Wusik Sound Magazine - October 2012 by Wusik Dot Com

Wusik Sound Magazine October 2012

Issue 41 www.wusiksoundmagazine.com

The Wusik Letter... Welcome to the October edition of Wusik Sound Magazine. This is the issue that almost wasn’t. Sometimes life creeps up on you slowly - there is much busyness, things to do and many things vying for your attention. Sometimes life runs up and clouts you, leaving you reeling, wondering what is happening. At those times you realize that life is precarious, if precious. A number of the WSM team have been going through some very tough times the last few months and to them I want to say thank you. Thank you for making time for the magazine when you’ve been going through so much. Your contributions are appreciated. To continue talking about ourselves for a moment… when preparing an issue of the magazine we gather in one particular corner of the internet to talk about what we’re planning to do, hoping to do or dreaming of doing. But this common meeting place doesn’t really reflect the diversity of those who faithfully bring you WSM every couple of months. Although I’m British I currently live in Belgium. This month I’ve been putzing around with some Garritan software and checking out the latest offerings from Cableguys, FXpansion and kiloHearts. David B. is from the US and has been examining 2CAudio’s new B2 reverb. Alex, from Slovenia, has been poking away at Izotope’s Ozone 5 and preparing a review of ChordWizard’s Songtrix whilst back in the US, David K. has produced a companion piece on ChordWizard Gold, ChordWizard’s eponymous software. Let’s not forget Warren, way down under in Australia who has been getting to grips with AudioMulch, and Robert has been getting his vibe on with CrossDJ whilst playing the Highland Harp over in Sweden. Ginno, living in the US, brings another prodigious soundware round-up for your enjoyment. Then there’s Jeffrey, also in the good ol’ US of A who’s been gently strumming his Orange Tree Samples Guitar, whilst we weep… Last, but not least, again from the US, Danny has sent in another missive from the fabled DanziLand - not to be missed. A truly international team this month (as most months). And Ben…? No idea where he’s from (actually, could be Jupiter, or California… one or the other) but we’re missing him greatly this month. Enjoy! Adrian

http://www.wusiksoundmagazine.com Editor : William Kalfelz Assistant Editors : David Baer & Alex Arsov Contributors : Alex Arsov, David Baer, Warren Burt, Danny Danzi, Adrian Frost, Robert Halvarsson, David Keenum, Ginno Legaspi & Jeffrey Powell Proof Reading : David Baer & Adrian Frost Layout : Adrian Frost Cover Photo Copyright © 2012 Adrian Frost All articles are copyright their respective authors Some of the products reviewed in Wusik Sound Magazine are copies provided free of charge for review purposes

Essential Reading ................................................................. 4 ChordWizard - ChordWizard Software ................................. 8 ChordWizard - Songtrix Gold 3.0 ........................................ 10 Cableguys - Curve 2 ............................................................ 13 Creating Sounds - FM Synthesis Part 6 ............................... 16 Interview with Dr. John Chowning ..................................... 21 DanziLand Dispatch ............................................................ 25 kiloHearts - Faturator ......................................................... 31 Impact Soundworks - Highland Harps ................................ 33 iZotope - Ozone 5 ............................................................... 34 Garritan - Classic Pipe Organs ............................................ 36 MixVibes - CrossDJ ............................................................. 41 AudioMulch 2.2.1 ............................................................... 43 2CAudio - B2 ...................................................................... 52 FXpansion - DCAM Dynamics ............................................. 56 Orange Tree Samples - EAG: Steel Strings .......................... 61 Orange Tree Samples - Lap Steel Guitar ............................. 63 Soundware Roundup .......................................................... 65

Ÿ Teacher Ÿ Acoustics Engineer Ÿ Author (books and innumerable magazine articles) In other words, he’s had his hand in just about every aspect of the production of modern audio recordings. Luckily for us, he has a great knack for being able to explain it in a way that doesn’t require a deep technical understanding on the part of the reader.

Ethan Winer's “The Audio Expert”

The Great Debunker

One of the things Mr. Winer seems to enjoy as much as anything is debunking audiophile myths and misstatements. In fact he’s been well known on a by David Baer number of soundrelated forums for stirring up Essential Reading controversies. But This is the first in what I hope to be a regular feature having come to know in WSM where we present our views on books on his expertise, I’d say it various aspects of computer sound that we think are would take an worthy of your attention. And what would be a overconfident or better place to start than a comprehensive volume outright arrogant on all aspects of sound? The Audio Expert has the individual to challenge secondary title “Everything You Need to Know anything he says. About Audio”, and it honestly lives up to that billing. Not to get ahead of myself here, but one compelling Ethan Winer is one of the few individuals who could example of this is Mr. Winer’s assertion on the single-handedly write such a book. His list of job subject of dithering (applying a low level signal titles and competencies include: when converting from 24-bits to 16-bits when exporting audio out of your DAW, for example). Many “experts” claim dithering is essential. Mr. Ÿ Recording engineer Winer states that, although he has no objection to Ÿ Recording studio owner the practice and that it does no harm, no-one can Ÿ Rock musician tell the difference between dithered and untreated Ÿ “Classical” musician bit reduction. To back up his claim, he has posted an audio file on his web site (www.ethanwiner.com) Ÿ Electronic circuit designer that combines fragments of a mix exported in part Ÿ Software developer with Sonar’s highest level dithering algorithm and in Ÿ Composer/arranger 4

of engineers tried to understand why some old-school recordings sound so good. Failing to understand the importance of good mic technique in a good-sounding room coupled with good engineering, they assumed (wrongly IMO) that it must be the gear that was used. Personally, I want everything in my recording chain to be absolutely clean. If I decide I want the sound of tubes, I’ll add that as an effect later.

part with plain old truncation (no dither). No one yet has answered his challenge to identify which portions are dithered and which are not, even after several years. This is where Mr. Winer is at his best, or at least at his most entertaining. In not only debunking false claims by vendors, but doing it in a way that is scientifically provable, he gains our trust (or at least has gained mine). In today’s rapidly advancing technological wonderland of software-based sound production gear, a trustworthy voice of reason is refreshing, because it’s become all too easy to fall prey to vendor overstatement and outright misstatement. Case in point: in Audio Expert, Mr. Winer quotes himself, using a post he once made on a sound forum: I wasn’t present in 1951 when the Pultec equalizer was designed, but I suspect the engineers were aiming for a circuit that affects the audio as little as possible beyond the response changes being asked of it. I’m quite sure they were not aiming for a ‘vintage’ sound. The desire for ‘warmth’ and a ‘tube sound’ came many years later, as a new generation

Sounds like the type of advice you’d be able to trust? This is why I find Ethan Winer such a great source of knowledge. He never makes a claim without also offering the proof where such proof is easily producible. Granted, few of us have access to the super-expensive calibration gear needed in some situations. But a great many assertions can be proven with simple null tests that anyone with DAW software can perform. When you start realizing how much capability you have with a modest home studio DAW setup, and when you start to think critically the way Audio Expert teaches you, you will have accomplished much. One last thing before we get into the book itself. Those wanting a quick Ethan Winer experience without investing the money to buy and time to read the book can take advantage of some vintage (pun intended) Winer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTlN6wjcvQ This is a one-hour video of Mr. Winer and some colleagues at the 2009 AES convention taking about various audio subjects. It’s most informative and thoroughly entertaining. Highly recommended viewing.

Audio Expert Enough background … on to the book. Audio Expert is just over 650 pages in length, but the physical book is augmented by much web content: software, audio and video files, links and three web-only chapters (which have not yet been completed as this is being written). In the opening remarks, Mr. Winer observers that he feels the book is not for beginners, but for intermediate and advanced audio professionals and serious enthusiasts. This is one of 5

the few exceptions I take. I wish this had been the very first book I had read on audio. I’ve read many books by now and have picked up a lot of information along the way, but it has been in a somewhat haphazard fashion. I would say that anyone comfortable enough to read the articles in WSM is well up to the task. It’s a great place to start your audio education because it’s so comprehensive.

what makes sound. This is followed by what is probably my favorite chapter in the entire book: Audio Fidelity, Measurements, and Myths. As I said, Mr. Winer is at his most entertaining when debunking audiophile BS. Chapter 3 is all about how we hear. Finally, we have the amusingly titled chapter “Gozintas and Gozoutas”, all about common devices and connectors found in the world of sound engineering.

My only other issue, and it’s rather a minor one, is

PART 2, on recording, processing and methods, is

Sounds like the type of advice you’d be able to trust the inclusion of circuit schematics here and there. I would suspect that these would be intimidating to some readers. But really, if they are beyond your comprehension, simply ignore the schematics and you won’t be much left in the dark. In most cases, they augment points that are already sufficiently explained in the text (the book does have a chapter near the end, “Basic Electronics in 60 Minutes”, where we actually do expect to see circuit schematics).

the longest and most comprehensive in the book, weighing in at ten chapters and 245 pages. But do not go into this thinking you’ll fully learn the craft of recording and the art of mixing. There are better sources for that. No, this is something you should read even before attempting to learn that. This will teach you the science behind studio gear and practices. That’s not to say you won’t learn anything at all about how to properly mix tracks. My point is that Audio Expert teaches you much of what typical mixing books overlook.

One case in point: digital/analog conversions, digital bit depth and so forth. Audio Expert spends many pages ensuring the reader has an understanding of what is important and what is not, and explains clearly why this is so. Few books on mixing come anywhere close to Audio Expert in dealing with these fundamentals. While everything has importance, I wish I had read Audio Expert before Those readers who aren’t much good at math will reading, for example, Mixing Audio by Roey Izhaki. have reason to cheer. Math is kept to a minimum. In Mixing Audio is an invaluable book, but it focuses on a few cases where formulas can be helpful, there the craft far more than the science. I’m asserting are software programs and spreadsheets offered at that a reader who first understands the science the accompanying web site. Need to know the how involved in the mixing process can more quickly much voltage changes for a 10 db reduction, for learn the craft than one who does not. example? There’s an app for that! Mr. Winer has your back. PART 3 is just two chapters on transducers. What are transducers, you ask? Microphones and guitar The book has six major sections: pickups convert sound to electronic signals. Speakers and headphones do the opposite. For any Ÿ Audio Defined book on audio, a dedicated section on transducers is Ÿ Analog and Digital Recording, Processing, and certainly warranted. If you thought mics are mics, Methods and it’s just a matter of how expensive a unit one Ÿ Transducers can afford when it comes to the quality of your Ÿ Room Acoustics, Treatment, and Monitoring tracking, you’ll be amazed at just how much more Ÿ Electronics and Computers there is to know on this subject. Certainly this information can be read in other sources, but I’ve Ÿ Musical Instruments never seen it better explained than in these PART 1, Audio Defined starts with Audio Basics: 40 chapters. pages of solid information on the fundamentals of 6

PART 4 tackles the mundane topic of room acoustics and treatment. What’s amazing is how interesting Mr. Winer manages to make a topic that is usually better used as a treatment for insomnia. I’ve never come across a more readable and enlightening presentation. PART 5 is titled Electronics and Computers, but it actually does not talk much about computers at all. In fact, the only computer related information is how one uses a DAW in some of the test procedures that are explained in the second chapter of the section. The first chapter, Basic Electronics in 60 Minutes, is one I’d call optional reading. I’d recommend that you do try to read it, and you may very well get some useful knowledge out of reading it. But if you understand nothing, don’t despair. More than anything else in the book, I’d call this knowledge non-essential.

PART 6, the final single chapter section is on musical instruments. I was quite honestly surprised at how much I learned in these 30 brief pages. I suspect many of you will find this chapter to be fascinating.

Conclusion If you’re serious about music production, and especially if you’re just starting as a hobbyist, you will benefit enormously from reading Audio Expert. Even a seasoned professional studio engineer is likely to learn a thing or two. The author’s rare combination of experience and expertise makes him one of the few individuals in the world who could pull off writing such a comprehensive exposition of how audio works and how contemporary technologies can be used in its capture and reproduction. Ethan Winer is a fine writer and teacher and is unquestionably a true audio expert. He deserves our commendation for helping us to become audio experts ourselves.

ChordWizard's

instruments and alternate tunings. The complete list is here: http://www.chordwizard.com/instr_cwfg.aspx .

ChordWizard Software

But let’s go back to that picture of the guitar fretboard and the matrix of chords. This is the Chord Shape Library. In this library you can find, for example, all the ways of playing a C chord – I counted 20, or A flat major 9 over B flat - 4 ways. Yes, it’s a chord library, an extensive one that is

A resource for players of fretted instruments by David Keenum

As a musician, have you ever been “stuck”? Have you ever run dry of ideas? Of course you have! That’s when you need a little “kick” of inspiration, something to get your musically creative side back and working again. ChordWizard’s products may be able to help with that. ChordWizard Software is a young company out of Australia. I would describe their focus as being automusical software, along the lines of PG Music’s Band-in-a-Box, but the comparison is limited. ChordWizard offers their unique approach while staying within the context of auto-music. And sometimes this is the perfect way to break through the creative block wall. And sometimes it may be a great way to learn something new. And the “learning something new” phrase brings us to easily accessible. ChordWizard Software’s products. ChordWizard Software’s product line (http://www.chordwizard.com) includes Music Theory 3.0, Songtrix, and ChordWizard. Music Theory 3.0 is tutorial-based software for teaching you the “nuts and bolts” of music construction. Both Songtrix and ChordWizard come in several versions, broken down by price point and features. Songtrix is, for lack of a better description, the Band-in-a-Box competitor. With it you can create songs and also learn about song construction and musical styles. There is also a free version of Songtrix for your “test driving” pleasure. ChordWizard, our focus here, is for the education and creativity of players of fretted instruments.

At the bottom of the page there are tabs that allow you to access the other features of ChordWizard. From the tabs you can access the Chord Design page. Here you can create and identify chords you discover or create. There are customizable options to help you make this feature fit your needs.

The Relations page is for discovering how chords are related to each other. It will help you discover what chords will fit with a certain scale or mode. This is where education and creativity can cross paths. The Relations feature will give you options for chord changes that may ChordWizard Overview not have already occurred to When you first open the ChordWizard program, you you. Or it can help explain see a guitar fretboard and a matrix with chord how certain chord changes names. Yes, guitar players are the prime target for work. Now this method isn’t this software, but if you play the Bouzouki, or the fool-proof. Have you ever Balalaika, or the Banjo, do not fret! (Sorry, I couldn’t looked at the chords of resist.) ChordWizard supports a number of fretted Sitting at the Dock of Bay? 8

They defy logic, but they work. But within the logic of music theory, the Relations feature will help.

process I did not have any software problems or crashes.

Opinions on ChordWizard If you are a student of the guitar, or the Balalaika if that is your instrument, and you don’t mind looking at and working with a computer screen, ChordWizard is worth a good look. I don’t see it replacing lessons, and I don’t think it was ever intended to do so. But it can be a resource for education and creativity. In fact, I think ChordWizard’s strength lies in its ability to both educate and provide creative options for your chord selection and soloing. And those, my friends, are strengths worthy of consideration.

The Scales tab will help you with solos. It can also help you practice your scales, but who wants to talk about that! That’s no fun! Solos - now that’s fun! Within this option are a number of customizable features to help you find an exercise within your skill level. And like the Relations page, the Scales page will teach you how scales relate to chords, and vice versa. The final tab is a mini course in Music Theory. This Tutorial page will help you make use of all the other features of ChordWizard. We all get stuck from time to time, and these helpful tutorials will help you get unstuck. Then you won’t have to ask for help from some know-itall megalomaniac keyboard player! Well. Actually, this megalomaniac keyboard player and part-time guitar player (me) has found this software useful in developing my guitar skills! There are a number of other features in ChordWizard, including the ability to format and print your exercises and creations. But you get the idea of this software’s capabilities. I would also like to point out that during my review 9

it is not just a matter of taste as to which one you should buy, but it is more a general approach issue. Songtrix Gold 3.0 is mainly a great educational tool, which also comes in handy when you’re stuck for inspiration, or even when you’re stuck on your chord progression. It is also a great sketch tool for trying various variations, progressions or genres. Simple and fast, something we couldn’t always claim for the competitor’s piece of software.

ChordWizard’s Songtrix Gold 3.0 A composer’s best pre-programmed friend

Intro The simplest way to introduce this product is to present it to you in relation to its better known competitor. I bet you’ve already heard of “Band in a

Box”. Well, Songtrix Gold 3.0 is somewhat similar with a few nice advantages and one or two deficiencies compared to the competition. All in all, 10

Spoiled mind That’s in general. What about the personal experience? As you know, I’m Mr. Abuseman. (As far as I know every temporary electronic musician is also Mr. Abuseman, it’s the nature of electronic music). Everything that can be used, can be also abused. In general, I (ab)used Songtrix Gold 3.0 for making chord progressions in Auto style mode (the mode where the program makes a basic arrangement) with chorus and all parts. I browsed through the genres, and when I found something interesting, I saved it as a song. After that I exported the arrangement as a MIDI file,

importing it into my main sequencer is where all fun begins. Using unusual electronic sounds instead of the standard instruments, drastically changing the

submenu is Track, where you can edit every row or line separately. Songtrix offers very deep editing, where you can change every single part of an arrangement. It really shines in this area.

drum sounds, adding some loops and unusual sounds and sights – at the end of the day, I have something that even Songtrix’ mother couldn’t recognize: a nice electro-Frankenstein with a melodic body from Songtrix and spoiled mind from Mr. Arsov.

If you click on a chord row, you get a nice window where you can go mad with chords. The tone scale is horizontal and chord harmonies appear vertically. Between those two axes you can find yourself clicking like mad trying all those combinations, but that is only one option. The second option is to click the next chord button and let the program help you find a progression. Of course, this is not an instant-hit-onefinger-magic-wonder, so you will spend some time trying to find appropriate chords.

If you are searching for the magic solution then you should try your luck in the last “Tutorials” submenu: Normal mind a lot of good chord progressions with a lot of nicely When you start the program, it asks you whether explained theory. For dummies (like me) of course. you’d like to import a MIDI file (it shows the name In this part you can learn everything that you missed of the chords where the names are already during your music career … even if you missed implemented in the MIDI file, it would be nice if the everything. Scales, rhythm, chords and scale program could recognize chords from the desired relations, playing music with chords, scales, writing track), or whether you’d like to download an songs, songs structure and everything existing song which has been published on the in between. Nice and tidy, but let’s Songtrix site, or whether to start a new song. In go back to the Track submenu. We Standard mode you get the empty editor, where you told you about chords but we didn’t can start from scratch. But if you do that, then you mention that for all other parts, should ask yourself: why the hell did I buy this in the rows or instruments, no first place? Nothing wrong with standard mode, but matter what we call them, ain’t we all looking for the Autostyle mode, the there is an excellent MIDI place where all the fun begins? piano roll editor with a few The first thing that you will notice is that the whole really good editing possibilities that we usually working area is much more familiar, or maybe we should say, Windows friendly, than is the case with see only in big, well known sequencers. The last two “Band in a Box”. You don’t need a PHD to start jamming with the whole thing. At the bottom of the sub-menus are Staff where we can find our editor there is an additional menu with a mixer window, there is also the current main window with arrangement written in a staff shape ready for drum, bass, chord, riff and melody rows. Another 11

print and the Network submenu which leads you directly to the Songtrix Network where you can find the Songtrix forum or download additional songs from users, find additional help and all the other stuff that you can get in such an internet café.

Summary That’s for short. There are many more small tricks that are hidden in various options and menus. The fact is Songtrix is a nice not too complicated tool that can save your day when you are without inspiration, or can help you when you have inspiration but you need a little help or a second opinion. For the price of the just another virtual synthesizer, 123 USD, you get a tool which definitely will not make you a pop star nor will it put you directly on the radio without any additional tools. But if you have any basic knowledge, it can help you to produce more versatile music, bring some fresh ideas and some new views. At least, in less than a minute you can see how your chord progression works with a full arrangement, or it could help you to find a new progression or just another chord in your arrangement. Songtrix is somewhat of a toy, but in the end, all VST things are toys, and this is a really useful one. Download the demo from 12

the ChordWizard site (http://www.chordwizard.com) and find out if you could abuse it. I definitely can.

