October 2010 by Wusik Dot Com

Editorial Wusik Sound Magazine www.wusiksoundmagazine.com

Summer's Gone...

Issue October 2010

Managing Editor: MoniKe Assistant Editors: Damion Johnston, WilliamK Production Manager: MoniKe Some of the products reviewed in Wusik Sound Magazine are copies provided free of charge for reviewing purposes.

Articles by: A. Arsov www.arsov.net Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi www.facebook.com/ginnolegaspi ginno@wusik.com Johnathan Pritchett - aka Trusty www.myspace.com/crosssoldiers Stickybeats@yahoo.com Tomislav Zlatić http://bedroomproducers.wordpress.com/ bedroomproducers@gmail.com Robert Halvarsson www.suecae.com

Proof-Reading by: Damion Johnston - aka EM Dave Clark Dave O Mahony - aka Mckenic or mC www.mckenic.com Pictures: www.dreamstime.com

Covers and EVE’s Advertising: Henry Gibson

MoniKe

A. Arsov

And yet, we are here - still alive and still well. I know, we've missed an issue, maybe even two, but we are back. Not stronger than ever, nor even better than ever. We are just back - as simple as that. It was just a long, long summer with plenty of rain sifted through some really hot sunny days. Ginno and I got Reason, and it is for that "reason" we couldn't write a word for some time because that “damn” program is so impressive that it doesn't give you any free time for writing articles. William and Monike had their Brazilian rainy and cold season during July and August, which is not such an inspiring time for doing anything creative, really. Also, William was stuck in the middle of his Wusik Station 7 coding during that time as well. So, as it happens with all newcomers (yes, we have plenty of new writers) and all of us old-timers as well, we enjoyed the summer; writing our articles very slowly and with a lot of consideration. For this you should be happy! Now you've got a whole ton of well-deliberated and well-written articles. Err... okay, so... uh, as you see, really, we don't have any reasonable excuse at the moment. If we do find one though, we will let you know. But, who cares, right? Wusik Sound Magazine is back! Just like the husband who only left for a few minutes to go buy some cigarettes and three months later he's standing on the doorstep like nothing has happened: "Honey, I'm home!" So, there might be some blood on the doorstep... oh well; but, hey, there are also plenty of reviews along with some interviews to read. For you drum lovers we have a nice Alien Drum Robots Attack review along with an Addictive Drums how-to details. There are a bunch of synthesized things, like a String Machine review and also Essential Bass from Native Instruments. There is also an interview with one of Dual Shaman, who stands behind a lot of quality sample packs. Talking of samples, Ginno made a round up of various sample packs, as he is seriously addicted to "nice sounding" packs. Browsing through the new issue you will find a lot of other nice "twangs and thangs": some goodies for guitar lovers; some for equalizing freaks; a word or two about Melodyne; more synth reviews; more sound reviews; an article about a sequencer; another interview and... Okay, so it is up to you to discover them for yourself. Stop reading this. Flip to another page. Enjoy and try to forget that we are a bit late with this issue. Who's late? What...? See, you already forgot. A. Arsov

Table of Contents Table of Contents Developersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Corner:

04 06

Review: Fabfilter Pro Q by Trusty Tutorial: How to use and abuse Fabfilter Pro Q? by A. Arsov

Interview:

Shaman's going deep by Robert Halvarsson

Brandon Ryan by Trusty

Addictive Drums by Trusty

Alchemy Expanding by Trusty

Oddgrooves - MIDI drum loops by A. Arsov

Poise

WADRA When Alien Drum Robots Attack! by Tomislav Zlatic

by Tomislav Zlatic

Review:

It's a String Thing by Robert Halvarsson

AmpliTube 3 by A. Arsov

Digital Sound Factory by Trusty

Granite

Synthesizer stabs extraordinaire by Robert Halvarsson

Sonar 8.5 by Trusty

X-Poly

HI-FI 909 by Robert Halvarsson

Sidekick 4 by A. Arsov

Melodyne Editor DNA by Trusty

Voxengo by A. Arsov

by Robert Halvarsson

Mini-Review:

