Synthesizer presets 3 Vox (vocal-like) presets
Wusik Magazine March 2008
Dash Signature’s HQS1
If you know the work of these preset designers, you won’t be surprised to learn that there are no bad categories… but I did have some favorites. The pads were my all-time favorites, and some of the pads can make nice lead presets as well. Also, I really liked the Arpeggiator and Sequence presets. Here are a few of my favorite presets: SEQ Ancient Evenings-dk - This is a great evolving pad. SYN Foggy Evening-dk - This preset is a blend of a synth sound and a digital texture. PAD-Breathy Pad-VK - Vera Kitner creates beautiful pads and this is one of them! ARP-Percol 8-Tek - This is a bouncy arp with a hint of a pad in the background.
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
BAS-Cosmo Watts-Tek - This bass reminds me of some of the basses that the Yamaha TX81Z made famous.
GTR-Guitarish-Tek - This only sounds similar to a real guitar, but it has that cool DX sound! I guess I do have a couple of small personal quibbles, but they would not keep me from purchasing this library. And really they are a matter of personal preference. The first is that I would like some simpler patches: Some basic DX electric pianos, some basic mallet presets, and some simple pads. But this was easy to fix. If you look at the side-box tutorial, it will give you step-by-step instructions. The second “issue” is also matter of taste, and it also has an easy solution. Many of the arps and wavesequences have a resolution of 1/6 or 1/12. It gives the preset a cool sound… but it is hard for me to use in a song. All I did was change the resolution to ¼, 1/8 or 1/16. This, for me, simplifies the arp so it can fit into a song in 4/4 time. As before, the side-box tutorial will give you step-by-step instructions.
Dash Signature’s HQS1
Company: Dash Signature Product: HQS Volume 1 Ultimate FM Price: € 30.00 - US $39.00 Website: www.dashsignature.com/products /dashsound/hqs1.htm Specifications 90 multisampled FS1r sounds (300mb of samples in the DASHsnd format) 128 presets for EVE 1.x and EVE 2 32 presets for the Twin Dash Player (TDP comes free with every Dash Sound Library) 135 presets for Wusikstation V3 (compatible with V4) There are several VST plug-ins that support audio samples in the DASHsnd format. Presets, however, are specific to each VSTi.
Conclusions First of all, the HQS Volume 1sample library is based on a rare, unique instrument, Yamaha’s FS1r. Then Dash Signature asked 3 of the top Wusikstation preset designers to create the presets for HQS1. And then there is the reasonable price of € 30.00 or US $39.00. So what’s not to like? I can’t think of anything. I know I had a couple of quibbles, and I feel that I needed to share those. But in my view they are not a big deal. There are a lot of great presets, and it is easy to customize presets in Wusikstation. So go to Dash Signature’s website and listen to the demos. You may find that you are “needing” a little Yamaha FM to come into your life.
DASH Signature: EVE 2, Knaglis, Twin Dash Player ManyTone: ManyStation, ManyOne, ManyGuitar, ManyBass Wusik: Wusikstation
Wusik Magazine March 2008
Dash Signature’s HQS1
The Demo I made a little demo using the sounds in HQS1, and although it is a “quick and dirty” demo, I think it really shows the unique character of this library. I’ve been listening to some of Jan Hammer’s Miami Vice tunes, and I think it has affected me! So I titled the tune Crockett’s Memory. Now don’t get me wrong. HQS1 doesn’t sound dated. It just has some inspiring vocal-pad, and bell sounds, and the arps and wavesequences are really nice. And somehow it just ended up with a little of that Miami Vice flavor.
Here is the link: www.wusik.com/song.php?id=1733 The tune uses the following HQS1’s presets: SEQ Night Choir-dk PAD Church of the Night-dk SEQ EVE Rhythm 7-dk SEQ EVE Rhythm 6-dk PD Organ Pad-VK ARP-Percol8-Tek PAD Celestium-dk PAD Starlight-dk Admittedly, I slightly adapted some of the presets, but nothing to alter the sound or character of those presets.
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.
Dash Signature’s HQS1
Special Offer for Wusik Magazine Subscribers Only For a short time Dash Signature/ Nusofting is offering a special price on the Dash Signature Libraries. This offer is only open to Wusik Magazine Subscribers. Right now the special pricing only lasts until April 15, 2008, so if any of the Dash Signature Libraries interests you, you might want to act quickly. Here is the link: www.nusofting.liqihsynth.com/wusikreaders.html
Wusik Magazine March 2008
Wusikstation Basics 02
Wusikstation Basics 02
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
by Bruce David
Wusikstation Basics 02
In the first installment of this series, I discussed an overview of basic elements of Wusikstation. Toward the end of that article, subtractive synthesis was mentioned. But even before approaching a discussion of that, a few things about synthesis itself need to be mentioned.
Synthesis refers to a synthetic process of creating sounds. So, what is a waveform? While most intermediary and advanced users of WS take this information for granted, it is not as obvious as it might seem to them. For the most part they are operating from repetition as much as knowledge. They have simply heard the term so many times and used it in the context of creating sounds, they assume it’s meaning. But again, it’s not all that obvious.