The Arsov’s additional complaining small nook In some future update I would like to see additional fills and intros/outros for various styles, also an auto builder for lead lines couldn’t hurt, maybe those chord progressions from the Tutorials chapter to be implemented in the chord section. Not just as chords that have various different numbers of tones from the prior chord, but to be ranked by some logical choice (like the most common chord from the scale and then more unusual ones and so on and so on ...). We definitely get enough for our money, but come on, we are humans, we always want more. Don’t get me wrong - I can live without all those additions, but I’m sure that adding some of them could make this program even more useful. By A. Arsov

“Mystery Horizon” is a gentle wash of sound the builds, ripples over you and makes you go “Ohhh, nice”. A very good introduction but, as they say, that’s not the half of it. There is so much here that is crying out to be tweaked and turned, poked and prodded.

Cableguys “Curve 2” by Adrian Frost

“HOLD THE FRONT PAGE!!” You hear this screamed in movies from time to time when something really important happens, something for which it is worth delaying the publication of an entire newspaper. Here at Wusik I don’t get to decide what makes the front page but I’m going to shout it anyway - “Hold the front page!!” At the time of writing we’re already a couple of days past the deadline for getting articles submitted but I got a special dispensation to write this “Hot Stuff” review - a quick look at a new release from the Cableguys: Curve 2. I’m going to be working on a full review for the December issue.

Curve’s heart is found in the graphical window at the top of the interface. Here is where you work on up to 10 different waveforms that you can use in various parts of the synth - namely the oscillators and LFOs. More or less anywhere that you see a small magnifying glass icon you can assign a wave. Although the waveform window gives you an additive synthesis type ‘breakdown’ of your waveform you interact with waveforms via the bright orange waveform itself which can be dragged around and modified using the row of tools just below the window. You can also edit the waveform by means of doubleclicking. Double-click the line to add a new, moveable, control point - doing this means that you’re not limited to smooth flowing curves but can get all spiky if you so desire. Double-click off the line, in the window itself, to add shaping control points that will affect the waveform line indirectly. The flexibility is amazing - with a bit of imagination you could probably draw a passable Mickey Mouse and use that to drive your sound … or maybe not. It’s clear that getting waveform editing just right

First impressions The first version of Curve, I have to confess, pretty much passed me by. But once this synth appeared on my reviewer’s radar I knew that I’d have to take a look, if possible. Well, Jakob at Cableguys made it possible so, here we are. Curve 2’s interface is dark but clear. Everything is laid out in what looks to be a logical order and there is plenty that grabs your attention. This is a synth that definitely invites you to dive in and get going. So I did. The default preset 13

One thing you might notice from the screenshot is the “Sync” button at the top of the screen. Here lies one of Curve’s killer features. The first time you load up Curve and hit Sync you’ll be able to download approximately 2000 new presets that have been submitted by members of the Curve community. Each oscillator can use two waveforms at a time and Syncing every now and then will give you new stuff you have four LFOs at your disposal. Throw in a to play with. The quality is a little variable but bunch of high quality filters, a couple of editable generally good - at least from the presets I’ve envelopes and a, somewhat formidable, modulation managed to work through so far, there’s a lot of matrix and Curve is shaping up to be a very capable them! Furthermore there’s a whole pile of quality and diverse synth. presets by well-known preset designers such as Michael Kastrup, Pluginguru, Myagi, Xenos Oh yes, Curve also has Macros - a way of controlling Soundworks and Soundsdevine. You’ll also notice multiple synth parameters in one go. We’ll be that there are quite a number of presets that appear exploring Macros in December, so stay tuned. with a small “Approved” icon/badge. Those presets They’re a powerful and interesting feature. share a common volume level, have good playability and can get you started straightaway. You can use the arrows to either side of a preset’s name to navigate through the entire collection or, It’s easy to join the Curve community as a better still, hit the “Library” button up in the top left contributor, you simply have to submit a preset corner which gives you access to every preset via a we’ll look at that in more detail next time. However, series of windows that include preset information and it should be pointed out, you don’t have to be a and a simple but effective way to do searches - by contributor in order to download everything that is name, by author, by instrument or by type - smart! was top priority for Cableguys and, in my opinion, they’ve done a great job. You don’t need to worry about the start and end points of your waveforms matching up because Curve looks after that automatically for you - a nice touch.

available and that has been submitted by other people.

Once you’ve got your copy, or even if you only want to try out the fully functional demo you can take a look at the Curve 2 tutorials at http://www.cableguys.de/curve-tutorials.html

You share a preset by not setting it to private when you save it. Be very aware - the default is to publish your presets, so make sure you’re happy for them to There’s not a huge amount there at the moment but appear before your waiting audience before hitting what there is available is clear and helpful. save. Or just click “Set to Private” and relax until OK, that concludes this short Hot Stuff review. Come you’re ready for the Big Time. back in December for a full run-down of what Curve Cableguys are currently running an offer on Curve 2 2 can do. Until then… go get it. - €99/$129 until the 1st of November, after that it’s still only going to be €119/$159. Jump on this deal at http://www.cableguys.de/ whilst it’s hot, you won’t regret it.

Creating Sounds : FM Syn by Adrian Frost

We come, finally, to the last part of this series on FM synthesis. Over the previous five articles I’ve tried to cover the essentials of FM synthesis theory, we’ve considered a few practical applications of that theory and we’ve looked at a number of FM synth plug-ins that could even be called “best of breed” in both freeware and payware categories.

discovered and refined the principles of FM synthesis.

Feeling, not so, BLUE

No discussion of modern FM synthesis and the world of virtual instruments would be complete without mention of Rob Papen’s hybrid synth BLUE. Although released way back in August 2005 BLUE This month we’re going to be taking a look at BLUE - still more than holds its own. BLUE was the result of Rob Papen’s hybrid FM synth and FXpansion’s Rob’s first collaboration with ConcreteFX’s Jon Ayres Cypher - a virtual analogue synth that also enters who is something of an FM wizard in his own right what is normally considered to be a purely digital having already produced a number of very nice FM realm. synths - Jon was responsible for “Feed” and “Digital” - BLUE’s little brother - that I looked at way back at Finally, to wrap things up in style we have an the beginning of this series. interview with Dr. John Chowning, the father of FM synthesis who whilst working at Stanford University BLUE is marketed as a “cross-fusion” synth and incorporates a number of different synthesis

nthesis

techniques including FM, Phase Distortion, Wave Shaping and Subtractive. But where it excels is, in my opinion, is in FM synthesis where it uses an algorithmic approach to enable you to create a wealth of interesting sounds. So, let’s take a look.

BLUE’s oscillators in particular that the A and B oscillators also feature PWM.

Each of BLUE’s operators can be fed-back upon itself whereas on a DX7 BLUE is a six oscillator/operator synth that offers a only one op per whole range of filter types, envelopes, LFOs, mod options and Arps/Sequencers in one very nicely put algo is ever set up together, smart package. As mentioned above, BLUE for self-modulation. As in all things FM, is related to the ConcreteFX synth Digital that we moderate settings looked at when talking about C:M ratios a few give the best results months ago - see http://issuu.com/wusik/docs/wsmfeb2012/5. BLUE so self-modulating retains Digital’s precise control over ratios, which is every single operator may be one the thing that makes it such an easy to use FM counter-productive as you’ll end up with noise from synth. each operator at 100% feedback. Having said that, When you choose any one of BLUE’s algorithms the using BLUE’s filters and FX would enable you to form relevant operators are switched into FM mode but even that noise into something useful. any other operator that is not ‘implicated’ in a stack Whilst BLUE does offer a stack of 6 operators, or 5+1 or other type of building block (see April’s issue : http://issuu.com/wusik/docs/wsmapr201296dpi/4) or 4+1+1 there are some really nice combinations that you won’t find on a DX7 (or direct emulation of can be used in any way you see fit using one of the other synthesis types. This gives enormous flexibility its algos). Of particular interest are algos 17 through 19 which give 5 into 1, 4 into 1+1 and then 3 into 1 and means you can mix synthesis types in a single into 1 - see accompanying diagram. Here you get a preset. short stack but with many modulators which will BLUE offers 32 different algorithms via the ‘Alg’ tab allow you to create some very interesting sounds. in the lower half of the synth. Although it has the In a recent correspondence with Dr. John Chowning same number of algos as a DX7, only 17 (yes, I (how’s that for name dropping!) he explained, counted) are actually in the same configuration concerning having 6, or more, operators at your which means that BLUE gives you 15 totally new disposal that “6 in a stack is so unpredictable that algo combinations to play with. There are a few seeming repeats amongst the algos, that is, different producing sound by intention is very, very unlikely. A pair of 3 in a stack is predictable and very useful. operators grouped in the same way, but the Total of 6 in both cases. But it must surely be true groupings take advantage of different features of

that a unique timbre can be produced by 6 in a stack, but what to do with it becomes the issue as music is not typically based on a timbre but rather how it varies through change of pitch, loudness, duration, etc. in the course of the piece.” The conclusion to draw from this is that we should keep our stacks small and build up sounds from more stacks that are doing less. The final part of BLUE’s functionality that I want to point out is its envelopes. In order to create sounds that vary over time, that build up and interact you need a good set of envelopes. As you can see from

the associated image BLUE offers comprehensive control over each operator’s envelope. The nice thing here is that everything is clearly laid out - the labels on the graph correspond with the controls and you have easy access to all six operator envelopes.

Analogue Digital or Digital Analogue So far all the synths that I’ve looked at as part of this series on FM synthesis have been digital in character. “Well, what do you expect, you’re using a computer” you may cry. Yes, that’s true but overwhelmingly today’s virtual FM synths are emulating a technology that was digital to begin with. The DX7, and Yamaha’s other FM synths, used digital technology to accomplish their goals - for instance, they use look up tables to calculate operator values rather than working with the interaction of resistors, capacitors and other “analogue” bits and pieces. Of course, I’m simplifying! So, does that mean that FM has never made any inroads into the world of analogue synthesis? The answer, obviously, is ‘no’. In the physical realm a number of analogue synths offer some form of FM - whether by using oscillators or by means of filter FM which is the fast modulation of the filter by an audio oscillator - a subject in its own right.

Generally FM in analogue synths has hit one sticking point - digital FM uses negative frequency - negative frequency being phase shifted positive frequency. Sound-wise BLUE has a clarity and depth that make Remember that in FM negative frequency is a consequence of the calculations used to compute it a joy to work with. Personally I’ve not delved as deep into what BLUE can do as maybe I’d like. There the sidebands for a given C:M ratio - see http://issuu.com/wusik/docs/wsm_october_2011 always seems to be something new to learn but /62 for more on the relevant theory. In practice the what I appreciate is that you can get going negative frequencies ‘wrap round’ and either add straightaway because the interface is well laid out to, or subtract from, the positive sidebands. and logical. Even if you only ever use BLUE for FM there’s enough here to keep any of us occupied for For a synth such as the DX7 creating negative a long time. frequency is relatively simple - you just look it up and use a number in your calculations. But how does one create negative frequency in an analogue circuit? Well, you can either avoid the issue altogether and just let your oscillator hit 0 for a part of any cycle or you can get clever and work on something called a “Through-Zero” oscillator. If you’re into building your own synths there is one name that stands above the rest - Cyndustries, who 18

have created a Through-Zero oscillator called the Zeroscillator. However it’s not cheap, prices start from around 800 US dollars for one module. For any kind of polyphony you’re going to need to make a considerable investment. There must be another way, and there is. FXpansion’s Cypher, part of the DCAM Synth Squad has a Through-Zero oscillator which enables you to do analogue FM on a digital emulation of an analogue synth. Confusing, but fun. And here I need to point out that I’m indebted to FXpansion’s Mayur Maha for his help in understanding these concepts. I also have permission to make use of DCAM Synth Squad’s manual in explaining it to you - phew… The simplest thing to do now is show you what a Through-Zero oscillator produces compared to the output of a regular oscillator. On the left we have the output from an oscillator modulated by a Through-Zero oscillator, on the right the result of using a normal analogue oscillator as a modulator. From the DCAM Synth Squad manual:

The waveform plots show thru-zero and normal analog FM using a square wave as the modulator, and a sawtooth wave as the signal being modulated. While the square wave is high, the pitch of the saw is increased, and when the square wave is low the pitch is decreased. Through-zero FM: The decrease in pitch results in a negative frequency, and the saw-up waveform becomes a saw-down waveform. A triangle waveform corner is created at the point of transition.

Normal analogue FM: The osc is unable to produce a negative frequency when the pitch decreases. It becomes clamped at zero and stays constant until the modulator increases the pitch. The result is that the resulting pitch is not the same as the original saw wave. What this means in practice is that the sound from the Through-Zero modulated oscillator will be consistent - our ears don’t hear the phase change. However, the sound from the normal analogue modulated oscillator will be subtly ‘off’, the pitch won’t hold correctly and the sound will be a bit jumpy. Negative frequencies are vital for stable pitch response when creating sound using FM. The sound would also be thinner because, in effect, you’ve lost some of your sidebands. Cyper’s third oscillator is “Through-Zero” when used to modulate Osc 2. You control the amount of modulation via the knob in the bottom left hand corner of Osc 2’s control section. You can see in the image the type of waveform generated when using Cypher’s FM capabilities starting from the basic Init preset.

The thing to do is experiment - using just the Wave controls of Oscs 2 and 3 along with the FM < 3 control you’ll be surprised, and I dare say, pleased with what you can achieve. For instance: set FM < 3 to about 45%, Osc 2’s Wave control to about 70% and Osc 3’s Wave control to 10% and go play some bass notes. Throw on a bit of reverb and maybe some chorus and you’re set for making some fairly heavy music. Drop Osc 3’s Wave control down to around 50-60% and the sound fairly screams! Other things to try out are Osc 2’s Sync > 1 control and also the Beat and Scale controls.

The FM sounds that Cypher excels at are of the hard, gritty variety but there’s plenty of subtlety in there too if you take the time to tweak things.

But before I go, and as mentioned right at the It’s taken a while but we’re finally at the end of this beginning of this article, it is a great honor to be series on FM synthesis. It has been an adventure for able to present to you an interview with Dr. John Chowning, the Father of FM synthesis. Many thanks me and it has been a privilege to be able to share with you some of what I’ve learned myself over the to Dr. Chowning for taking the time to reply to all preceding months. The possibilities of FM synthesis the questions that I sent him and for being so unfailingly helpful in getting me through the are endless and I feel that I have only brushed the interview process! surface but hopefully there is enough here to have whetted your appetite for this somewhat different Thanks also to the guys at KVR Audio forum who form of synthesis. If out of all this you only spend jumped on my appeal for questions to ask Dr. five minutes playing around with an FM synth but Chowning with great enthusiasm and not a little create an amazing sound then I will consider my job humor done.

Almost time to go

Interview with Dr. John Chowning In your Stanford University biography you describe yourself as the discoverer of the FM synthesis algorithm. What led you to the discovery of FM synthesis? It was forty-five years ago (1967) that I ‘stumbled’ upon FM synthesis while searching for sounds having dynamic attributes that would be suitable sources in my sound localization experiments. The actual date is not known. Not having a scientific or engineering background, I did not have the habit of keeping dated lab notes, but I did keep notes. There is a record of my having visited BTL on December 18, 1967 when I showed the data that I used in my first FM experiments to Max Mathews, Jean-Claude Risset and Pierre Ruiz and played for them the examples. Ruiz copied the processing diagram and Risset carefully copied and dated the data from my notebook. It was a few weeks before, almost certainly late at night, while experimenting with extreme vibrato frequencies and depths that I realized that I was not hearing changing frequency (pitch) in the time domain, but rather complex tones, both harmonic and inharmonic, in the frequency domain. Furthermore, the spectrum could be altered from a pure sinusoid to a complex wave by means of a simple linear function.

What can you tell us about the computer systems that you used in your work on FM synthesis in those early days?

compositional constructions in which sound could be positioned, animated and even moved through space—as was suggested by some electroacoustic works, especially those of Stockhausen, e.g. Gesange Der Junglinge (1956). At the time I was completely naïve in regard to physical acoustics and the engineering sciences and had never seen a computer. But, I did understand Mathews’ striking statement —“There are no theoretical limitations to the performance of the computer as a source of musical sounds, in contrast to the performance of ordinary instruments.” After taking a programming course that convinced me that I could learn to program a computer, the following summer I visited Mathews when he provided me with a box of punched cards that represented the Music IV program and the Bell Telephone Laboratories (BTL) compiler. David Poole, an undergraduate math student and “hacker” at Stanford’s newly established A. I. Lab, implemented the program using an IBM 1301 disc, the common storage unit between an IBM 7090 and DEC PDP-1 computer. Samples were generated by Music IV and written onto the disc drive. Poole wrote a double buffer program that read the samples at a constant rate to the x and y ladders of the PDP-1 Precision CRT display, having 1024 by 1024 addressable locations, plotting 20k points per second. The two analog signals were then recorded on a stereo tape recorder.

Always at Poole’s side, I learned from him and others about computers, programming and In January 1964 I was serendipitously given the Max acoustics. In 1966 the A. I. Lab acquired a PDP-6 Mathews (1963) article by a friend (who worked in computer (predecessor of the PDP-10). Poole the sciences), based upon her understanding of my rewrote the Music IV program in PDP-6/10 assembly interest in electroacoustic music. Before coming to language and I wrote the function generators in Stanford as a graduate student in music composition FORTRAN IV. By 1967 we called this Music 10 with in 1962, I had studied three years in Paris where the arrival of the PDP-10. A 4-channel DAC was electroacoustic music was often a part of new music designed and built by an electrical engineer who concerts. I was fascinated by the idea of composing was interested in the project. Thus, I had the music for loudspeakers and, in particular, by the computer, programs and special DAC hardware that idea of composing music in spaces that were 21

were required to begin my quest that would finally result in Turenas five years later.

"FM is good for what we can imagine it to do and within its own space it is unlimited"

In 1973 Stanford licensed your FM synthesis patent to Yamaha who, in time produced the highly acclaimed DX7 synthesizer. What role did you play As well as working on the practical aspects of FM in developing the DX7? Also what did you learn in synthesis you are also a composer yourself. How the process? have you used FM synthesis in your own works and how has that affected your own understanding of In the years 1975 - 1990 I traveled to Japan often for what can be done with FM synthesis? short periods of time to work with the engineers who were developing the FM technology. My I think of composing music with computers as function was to help them create a variety of composing from the inside out. That is, sounds are timbres given the current stage of development of not chosen to be used simply to “dress up” pitch the hardware. This process provided the and time, but sounds can themselves be composed information required for the following hardware with structure to complement pitch space. Thus in iteration—what to preserve, what to develop my compositions, Phoné, Stria and Voices, I have further, what to introduce. This was often used FM to create sounds where their spectra are frustrating as I was used to a general purpose based in the Golden Ratio, orderly, and often computer where any timbre could in theory be inharmonic. This can be done with additive produced (given the knowledge). Their systems synthesis, but not so efficiently, an important issue were limited because of the requirement that they both practically and be real-time. I learned why FM was so important to conceptually. their effort: it is efficient computationally, required little memory, turned the digital aliasing problem into a feature (signal bandwidth could be limited to You have produced less than ½ sampling rate, or not) and, finally, it four notable provided a huge timbral space consisting of both compositions: harmonic and inharmonic timbres. Sabelithe (1971), Turenas (1972), Stria (1977), and Phoné Your 1986 book “FM Theory & Applications - By (1981). Do you have a Musicians for Musicians” is a comprehensive and favorite amongst practical tutorial on FM synthesis. What was the them, and why? most important concept that you wanted to communicate to neophyte FM synthesists? There is a more recent one, Voices, for Bristow and I wanted to provide a basis for soprano and interactive understanding FM that would complement a good laptop (v.1 2005, v3. 2011), which is real-time and musician’s intuition when programming an FM because it involves a performer, posed interesting synth. Why does a harmonic disappear for certain structural and musical problems. (After years of outputs of a modulating operator? (Because the hearing problems and not being able to compose, implicit index of modulation is at a value where the digital hearing aids allowed me to begin composing associated Bessel function is at, or near, 0.) The again in 2004.) Each of the pieces highlights some point was not to know what the values were, but aspect of the unique capabilities of the computer as the general understanding as to why this can occur. opposed to traditional sound sources.