Soundware Round-up by Ginno Legaspi

Mini Reviews by Ginno Legaspi

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Fabfilter Pro Q Pro fa' sho'

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Fabfilter Pro Q Pro fa' sho' by Trusty

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October 2010

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Admit it, you absolutely loathe almost every EQ plug-in you have. The ones that add a nice “color” to your sound also lie to you in the slopes. The ones that are supposedly “transparent” are honest about the curves, but are not so much “transparent” as they make the sound come off flat. Yes, there are some good ones out there, but they forgot to include what Fabfilter has packed in here. The truth is, most EQ plug-ins, to some degree or another, suck. This one does not. Not at all. Quite the opposite actually. Pro Q is most excellent, and will be the most used EQ in any arsenal. It neither lies, nor flattens the sound. It is transparent without beating the sound into lifeless submission. A total of 24 bands give the user the utmost control over the sound, even to the smallest detail. Better yet, even the slightest tweak actually yields the desired results. Working with Pro-Q is not a fight that requires drastic slopes to get results. Pro Q is honest in even the finest of movements. Fabfilter has taken precision to a whole new level with Pro Q. I threw everything from Rock and Hip-Hop to Classical scores, from individual tracks and stems, to whole tracks and mastering projects at this plug-in to see how well it would hold up. It came through shining, every single time. It handles it all, and does far better than anything else in the tool kit around here (It would surprise some of you what EQ plug-ins we have to compare it with).

The interface is gorgeous to look at. Everything in operation is clean and easy to follow. More importantly, it is quite easy to use, given its feature packed status. When it comes to features, the plug-in delivers all the goods. A/B comparison is painless. Undo/Redo is readily accessible, which comes in handy more often than one might imagine. It has zero latency mode as well as linear phase mode with various options. There are five filter shape options per band with 6, 12, 24 and 48 dB/oct slopes. Pro Q has Frequency, Gain, and Q knobs that are refreshingly responsive for an EQ plug-in. You can even select to edit multiple bands at once. There are handy scroll buttons to peruse through the bands in order to avoid mouse accidents selecting them on the main display. The left, right, and stereo options are as accurate as they are useful, and the mid/side band option is there for those needs. The plug-in has options for stereo and mono and the pre/post EQ analyzer is very helpful in order to really get down to what actually needs the most work. I know “purists” claim “do it by ear”, but why bother when the option is available. Some of our ears crap out due to long hours anyway and features like this help out a great deal when pressing on while up against the clock.

but the thing is this, those few may be able to sound almost or as good as this, and be almost as responsive, but some of them are as much if not more expensive and have only a tenth of the features. I am starting to think that the overpriced EQ plug-ins out there are not skimping on the features for the sake of “simplicity” as they claim, but rather laziness. The Fabfilter fellows did not hold back in packing this EQ full of useful and professional features. Is it a tad bit high priced? Perhaps, but it is worth every penny. Other EQ plug-ins in this price range barely come close to this level of excellence, feature set, and not to mention, the excellent support from the Fabfilter crew (which you will probably not need, as their stuff is rock solid in operation). Buy it! You need this way more than another instrument right now...unless you don't own Twin 2, which if you buy both at the same time, you can save some cash. Check out all of their stuff at www.fabfilter.com.

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All the usual Fabfilter interaction GUI stuff is there as well. The helpful “Help”, the sleek design, the familiar continuity with the other Fabfilter plug-ins, all of it. As stated earlier, there are a limited few good EQ plug-ins out there, October 2010

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How to use and abuse Fabfilter Pro Q?

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by A. Arsov Fabfilter Pro Q is one of the most professionally buffed, useful and flexible virtual equalizers on the market at the moment. It is an ideal tool for fine-tuning your tracks with its big, excellently organized graphical interface. Use it wisely during the finalization stage of your mix and you will not have much work to do when the time comes for mastering.