Waveforms, as an entity do not exist. You will never be able to buy one in an electronics store. That’s because they are meanly a description of the electronics characteristics of a particular sound. They visually describe the movement of electronic flow involved in making a speaker produce a particular sound or, actually, making the ear hear a particular sound. We could go into the physics/acoustics of waveforms and at the end of a detailed discussion, you would not know much more about creating a sound than you did when we started . So some examples have been created of the most standard waveforms used in subtractive synthesis for you to comparatively see their visual representations (commonly used throughout the industry) and hear the sound with which they are associated.
Wusik Magazine March 2008
Wusikstation Basics 02
The waveforms involved are: sine, triangle, pulse and sawtooth. You can see each of them in the
graphic image below as they are typically represented and hear them by clicking on their links.
Click here to hear the SINE sound.
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
Click here to hear the TRIANGLE sound.
Click here to hear the PULSE sound.
Wusikstation Basics 02
So, given waveforms have “shapes” which thus produce their individual sound, subtractive synthesis comes into play. First, the waveform or sound wave is produced by a device called an oscillator and that is the first stage of the process called synthesis. Most synthesizer oscillators, as in the case of Wusikstation, have a variety of selectable waveforms available as a starting point. Subtractive synthesis is the method by which waveforms are modified to change their initial sound or timber. An electronic
device known as a filter is the usual means of making such modifications. This process is known as subtractive synthesis because it removes, subtracts, from the waveform’s properties to alter it. Technically, what is being removed by a filter is overtones. But hearing this is much more informative, so let’s take a simple example, mellowing the sound of a sawtooth waveform which, as you can see and hear, has a sharp, harsh tone. Under Filtered Sawtooth below you can seen and hear the difference:
Click here to hear the SAWTOOTH sound.
Click here to hear the FILTERED SAWTOOTH sound. Wusik Magazine March 2008
Wusikstation Basics 02
Other devices used to alter sound in synthesis (distortion, waveform shaping, enveloping) involve shaping of waveforms, controlling their sound frequency (pitch), and controlling their volume. The most common of these, all present on WS, are waveform shapers, distortion devices, envelope generators, low frequency oscillators (LFO), and envelope generators. To cover a few of the most used devices above:
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
· Filters take out certain parts of a waveform to change it’s Sound. · Waveform Shapers & Distortion make similar modifications to filters without removing any of the richness of the sound. They actually reform the sound into a different waveform. · Envelope Generators and Low Frequency Oscillators, depending on how they are routed in the sound path, alter the created sound by raising or lowering either volume or pitch in a controllable pattern.
These are the absolute basic devices. There are other devices which alter sound, some being outboard versions of the same devices and others, like reverbs and delays, devices to simulate environments, which we will discuss in future installments. They are all present and can be turned on or off when programming Wusikstation. This installment has been kept short because the subject matter is dense and requires some consideration and, perhaps, even further Internet exploration. A search for “synthesizer basics” on the Internet will bring an astounding number of responses, if the reader’s interest extends beyond this simplified starting point. But for those desiring to make the leap into music production quickly, we will enter into hands-on practices for learning in the next installment using, of course, Wusikstation as the tutorial model.
Wusikstation Basics 02
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
Diversions
Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, Community, and Commitment by Bruce David
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
Community and teamwork begin in life with the human body. I have no conscious awareness of what my liver is doing at the moment but if it stops doing it, I will know that quickly. I'm told that this is an “autonomic� function of the brain. I do not know what that means because I doubt that human thinking is limited to a physical organ. The body-asa-machine analogy kind of works but collapses when we get to phenomena like self consciousness and creative thinking.
Diversions Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, Community, and Commitment
There is no successful business which is the product of one person unless that person is also the only member of the staff. Only one-person companies fit this profile. If all the cells do not come together in the appropriate fashion forming strong legs, it is unlikely someone will become a track star. To the degree the many independent operations of a company come together cooperatively, that company will succeed at its stated mission. And unless chaos is its mission, that means cooperation, coordination, and community are the heart of a successful company. Such attitudes and efforts may have a financial motive in part but they are rarely limited to that alone and are more likely also a “labor of love” by the participants, especially in the West. I have worked with very effective operations using as many as 600 volunteers to complete the overall mission but the center of the volunteers' involvement came from a dedication to and love of the mission.
Wusik Magazine
Those who hold to it, naturally, try to deny the very notion of “creative” and to explain it away with cause-and-effect theories. However, with or without a firm philosophical grounding, that a human being is a community of activity between organs, cells, microbes, and thinking is without a doubt the experience of most of us. That we return to dust at the end of a physical lifetime does not resolve the issue because Earth itself is also a teeming community of resources held together by co-operative (note: operating together) actions of its components. Eastern theology/philosophy (especially Taoism) more readily accepts human experience as an element in a much more inclusive cosmic flow. The astronomer Carl Sagan's remark, “We breathe the nitrogen of stars,” is remarkable for a Western scientist, pedestrian for an Eastern thinker. Western thinking has long put more emphasis on the isolated individually of humans. That's where a problem for business activity begins.