Thinking of others who have used your ideas, what FM had such an enormous impact in part because it do you consider to be the best musical application made such efficient use of the limited computational power available in the heyday of of your work? The best science application? the DX7. Today we have considerably more power st I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t answer the 1 question because there are so available but FM seems to be getting a smaller many beautiful pieces that have been done with FM share of synthesis innovation and development as synthesis. The 2nd question: I think that because FM other types, additive in particular, become possible in low priced home computers. What is your is such a powerful tool in spectral modeling that it provided for a huge leap in our understanding of the feeling about the future of FM? Is hybridization with other synthesis types the way to go? nuance in our perception of sound.

There has been a long running debate about the nature of FM synthesis. Some people would say that, in reality, the technique is actually Phase Modulation. Any comments? This is an old issue that has been addressed many times through the years. Basically, if one changes or modulates instantaneous phase in a continuous manner, the frequency changes accordingly and vice versa. So, we see the difference in implementation of the technology.

FM is good for what we can imagine it to do and within its own space it is unlimited, as a piano is appropriate for some kinds of music and within that space it is unlimited. But if you want to produce glissandi then piano is not appropriate, better use a bowed string or a trombone. Most musicians donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how to use FM (or any synthesis method for that matter) in a sophisticated way. Sampling is complicated at the outset because it comes from natural sounds so it is easy for musicians to begin at nuanced perceptual levels, but it is what it is and has its own limits. The possible easy manipulations of sampled sounds have been fully exploited by now.

A thorough review of this issue, by Bill Schottstaedt, a colleague at CCRMA, can be found at https://ccrma.stanford.edu/software/snd/snd There are a number of very skilled developers /fm.html working on software FM synthesis at the moment. What would you like to see included in, what we might call, the next generation of FM synths? Home computers and software synthesizers have put FM synthesis within reach of many More attention to the handles of manipulation, musicians. How have you used them, if at all, moving from physical descriptions of control to perceptual descriptions of control. For example, in your own musical work? loudness (subjective) is dependent upon intensity, I use Max/MSP in Voices as the synthesis frequency height, spectral centroid and/or method. The synthesized tones range over a bandwidth (all physical) and ratio of great variety of timbres, from singing voices to direct/reverberant signal in spatial projection. huge gongs, and they are all produced by one single poly FM patch that has one carrier oscillator and two modulating oscillators. The key to a complex sound is many iterations of the poly patch Do you think that adding to the number of at the same time but each differs according to pitch operators would be advantageous given the corresponding increased complexity in sound height, loudness, etc. In other words, like additive programming? synthesis, but with more complex elements than a sinusoid. No. The DX7 stack of six operators gives a number of sideband components that is astronomical. The interesting future is adding lots of simpler constructions togetherâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;additive FM synthesis. 23

How do you think FM synthesis programming could In all your years of being involved in music what didn’t you see coming that surprised you the most? be made more intuitive and user-friendly? By creating a single sound from a number of component FM units, each of which has a relatively small index of modulation, gives a more predictable acoustic outcome than fewer units with large indexes. In addition the control over the timevarying aspects of sound is increased.

The decrease in the cost of computing or, to state it another way, the extraordinary increase in the power of computing music—meaning the software synthesis/processing/control.

More generally, what do you see as the next step in audio evolution, what are the most exciting things to you today?

People like you, Bob Moog and Ray Kurzweil were among the first wave of synth/digital audio pioneers, who do you think are the people making those kind of waves now?

The connection of complex sound generation (synthesis, physical modeling, sampling, etc.) to complex control seems the path to new expressive possibilities in electronic music. An aspect of sound synthesis and music that has interested me since decades is the linking of uncommon tuning systems to sound spectra that are inharmonic, but carefully constructed. This is an old idea that has been little exploited. John Pierce first created a short example in his Eight-Tone Canon (1966). Three of my compositions, Stria (1977), Phoné (1981) and Voices (2005-2011) all make use of this idea. A book about this basic idea: “Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale” by William A. Sethares is published by Springer 1999

I would think of others for example, Max Mathews and Don Buchla. Kurzweil did the obvious, which was to build a digital Mellotron. He is plenty smart and has done wonderful things, but I don’t see in any of his work (keyboards and memory modules) any breakthrough musical concepts—perhaps in the implementation technology. Remember, too, that the implementation of FM as a synth was not my work. That was a bunch of very skilled engineers at YAMAHA.

and 2nd edition 2005.

Many thanks to Dr. Chowning for taking the time to answer all of my questions. It was a privilege and a pleasure to be able to do this interview!

Hello everyone! In this issue I’m going to share a few answers based on two questions I’ve been asked constantly over the years. They sort of go together, so we’ll cover it like one big question even though it’s two. The question is: “Why do my mixes come out muddy and why can’t I hear the effects I use?” The first thing I do is concentrate on what the focal point of the mix is going to be. Will it be a drum oriented tune ... guitar heavy ... pop with vocals leading the charge? This is what helps me to "blueprint" my mix. For most of the stuff I do, it's usually guitar driven with drums next in line as far as the foundation goes. I start by coming up with the best sounds I can record of course, and then I EQ to taste. Now, sometimes I’ll compress a sound first and then EQ it. There will be times when you record such good tracks that at first you may not hear that much EQ-ing needs to be done. Don’t worry, you’ll need to EQ it, but there are times when you just have an anomaly occur to where it may be better to compress something first. This will in turn determine a different EQ curve than you may have gotten if you would have EQ-ed first and then compressed. So it’s always going to be different. Soloing and EQ-ing instruments: I never try to EQ soloed up because let’s face it, you can get the best sound known to man but that doesn't guarantee it

will work in the mix. Most times the sound you end up with in a mix may make you sick to your stomach if you solo it up. Yet when the mix is going, for some odd reason it just works. Embrace it…it goes with the territory. J Another important thing to consider at this stage is your actual soundstage placement...meaning your panning. The reason people have so many mud issues with mixes stem from 4 things. I'll cover them one at a time for you so maybe this will shed some light on things. 1. Improper panning 2. Bad EQ curves that bring on frequency masking 3. Lack of compression or knowledge of using a compressor 4. Improper effects usage 1. Improper panning: If you don't create a soundstage blueprint, you're all over the place and going to cancel out instruments and frequencies. Quite a few guys use hard left/hard right pans for too many instruments and then add stereo enhancement plugs on top. It is in my opinion that nothing should ever be panned hard left/hard right unless it is a specialty effect, sound effect etc. Think about it...if you exhaust your hard pans, there is

nothing left for the listener. Too many hard pans using stereo enhancement plugs and you literally get phasing that starts to go mono if you're not careful....as well as instrument or frequency masking. Look at a stage. Your drums are in the center, guitars left and right, bass close to the kit, keys on the other side, singer up the middle. To me, a drum kit and its pans should NOT exceed a 50 % or 60% pan field. There is no reason for your ride or crash cymbal to be out further than your guitars...there is no reason for your toms to pan around so hard that they walk on top of other instruments, and you do not need a verb on your snare that stretches out like this: 100 Left<----------SV (Snare C) SV---------->100 Right “Snare C” represents a snare panned center. SV represents “snare verb” and while the arrows show how wide the verb is going as well as how far it is being sent. In this example, our snare verb is so wide and panned, it will be laying verb tails out into the other instruments we have in the mix. It is also disconnecting the snare drum from the mix because the reverb effect is so wide. A better image would be this: <--SV (Snare C) SV--> This allows the verb to stay within the confines of the drum kit without spreading so far out you get reverb artifacts messing with other instruments. In EXTREME effect purposes when you may want to make a statement on a particular part of a song, sure you may want something to get loud and go wide for a second or two. But it is best to always keep your effects tight to your instruments in normal situations. The tighter your instrument pans, the tighter your mix. Don't mix in headphones ... use them for a reference only. OK, some guys are stuck with mixing in headphones due to living conditions or neighbors. You do the best you can with what you have. However, it really makes a huge difference when you can make the right decisions using monitors. Headphones will make you separate your mix way too much due to how wide they are on your hear by default. Think about that for a second. Monitor speakers would need to be glued to the sides of your head for you to get the same results. Hahaha! 26

Voxengo SPAN With panning, the tighter your mix is, the more impact it will have. Know when to spread something and when to keep things tighter. Headphones in my opinion will cloud your perception of Waves PAZ Analyzer panning because everything sounds bigger and better in them when it’s wider. Don’t mistake wider for bigger. There is a difference. J Keep your drums in the 50% to 60% range if you can. That means no drum instrument will exceed a pan of 50% or 60%. Pan your guitars slightly wider than your drum kit ... or keys etc. ... and leave your hard pans for something that you want to jump out for the listeners to say "wow where did that come from!?" Create your soundstage ... you have 200 possible pan positions ... use them all. There are no rules other than the ones you make for

Blue Cat FreqA

Analyst Multi

yourself. Hello everyone! I just find In this that issueharder the I’m going I pantothings, share a few the more answers my mix based can on two questions become disconnected I’ve been asked and it can constantly also lack over the years. They sort of impact. go together, so we’ll cover likecurves one big 2. BaditEQ that question even though bring on frequency it’s two. The question masking: I spoke of is: “Why do my mixesa come blueprints within mix. out muddy why How about and a blueprint can’t I hear the before you even effects I J use?” record? To me, this is important especially The first thing in terms I do is of concentrate kick drumson and bass whatguitars. the focal If you point decide of the mix youiswant goinga clicky, to be. Will beater it be type a kick drumdrum, oriented you tune can go ... guitar with aheavy bass ... guitar pop with thatvocals has more leading boom the to it. If you charge? wantThis a kick is drum what helps with more me to boom, "blueprint" use amy bass guitar mix. For sound mostwith of a

bit themore stuff pop I do,and it's usually percussive guitar “clack” driven towith it with drums less lows. next in Kick linedrum as farand as bass the foundation guitars aregoes. two of I start the by toughest coming up instruments with the best to make sounds gelI can in a record mix. If of you boost course, something and then on I EQa to kick, taste. make Now, suresometimes you are notI’ll boosting compressthat a sound samefirst frequency and then onEQ theit.bass There guitar. will be Doing times so when willyou place record you in such “what good thetracks heck that is wrong at first here” you may mode. not Haha! hear that As you much start EQ-ing to raise needs thetokick be fader, done. you Don’t will worry, notice you’ll you need can’t hear to EQthe it, but bassthere so you start are times raising when the bass you just fader. have Then an anomaly you’ll raise occur the to kick, where then it may the be bass better and you'll to compress wondersomething what the heck first. is This going willon. in turn Everdetermine have that happen? a different LOL! EQ This curve is than frequency you may have masking gotten and if it's youawould killer ifhave you're EQ-ed not first careful. and thenThe compressed. same with So theit’s mid-range always going instruments to be like different. guitars, keys, vocals and even some snare drums that Soloing mayand notEQ-ing be putting instruments: out the sound I never you tryare to EQ looking soloed up for.because Each instrument let’s face needs it, you an canidentity get theinbest the pan sound field known as well to as man thebut EQthat curve doesn't you select. guarantee it will work in the mix. Most times the sound you end up with sub in a low mix rumbles may make you sickpass to your stomach Control with high filters and if you high solo end it up.with Yet low when thefilters. mix is This going, for some harsh pass is very odd reasonbecause it just works. it…it goes important all tooEmbrace often, your mud is with coming the territory. from excessiveJlow end. Watch low mids from 200 Another important thing to consider at this stage Hz - 400 Hz. These babies can really mud things upis your soundstage your in theactual low end mids. Tooplacement...meaning much MID mids and you panning. The Ireason people have so many when mud you can get what call "mid-range congestion" issues with things.500 I'll cover them are going formixes a mixstem that from is too4warm. Hz – 900 onecan at be a time youofsoyou maybe thisarea. will So shed some Hz the for death in that work on light on things. giving each instrument a unique identity with your EQ curve and make sure you always try to cut 1. Improper panning before you boost. If you hear too much 2. Bad in EQsomething, curves thatdon't bringboost on frequency treble low end. masking Cut the highs and sweep through them to find 3. Lack outofwhich compression are offending. or knowledge Too much of usingend? a compressor low Find out if it is indeed sub low 4. Improper effects usage end or low mids. Don’t add highs, find the source of the problem and lower it. If you still 1. Improper can't tell,panning: placing aIfWaves you don't PAZcreate a soundstage you're all over the analyzer, theblueprint, free Voxengo Span analyzer place and going to cancel outa instruments or something similar can be great tool. andiffrequencies. Quite a control few guys use like hard Or, you’re an absolute freak me, left/hard you can right grab pans thefor Blue tooCat many Multi Freq instruments and then add stereo and see everything in your mix in one enhancement plugs sure on top. is inyour my ears instance. Just make youItuse opinion thatyou nothing ever be more than rely onshould any graph, meter or analysis panned hard tool. left/hard right unless it is a specialty effect, sound effect etc. Think about you exhaustor your hard pans, 3. Lackit...if of compression knowledge of there is nothing left for listener. Too using a compressor: Thisthe is extremely important many hardand panswhat using makes stereoa decent enhancement mix plugs and you literally get phasing sound fantastic. You should use that starts to go mono if you're careful....as compression on kick, snare,not bass guitar, well asand instrument orall frequency masking. vocals guitars at times in my humble 27

opinion even if used subtly. Instruments like toms, cymbals, piano's, strings and acoustic guitars are very dynamic....so the use of compression on these has to be very light if used at all. It depends on the player, how the Cakewalk Channel Tools instrument was tracked and how forceful they play really. I'm a fair bassist, but I tend to not be as loving to the bass like a real bassist would because I'm primarily a guitarist. So because my technique is not where it should be, I'd need more compression due to my execution of how I play bass. Now on an acoustic guitar, I wouldn't use much compression unless it was a part I was hitting extremely hard...but even then, a good guitar player knows how to play dynamically and for the song. You never want to over-compress because you will kill your dynamics. Especially on cymbals and toms and piano....you can use a little, just be careful. Again though, it depends on the instruments used and the conviction a player plays with or doesn't play with.

Waves S-1 Stereo Imager

the piece is. A rule of thumb is ... if it sounds good it is good ... you On kicks and snares, this to me is essential because never have to use the compressor can literally control the amount of something for the sake of pop a kick or snare has. It will also keep it in the mix using something or at all times and you'll never fight with it. With sticking to rules. This is electric guitars ... especially high gain guitar sounds, what makes this field so I try to take out about -2dB to -3dB of gain out using grand. There are no rules Sonitus Phase compression depending on the sound using a 4:1 other than the decisions ratio. This keeps it tight yet allows it to breathe, your ears allow you to remain dynamic and stay in your mix. Vocals are a make. Just make sure they are good decisions that catch 22. Some singers are very expressive and are always for the song over personal preferences. know how to work the mic as they sing. You'll still need to compress, but this depends on the singerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Now keep in mind ... no two compressors are alike. delivery, the singer as an artist and how expressive Regardless that their jobs are to compress, you have 28

to use the right tool for the job and you have to know how to use it. As I covered compression in our last issue, you know that some compressors will squash your material and bring on artifacts. Others will work in moderation and may be super sensitive. Still others may have different ways they react when you mess with attack and release times. You'll have to experiment with what you have to determine which will work best for an instrument. I have several here but not all of them would do what I need them to do for all instruments. Some guys prefer LA2A compressors ... which totally rock, but you have no release and attack control nor do you have a ratio to choose from. A compressor like that may not be good for the accentuation needed on a snare drum to pop out, understand? In other situations due to the snare itself or how it was hit, the LA2A may be the perfect tool for the job.

you insert a stereo effect on a bus or channel insert, you are sending that effect hard left/hard right by default? Now ... what did we say earlier about excessive usage of hard left/hard right pans? Yep, you guessed it...too many effects panned to the extreme, and you get masking also. Your effects and the EQ-ing and placement of them are just as important as EQ-ing your tracks and setting up the pans. Each effect needs an identity as well as a placement in your mix. Remember me talking about the reverb and the snare up there with the little diagram I drew? This is exactly what happens in your entire mix when you load up stereo effects without controlling how wide they pan. Think about this for a second...all effects hard panned. Stereo verb - 100 L<----------C---------->100 R Stereo chorus - 100 L<----------C---------->100 R Stereo Delay - 100 L<----------C---------->100 R

That's just 3 effects there. How many verbs do you use? See my point? The object is to set those effects A DBX 160 compressor rocks on bass guitar, but I'd not use it on an perfectly in the mix. To do this they need to be placed using something like the Waves S-1, some electric guitar with gobs of gain. sort of channel tool, the Sonitus Phase plug or An SSL compressor may be good on my 2-bus, but may not work as something equal. good as a NEVE on my vocals. A Tools like these will stop the effects from going too wide and walking on top of everything else, as well Blue Tubes as each other. From there, they need to be EQ-ed or compressor may be killer on you can use the high pass/lo pass filtering that many an acoustic, but effects come with these days. If not, throw an EQ on not as good as a bus after an effect and then load up your imager last in the chain. The biggest issues with verbs are a Fairchild on my drum buss. long tails and high end hiss type artifacts. These all You just have to need to be controlled. experiment and learn what each Some rock guys like to use a good verb on a snare or even a gated snare effect. When you listen to compressors someone that is inexperienced, you get that wide strengths and weaknesses are verb sound on the snare that makes it engulf the entire stereo spectrum. This is not what we want. If and use them your snare is in the middle of the kit, we want that to your verb that's on it to reach out just inside where the advantage. hat would be on one side, and slightly inside the ride cymbal would be on the other. From there you 4. Improper effects usage: I spoke briefly about effects on a snare already, but letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s get a bit deeper listen to it and see how it sounds. If you need to into this so you can fully understand it. You're going tighten it up, you tighten it with the S-1 or if you think it sounds good a bit wider and isn't walking on to love this one because most people don't even anything or mudding up anything, you shoot for it consider this stuff. Did you know that every time 29

and widen it. Flangers and chorus effects accentuate the lower end frequencies when they phase through their sweep patterns. Rolling off a little 150 Hz works a treat with these as well as sometimes ... ready for this? A little compression! Yep, sometimes the sweeps on these flangers and phaser type effects hit so hard, they literally raise your volume and become too dominant. Yet, if you lower them in volume, you don't hear them as much but then you lose the effect you were hoping for. So if they ever get a little out of line with you, EQ them a bit, keep them sane with a stereo imager type unit and smack a little compression on them to show who’s boss. For your effects to be heard, they need to be controlled. When you have the right control over them, you can use more of each effect because it will have an identity. Effects can sound bad and wash out a mix when they are allowed to run amuck and just be effects. But once you control them they will enhance a mix to where it will sound beautiful. When you have the right mix and control going on, it’s OK to allow people to hear your effects in a song. As I mentioned in one of our earlier issues, I find it useless to listen to those that say “if you can hear the effect you are using too much.” My reply to that is “if I didn’t want to hear the effect, I wouldn’t

have put it in the mix.” This will always be a personal preference. You don’t ever want to use too much of an effect that it muds up or covers your playing. And, there are times when you will use something that may not make a huge difference yet when you disable it you notice something is missing. There is a time and a place for everything. In the mixing field, it’s always about being in control. If you control lows and mids, your mud goes away. If you compress properly and learn how to use a compressor and choose the right one for each instrument, more of your mud disappears. EQ and control your effects and now you’re really cookin’ and have the power to illustrate your mix with a little polish and dimension. It’s much easier to accomplish than you may think. The hardest part in all of this stuff is to know what to listen for. Once you get that down or have someone teach you, you sit back and laugh at this stuff. The clouds part, the sun shines and you actually can get some work done for a change instead of working for hours, shutting off your PC and feeling discouraged. So give this stuff a shot and see how it works for you. I promise, if you go about it right, you’ll hear differences for the better immediately. Until next time, thanks for reading and best of luck! -Danny Danzi

My Site: http://www.dannydanzi.com My Band: http://www.myspace.com/dannydanziband My Audio Services: http://dannydanzi.com/aud.php My Recording Lessons: http://dannydanzi.com/rec.php

kiloHearts’ “Faturator”

What is it?