Taming the bass guitar or bass synth. With the 48-db step low-cut filter, Fabfilter Pro Q is an unbeatable tool for fine-tuning ultra-low subs on your bass tracks. Most of the time, in most genres (except d'n'b or dub) I cut everything below 50 Hz on the kick drum making a space for the bass guitar. Putting the freeware Bassxpander in front of your bass source, you will get punchy, subby, ultra-deep bass from almost every bass source. The only problem is that it used to be really hard to control those ultra-low frequencies. Making a step 48-db low-cut around 20 Hz will fix all those “below the hearing range” moody mix problems. As you can see, there are two holes around 100 db to make a bigger place for a kick. Separating the kick from the bass can do wonders, even without using a side-chain compressor. One bigger hole in a so-called "misery" range will make your bass more airy and softer. Boosting a bit around 700 Hz will make bass more noticeable on a small speaker set-up. These settings proved to be a good starting point for almost all bass taming situations.

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Widening the stereo image with old-fashioned Fake stereo trick. If the right and left channels are identical, then our stereo file is probably just a doubled mono source; the more one channel is distinguished from other, the more stereo the source will sound. With the Fabfilter Pro Q â&#x20AC;&#x153;splitâ&#x20AC;?option ( right-click on a band to get a flying menu ) we can improve the stereo image of any stereo file. Splitting the channel equalization on left and right curves, boosting on one side and cutting the same frequency on the opposite side, can drastically improve the stereo image.

Going into details. With a frequency analyzer and 24 bands you can go totally crazy finding the frequency holes for preventing clashing with other instruments in a busy arrangement. Or just making a hole for accenting some other important sounds. Usually this is the only way to get the guitar or synth to stand out in a crowded mix.

October 2010

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Shaman's going deep by Robert Halvarsson

Brothers in arms Dacian and Vio are the men behind the moniker Dual Shaman. Together they have created a couple of seriously worthwhile sample-packs, one of which is reviewed in this issue of Wusik Sound Magazine. We took some time to ask a few questions of Dacian in order to get a peek into one of the minds of the highly successful production duo. WSM: Care to present yourself and the people who are behind Dual Shaman? Shaman: Hello Robert. Thanks for getting in touch. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Dacian and together with my brother Vio, we work under the name Dual Shaman, as musicians and sound designers. WSM: What were the factors that got you involved in the electronic music scene in the first place? Shaman: Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been fascinated by electronic music ever since we were kids, but we never really saw ourselves actually being involved in the scene. We did have a go at it as hobby at first, later realising that we had become completely hooked and so we had to keep at it. We love doing what

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October 2010

we do because of the joy we get when WSM: How does it affect your sample production seeing that you produce we create or discover new sonic music as well? realms and it also helps us escape from the dullness of everyday life. Most importantly, it’s a way to Shaman: Lately we haven’t produced express ourselves and I guess most any original work, just a few remixes. musicians do it because of this fact. We have had a very busy year of developing sample libraries, but WSM: How did you go around deciding hopefully we will manage to finish our dream debut album by the end of the to start creating sample packs for year. other producers? Shaman: We were going through a bit of an inspirational block. As we were writing songs for our debut album, we had a lack of ideas and we ended up not being satisfied with the results. A change of plans was needed, so we sent a small pack of samples to the guys at S2S and with their guidance, we ended up creating our very first release. Many more have followed since. WSM: How do you and your brother complement each other in the work process? Do you focus on different things when you are creating samples?

WSM: Care to share a little information on your set-up; are you software or hardware guys, or something in-between? Shaman: We like to keep things as simple as possible. We do use a great deal of software instruments, but when it comes to creating more intricate sounds like FX, soundscapes or synth stabs, we prefer hardware. WSM: Do you have any favourite synthesizer or piece of gear that you think contributes especially to the atmosphere found in your work?

WSM: How does it feel knowing that you have gathered such a response from consumers, seeing that you right now peak the charts on Sounds to Sample? Shaman: It’s definitely keeping our engines running and for us, staying motivated is a key part in delivering quality products! WSM: I know that you are very pleased with how Underground Techno turned out, what do you feel sets it apart from your other work? Shaman: Yes, we are definitely very happy with “Underground Techno”. It’s really the sound we love and feel. I think what sets it apart from our other packs is that we’ve put more heart into it than usual. WSM: Are there any future releases which you are working on?