March 2008
Diversions
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, Community, and Commitment
Wusik Dot Com is primarily a volunteer organization, at this point, slowly moving toward a more and more commercial structure. That, of course, does not mean significant personal commitment is ruled out but rather it takes a new form in an organization seriously geared toward sales productivity. Yes, its tasks can still be very much a “fun thing� to do but there comes to be a time when part of the fun can no longer be arbitrary off-andon participation, due to the overall effect on the company. Here the final element of commitment enters
into the individual member's involvement. This factor is looser, less demanding in an organization that is driven by the needs and desires of hobbysts and staffed by the same type of members. Though they may be very serious professionals in their daily workplace, it is unlikely they are or are able to be the same in a volunteer organization they have chosen for personal enjoyment. As an activity becomes ever more commercial, this factor must change in the direction of commitment.
Diversions Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, Community, and Commitment
Mistaking freedom for arbitrary personal liberty is an error that has toppled whole governments, historically. While on Earth, there are few escapes from “functional necessities.” Most of those require consistent effort without failure to operate well. A fox in the woods does not arbitrarily take the day off without regard for offspring or health. The fox does not juggle its schedule between work and leisure. The fox is a part of a multi-plane organization that depends on its activity and upon which it depends. But with consistent, tenacious work the fox succeeds at forwarding its future and that of its charges, as well as, in many more subtle ways, the entire environment around it. Companies, their employees and volunteers, are much like any such survival system, in that regard. Rewards for the fox, like a time off work, come only with a very high degree of success in functional necessities tasks.
Wusik Magazine
When organizations change modes of operation, there is always a degree of insecurity and confusion generated. And immediately, the instant the change begins, every prior member of the organization must decide which way to pull: for or against the change. Ask anyone who has ever
passed through the transition from amateur to professional (or semiprofessional) in a performing band about these tensions. If the change has been established as permanent, to pull for it is to help build; to pull against is to tear it down. To pull against it is to pull away from that organization. This can only distract from the central effort and ultimately lead to separation from the organization because at each turn of the developing new mode the difference between the 2 parties (organization and dissenting members) becomes greater. Dissent in government is imperative, at least in American government and most of those in Europe now. But businesses, though often confused with governments in this regard, operate differently due to investments and ownership. Committee-like organization has rarely proved effective or profitable for business operations. The adage. “A camel is a horse built by a committee” has proven true in profit seeking environments. Operational control assigned to experienced managers with ownership support and employee/volunteer cooperation is the most proven system for development and growth of profitseeking companies.
March 2008
Diversions
Wusik Magazine
March 2008
Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, Community, and Commitment
Many companies, even most small companies, begin oriented toward proprietorship. How quickly that mode becomes awkward and/or ineffective depends mostly on the success of the product(s) and the speed of growth in staff members. Proprietors who cling to control of a rapidly growing product and organization are usually rewarded with exhaustion and headaches far beyond the value of the additional income. The term “downsizing” doesn't always mean reductions due to lack of funds. We assume that bias in America because businesses usually operate on the premise that more/bigger is better. However, there are small companies, very successful small companies, which have simply chosen not to grow in the sense of “more” and to retain their size and productivity as is. This choice isn't even limited to small companies. An example is the Yamaha (not a small company!) DX-7. When the DX-7 entered the marketplace in 1983, the demand for the product quickly exceeded Yamaha's expectations and production capacity. Any selfrespecting American company would, of course, have immediately retooled, hired additional staff, and jammed out whatever quantity was
needed to rake in the cash. But not Yamaha. Knowing that big changes without proper grounding bring on reduced quality, they simply refused to produce the product any faster for fear of quality control failure. The factory capacities remained the same, the waiting lists and pre-orders grew huge, and over its overall history Yamaha sold 160,000 DX-7's. An unheard of number for a single synthesizer. They also simultaneously retained an unequaled reputation for reliability and service. Change in organisms, as far as scientific observations are concerned, is usually gradual. But this is as much because of the interdependence of the elements and the push-pull nature of their existence as it is due to any grand scheme aside from these factors. Pushing and pulling burns energy and detracts from movement toward a new mode. Depending on how conservative or resistant the elements involved are the organism may move very quickly into a new mode or die from the attempted movement. The speed of the transitions is usually governed mostly by the push-pull factors, even more than the intended plan.
Diversions Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, Community, and Commitment
There is no successful business which is the product of one person unless that person is also the only member of the staff. While a single person's decisions, say a CEO, may greatly influence the results of business transitions, the less dramatic, cumulative decisions (pushing and pulling) of lower echelon workers will finally determine the outcome. Overall resul t s o f d eci si o ns are rarel y
foreseen accurately but instead the daily tactical adaptation of such decisions have the greatest impact. Thus coordination and communication are of significant importance in the business's effectiveness. Communications and coordination are the essence of tactics. Strategy is of almost no use without tactical intelligence input. Or put otherwise, strategies as such usually don't work. They instead set a direction which daily tactical adjustment makes successful or failed. Functioning communications and coordination toward a commonly understood goal is synonymous with community.
Wusik Magazine March 2008