According to the kiloHearts website Faturator gives you “Maximum Lard, Minimum Effort”. Um, OK, by Adrian Frost sounds good. I like lard, even if my doctor doesn’t. Faturator is a saturating, distorting, sound coloring, A whole year ago I got to review kHs ONE from plug- stereo widening, dynamic preserving … thing. It kind of defies easy categorization because kiloHearts in newcomer kiloHearts. ONE is a simple, but not have managed to pack quite a lot of punch into a too simple, great sounding double oscillator (plus small package. The interface is definitely retro with sub) virtual analogue synth that I could hardly put its nicely rendered old-skool green and black down - it’s still installed and used 12 months later. monitor. The controls - all five of them - do pretty In fact, I’ve just been setting up a new PC and kHs ONE was one of the few plug-ins to make it into my much what you’d expect given their names. Drive adds a pleasantly over-driven effect that ranges nice, clean and fresh VST folder. Kudos kiloHearts from subtle to “Owww”. Fuzz is the distortion side it’s a keeper. But I’m not here to talk about ONE. of Faturator and works great. Color simply (simply?) Apart from updates to their synth kiloHearts have been working on a new effects plug-in that saw the warms up your sound giving it a certain fullness. light of day just a little while ago. When kiloHearts’ Mix, well that one’s pretty obvious. Finally you have Anders asked me whether I’d be interested in taking the stereo control to widen your sound. At first I confess to having been a little baffled by how to use a look at this new plug-in, well, I jumped at the the control (I’ll put on my dunce cap and go sit in chance. So, without further ado, here it is : the corner for five minutes…). Its round shape Faturator. invites you to move your mouse cursor in a circle once you’ve clicked and grabbed the control. This does weird things. All you actually have to do is grab 31

the control and move your mouse (or other pointing On drums Faturator can add some crunch that will fatten up your kicks and make your cymbals sizzle. device) left and right. I felt a bit silly when I finally On synths it will add some depth to your sines and worked that one out … ahem. grit to your saws. To the left and right you have input and output level So, I like it. I’m not usually a huge fan of distortion meters. One thing that I noticed on the output type effects but Faturator has caught my attention meter is that the blocks show up more and more distorted as you increase control levels. Attention to and, like kHs ONE is going to be staying around on my system for a good while yet. You could say that detail like that seems to be one of the hallmarks of I’m infaturated. kiloHeart’s designs. Like it.

The Sound A pretty face and simple controls are worth very little if the plug-in doesn’t actually do its job very well. I’d imagine that we’ve all run into that particular problem at some time or another. Well, Faturator delivers and delivers in spades. I’ve been working on a track based on something I originally wrote back in 2008. I foolishly lost, or didn’t keep the original MIDI files so have been recreating the composition from scratch. In the process of doing that I’ve been trying out different stuff to improve upon the original. One thing I’ve added is a bit of virtual guitar. To spice it up I threw on an instance of Faturator and the sound went from “nice” to “very very nice”. A nice objective measure by any account.

Faturator is available as VST and AudioUnit plug-ins and 32 bit and 64 bit versions are available for MacOS X and Windows. Download the demo version from http://www.kilohearts.com and then, five minutes later go back and plonk down your 15 Euros for a licensed copy. You’ll then receive a license code that you can paste directly into the plug-in.

Harps from the Highlands by Robert Halvarsson

Frequent readers of Wusik Sound Magazine might remember that I reviewed Impact Soundworks offering Emotional mallets a few issues ago. Instead of facing up to an assorted but quality release of instruments focusing on covering glass, stone and metal, this time around we instead face string instruments from Europe and North America, in the forms of the second installment of the series Plectra series, dubbed Highland harps.

It should come as no surprise that these instruments have been recorded with the utmost attention to quality, coming in pristine 24 bit resolution. True to their form, and a select number of other companies, the instrument itself is deep-sampled, recorded with next to no reverb. This allows the user to make the crucial decisions whether to apply effects on his or her own, instead of being forced into a specific way of working from the get-go.

While the first release took on the mighty Greek instrument of the Bouzouki – we get yet more folksy tones from a number of less than exclusive varieties of harps. In this collection we can hear and play the lyre, lap harp, and the Celtic harp. There are then plucked, hammered slapped and bowed in a variety of ways. Compared to the classical western concert harp, you may believe that these would be of less interest or beauty. I would disagree, the rustic charm of these instruments and the folk music that they have inspired, should be looked on in no less reverence today as they were by people yesterday.

Aside from the main offerings here, I was a bit surprised to see a few bonus instruments thrown in here for good measure. Designed instruments such as a “ripple harp”, “wind powered dulcimer” and several others are also included. Honestly, some of these were not to my tastes, compared to the might of the folk harps, but the “magnetic piano” was a sweet surprise. All in all, this is a very nice offering. And I believe that people looking for unique string instruments should look no further than this library.

Sometimes you want the perfect and pristine polish of a perfectly played concerto, and sometimes you want a pagan countryside folk charm – none of these are mutually exclusive.

http://impactsoundworks.com/

Now let’s get your folk on!

iZotope Ozone 5

option for stereo imaging is the general I’m new to the Ozone fan club, so I don’t know one added as a part of exactly what is new in this version and therefore I will not write about that. For me, everything is new. an old compressor from the first version of T-Racks. I would love to see The point is that I already own IK multimedia Tmy low end centered while spreading the top. TRacks and FL Studio Maximus, great tools - in the Racks come with a nice number of presets, but no right hands they can do wonders. But I ordered matter how much I tweak them it somehow still Izotope Ozone 5 anyway. Why? Am I greedy? I bet you will be disappointed with the answer: No, after doesn’t correct all the small mistakes that I make in the mix. I really need a taming tool. What about the being a member of WSM crew for almost five long years, I’m not greedy anymore. Maybe I was during Maximus? Similar story, but it has a multiband compressor and it has nice stereo imaging options. the first year, but now I really have everything I need for making my music. So, let’s go step by step: It is a bit tricky to get imaging right, but it can be done. So far, so good, but Maximus doesn’t have parametric post equalizer. I always screw my mix a Second step bit, so a post equalizer is a must have. Also, neither I presume that I’m a pretty solid musician and T-Racks nor Maximus have a harmonic exciter. I was during all these years I have also mastered my a bit desperate regarding my new project because I mixing skills. Mixing the song is one thing, while couldn’t master it properly. When my old friend mastering is a whole different universe. It is not for came to me, and after everyone, even not for me. I said that in the right listening to my songs, he said: hands those tools can do wonders, and that’s true. you should try Izotope Ozone, But the right hands don’t even use software for such it has got great presets, you a task. It is a matter of reputation. Can you imagine don’t need to tweak them so an old mastering engineer coming in to a bar and much, and it also has a saying to his pals: “Today I made one good master fantastic multiband stereo using just Ozone” (or T-Racks, Maximus, whatever imaging module. It really ...) No, we can’t imagine that. They have their toys, works. they live in a parallel universe, and they are simply mastering “Hardware or highway” engineers. The Fourth step point is that all those software mastering plug-ins The stereo imaging module is are made mostly for musicians. Good, bad, known, not the only thing that really unknown, but mostly musicians. (I presume that works in Izotope Ozone. After almost every mastering engineer also has one of downloading the fully them - incognito, just in case.) functional 30 day demo I’ve spent the whole month remastering all my previous works. Endless tracks Third step for the stock library, some of my previous album So, why Ozone? T-Racks is great tool, it sounds along with all the songs from my upcoming one. Yes, good, their hardware emulation is top notch, but it yes and yes, the multiband harmonic enhancer doesn’t have a multiband compressor and it is, module also does wonders, adding sparkle to the therefore, tricky to find a good balance between the top end. It can even be changed from three band to compressed top and high end. Secondly the only

The first step

four band for reaching those often lost upper high frequencies. Stereo imaging simply makes things better and more professional, no matter how hard you have tried to make your stereo image perfect during the mixing stage. The multiband compressor works like a charm and I didn’t even touch it too much as the presets are optimally adapted. We can find also two parametric equalizers, one which is a post equalizer. There is a maximizer, with additional dithering options and general reverb with room, plate and hall spaces. Reverb sounds pretty good and it is useful if you have an extra dry mix or for adding a touch of a hall experience to a symphonic arrangement, but to tell the truth, I prefer toying with reverb at the mixing stage, using different amounts and different reverbs on various tracks. But I understand the need for such a general reverb at the mastering stage and definitely support such additions to this mastering tool. Maybe it is a personal preference but the input/output window on Ozone 5 suits me really well. Somehow I don’t have any problem setting the right RMS output level on Ozone 5, while on all other mastering plug-ins I was never sure if I was setting it right. The input/output window is pretty basic but it does the job better than it was done on the competitor’s beasts.

Final step I’ve tried to find any weak points to preserve my reviewer’s credibility but couldn’t find anything. Or maybe ... OK, it can’t make coffee and also it doesn’t have a button to auto eject the DVD during the mastering stage - as this ejected thing is a really nice spot for keeping your coffee cup within hands’ reach ... Otherwise, from a strictly musical point of view, it is a dream tool. Izotope Ozone 5 tamed all my mixing

stupidities, (not that I have any …) making the final product really professional. It offers excellent up to the point presets with so many options to choose, from the whole arrangement to particular instruments (various genres and various living, or dead, instruments). Izotope Ozone 5 contains all the modules that you will ever need for such a task. That’s a review, not the manuals, so for the details visit the Izotope site: http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/ Ozone is not even so expensive - 249 USD,

considering that mastering in a pro studio will cost you at least 50 USD per song. Nevertheless, I took the song I mastered with Ozone to my friend’s studio, and for the first time in his life, he didn’t have any remarks. Izotope Ozone 5 definitively will not make music instead of you, but if you have at least a basic knowledge about mixing, it will put a professional shine on your track. That’s all that we need. (And as I already told you – I remastered an impressive number of my songs as soon as I got it. Er... all songs, to be honest). by remastered Arsov A. P.S. To become a member of the Izotope Ozone 5 fan club, just press the “Buy” button on the Store sub-folder of the Izotope site. You can get a regular membership for 249 USD or gold one for 999 USD getting extra buzz, groupies and additional mastering modules as an Advanced member. (Not sure about buzz and groupies, but you never know what you’re gonna get – as life is like a box of chocolates. ;-) ) 35

Garritan’s by Adrian Frost

I was first introduced to pipe organ music by the group Sky and their moderately successful track from 1980 called “Toccata”. The piece was based on Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for Organ” and was John Williams and company’s take on a classic piece of music. The John Williams in question is not that John Williams - famous for Jaws and Star Wars - but the other John Williams from Down Under who is a great guitarist and was a founding member of the rock/pop/classical/jazz/fusion/thing called Sky.

Anyway, I loved Toccata. However, there wasn’t actually a pipe organ to be heard in that particular track. So what’s the connection? Well, I was so excited about Toccata that I played it to my next 36

door neighbour and they identified its roots, so to speak. For Christmas my neighbour then gave me a cassette - remember those? It was, I think, called “Organ Masterpieces” and released on the now defunct Pickwick label - and, five minutes later would you believe I just found the track listing and artist via Goggle and most of the stuff is on YouTube… we live in amazing times. On this cassette was a proper copy of Bach’s masterpiece. It grabbed me by both ears and shook up my world. At first I simply, constantly, played that one track - over and over and over, mesmerised by the thundering majesty of the Toccata and dazzled by the sublime melody of the Fugue. Eventually I got to playing the rest of the cassette and came to love the whole thing from beginning to end. I don’t know where that tape might be now, long gone I suppose, but my love for pipe organ music was sealed.

So, where was I … ? Garritan have recently released a new library for their ARIA Player called Classic Pipe

Thankfully we’ve not been left to manage each individual pipe as Garritan have done the hard work of compiling what must have been vast amounts of data into manageable chunks. Each organ has a Pulling out all the stops number of stops available. A stop is a grouping of With Garritan’s Classic Pipe Organs library you get not one but six different pipe organs that cover over pipes that have a similar timbre. 400 years of pipe organ history from Baroque Here it’s worth mentioning the PDF manual that through Classical, Renaissance and Romantic right up to two modern day organs. The team responsible comes with CPO. In a word, or two, read it. It is very well written and absolutely fascinating because it for this library have travelled the world and covers a lot of pipe organ basics. In the first couple recorded the organs that best represent each era. of sections you’ll find a thorough yet compact résumé of pipe organ history followed by details of how a pipe organ works along with explanations of all the technical vocabulary that is used. After that is Organs, also to be known as CPO. Who could pass up such an opportunity?

The Baroque, Classical, Renaissance and Romantic organs were all recorded in various parts of the Czech Republic whilst the Modern organs come from Canada and the US. For each organ every single pipe was recorded - which must have been a marathon undertaking especially for the larger organs - Modern Pipe Organ 1 is based on recordings of the enormous 5,811 pipe organ that currently resides in St. Joseph’s Oratory, Montreal, Canada.

information about each of the six organs that feature in the library and finally you’ll find out how to make the best use of the ARIA Player with this particular library.

Because the manual is so good I’m simply not going to attempt to do my own explanations of how a pipe organ works - it’s been done and done better than I could manage. The manual, I think, has been written by someone who really knows, and loves, pipe organs and it shows. If you only read one manual this year make it this one.

software. By using the internal convolution reverb you can forgo an external equivalent and thus save yourself some processing power. Do not worry, this reverb is certainly the equal of many third party effects.

One thing that is worth doing whilst reading the manual is noting down all of the available MIDI CC assignments. There are quite a number of them and The ARIA Player When I reviewed Instant Orchestra in our last issue I setting up any controller that you have, although a bit of an effort, will more than pay off when it loaded up and used the version of the ARIA Player comes time to play this instrument. One thing in that came with the download. As noted in that review there was an update to the player that I only particular to be aware of is that pedal stops (the low notes!) have a controller assignment for the heard about at the last minute. CPO ships with the Fundamental that you can make use of - but latest version of the player and I have to say it’s good. The look has changed, the interface is cleaner beware, the Fundamental goes deep! Watch your and sleeker, but best of all a convolution reverb has speakers, though having said that, if you need an excuse to go out and buy a new set of large speakers been added. with sub-woofer then crank it up with your old set The new convolution reverb comes with ten impulse and say “Whoops, didn’t realise it would do that…” as your cones disappear through a window. files that cover a range of locations from Chapel to Large European Cathedral to Underground Cave. There are actually also ten “light” versions of those The Fundamental controller replaces the Chiff impulses that can be used with computers that have controller found on the non-pedal stops. Those ordinary stops (if one can call anything ordinary a little less power. Overall it’s a great addition to here) each have a dedicated precision EQ that can what was already a very competent piece of be helpful for those moments when you want to 38

MOZART samples. Classic Pipe Organs is 3D, it’s like having one of these monster instruments sitting on your desk. Even the demos on Garritan’s website don’t really do justice to how stunning this instrument Don’t stop CPO includes 29 Ensembles that give you a range of really is. If you listen to the demos, as I did before receiving a copy to actually play with, you’re going different organs that you can simply load and play. In addition to that there are 75 different stops that to come away thinking, “Yup, this is good.” But you can load individually into any one of the 16 slots when you play it yourself… it’s something else. It invites exploration and invention. You’ll find yourself offered by the ARIA Player. These stops cover the doing things in a different way, looking how to make whole range of each organ. The control that the use of what is on offer. ARIA Player gives you over your own sound is one area where a sampled organ exceeds the real thing. You can mix and match different stops from all six of Each of the six organs has its own particular character with the organs from older times being, the organs to create your own individual, generally, smaller. As you move up through the personalised pipe organ. Try doing that down at years you can hear the sound evolving and your local church - the vicar’s not going to be too becoming that with which we are probably most happy if you show up with a hacksaw and a few metres of PVC pipe saying “just thought I’d adjust it familiar - the contemporary large scale pipe organ that sets floors and windows shaking when you hit a bit…” the low notes but which has a purity of sound in the higher registers that can be breathtaking. As well as the stops that give you the different, basic, organ sounds there are two extra presets that Back in 2005, or 2007, I don’t quite remember, I you can load up that will bring life to your performance. Firstly, each organ has its own blower wrote an organ piece with strings and drums (don’t ask…) It was OK but I never really managed to take it control that is connected to CC#13 so that you can as far as I wanted to. I was using a sampled organ have the sound of rushing air on a separate, that was decent enough but didn’t quite make the controllable channel. Secondly, there is a grade. The MP3 of that track has been kicking “Crescendo” preset for each organ. Once you’ve around on my hard drive for the last few years engaged the preset using CC#4, turning up CC#11 although I stupidly managed to lose the original will add consecutive stops to your sound, thus MIDI files - dumb, dumb and dumb. A week or two building up a bigger and bigger sound. Very simple ago, I decided to remake the piece from scratch in operation but stunningly effective when you’re because it kept coming to mind, so I dragged out playing. CPO is an instrument that really does benefit from having a MIDI controller with at least 8 some old samples and even had a go with the “Full assignable knobs. You’ll be tweaking as you go and it Organ” from Garritan’s Instant Orchestra. That GIO instrument proved that things have come along is a lot of fun. massively in only a few years but it still wasn’t quite what I was looking for. Then along comes Classic Pipe Up Pipe Organs and I think that, finally, I have a chance OK, we’ve dealt with the technical details. How to make the track I originally had in mind. It’s not about the sound? I’m going to run out of there yet because actually using Garritan’s latest has superlatives but the sort of words that spring to shown up a few deficiencies in my composition. So, mind are “awesome”, “majestic”, “clear”, “full” and there is work to be done, but boy, am I juiced to “awesome”… again. This stuff is good. Up until now, work on this piece now! when I’ve wanted to use a pipe organ sound on a track I’ve used simple, rather one dimensional play the whole organ but want certain parts to cut through.

The King of Instruments The CPO manual begins with a quote, I think from Gary Garritan himself, “Make a joyful noise!” Those four words manage to sum up the feel of this instrument almost perfectly. If you’re looking for a library of high quality pipe organ samples that will make you want to sit down and play and enjoy yourself (as well as being great for serious work) then this is, undoubtedly, the one. CPO is an engaging and attractive package because it covers so much ground. If you’re a true pipe organ aficionado who wants to recreate classic pieces or create your own music then the quality and clarity of this offering will suit you - it’s a professional grade instrument. If, like me, you like to dabble and

dream then CPO also has plenty to offer because it is instantly accessible and, above all, sounds very, very good. Finally, to quote the Garritan website, which in turn quotes Mozart: “To my eyes and ears the organ will ever be the king of all instruments”. With Classic Pipe Organs Garritan have produced a suitably regal addition to their collection of high quality, yet affordable, sound libraries. Go get it. For sound samples head on over to http://www.garritan.com Garritan’s Classic Pipe Organs is priced at $149.95 and is available from their website at the address above.