Shaman: There are more releases lined up for S2S, including tropical tops, summer-flavored tech house, and possibly a sequel to our bestShaman: We’re very fond of our seller Deep House Synths & Stabs. Shaman: Yes we do work on different Waldorf Blofeld; despite the fact that it We’ve also finished two huge 1 GB+ parts. Vio is in charge of designing has its bugs, it's one mean machine. libraries for Wave Alchemy and Zeropatches, oneshots and creating At the moment, as far as software G which are in post production at the percussive loops. In the meantime, I instruments go, I think that nothing moment and will be out in a few work on refining the loops my brother beats Sonic Charge’s Synplant in months. We have other projects has created and I use his sounds and terms of innovation and soundplanned for the end of the year, but patches to create melodies and shaping possibilities. There are also it’s too early to give any details at the synthloops. I also contribute with a dozens of freeware VST’s which can moment. great deal of sound effects and generate solid sounds, our favorites patches/presets. being SyncerSoft’s emulations of vintage Russian synths.

October 2010

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Brandon Ryan by Trusty

Brandon Ryan has, by far, the coolest hairstyle in the software music production business. He is an extremely talented musician, who has very diverse and eclectic tastes and can seemingly compose in just about any style. Be sure to check out videos of his live performances at the Cakewalk booth from trade shows past and present, as well as the more technical videos. He is clear, concise, and will give you information to get you going on anything he covers. He has over fifteen years of music industry experience, and seems to know the ins and outs of every aspect of it. He has gotten to work with people from the entertainment business most of us are certainly not cool enough to ever meet, as well as all the cool tech heads from around the electronic world. I guess if we were to call his day job ‘Director of Product Marketing” at Cakewalk, we'd probably be wrong. People that do what they love don't have "jobs"...and given that as the years and hairstyles go by, his everpresent hands in Cakewalk business demonstrates his love for what he does. So with Cakewalk, jet setting all around the globe doing Cakewalk stuff, working with giants, and flying back and forth from L.A. to Boston to output his own creative endeavors, it is important to know this very fact, above all else: Brandon Ryan is cooler than you or me (Though he won't say it because he's too nice...).

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WSM: Thank you Brandon, we appreciate you taking the time to chat. Brandon: The pleasure is all mine – thanks! WSM: Can you give us any insight in to what a workday is like at Cakewalk? Given the changes in the past few years with Roland being attached to the name in an official capacity, and of course, Sonar's breaking tradition in regards to the numbering system. How have these visible aspects from the consumer's side of things shake out in practice? Is Cakewalk significantly different now from three years ago in either environment or purpose? Brandon: Cakewalk has continued to evolve and change in various ways over the eight years that I’ve been involved with the company. I’m not sure if it has done so any more or less since we became “by Roland”. Other than my vastly improved knowledge of the Japanese train system, it still pretty much seems like the Cakewalk I’ve always known when I start each day. In reality, Cakewalk is an always-evolving organism and that’s part of what I love about it. You won’t ever hear me say I’m bored – ever. I’d say the most positive thing about working with October 2010

Roland has been the sharing of combined knowledge and experience, and the ability to make products that neither of us could really make on our own. Workdays at Cakewalk can be all over the map. I know it’s different for every employee but at least for some of us, we bounce from one disparate thing to the next and multi-task feverishly. Depending on what’s

going on I might work on a half a dozen tasks (or more) in a single day or, on some occasions, handcuff myself for hours or days to one thing. You have to be able to deal with interruptions, tangents and the odd wild goose chase. I imagine this goes for a lot of people in our, shall we say, unconventional industry. Ah, and as far as the number system…you’ll just have to wait and

see on that one. SONAR 8.5 was really a genuine attempt by us to offer a smaller set of focused features for a smaller amount of money. In the economic environment we all find ourselves in, I guess you could say we wanted to under-promise and overdeliver for a lower than ever cost to our loyal customers.