MIXVIBES

CrossDJ

by Robert Halvarsson

Inexpensive and promising MixVibes have released second major installment of CrossDJ. A program that shows great promise at a, likewise, great price. Selling something at a very low price while promising a great feature set always creates an air of suspicion. The company MixVibes software CrossDJ is one of these inexpensive products that boasts quite an impressive line-up of goodies. Staying true to the digital age and the changed meaning of what it means to be a DJ, we can see that it takes full advantage of what die hard old school advocates of vinyl consider cheating. Such as implemented sync tracks, built in FX and using samplers in unison while playing tracks. The samplers are especially interesting, making this more akin to the loop-oriented concept of Ableton Live than traditional two-deck DJ-ing. CrossDJ isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t alone on the market pushing the boundary in this direction, but I know of no other company that quite does this at the price of this product. Price aside, the closest competitor should probably be Traktor with its own likewise powerful sampler concept that they choose to call remix-decks.

Traktor is backed by mighty Native Instruments, CrossDJ by significantly smaller player MixVibes. But looking at the amount of hardware supported, you tend to forget this. Also, pretty much any MIDIhardware can be reprogrammed and mapped manually, if time is at your disposal, to make use of all the potential that CrossDJ offers. Why not use multiple controllers at once?

The program itself features the standard two-deck and crossfader interface at its core. Aside from this, you pretty much have a semi-modular approach where you can route and turn on or off several aspects of the graphical user interface via the menu. The choice is yours on how deep you want to go. A nice aspect is that the FX units are routable as well to affect the decks or the samplers. The effects themselves cover some standard ground (echo) and some are wilder (jet-flanging). They definitely get the job done, but some lack a certain amount of finesse; maybe this will be improved in future incarnations. A huge plus compared to some it its competitors is that you have an optional limiter assigned to the master channel, reducing the chances of overdriving the signal to digital distortion domain. I hate seeing visual feedback to prove that I mistakenly made the levels clip after recording a set – in the spur of the moment at least I am prone at times to set up the levels wrong. So the limiter certainly will come in handy. Of course you should always check your levels anyway – the limiter should in this case optimally not have to do any work at all. 8-part samplers … oh, really?

audio data from either track on the fly to any of the eight sample containers. The way you do this is through what MixVibes refer to as “Hot sampling”. You can play the samples as loops, one shots or while holding pad/key you have assigned. Everything isn’t perfect though. While triggering samples I could detect some tiny clicks and pops, perhaps showing areas of further improvement. But all in all I believe that the forward thinking of MixVibes and other companies is further sign that we are about to see Ableton style sample triggering going mainstream. This also means that the clear cut distinction between producer and DJ is being reduced further. The potential of remixing tracks on the fly is a very promising prospect; CrossDJ in the hands of a skilled DJ would potentially yield music sounding quite unlike the original tracks. This does mean though that the user must be willing to take the time to learn his or her new instrument properly. Digital DJ-ing can be something completely different than what we are used to. We are living in exiting times. http://www.mixvibes.com/content/products/cros sdj

Price : 39 Euros (ex. VAT) The samplers themselves are really where CrossDJ gets to shine. Even without the traditional recording of loops (as far as I can see this is currently not possible), it does offer quite some potential to remix tracks on the fly. You can prearrange loops, customized for each set you intend to play, dump

AudioMulch 2.2.1 by Warren Burt

synthesizers were all there was, one had to connect individual modules physically, by hand, using either AudioMulch Interactive Music Studio (to give it its patch-cords, pins, or sliders. With the creation of full name) is the brainchild of Ross Bencina, the VST standard, and the making of hundreds of composer, software designer, and electronic music different and unique plug-ins, this idea of performer from Melbourne. From deep inside his connecting sound making things together in a chain secret lab in the gentrified slum of darkest innerhas been extended today into an aesthetic of urban Fitzroy, he has tirelessly worked away on his connecting almost anything to anything, creating creation since the far-off halcyon days of the midfantastic sequences of sound that the users of 1990s. There are those who have claimed to see his synthesizers in the 60s and 70s could only dream gaunt, spectral form gliding along late at night on about. rain-soaked Brunswick St (Melbourne’s capital of ultra-cool), in search of the elusive tofu dishes of First released in 1998, and continuously updated Madame K’s Vegetarian, humming differential since then, AudioMulch (Win and Mac) is a crossequations to himself, but those are mere rumors, platform program that has a full complement of its things best not spoken about in polite, not to say own modules (called Contraptions), as well as the mixed, company. ability to host VST or AU plugins. As well, it has a number of unique features that enable real-time A-hem. Before we get too much into noir-ish control in a number of ways over the aspects of fantasy (although in the name of full disclosure, I did sound. A look at the basic panel will show the have dinner one rainy night at Madame K’s with fundamental parts of the program. Ross a few weeks ago, interviewing him for this article), this is a serious article about a very wonderful and unique piece of software. AudioMulch is not a DAW, not a sequencer, and not a synthesizer, although it has elements of all of these. It’s a work environment for those who like to perform and work with audio in real time, as well as those who want to explore sound modification in a very flexible, openended interactive way.

Figure 1: Basic Panel

Across the top of the panel are the basic save, load, etc. controls. Next to them are the transport controls and the tempo control for the master clock. In fact, it might be best to describe AudioMulch as Moving further to the right are the audio, midi, and the incarnation of an aesthetic, an idea – the idea of on/off controls for the basic panels: patcher, Patching. Many years ago, when analog properties, automation, metasurface, parameter 43

control, notes, document switcher and help. Next to them are audio input and output meters. AudioMulch can host up to 128 Auxiliary Sound Inputs and 128 Auxiliary Sound Outputs, depending on your sound-card capabilities – and these can all have separate meters – so the potential for multichannel performing is great. It can also have up to 8 separate MIDI inputs and 8 separate MIDI outputs, so it can receive and send MIDI to a number of places simultaneously. AudioMulch has 2 available skins, light and dark, with the contrast and brightness of each adjustable to taste. If you perform a lot in dark rooms, as I do, you’ll appreciate the light interface. If, on the other hand, your tastes run to noir, the dark interface is très elegant.

THE PATCHER

The Patcher is where you select modules, either AudioMulch Contraptions or VST or AU plugins. It’s in two sections – the list of Contraptions, and the patcher pane where they are connected together. You can either drag and drop modules from the list, or right click on the pane to get a list of modules to select from. Once the modules are in the pane, you connect them by dragging patchcords from one to another. In FIG 2, a MIDI input goes into Figure 3: Mulch as VST harness an Arturia Moog Modular V, which goes into 2 separate 5Comb Filters. Meanwhile, a Drum Contraption goes into a Nasty Reverb, and both of these are mixed by a Stereo2 Mixer, before being sent to the Sound Out.

PROPERTIES

Figure 2: The Patcher in action 44

The Properties Panel is where you see the faceplates of your modules. In FIG 3, we see AudioMulch used as a VST harness, with none of its native contraptions used. In this patch, the Xoxos MiniSeries MIDI Sequencer (AudioMulch can host VST MIDI plugins) is controlling the Wusik EVE, which is going through the Bojo Wavechanger3. You can see the faceplates of the modules, as well as in the lower right, the Metasurface which is used to control aspects of all the modules in real time. More on the Metasurface later. One of the nice features of the Properties Panel is that it will expand to accommodate the modules you place in it. Sliders appear at the right and bottom of the Panel to allow you to navigate around your faceplates. To Netbook users like myself, this is a very welcome feature. Of course, you can stack faceplates on top of each other, or only have those faceplates that you immediately need exposed. One of the central features of AudioMulch is that pretty much every control you can see in the Properties Panel can be MIDI controlled. With VST or AU plugins, this is

AUTOMATION

s dependent on the manufacturers MIDI implementation, but if it can be controlled by MIDI, you can access that control from the Properties Panel. The aim of this is to give the user ultimate flexibility to create and control webs of soundmaking devices in real-time, treating “the whole world” as if it were a gigantic analog synthesizer.

Automation is where changes in real-time can be memorized. There are several ways to Automate parameters. After right-clicking on any control and selecting “Automate” from popup, a lane appears in the Automation window at the bottom. One can draw in controls with a mouse, or record real-time changes made to a control with a mouse or external MIDI control. The Automation lanes are fully editable, for precise values to be input, and the automation can be looped. In the patch in FIG 4, a file player with 3 separate files is processed by the DL Granulator, which goes into the Stereo Chorus (all these are AudioMulch Contraptions). The Preset of the File Player is selected on the top lane, and the On-Off control is selected in the next lane down. Controls for the Granulator are selected in the next two lanes – the first sets limits for the choice of time between grains (Interonset Time) and the second sets the upper and lower limits for the duration of the actual grains. The final line controls the rate of the Stereo Chorus. If you look at the tempo clock at the top, you’ll see that it’s set to 7.0 – a very slow tempo. That means that the 8 bar loop set for this automation lasts about four and ½ minutes. If you’re into rapidly repeating loops, you

Figure 4: Automation 45

can set your tempo correspondingly higher, of course.

PRESETS Presets are selected by clicking on the number, or dashes, at the upper right of each module. Any AudioMulch Contraption, and most VST and AU Plugins (depending on the manufacturer’s settings) can have the settings of their controls saved as a Preset, and each Contraption or plugin has 128 of these available. The Presets can be selected manually, as in this Figure, or selected with external MIDI control, or with Automation. One could, for example, make an entire composition based on just different Preset settings in the 5 Combs Filter module, selecting these to make different harmonies resonantly ringing around the central sound of the piece. In fact, that’s just what I did in my 2003 piece, “Poems of Rewi Alley,” where the voice of actor John Britton, reading poems by New Zealand / Chinese poet Rewi Alley were given various accompaniments which matched the mood of the text. (Available from http://home.vicnet.net.au/~aaf/rewicd.htm) In this Figure, each of the Presets selects a different sound file for the Granulator and Chorus to process. These are 1) a friend singing multiphonic sound, 2) some Emperor Penguins singing multiphonic sounds, and 3) a badly distorted copy of an early 1950s cartoon theme song. The use of Presets makes AudioMulch a very powerful performing program indeed.

METASURFACE

performance screen on the left. By activating “Interpolate” on this, you can either click or drag the mouse in the surface to make changes to your settings. Clicking makes sudden, discrete changes to the new settings, and dragging morphs one setting into another. The Metasurface only works on parameters with numbers, but it allows you to change the quality of your sound radically (or subtly). There is also a control to make the Performance Screen full screen, so all you see is the color transitions of the Performance Screen. This can be very effective eye candy for live performance if projected. The Metasurface doesn’t select between individual module presets, but since those can be controlled by external MIDI control, the combination of the Metasurface and external MIDI control of presets would give you a quite powerful way of changing and performing your sounds.

PARAMETER CONTROL Although all AudioMulch Contraption controls and most VST and AU plugin controls can be quickly set up for external MIDI control by right-clicking them, the Parameter Control page gives you a lot more control over things. In FIG 6, for example, the Coarse Tuning on Osc 1 of the WusikStation is being externally controlled. Looking at the Parameter Control panel, you’ll see the beginning of the enormous list of controllable parameters on the WusikStation. The O1 Tune is selected, and to the right of that you’ll see controls for the upper limit of control, the lower limit, whether or not smoothing is to be applied and a what rate, and a graph which

This is another powerful way to control all of the settings in AudioMulch at once. When you set up a patch in AudioMulch, you can then activate the Metasurface (See FIG 5). When you get settings you like, you can save these as a Metasurface preset. Change the settings until you get something else you like, and save that as another Metasurface preset. When you get a number of these, you can drag them to the Metasurface

Figure 5: Metasurface 46

the files by external MIDI control. By the use of careful programming, you can build up very sophisticated and complex performance systems with all the levels of control in AudioMulch.

HELP

Figure 6: Parameter Control

allows just about any mapping of control input to output. You can sculpt control to a very fine degree with the Parameter Control.

NOTES The Notes panel is a simple notepad which allows you to leave reminders to yourself or other people who might be using the patch.

DOCUMENT SWITCHER Continuing with the hierarchical organization suggested by the Metasurface, the Document Switcher lets you select between different AudioMulch patches in realtime. Once you’ve saved a number of patches (and carefully checked to make sure that all their dependencies (sound files, etc.) are available), you can either double click on the list of files to go to a new patch, or select

As is obvious by now, AudioMulch is a unique and complex environment (and we haven’t even gotten to the individual Contraptions yet!). For information, Help is easily available. The Question Mark in the middle of the top bar brings up an overall Help file, and context dependent help for any individual contraption is available with the Question Mark on the top right of that Contraption. In FIG 8, for example, the Help File for the Live Looper Contraption is displayed. The help files are very clearly written, and are the product of a number of people carefully going over them to insure maximum clarity and ease of use. Of course, the Help files only cover AudioMulch. If you click on help for a VST plugin, you’ll only get AudioMulch’s help page for “VST Plugins.” Help for

Figure 7: Document Switcher 47

individual VSTs or AUs will have to come from individual plugins.

example, in FIG 9, we can see a Drum Contraption with 8 samples in it, and changing meters in the time-line. These samples can change with each Preset, and each Preset can have different rhythms in it. Combining several Drum Contraptions can produce very complex and/or funky rhythms. Of course, if you’re interested in Four-On-TheFloor, the Drum Contraption, Bassline, and Arpeggiator can do that as well. Figure 8: Mulch Help Files The Bubble Blower is a unique granulator module that uses the THE CONTRAPTIONS So much for the organization of the program. What first 15 seconds of any given file for chopping sound into tiny bits and rearranging them. The 10 about the individual Contraptions themselves? Harmonics is an Oscillator which allows you to set AudioMulch has a full complement of these, many frequency, amplitude, and level of each of the of which are quite uniquely organized to give fundamental and 9 partials above that. All these maximum compositional potential. settings are, of course, MIDI and Automation controllable. The Test Gen is a small sine/noise The Contraptions are organized into several categories: Input/Output, Signal Generators, Effects, generator, and the Risset Tones plays the famous “Barber-Pole-in-Outer-Space” endless glide sonic Filters, Dynamics, Mixers, Buses, and VST (and AU) illusion pioneered by French composer Jean-Claude Plugins. The Input/Output Contraptions consist of Risset. It’s a very controllable version of that, Sound In and Out modules, 128 each of Auxiliary however, whose use extends far beyond the simple Sound In and Out modules (dependent on your sound card, of course), File Players (both single files illusion the Risset used it for. Finally, the Loop Player is what it says – a Loop Player, which allows and the ability to play, in sync, up to 32 different sound files), File Recorders (again, from 1 to 32 files you to play a loop at a number of speeds, which can can be simultaneously recorded), and MIDI Inputs and Outputs. AudioMulch is designed for a lot of sound throughput – it’s an ideal vehicle for doing live modifications of instrumental sounds. The Signal Generators include Arpeggiator, Bassline, Bubble Blower, Drums, 10 Harmonics, Loop Player, Risset Tones and Test Gen. A number of these, such as the Bassline, Drums, and the Arpeggiator, are little synthesizer/sampler modules that also have a time-line grid in them so you can set up rhythmic sequences. These sequences can be in any timesignature and measure length you want. For 48

be locked to tempo, stretched or played in fragmented form, at the original speed. AudioMulch’s native effects include Canon Looper, DigiGrunge, DL Granulator, Flanger, Frequency Shifter, Live Looper, Nasty Reverb, Phaser, Pulse Comb, RingAM, SChorus, SDelay, Shaper and SSpat. The Canon Looper and Live Looper are flexible looping devices which allow you to record and play back up to 16 copies of the input in various combinations. The DigiGrunge is a simple but great sounding bit-crusher, the Flanger , SChorus (stereo chorus)and Phaser are what they say, as are the Frequency Shifter and the RingAM – a ring and amplitude modulation unit which includes an internal oscillator as well as the ability to modulate 2 external signals. The DL Granulator is a very powerful and precise granular synthesis module which will process external sounds. It’s one of AudioMulch’s signature units – in fact, it’s a direct descendent of Ross’s first programming adventure, from the mid-90s, when he was a student at the late, great Music Department at Melbourne’s La Trobe University. The SSpat is a spatializer, which can send sounds whizzing around in 2 channel space, with appropriate Doppler shift, amplitude changes, and hand drawn pathways through the stereo space. Nasty Reverb is just what it says, a really basic simple reverb unit. There are dozens of slick, high-quality VST reverbs out there. The Nasty Reverb is not one of them, but it has a unique timbre that many of us just can’t do without. The Shaper unit is a wave-shaper with a twist. Instead of letting you draw the transfer function, as most wave-shapers do, it allows you to increase the relative strength of the first 27 harmonics of a particular harmonic distortion. Again, all of these individual weightings can be MIDI or Automation controllable, so the potential for changing timbre in

immense. The Pulse Comb chops up sound using a delay line, allowing each repeat of the delay line to have its own envelope and pitch shifting. Finally, the SDelay is a stereo delay unit with a number of cross channel feedback paths to choose from. The maximum delay on any SDelay is 2000 ms, but they can be chained to create any length delay desired. Like all AudioMulch Contraptions with time dependent settings, these can either be set independently, or synched to the internal (or external) MIDI clock. There are a number of filters in AudioMulch. These are 5Combs, MParaEQ, Nebuliser, Risset Filters, South Pole, and SParaEQ. The 5Combs, already mentioned, is an elegant, highly controllable set of 5 comb filters. The Nebuliser is a granulator, like the DL Granulator, but with the addition of a bandpass filter on the output allowing each grain to have its own resonant filtering. MParaEQ and SParaEQ are mono and stereo versions of a 4 band parametric equalizer where all the parameters are MIDI or Automation controllable. The Risset Filters is a filtering version of the Risset Tones, only here, instead of sine waves sweeping in whatever direction, it’s bandpass filters that sweep up or down. This can be useful for imparting a sweeping, fragmented quality to a quite massive sound block, like a gong. Finally the South Pole is a complex, highly controllable Low Pass filter, which can be controlled from a number of sources, can do sidechaining, input following, and it also has a rhythmic grid built in (like the Drum Contraption) so that it can be controlled in any rhythmic pattern you desire. Each of these filters is very powerful, and again, any of the parameters can be controlled with MIDI, Automation, the Metasurface, etc.

There are also Dynamics controllers in AudioMulch – mono and stereo version of Compressor, Limiter and Noise Gate. The difference between these and other dynamics controllers is that, like all other Contraptions in AudioMulch, any parameter here can be controlled in real-time. Normally we think of dynamics processing as something that you find the right setting for and then leave it. Here, any aspect of this Figure 9: Drum Contraption processing can be used in a 49

creative way, in real time. Dynamics processing as a form of creative real-time changing sound modification is an area of sound that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m eager to start exploring soon.

unity gain. These are useful for combining a large number of signals if there is no need for controlling the gain of each.

Finally, there are the plugins. AudioMulch can host VST or (on the Mac) AU plugins. It does this very There are many kinds of mixers in AudioMulch. Of well, and smoothly. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re like me, and have a big interest are the Crossfader and Frosscader. The wodge of plugins on your hard drive, your directory Crossfader smoothly fades (DJ style) between two stereo inputs, while the Frosscader smoothly directs of plugins may look something like FIG 10. a stereo input to two different stereo outputs. The performance of each plugin is largely dependent There are a number of different Mono, Stereo and Panning Mixers (different numbers of inputs), Gain on the capabilities built into it by each controls to adjust 1, 2, 4, or 8 inputs simultaneously, and 2 Matrix mixers (4x4 and 8x8) which allow you to route any input to any output with the input/output fade time also controllable. Finally, there are a number of Buses which sum a number of signals, in either mono or stereo, to

Figure 10: VST Plugins Directory

manufacturer. Most plugins, however, work absolutely superbly in AudioMulch and are easily MIDI controlled. For many years, in fact, my main use of AudioMulch was as a harness for my plugin collection. Gradually, I discovered the delights of its many native Contraptions as well. The combination of the Contraptions and Plugins, all MIDI controllable, is a very powerful one. If one were to use an external MIDI program (such as Algorithmic Arts ArtWonk, Cycling ‘74s Max/MSP, or PD) to construct algorithmic control systems, and then apply the results of that to AudioMulch, one would

have a live performance/composition system second to none in terms of processing power and compositional flexibility. AudioMulch is $189 US for the rest of the world, and AUD$189 in Australia (at the moment, the difference is pretty negligible). It’s available from the AudioMulch website http://www.audiomulch.com. There’s a 60 day free trial period with the software, so there’s quite a generous period to try before you buy. Support is excellent – AudioMulch is pretty much a one person operation, and Ross responds to most requests very promptly. The program is in continual development – with each new update, new capabilities are added to the program, many of them suggested by users. There is a large user base, and the website has a community and forum sections. A number of users have put very interesting patches in the forum section. A good example is the patch “Xenakis Fly in Jungle” by Ross Healy, another Melbourne based composer. There are a number of tutorials on the website, and a directory to offsite information as well. If you’re looking for a way to control a number of sounds and processes in real-time, or looking for a performance vehicle that will give you plenty of opportunities to explore and discover new sounds and new ways of working with sounds, you owe it to yourself to download and explore the world of AudioMulch.

by David Baer

What the Heck Is That Thing … ? If someone had told me earlier this year of a developer building a plug-in that consisted of two independent reverb units that could be configured in series, I would have called that developer “daft”, assuming I was in a charitable mood at the time. To be sure, use of double reverb is not uncommon in mixes. One might find a plate on singers or solo instruments or a small room on a drum kit and then a hall used on the full mix to sonically bind all the instruments into a convincing performance space. But two reverbs back to back on an insert? “What kind of madness is that?” you might ask. But if the developer is the team that brought us Aether, we shouldn’t jump to a hasty conclusion. As an Aether owner, I was more than a little curious to learn what method was in this madness. I have immense respect for 2CAudio. If I were forced to choose a “desert island” reverb … you know, you must pick one and only one … Aether would be my choice without a second’s hesitation. Let me state up front that I’m completely blown away by what B2 can do. Its sound can be simply stunning. It seems to me the biggest problem that 2CAudio is going to have will be communicating just what B2 is, why it’s something much more than just two reverb units strapped together, and why anyone would want B2 in their effects bin. The name, B2, is certainly no help either. But then calling it Modular-Dual-Engine-Spatial-FlexibleConfiguration-Effects-Unit doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, so what were they supposed to do?

Compare and Contrast … It may be useful to start by discussing B2 in relation to 2CAudio’s other two reverb plug-ins: Aether and Breeze. Like B2, Aether is a two-engine reverb, but in Aether’s case, one engine is dedicated to early reflections and the other to reverb tail. 2CAudio’s mission with Aether seems to have been absolute 52

fidelity to reproducing real spaces. Certainly, one can dial in strange combinations of values in the plethora of user controls it sports and achieve weirdness, but sounding real is what it excels at to my ears. Aether may be a reverb programmer’s idea of heaven, but for most of us, it’s downright scary to contemplate learning to program it. Fortunately for those in the latter category, it ships with a generous number of presets that cover all the bases. Breeze appeared a year or two after Aether was released. It houses a single engine that handles both ERs and reverb tails. It’s simpler than Aether, lighter weight in terms of CPU consumption, and less expensive. I can’t say too much more about it since I have no experience with it. But that brings us to B2. B2 houses two identical engines that, like Breeze, handle both ERs and tails. But these are not simply two instances of Breeze in a single GUI. For one thing, the B2 spatial processor features built-in harmonic distortion. Also, in describing the B2 technology, 2CAudio makes frequent use of the word “non-linear” in describing the internal processing. Well, that might sound impressive but it’s a little hard to pin down just what it means. A graph of a linear function is a straight line. Not a straight line, you’ve got a nonlinear function. So, now we’re all clear on the concept and what’s going on in B2, right? To be fair, we can’t expect 2CAudio to reveal their secret sauce recipes. But it makes life a little hard on the reviewer trying to explain such vague things. In the end, though, it’s the sound that counts, and if it produces the results heard with B2, then I’m quite ready to pronounce “non-linear” as immensely cool!

Fig. 1 about all the graphics windows is that they respond to control changes as you make them. When you adjust some esoteric setting, at least you get visual feedback on just what it is you’re doing.

One final point in this overview explanation is 2CAudio’s emphasis that B2 is built with a modular design that not only enables much flexibility in the current version but promises interesting avenues for growth in future versions. Beneath these are the controls, of which we see only those for a single engine (selectable by the little A Quick Tour alpha-beta buttons to the left of the graphics In the 2CAudio tradition, the documentation for B2 displays). Some familiar reverb labels are evident: is absolutely first rate, deep and detailed. There’s no size, time, density and diffuse (diffusion). But then there are some unfamiliar ones as well: curve, way to easily summarize the operational highlights contour and attitude. Lastly, there are several of B2 in a few hundred words. But, pictures being controls that might be puzzling to many but are old worth even more words, check out the main panel friends to owners of Aether: width and cross. shown in Fig. 1. B2 has two identical reverb engines, and the graphic display windows at the top can show settings for both simultaneously. An alternate display (see Fig. 2) can be selected that shows the early reflection patterns for both engines and cascaded early reflections when the A engine’s output is fed into the B engine (more on this later). What’s great

Suffice it to say here that the unfamiliar controls are where B2 ventures out into unfamiliar sonic territory. Take the Contour control for example. This controls the amplitude of the ERs based on a curve type specified in the associated Contour Type menu just below it. The explanation literally goes on for pages and shows just how flexible and powerful a

Fig. 2 53

Fig. 3

feature this is. Fortunately, the ER display can be used to visually see the effect of what settings are selected. This is just one of many ways that shows how B2 goes where no reverb has gone before (no pun intended).

Presets and Then Some Fig. 3 shows the browser, which is certainly serviceable but in itself is nothing special. But what can be seen in that illustration is just a portion of the 670 or so factory presets. 2CAudio released additional presets libraries for Aether (well worth their price in my estimation) and we can hope that the same will be true for B2.

The single-engine presets are familiar territory, offering a typical variety of rooms, halls, plates, et .al. How do these sound? They’ll give many a conventional reverb a run for the money, in my estimation. They sound very good indeed. Do they compete with equivalents in Aether? I confess I didn’t even bother to compare. I’m far too fond of Aether to be objective and as a one-person operation, the double-blind protocol necessary for such an evaluation was out of the question. Suffice it to say that these single-engine offerings would not do disservice to any mix they ended up in.

At the other end of the spectrum are the FX presets. With category names like mystical, scifi space, distortion and modulation, you should be able to As can be seen, the presets are divided into three major categories (not counting the User area): dual- imagine what’s on offer. I won’t begin to try to engine, single-engine and FX. Clearly an FX preset is describe some of these sounds … words are not adequate. But they range from weird to wondrous. going to use either one or both engines, but we assume that whenever weirdness reached a suitable In this regard, B2 is an absolute delight. level, the preset designer opted to boot the preset out of the single or double engine category and into Things get most interesting when we get to the double-engine presets, so we’ll spend a good deal of unconventional land of FX. time taking a look at these next. I want to make one general observation at this point that applies to much of what I heard in B2. While there is much to be excited about, I found the dry/wet mix level of more than a few presets a bit too wet for my tastes. But to each his own, obviously. My point is that when I say I loved some of these patches, it was sometimes only after seasoning to taste with the mix slider. 54

Gentlemen, Start (Both) Your Engines First, let me admit to a wee bit of plagiarism in what follows. Some of these descriptions are paraphrasing posts written by Andrew Souter on the KVR forum. Andrew is the founder of 2CAudio and developer of B2 (along with collaborator Denis Malygin). I’m not doing this because I’m lazy (OK I am lazy at times, but that’s not my motivation here).

Rather, it’s that Andrew has already organized these concepts in a manner far better than I possibly could. As such, I believe they convey the sense of what B2 is and can be with considerable clarity. Before we get any further, though, we need to mention how the A and B engines can be configured. Simply put, they can run in parallel or in series or anything in between. By that I mean that the output of the A engine can be fed into the B engine. The B engine’s input is a mix between the raw input and the A-engine output in any proportion desired. The Early-Late category presets are a bit similar to Aether with one engine emphasizing the ERs and the other acting as the reverb tail engine. Aether has some capabilities not supported in B2, so the results are not identical, but the results speak for themselves in impact when auditioned.

lovely, but I don’t know what made them “Ambiance” vs. some other designation. The Colored-Space presets are even harder to pin down. These mostly tend to very pronounced reverb using various cascading mix levels. This isn’t a criticism, just an observation that I’m not sure what 2CAudio had in mind here with the “colored space” designation. So, there you have it. B2 is not an easy plug-in to characterize, but hopefully I’ve been able to give you a sufficiently detailed picture that you can make an informed decision about downloading an evaluation copy.

B2 or Not B2?

Is B2 for you? That is the question (and sorry, Mr. Shakespeare, but who could resist)? If your productions stick close to the beaten path of popular fare, B2 will be of less use to you than to someone whose productions embrace some form of Parallel-Space shows the possibilities when there is ambient character. Whether this is new-age music, no cascade from engine A to B (or at most, very light film soundtracks or soundscape compositions, B2 can bring something truly special to the party that cascading). The results are like imposing two geometries onto a sound source. For example, two you’re not likely to find elsewhere. dissimilar halls, one bright and one darker, can yield The only plug-in I’ve seen that makes similar claims a single space with an acoustic complexity the and that seems to be going after the same source of which isn’t readily identifiable. constituency is Blackhole by Eventide. I’m not saying it sounds like B2 (I have no firsthand experience), Cascade-Space is self-explanatory. Engines A and B but merely that it’s offering an offbeat quality for are run in series. Here’s where we get in the those engaged in new-age, etc. productions. greatest danger of total mud. But as proved by Eventide’s iLok requirement will render it of no some of these presets, with proper restraint, the interest to many, however. results can be breathtaking. Adjectives like long, rich, lush and blissful come to mind. At $250, B2 isn’t cheap (although owners of other 2CAudio gear qualify for a discount). Is it worth it? I Four-Channel is similar to parallel-space but plays think the answer to that question will depend in tricks with the Cross control settings. I’d be dishonest if I claimed to completely understand the large measure on the style of music you produce. For many, I have no doubt the answer will be a programming manipulations in play here. But no resounding yes. Download it yourself to find out. It’s one is going to need to understand the available (or shortly will be) in all commonly programming to appreciate the results. required formats and authorization is via an emailed serial number (bless you for that 2CAudio!). Dynamic-Space emphasizes use of the dynamics capabilities in B2. Like four-channel, the technical explanation is intimidating and I’ll beg off on trying If there was an effects-plug-in-of-the-year award, B2 to summarize it. Again, just let these presets simply would almost certainly get my vote (Saturn was released prior to 1/1/2012, was it not? … otherwise speak for themselves. this might be a tougher choice). B2’s level of innovation, quality of sound, abundance of excellent One of the single-engine categories is Ambiance, presets and superb documentation all combine to and we have a dual-engine category of the same make it a winner. name. These few presets are understated and 55

FXpansion “DCAM Dynamics” by Adrian Frost

Anyone who has been reading Wusik Magazine for the last year or so will know that I have a thing for

compressors. My philosophy is simple: You can never have too many compressors. The more the merrier and all that. So, when one of your favourite developers goes and releases a suite of three compressors and an envelope shaper it’s hard to remain neutral. When the first mention of DCAM Dynamics appeared over on the KVR forum (my regular music hangout) my attention was grabbed, my interest piqued and my desire for new toys kindled. FXpansion very kindly obliged, before I even asked!, with a copy of DCAM Dynamics and here we are … the review.

BusComp According to FXpansion BusComp is modelled on “classic bus compressor design from the centre section of a well-known British large-format mixing console”. I confess I have no idea what that original might be so send your guesses on a postcard to the usual address. Rumour has it that BusComp might be based on the compressor from an SSL mixing desk.

As its name might suggest this is a compressor for putting on sub-groups or even on your master chanDCAM Dynamics, as its name suggests, is based on nel. Stick it on your drum bus and it’ll do a very good FXpansion’s highly respected Discrete Component job of pulling everything together to give you a nice Analogue Modelling technology that made its debut cohesive mix. All the usual controls are present and in DCAM Synth Squad. For your $99 you get four top correct and you can use side chaining by routing notch effects plug-ins and here I shall shamelessly your signal to inputs 3 and 4. The HP Freq control in repeat the descriptions from FXpansion’s own webthe Sidechain section will affect your signal whether site: you are using side chaining or not, it’s one sure way of being able to pump up the bass. On the CompresBusComp: a classic console bus compressor. sor section Ratio goes up to 10 which will give you ChanComp: a flexible and hard-hitting limitingfairly aggressive compression that will help tame amp style channel compressor. any unruly elements in your sound. One additional EnvShaper: an envelope-style transient shaper. control that you won’t find on most compressors is the Saturate button. Its behaviour depends on the CrossComp: a frequency-selective compressor with added options for tone-shaping and generat- input signal level but when active it adds some pleasing yet subtle warmth to the sound. FXpansion ing loudness without compromising fidelity. state that it’s not a peak clipper so you’ll still need to keep an eye on your output levels. Looks good so far, but what are these plug-ins like when you actually come to use them? Let’s take By default all of the DCAM Dynamics process sound them one by one. with 2x oversampling. Clicking the Hi-Def button ups

Sweet suite

this to 4x and you can hear the difference, subtle as 56

it is. Running BusComp on a track on my new system (Phenom II X4 945 with 8GB of RAM woot!) was a breeze CPU usage didn’t go above 3.2%, which is pretty good considering all that is going on

under the hood. I can see BusComp becoming something of a ‘go to’ plug-in on drums. It’s relatively lightweight and sounds terrific. Used on the drum track of a piece I’m currently working on it has lifted the sound and given punch where before things were a little weak and a bit flabby.

ChanComp ChanComp is up next and of the four is probably my favourite. It’s brain dead simple to use and sounds wonderful even when not in Hi-Def mode.

http://www.fxpansion.com/webmanuals/dcamdyn amics/operationmanual/ It’s up to FXpansion’s usual high standards so is worth a read. Anyway, back to the Nuke button. According to the manual it “is an emulation of the ‘all buttons’ ratio mode on a classic limiting amplifier design. It affects

the compression characteristics in various ways, affecting the attack and causing limiting and distortion effects, resulting in rather brutal, heavy sounds.” Brutal is about right, use with moderation, if such be possible. To quote again from the manual: “The Bias control continuously varies between different capacitor values which were used on various hardware revisions of the hardware on which the Chan Comp is based”. This is one of those controls that you need to fiddle with to see how it works on different material. When you crank it up you can give a nice warm overdriven edge to your sound.

The two noteworthy features of ChanComp are “Nuke” and “Bias”. In the ratio section you have four ‘normal’ ratios: 4:1, 8:1, 12:1 and 20:1 and then Nuke. Just the name alone makes you want to press that button… go on, I dare you! As an aside, DCAM Dynamics, there are two versions of the manual available. There is PDF manual that you can download from : http://www.fxpansion1.com/resou rceUploads/DCAM_Dynamics_Oper ation_Manual.pdf For those who like to read in a browser there is also an online web manual available. The format is great! Read it at 57

Again, ChanComp is fairly lightweight although a little heavier than BusComp in my tests. Run on the same drum track it hits a still quite modest 4.5% CPU load. Not bad at all.

CrossComp CrossComp is a frequency-selective compressor. A what? Simply, CrossComp features a crossover that allows you to split the incoming signal into two different frequency bands, one of which is then processed by the compressor. Once the signal has been through the compression circuit you can mix it back in with the other, unaffected, frequency band or even with the original signal. You get control of the crossover frequency and choose which part to send where by way of the six toggle buttons to the right of the frequency control. You have Pass-Thru which sends part of your signal on its way untouched and Process which whips the other part of your signal off for a bit of a workout. The great thing here is that when setting up CrossComp all you have to worry about is where you want the low part of your signal to go and where you want the high part to go. Having said that, if 58

you’re feeling indecisive about where to send the Low and High components of your signal you can also process and pass-thru the whole thing. Once those decisions have been made you’re dealing with a more or less regular compressor, although it does have some nice features. One particularly nice feature is that you can listen to your signal at seven different points along the processing path. This is great for making sure that CrossComp is doing what you want, and expect, it to do. The Knee control sets the bandwidth of the compressor’s knee, the point at which compression kicks in. The more you increase the control the larger the dot and the softer the knee. Simple and elegant. Having a large graphical representation of the compressor right in the centre of the interface is

really nice as it gives a good idea of what is happening and you can see how moving a control affects what is going on. Overall CrossComp is the most complex of the three compressors on offer in DCAM Dynamics but quite possibly the most ver-

satile. If you don’t fancy messing around with multi-band compressors and the like but want more control than you can get from a regular compressor then it’s definitely the one to head for.

DCAM Dynamics plug-ins - the interfaces are large and clear. Maybe I’m just getting old (40 next year) but things like that seem to be becoming quite important to me. Even for you youngsters out there I’d imagine that large and clear triumphs over small and fiddly any day. The Input control on the far left, along with the HP Freq knob looks after how EnvShaper reacts to your

incoming signal, specifically the amplitude detection circuit. You can use both channels or just left or right depending on the nature the sound that you want to process. Apparently using a single channel is best when your stereo signal is quite complex.

Attack and Sustain take care of the relevant tranPerformance is very good. On the sients in your signal. To accentuate attack transients drum track that I’ve been using simply turn the knob to the right, to soften them, as my example CrossComp reached a measly 3% turn it to the left. Be warned that setting Attack to CPU utilisation. Nothing to complain about here. its maximum level will make your sound very punchy. The Sustain control is responsible for the EnvShaper tail end of your transients and can make for some Finally we have EnvShaper. I’ve never really spent huge “whoomping” sounds (technical description) much time using Envelope Shapers of any type so it when used on drums or low end signals. For best efwas fun giving EnvShaper a go and seeing what it fect use it in conjunction with the Signal Bias concould do. At its most basic an Envelope Shaper ena- trol. The Signal Bias control “adjusts the sensitivity bles you to alter the attack and sustain of any signal and release characteristics of the EnvShaper. At low and that’s exactly what this plug-in allows you to do. settings (towards the Fast setting) it is more sensitive to short transients while at higher settings There aren’t a huge number of controls to deal with (towards the Slow setting) it is more sensitive to and everything that is there is labelled clearly. Actu- longer transients (towards the Slow setting)”. Much ally, this is one thing to point out about all of the

fun to be had. EnvShaper also has a saturation control that adds warmth and a little bit of grit to your sound. In the Master section you are able to adjust the mix between the dry and affected signal meaning that you can, in effect, do parallel processing without having to introduce any other elements into your signal path.

Of the four plug-ins EnvShaper is the one I feel I need to take some time to learn and get familiar with. It doesn’t act in the same way as a compressor, obviously, but does bring in some interesting possibilities.

Summing up FXpansion have, I believe, a winner on their hands with DCAM Dynamics. One for free Each of the plug-ins has its own character and uses If DCAM Dynamics has whetted your appetite for all but there are features in common that mean you’re things dynamic and FXpansion but you’re not ready not going to get lost using them. The sounds that to jump in with both feet then you can get a taste of you can achieve are uniformly great; Hi-Def is just the full experience by downloading the free Freethe cherry on the cake, so to speak. The interface Comp compressor. It’s a simple but very competent layouts are clear and logical and, to be honest, just little compressor that FXpansion are offering to any- look good - which makes for a pleasant experience. body who feels like signing up for an account at their website. The process is painless and at the end Pricing is competitive considering all that is on offer of it you’ll have a decent little compressor that most - USD $99.00, EUR €79.00, GBP £69.00 including VAT of us would have been more than happy to pay for. where applicable.

Orange Tree Samples EAG: Steel Strings & Lap Steel Guitar by Jeffrey Powell

It’s no secret that Orange Tree Samples has a reputation as being one of the top producers of quality sample libraries out there today. In my review experience so far at WSM, I’ve certainly found this to be the case. In past issues of WSM I’ve taken a look at several Orange Tree products (specifically, Passion Flute, Mesa Winds, and Cherry Electric Bass), and each one has blown me away with incredible sampling quality, deep scripting, and realistic sound. In this issue, I’m going to see if Orange Tree Samples can bring their sampling magic to the world of guitars. So, let’s take a look at two of their guitar libraries: Evolution Acoustic Guitar: Steel Strings and Lap Steel Guitar.

Fingered Palm Mute, Fingered Mute, Fingered Harmonics, Picked Sustain, Picked Palm Mute, Picked Mute, Picked Harmonics, Tapped Sustains, and Tapped Harmonics. Wow! Just as you can do in Cherry Electric Bass, you can set up these articulations in almost any fashion imaginable. You can set up velocity zones where certain velocities EAG: Steel Strings is a Kontakt library (version 4 or play certain articulations. However, if you’d prefer, later) consisting of over 6.4 gigabytes of samples you can set up keyswitches and use those. For the (which have been condensed to 3.36 GB thanks to MIDI folks with external controllers, you can also set Kontakt’s lossless .NCW format). Steel Strings up controllers to determine which articulation plays. requires the full version of Kontakt to run. When If you’re really adventurous, you can set up a you load Steel Strings for the first time, there are a mixture of all of these controls. You’ll find that Steel couple of things you’ll notice. The first is that it Strings has a very easy to use system to allow you to takes a little time for the samples to load, which is quickly set up the articulations you want, and the not surprising given the mass of samples involved. way you want to select them. Personally, I like using The second thing you’ll notice is the beautiful velocity zones, but I’ve been known to use interface (see the included screenshot). When you keyswitches in the right context. You can also add play on your keyboard, the pick on the interface some “extended effects” which are essentially a set indicates the string that was played and the of sampled guitar noises that you can use to either direction of the strum. Toward the other end of the add realism or some extra effects to your guitar guitar picture, you’ll find circles which indicate the music. While it might seem difficult to keep up with exact fingering on the fretboard. This guitar on the all these noises and articulations, the interface gives Performance view provides a really great view of a dynamically updated overview of the articulations, what you’re playing at any given time. the controls, and the extended effects in use. It’s very handy. Also, you should note that only the You’ll find that EAG: Steel Strings has a wide array of mapped articulations are loaded into RAM. So, if articulations. Here’s the list: Fingered Sustain,

you’re not using the Tapped Harmonics articulation it won’t be taking up any system resources.

Usually at this time, I take you step by step through the different pages of the interface and explain the different features available. However, there are so many features in this library that I don’t think I’ve got the space available to cover them all. So, I’ll try to hit the high points of what you can do in this amazing library.

The Performance screen allows you to adjust all of the parameters that control how the guitar is played. With the menus and controls here, you can: change the fret position for the chords, change the pick location (and yes, the GUI updates as you adjust this), choose among several different ways to determine pick direction, change the tuning of the strings, adjust how the key velocity affects the strumming, choose between several different chord detection modes, adjust which strings are strummed, adjust the level of resonance, adjust the pick and fret noises, set the legato range, and more. Yes, that list simply scratches the surface of what you can do!

The Mapping screen allows you to set up the articulations and controls as noted a few paragraphs above. Also, with the menus and controls on this screen you can: set up velocity morphing which smooths out changes among velocity layers, set the downstroke, upstroke, & single string strum keyswitches, adjust the volume and type of release sample, set the mode of the pitch bend to either bend the note or slide the note, determine which notes of a chord the pitch bend will affect, and adjust the vibrato settings (where vibrato is mapped to the mod wheel). Additionally, there’s one other noteworthy feature here: you can load strumming patterns which you can map to keys on the keyboard. Steel Strings comes with a modest selection of usable strumming patterns for you to use, but you can also click on the wrench icon on the Kontakt interface to allow you to access and record your own patterns. It’s not a feature that I consider essential, but it is a nice addition to the instrument. Finally,the Effects screen contains a number of different effects to shape the sound of Steel Strings. You’ll find here a number of stompboxes (EQ, Wah, Compression, Distortion, Flanger, Chorus, etc), environment impulses for complex reverb effects, a delay effect, and a simple reverb effect. As Kontakt’s effects are clunky to set up in the Kontakt mixer, having these effects “built-in” to the Kontakt instrument is really helpful. The Guitar Tone settings are really the highlights here. You can set up the stereo width, volume, and humanization for the output. My favorite feature, though, is the knob which allows you to set up automatic double, triple,

However ... there are so many features in this library that I don’t think I’ve got the space available to cover them all.

or quadruple tracking (complete with enough difference between the different copies to avoid phasing issues). What a feature! So, you can set up double tracking right off the bat and get to songwriting instead of worry about getting a radio ready acoustic sound. Be forewarned, though, this feature is a CPU killer. I found myself using single tracking for putting down the part, and then using the double tracking for bouncing the part. Another great feature found here is the ability to load presets. So, if you find that perfect acoustic tone, then you can save it using the interface and load it again later. If you’re not sure where to start with setting up your acoustic sound, Orange Tree Samples has a number of great sounding presets ready for you to use. There are even a few otherworldly presets using the tapped harmonics that are quite impressive.

In case you couldn’t tell from that huge list of features above, EAG: Steel Strings is an incredible product. Not only does it have almost every feature imaginable, the sound is absolutely gorgeous. I own quite a few of the competing products out there, and I can say that you’ll be hard pressed to find a better sampled acoustic guitar. The articulations and level of control are outstanding. The interface is easy to use and easy on the eyes. Most importantly, the sound is incredibly realistic. It can be a bit heavy on your computer resources at times, but the sound is certainly worth it.

music, but you don’t have the skill or mic setup to record your own playing, Steel Strings is exactly what you’ve been looking to find. I can’t recommend it enough. For more information on how to purchase Steel Strings, check out the final paragraph of this review.

Staying in the guitar realm, let’s continue with a look at Orange Tree Samples’ Lap Steel Guitar. For those who might not know, the electric lap steel guitar is a guitar that’s played (not surprisingly) with the guitar on your lap. You pick or strum the strings with your usual picking hand, but in your fretting hand, you use a glass or metal slide to do the fretting instead of your fingers. Whether you realize it or not,you have almost assuredly heard this sound in old style country music or on television. If you can’t hear it in your head now, head over to your favorite online video site and type in “lap steel guitar.” There are a number of great demos you can watch. For their Lap Steel library, Orange Tree Samples has compiled over 1 GB of samples in Kontakt’s compressed .NCW format. As with Steel Strings, you will need the full version of Kontakt to use Lap Steel. The interface for Lap Steel is a bit different (see the nearby screenshot) than the one in EAG: Steel Strings. To select the different settings screens, you simply click on the name on the left hand side of the

With the right setup, you’ll find that you can get pretty much any tone and style that you want. You can easily play convincing solo acoustic lead lines and arpeggios simply by loading up the instrument and playing. The strumming system (using the upstroke/downstroke keys) takes a bit of practice to get realistic results, but overall, it’s also quite easy to use. I find the strumming implementation on Steel Strings to be on a par with the best strumming libraries and instruments out there. Once you add the great effects, controls, and ability to save and load strumming and instrument presets, you’ll find that Steel Strings is basically an acoustic guitar “all in one” solution. Is there any room for improvement? Sure, probably. Is this likely the best overall sampled acoustic guitar available for Kontakt on the market today? I’d say so. If, like me, you enjoy acoustic guitar in your 63

interface. I’ll start with the simpler controls and work toward the more complex. The Chorus, Compressor, and Verb/Delay tabs are pretty much as you would expect. You’ll find the usual controls for these types of effects. The Volume tab provides control for tremolo depth and speed. The Amp/Cab tab gives you access to five different cabinet impulses along with controls for amplifier gain and for the level of the spring reverb. Down on the bottom part of the interface, you’ll find a simple 3 band EQ, a volume control, and a tone control (which is essentially a global low pass type filter). As a side note, you’ll find a preset saving system built into the interface just like the one in EAG: Steel Strings. A few starter presets are included, and you can easily save and share your own.

As this is a slide guitar, the Pitch Bend tab contains the most important settings for Lap Steel Guitar. The most straightforward control is the bend range, which can be set from 1 to 12 semitones. To make the slides more musical, you can set the slides to snap to a certain type of scale (chromatic, major, minor, diminished, melodic minor, or whole tone scale) and to a certain key (like F, for instance). The last two controls (Bend Time and Bend Mode) are important controls, but the way they work is a bit difficult to figure out. The help manual devotes around a sentence to each Bend Mode, which for me was not nearly enough to understand them. After a little bit of experimentation, though, I think I can explain them. Essentially, there are two truly distinct types of Bend Mode: “Pre” and “Post.” With the pre-bend mode, when you play the first note of a chord or phrase, any notes that are played within a certain time after that note (controlled by the Bend Time setting) will be pitch bent and any notes after that time will not be affected. So, if you play the notes of a four note chord all at once, the pitch bend will shift all four notes. However, if you set the Bend

Time to a low setting (like 32nd) and then roll the four notes in quick succession & hold the notes, the I’ve saved the General and Pitch Bend tabs for last first one or two will be pitch bent but the other ones as they are the heart of Lap Steel Guitar. With the will be unaffected. If you use the post-bend mode, General tab, the first control you’ll find is the slide then if you roll the four notes & hold them, the last position controller. It allows you to place the slide in one or two will be pitch bent but the first one or two different positions on the neck of the guitar, and it will not. There’s also an auto-bend mode which has a significant effect on the tone of the attempts to intelligently select among “pre” or instrument. Next on that tab, you’ll find controls for “post” modes based on your playing. As a last the vibrato speed and depth. The vibrato amount is choice, you can just have the pitch bend work on all controlled by the mod wheel, and one great feature played notes. The reason for all of these different of Lap Steel Guitar is that the exact vibrato curve is modes is to simulate how a player can put the slide modeled after the one found on the sampled lap in one position to play the chord and then twist one steel guitar. Finally, on the General tab, you’ll get to of the ends of the slide to change the pitch of the set the volume of the release samples and the prelower or upper strings without changing the pitch of roll amount. the others. It’s an interesting implementation with an eye toward allowing you to imitate a real lap steel guitar player. 64

automation to make a nuanced slide-guitar performance. Some online video demonstrations of In order for any lap steel guitar library to be a success, the slides must sound good and convincing. lap steel guitar can also be pretty handy when working with this library. Again, though, if you’re Fortunately for lovers of the slide guitar, the pitch just looking for a basic slide-guitar lead line or some bend slides in Lap Steel Guitar are excellent. The accents in your tracks, then those are quite easy to slides here are miles ahead of the usual pitch bend in synths and the typical attempts for slides in guitar add without all of the practice. Plus, even without sample libraries. So, kudos to Orange Tree Samples using a single slide, the library sounds great and for getting the main thing right! Lap Steel Guitar also comes at a really great price (see below). has a different and unique sound that is great fun to play. It’s a nice change of pace from the usual EAG: Steel Strings and Lap Steel Guitar are two more Telecasters and Les Pauls that are the bread and butter of the electric guitar sample library world. In incredible products by Orange Tree Samples. Guitar fans looking for usable, reasonably-priced sampled addition, with the easy to use interface and onboard effects, I found you could get a wide range of guitars should definitely take a serious look at these libraries. At the website (see below), you’ll find usable sounds that would work for backing chords more information, sound demos, and product or especially for lead guitar work in your tracks. manuals for both products. As for the cost, EAG: I will give you one word of caution with this library. Steel Strings comes in at $179. If you own a It will take some practice and some effort to competitor’s guitar product, then you can receive a convincingly play slide-heavy performances. It’s not $40 discount (by supplying a proof of purchase). Lap difficult at all to add some slide accents to a melody Steel Guitar can be purchased for the nice price of or a guitar lick for a song, but there’s definitely a $79. For the quality you get, both libraries are learning curve if you want to make it a featured definitely worth their price. Be sure to check them performance instrument in a track. Like many of out! you, I’m not a slide guitar player so I have to really think through what I need to do to make it sound as Website: http://www.orangetreesamples.com if it’s actually being played. So, in all, you’ll need some practice, some planning, and some

Soundware Roundup by Ginno Legaspi

Prime Loops Trance Synths comprises 124 cuttingedge synth riffs, rhythms, chords and pads that are grouped into three folders of varying tempos. This is all about those high powered synth lines that are dominant in trance music. The loops themselves capture the genre beautifully, with most of them having that undeniable punch. The thing I noticed about this collection is that it is processed with delay and reverb. Although they sound very good, I wish Prime Loops had included some ‘dry’ files so I could process them on my own. But other than that I think this library will suit every producer’s needs for trance synths. Epic and big! WEB: http://www.primeloops.com/ FORMAT: Wav, Wav & SND, REX2, Apple Loops, Reason ReFill, Ableton Live Pack PRICE: $29.17 (digital download)

sci-fi horror film. I love sounds #39, #41 and #68 because there’s just something sinister about them. This is superb collection, and cheap! WEB: www.bluezone-corporation.com FORMAT: WAV PRICE: €18.95 (digital download) Quantum Loops

There have been plenty of micro packs popping up lately, and this one from Quantum Loops focuses on drum fills. There are four types of fills contained in Drum Fills, namely: Electronic fills, Acoustic fills, FX fills and Mixed fills all with at least 50 files each. Another folder called Bonus Content is filled with risers, droppers and one-shot samples. Most of the fills are 4-bars long and they have been programmed very well. The Acoustic drum fills are varied and the selection is quite beautiful - useful to say the least. The separation of the drum elements can be heard clearly with a nice touch of room ambience. Mixed fills on the other hand fuse acoustic and electronic elements to form something hybrid. Very innovative from the folks at Quantum Loops. WEB: Bluezone Corporation www.loopmasters.com FORMAT: WAV ‘Spooky’ is the name of PRICE: the game of this effects £9.95 library from sample Zero-G developers Bluezone Corporation. This Club Classics offers 38 groovy library contains 255 construction kits in the vein files (24-bit, 1.4 GB) of funk, disco and retro SFX fillers, evolving noises, intense impacts, sinister dance. The subtitle reads textures and bone-chilling scapes. They’re all drag“70’s and 80’s dance and-drop ready for any DAW. As far as the sound construction kits” which is design of the samples goes, they are very well significantly accurate because made. Plenty of reverberation applied that’s why the content is brimming with most of them sound huge, but that’s part of the authentic sounds from those eras. There are analog clever sound design. When I auditioned Eerie Ambiences & Sound Effects in Acid Pro sequencer it synths chords, bass lines (electric and synth), piano, funky guitars, electric pianos, disco strings and more was though these samples came straight out of a 66

included in this massive 3.3 GB library. Each construction kit folder is labeled with tempo and key information for ease of use and flexibility. Besides the kits, there are other folders called Guitars and Bass, Percussion Loops, Single Hit Drums, Suitcase Duos and Synth+Synth Bass Duos. Soundwise, this library is clean and well recorded and looped with enormous usability. The guitar performances are great, but the real treat of this library, for me, are the Suitcase Duos (Rhodes) phrases. They are so juicy that they can be useful little fillers for dance or acid jazz compositions. This is a ‘go’. WEB: http://www.timespace.com/ FORMAT: Acid Wav, Kontakt, EXS24, REX2, Aiff Apple Loops, Reason NNXT PRICE: £69.95 including vat

Monster Sounds

A couple of years ago Aquasky released a sample pack called ‘Electro House & Breaks’ and I love its content. They have made quite a ripple, for lack of better term, in sample/loop production, as well as releasing their own albums. This Monster Sounds release from them features ‘full throttle’ samples and loops in tempos ranging from 140-177 BPM. Fast and devastating are the words that come to mind in describing this pack. There are an enormous amount of one-shots, booming basslines, jacked synths, FX galore and monster breaks that are ready to melt the dancefloors. My favorites, though, are the multi-sampled basses and synths. They are good additional instruments if you have Prime Loops Logic’s EXS24 or Reason’s NN-XT softsamplers. The 1.4 GB material in Future Jungle & Drumstep (halfElectronic music time D’nB with the punch of Dubstep fused in) producers who are represents the sub-genres real well and with this into the heavy, library, Aquasky has brought out a sure winner. twisted side of WEB: electronica are in for a www.loopmasters.com treat. Prime Loops FORMAT: have cooked-up some Wav, Acid, Rex 2, Reason Refill, Apple Loops, sinister samples in the Kontakt, EXS, Ableton Live Pack guise of Darkstep. PRICE: They have gone into £29.95 extremes of providing some cutting-edge loops that will blow your listeners/audience away. Darkstep is Big Fish Audio a 200MB library comprising one-shots, loops and effects. There are some really good gems contained Influenced by artists such in this library and they would work well within a as The Shins, Elliot Smith, mix. The Ballistic Drums are brilliantly programmed Amos Lee, Ingrid they are punchy, in-your-face and would give a good Michaelson, Jack Johnson, rhythmic foundation to any drum n’ bass, breaks, Kathleen Edwards and dubstep and darkstep compositions. My fave sample many more, Acoustic Indie folder, however, is the FX Shots. I wish there were Pop by Big Fish Audio puts more special effects samples included, though. you in the driver’s seat in WEB: picking various loops and http://primeloops.com/ samples to construct FORMAT: acoustic indie songs. This library is produced by Wav, Wav & SND, REX2, Apple Loops, Reason ReFill, Dieguis Productions - the same team who brought Ableton Live Pack us other great titles such as Guitar Soundscapes, PRICE: Country Roots and Big Bad Horns...to name but a $35.58 (digital download) few. The library consists of 2 DVDs with a total size of 11.3 GB in size. The WAVs alone are a massive 5.8 67

GB...whoa! Acoustic Indie Pop includes 20 construction kits that cover bass, pianos, drums, banjo, electric guitars, fiddle, percussion, ukulele, acoustic guitars, vocals and mandolin. They are set up as song construction kits (verse, chorus, bridge, outro) in which all the elements and full-mix are included. BPM-wise, they lie in the 64-124 BPM range, and stylistically, most have an undeniable organic feel - raw but smooth. The drums are not overpowering, the guitars have that lovely tone and the basses sound sweet. This is an honest to goodness, pleasing sounding acoustic library. WEB: www.bigfishaudio.com FORMAT: Apple Loops/REX/WAV/RMX/Acid/Kontakt PRICE: $129.95 Freaky Loops Although not a lot in terms of content, the 10 bass loops, 41 music loops and 14 vocal loops provide instant inspiration to musicians and producers looking to add that deep house sound to their tracks. All files are tempo and key labeled for maximum use. However, there are no drum loops or drum hits in this pack... unfortunately. Hence the small 134MB download size. But there are gems here, especially the bright strings and the modulated/LFO’d synths. WEB: www.loopmasters.com FORMAT: WAV PRICE: £12.95

when Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Mario Bros and Galaxian ruled. Arcade Flashback represents the 8bit sounds here real well - cheesy and thin - but with 24-bit pristine clarity, the loops sound delicious. You’ll get 350MB+ of loops and one-shots, many of which are primed to inspire. For easy navigation and auditioning this pack is broken down into 5 categories of Arcade Synths, Flashback FX Loops, Flashback One-Shots, Power-Up Rhythms and Supa Basslines. Plenty of them work well in other subgenres and plenty work well as fillers too. Bottomline, this is a well-conceived sample library. WEB: http://primeloops.com/ FORMAT: Wav, Wav & SND, REX2, Apple Loops, Reason ReFill, Ableton Live Pack PRICE: $32.33 (digital download) Sample Magic

“Pounding” and “Fast” are some of the adjectives used to describe the ‘Drum & Bass’ genre. And this release from Sample Magic has plenty of both. Locking-in at 170 and 174 BPM, Drum & Bass boasts some 560 MB (24-bit WAVs) worth of materials that includes drum loops, breaks, bass loops, music loops, synth loops, synth stabs, drum hits, FX and FX loops. The varieties of sounds that make up this library are some of the best I’ve heard, especially the smooth, liquid pads that would be just lovely in the background mix. The ‘Breaks’ folder also features some well-programmed, retro-sounding acoustic breaks. They’re not just ordinary breaks they are processed with stuttering, filtering and pitch shifting. Love it. If you like your music to be in high gear, the aggressive, devastating and furious loops in Drum & Bass will sure bring your track to the next level. Prime Loops WEB: www.samplemagic.com 8-bit is the name of the game in this new library FORMAT: from Prime Loops. If 80’s Wav, Apple Loops, Rex2, Stylus-RMX, EXS24, HALion, video game tones are, er, Kontakt and NN-XT LIST PRICE: your game then this £34.90 (digital) sample pack will surely bring back those times

mapped for sound shaping capabilities (modulation). Great for players who actually tweak while playing at the same time. The 65 song templates are there to inspire you should you be This release from Delectable Records stuck in a rut or all out of ideas. Overall, this soundware has a dark feel that can also be used for is a collection of horn loops geared dubstep, dark ambient and experimental music. WEB: to dance music. www.loopmasters.com House Brass was conceived to cater FORMAT: Reason Refill, MIDI files to producers and PRICE: dance musicians looking to augment their mixes with authentic natural-sounding brass loops...played £19.95 by real musicians. This collection is divided into Bluezone several categories of Loops, Riffs, Shots and Shots Corporation FX. It features plenty of trumpet, alto saxophone, bass trombone and trumpet plunger loops played in different keys with a tempo of 125 BPM for Bluezone flexibility and ease of use. In total, you get 394 Corporation shows unique professional loops and one-shots that can be off their ‘wobbly’ instant gratification or something you can play with side in this solid if you’re stuck with no inspiration. Great uses for collection of fierce this library include Soulful House, Jazz, Orchestral, dubstep samples. Dubstep FX is a cutting edge Latin House and Film Scores. Although House Brass library of uprisers, downrisers, sweeps, short hits was recorded dry in the studio, the highlights are and anything robotic sounding. Recorded directly the cool 66 ‘Shots FX’ in which the loops were given from their studios, this 100 MB, 16-bit micro pack generous amount of delay, filtering and was created utilizing some of the best synths on the reverberation. market such as Access Virus TI, Waldorf Blofeld, WEB: Roland V-Synth GT and more. The resulting samples www.loopmasters.com are ear-catching and are ideal not just for Dubstep, FORMAT: but any kind of EDM sub-genre. I love the materials Wav, Apple Loops here because they remind me of the sound FX in the PRICE: movie ‘Transformers’. Looking for something to £24.95 spice up your composition or something you can add as transitional effects, this pack will fix you AOK. 5Pin Media WEB: www.bluezone-corporation This Refill soundbank is FORMAT: designed to inject new WAV PRICE: sounds into the Propellerhead Reason €12.95 (digital download) 6-plus software. Simply Loopmasters called Reason DnB Combinators, this pack Producer Andy Lee (DJ from 5Pin Media explores the dark side of the drum Mixtools 31, DJ Mixtools and bass genre. It features 66 Combinator patches, 32) has cooked up some 65 MIDI files and 65 song templates that you can really nice samples in mold and shape and play around with. The the guise of Nu School Combinator patches are powerful, sound great and Deep House. This fresh were programmed with expertise - just as I collection (via expected. The assignable knob in Combinator was Delectable Records

Loopmasters) has the characteristics of Vintage House, Deep Tech and Electronica but has an up-todate sound for today’s EDM producers. This library comprises 154 Bass Loops, 300 Drum Loops and 65 Music Loops 54 Vocal Loops, 24 FX Hits and 438 Drum Hits. All the loop & one-shot elements (over 1 GB) have been recorded in 24-bit quality to give that crisp, pristine sound. As usual with Loopmasters, all of the major file formats are supported. If you use Reason 6 and don’t want the hassle of downloading other formats, you can just purchase the Refill version. Very convenient. Regarding the content itself, the loops - especially the synths - are very good and useful. I also like the 438 drum hits that come with this pack. Lots to choose from if you’re building your own kits. WEB: www.loopmasters.com FORMAT: Wav, Acid, Reason Refill, Ableton Live Pack, Apple Loops, Rex2, Halion, Kontakt, EXS, SFZ, Stylus RMX, Ableton Live Presets and NNXT PRICE: £16.95-29.95

Ableton Live Pack PRICE: $28.99 (digital download) Zero-G

Produced by sound designer Roger Gronberg, Modular Beats is an extensive drum and percussion library made from modular synthesizers and analog monosynths such as Modcan modular, MOTM modular, Arric Modular with modules from STG, CGS, Thomas White, Oakley and Encore, Arp Odyssey/2600, Korg minikorg 700s and Korg MS 20. The idea of this sample pack is to provide producers and musicians a set of raw, unique and fresh samples only these analog monsters can generate. There are a total of 1.5 GB of 400 loops, 400 single hits and 300 modular drum kit instruments designed for use in different popular softsamplers. It would seem that the emphasis of Prime Loops Modular Beats is electronica and electro with an 80’s tone. But these loops can adapt to any style and they are highly usable. In dance music, the bass and beats are the WEB: http://www.timespace.com/ main foundation of a good composition. The FORMAT: rhythm section ‘drives’ Acid Wav, Kontakt, Stylus RMX, EXS24, Aiff Apple the song, and these two Loops, Reason NNXT PRICE: elements are so £60.95 including vat important that they have to sound tight and punchy. This sample library from Prime Loops is a collection of floor shaking Loopmasters bass loops that’s primed to rip the mainroom. Big room Bass includes 215 MB of modulated low ends As the name suggests, that can propel your dance tracks to the next level. this sample library from The loops are recorded in 128 BPM, key labeled Loopmasters is a (various keys) and in 24-bit quality. The selection of collection of vocal loops is geared primarily to electro but they’re also phrases, adlibs, top lines useful for other sub-genres such as progressive, and vocoded vocal pieces dubstep, tech and drum and bass. Overall, the that are perfect for dance basses sound warm and there are plenty of loop and DJ producers. There are bags of neat vocal gems that can be used for song starters. samples to be chopped, stuttered, glitched, edited WEB: and reshaped in this 652 MB, 24-bit collection. http://primeloops.com/ Sublime Tech Vocals was recorded at different FORMAT: tempos of 118-126 BPM. You get different phrases Wav, Wav & SND, REX2, Apple Loops, Reason ReFill, that would fit Tech, House, Electro and Funky House 70

compositions, but the best ones for me are the 26 Vocoded vocals. They provide that extra magic needed to make your dance tracks stand out. WEB: www.loopmasters.com FORMAT: Acid, Apple Loops, Wav and Rex2 PRICE: £19.95

loops, multi-sampled instruments, drum hits, synth hits, stabs and Moog one-shots in 24-bit quality. This 1.21 GB of material was produced by Chris Cowie, who is known for his diverse production skills and various record releases. Epic Electro and Tech House contains all kind of samples and loops (128BPM mostly)you can think of for making EDM. The punchy drums are outstanding, the music loops are full of synth lines that are destined to destroy the dancefloor and the multi-sampled instrument are a good bonus should you make your own Sounds-ofsampler patches in various softsampler such as NNRevolution XT, EXS24 or Kontakt. The thing is, this is a good library with lots of different loops - not variations Continuing the ‘SOR from a single sound. I was even hooked by the demo Micro Series’ trend, Oliver Schmitt delivers track of this pack. Well made. WEB: another pack that’s limited (in a good way) www.loopmasters.com FORMAT: only to esoteric Wav, Acid, Rex2, Reason Refill, Ableton Live Pack, sounds. Rather than Apple Loops, Halion, Kontakt, EXS, SFZ, Stylus RMX, gigabytes and gigabytes of loops and Ableton Live Presets, NNXT and GarageBand PRICE: samples, Click & FX £16.95-29.95 Vol. 1 focuses on elements, FX and clicks. The samples are exceptionally well recorded and I was Prime Loops surprised that even though the download size is 235 MB, there are 599 files in total. This pack is comprised of three main folders; Effects, Loop Elements and Loop 127. The Effects are one-shot The island of Ibiza effect elements, the Loop Elements are either oneachieved fame shots or snippets for constructing your own loops through its beautiful and the Loop 127 folder houses all the loops sunsets, parties, recorded at 127 BPM. I love the selection of loops in nightlife and the the Loop 127 folder because there are some loops superstar DJs who that can be used as top loops, augmenting your own play at the various beats. Esoteric but usable. clubs it offers. It is a WEB: cultural center for trance, house and other http://www.resonance-sound.com/ electronic dance music. Featuring awesome FORMAT: basslines, hooky synthlines, pounding beats and Wav, Rex, Stylus RMX, EXS24, Kontakt 4 various sampled elements, Ibiza Dance Anthems is a PRICE: fresh collection of dance-oriented loops and one€13.36 + VAT shots that are ready for prime time. This pack contains five construction kits in 130 BPM but different root keys. Each folder contains 9-18 loops Loopmasters that you can use as-is or as ammunition for song starters. When I auditioned the loops in Acid Pro 6, I noticed that the synths sound huge (with just the From UK sample right amount of reverb) and the drums are kickin’ developers they’re bound to rock the floors. I wish this was a Loopmasters comes bigger, larger pack because I really like the quality. this collection of bass With only 110 loops and samples included, still it loops, drum loops, doesn’t stop you from being creative. music loops, real hat 71

WEB: http://primeloops.com/ FORMAT: Wav, Wav & SND, REX2, Apple Loops, Reason ReFill, Ableton Live Pack PRICE: $27.36 (digital download) Big Fish Audio Produced by Badhowen, the person in charge of Big Fish Audio’s hit sample library called ‘The Crate: Ultimate Urban Samples’, Karma: Urban Fire takes you on an urban sample journey with a touch of ethnic flavor. Since the construction kits are heavily infused with various ethnic samples you can easily create hybrid music - sort of like East meets West. This 5 GB (2.8 GB of 24-bit WAVs) library includes 30 contraction kits and one bonus folder called ‘Xtras’. The ‘Xtras’ folder is made up of keman samples that were recorded in key of F#. All of these are clearly labeled with tempo (70-95 BPM) and key information for easy integration. But as far as the kit goes, it includes all the musical elements imaginable; such as piano, bass, brass, drums stings, synth, arpeggio, orchestra, timpani, baglama, koto, electric guitar, flextone, FX, conga and may more. In addition, a ‘Hits’ folder is included and contains all the drum hit elements of the drum track so you can create and program your own beats. Sound-wise, Karma is a very modern take on urban music. The production is good, and most of the loops/samples sound very crisp and up-to-date. A great job by Badhowen. WEB: www.bigfishaudio.com FORMAT: Acid, Wav, Apple loops, REX, RMX PRICE: $99.95

Monster Sounds

In dance music (EDM) whether it’s techno, D’nB, house or dub it would be embarrassing if your releases sounded wimpy and weak. You need sounds that are heavy, punchy and can sustain a crazy crowd on the dancefloor. This is where Heavy Weight Analog Subs comes in. It gives you access to 296 (bass multis and sub hits) 24-bit samples recorded using high-end studio equipment and vintage synthesizers such as the venerable Korg MS20, small-but-terrible Roland SH-101, Yamaha CS5, Clavia Nord, Novation BassStation, Roland 808 and the Juno 106. Some pretty impressive synths there. If your track is anemic in the bass department, I see this pack as a very useful tool. But how does it sound though? The title pretty sums it up. It is power-driven, which can make your woofers go berserk. WEB: www.loopmasters.com FORMAT: Wav and 83 softsampler patches for Halion, Kontakt, EXS24, SFZ and NNXT PRICE: £9.95 Loopmasters We all know that when it comes to electronic/dance sample libraries, Loopmasters is at the forefront of delivering such products. But it’s good to see them tap into the world of ethnic samples with (drum roll) Latin Horns. This title is a great, comprehensive collection of horn and ensemble loops with a fiery Latin flavor. Firstly, this pack is 1.4 GB in size and delivered in 24-bit quality. Secondly, the samples are recorded in tempos from 125 to 130 BPM, with a wide range of styles - from riffs to melodic lines and fills. Latin Horns is broken down into four BPM folders, each with ‘Ensemble’ sub-folders. An Ensemble folder comprises 4 files each; a Sax loop, Trombone loop, Trumpet loop and a mix file of each

loop. There are a total of 104 Horn Ensembles Prime Loops together and 417 Rex 2 Loops. That’s plenty of materials to drop into your productions - whether An inspiring sample used as-is or processed. As far as the performance pack from Prime of the loops goes, they are absolutely top notch, Loops featuring over brimming with authenticity. They have so much life 400 MB of samples, in them, and sound so organic. What can I say, I love Procussion is a this pack. percussion-filled WEB: library that is totally www.loopmasters.com on the rhythmic side FORMAT: of thing. It includes 84 Wav, Acid, Rex2, Stylus RMX and Apple Loops Cajon Loops, 77 Conga PRICE: Loops, 71 Plastic Djembe Loops, 44 Wood Djembe £24.95 Loops, 49 Shaker Loops, 36 Tambourine Loops and 55 One-shots in pristine 24-bit format quality. This Loopmasters pack is broken down into 6 folders of different percussion elements, with each having 3 sub-folders at various tempos. What I like about Procussion is In today’s routine that Prime Loops has put something together that is electronic sample libraries being released, very well recorded, and the loop editing is superb (didn’t hear any clicks). Also, the samples sound it’s good to see something different for natural, punchy and clear - no added FX, which is what I like. My favorites are the 140 BPM Cajon and a change. The Blues Sessions is inspired by Conga loops. With these two sounds, I can easily create great backing percussion tracks to my drum the sounds of blues mixes - just mix and match and you’re set. Anyhow, artists such as Rory Gallagher, Davey Graham, Eric Bibb, Bert Jansch, Louisiana Red, Big Moose Walker I’m sure there are plenty of percussion loop libraries and Woody Mann. Recorded at 24-bit/ 44.1 kHz, this out there but let me tell you that Procussion can’t be beat. If you’re a modern musician or producer library is as vast and comprehensive a sample looking to add some infectious percussion loops to source as you can get. There are a total of 2.02 GB of really well-recorded loops and hits such as drums, your tracks, then this collection is for you. harp, Hammond, keys, vocals and some genuine old WEB: http://primeloops.com/ blues recordings plucked from the vault. Thanks to the use of vintage equipment (RCA ribbon mics, 70’s FORMAT: Wav, Wav & SND, REX2, Apple Loops, Reason ReFill, Raindirk console and Neve and RCA preamps) Ableton Live Pack they’ve really captured the vibe and feel of that PRICE: classic blues sound. The performances are $28.97 (digital download) absolutely top notch, of course, as I’ve come to expect from Loopmasters. My favorites would be the harp loops as they will rip through your Sample Magic speakers. The Hammonds and Rhodes have so much grit that they can be used in heavier style compositions. Overall, a great sample pack that’s Vintage Vocals is a destined to be a classic. collection of 101 vocal WEB: phrases and spoken www.loopmasters.com words that were FORMAT: plucked from different Wav, Acid, Rex2, Reason Refill, Apple Loops, Halion, crusades, sermons, Kontakt, EXS, SFZ, Stylus RMX, NNXT, GarageBand rallies and speeches and Ableton Live Pack from different preachers and motivational speakers, PRICE: including Jim Jones’ speeches. I am pretty sure that £19.95-24.95 the original recording had hiss, buzz, hum, clippings 73

and unwanted background noises, but to prepare the samples for use Sample Magic have done an exceptionally good job of restoring, cleaning and processing them without sabotaging the natural character of the original recordings. A quick audition in Sony Creative Software’s Acid Pro reveals that these vocal samples are highly inspirational and the energetic shouts are the best of the bunch. WEB: www.samplemagic.com FORMAT: Wav LIST PRICE: £12.90 Ian Boddy Waveforms

Ian Boddy has released plenty of sample library/soundware in the past. Some of my favorites are Morphology, Outer Limits and Ambiosis and Elektrolytik, which are excellent in both sound design and content. He is a well respected musician who has built a catalog of music, and at the same time a sound designer at heart. Ian Boddy Waveforms is a new series of downloadable sample packs intended to focus tightly on one aspect of analogue sound design possible on classic and modular synths. In this sample library there are several folders with 300 samples included; 150 of them are looped and 150 in single shots that were created using various modular gear, such as Roland System 100-M, Serge Animal, Audio Interface, Dual Oscillator & custom panels, Analogue Systems, Analogue Solutions, Doepfer A-100, Cwejman SPH2 & FSH1, Livewire, Metasonix, Harvestman, WMD & Flight of Harmony modules and VCS3. The samples are a mixture of mono and stereo that are delivered in 44.1kHz, 24-bit WAV. Just like his other sample libraries, Analog Workshop 1 is nothing short of impressive. The modern electronica style is well represented with lots of odd drones, strange pads and tortured feedback (oscillation feedback) that were applied with sonic ill treatments. If you’re into drones and experimental music, this pack is highly recommended. WEB: 74

http://www.timespace.com/ FORMAT: Wav, Kontakt PRICE: £34.95 including vat Sounds-ofRevolution

After the success of the first volume, Sounds of Revolution didn’t spare any time in releasing the sequel to Minimal Techno Revolution. This release is the culmination of Oliver Schmitt’s established experience in sound design, sampling and audio editing. Minimal Techno Vol. 2 is new sampling material made for producers wanting a new set of sounds for Techno, Minimal, Tech House and other Electronica sub-genres. There is a full gamut of sounds contained herein, such as synth, bass, drums, vocals, effects, etc. totaling 628 loops and 561 one-shots. Every time I review an electronic/dance sample pack I always check out how well the drum loops and drum hits were made. Well, the drum loop kits (at 127 BMP) are very good and well constructed. They are very useful and ready to drop in to any composition. I also find the two folders called ‘Fragment’ and ‘SFX’ (which is basically snippets of audio and one-shot effects) invaluable for transitions between sections in a song. Bottom-line: There is plenty of good material to play with here....you just have to let your imagination run wild. WEB: http://www.resonance-sound.com/ FORMAT: Wav, Rex, Stylus RMX, EXS24, Kontakt 4 PRICE: €56.61 + VAT

Prime Loops Prime Loops has gone gritty with this collection of rap, hip hop and urbanflavored samples. Dirty South Xtreme features 5 construction kits inspired by the sounds of the south. The kits include all the elements needed to produce a complete tune, or use them to augment your own productions. There are beats, atmospheres, synths, basslines and FX along with root key and tempo information. Although there are only 5 kit folders included, Prime Loops has generously provided some drum hits so you can create your own drum kit in your DAWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drum rack instrument. One thing I like about this library are the synths... they sound great and are fat. Good stuff, and once you get past the sexy cover youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find that this library has the potential to aid you with your next hit. WEB: http://primeloops.com/ FORMAT: Wav, Wav & SND, REX2, Apple Loops, Reason ReFill, Ableton Live Pack PRICE: $27.36 (digital download)