WSM: The famous 8.5 with Sonar being a break in tradition, will this establish a new tradition, or was this a signal that things are heading into a new direction? From a marketing aspect, are the format and old paradigms not quite as important as other things? Is there any unpacking to Noel Borthwick's statement that it WSM: Does being Director of “reflects a change in our internal Product Marketing limit you to the nomenclature for naming “marketing department”, or do products,” that we can know you get your two pennies into about? product development? What is the relationship with that? Is Brandon: In retrospect I’d say it was it merely your job to push probably a signal that things are what they give you, or do you heading in a new direction. SONAR get to inform them what you'd has been around for about a decade like to push? Is it a two way now and it’s probably time to shake it street? up and try some new things. As for what will happen with SONAR Brandon: It’s definitely a two versioning from here on out…well, I’m way street. I mean, my first love going to leave that a mystery. The is the product and the technology speculation is just too entertaining to so I can’t help but be passionate pass up. and therefore highly opinionated about what the product needs and WSM: Sonar 8.5 Producer's Edition how I feel things should work. My seems like it is now the “complete whole team has a close, solution”, all things to all people. sometimes day-to-day It really does now seem that no relationship with the product genre is left out of the picture, management and development making it accessible to all sorts of teams. We contribute and consult musicians, as well as giving on the design phase, use the people new ways of working with software throughout the beta older styles of music. Given all the process, provide user and market workflow enhancements, the feedback, and sob inconsolably included content and so forth that when our pet feature or fix gets now rounds out the package, is cut. the focus now more on operation of improving what is there, or will there be a drive to push the October 2010

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Brandon Ryan

envelope of creative tools either built into or added to the package? I mention this because the older approach was to offer Sonar, Project5, Kinetic, etc. to cater for different needs but now it seems that it is all directly tied into the flagship. Brandon: One must remember that the modern DAW was once simply a “MIDI sequencer” or an “audio editor”. And since those days the DAW has annexed new tools and integrated workflows until it became the Digital Audio Workstation we all know and love today. And it’s happening right now – as we speak. The computerbased studio and the software that runs it will continue to evolve and advance. From our perspective, we want to be first in line to give our users every worthwhile musical tool we can, even if they sometimes didn’t know they wanted it yet. The key however is integrating it thoughtfully into the SONAR universe. How does it help people make music? That question should be at the center of all we do. WSM: From a marketing perspective, how hard is it to convey the importance of the detail enhancements and minute improvements that are extremely important to long time users, but don't necessarily grab the general musician? These details really do matter, even if the typical user or new user is not aware of it. Speaking about, for instance, 12

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promoting the difference between “New option to automatically lock scrolling during playback when initiating an edit” and showing off a new Matrix View or the new VX64 and PX-64.

a gulf between what a new customer and what an existing customer might actually want or need.

WSM: As both a Sonar PE user since version 3 and until now a Project5 user, I was pleased to Brandon: Well this is something we see the Matrix View added to continually have to balance - the Sonar. Do you accept any of the current user versus the new user. It’s criticism that the Matrix View (as the case with features and also with was said with P5 v.2's Groove marketing and other activities. I think Matrix) was a lifted idea from the key is to talk to each group elsewhere? Do you think that it is individually, with their needs in mind. simply ignorance of how older And now with a ubiquitous, highhardware sequencers and groove bandwidth Internet, it’s easier to do boxes essentially had the same that. I think it’s also important to workflow with real time pattern figure out how a feature that appeals arrangement fifteen years ago? to existing users shines a light on the For instance, I was working that workflow it enhances, and tell that way with my old Roland XP-60's story. But sure, it’s hard to make Realtime Phrase Sequencer. In some things sound exciting so we reality, isn't this sort of like avoid the hyperbole and don’t try. The saying similar things about an savvy SONAR user base will realize on event view, audio tracks, XOX their own why they should be excited sequencers, etc. popping up in about something that someone just every product? coming to SONAR probably isn’t even really conscious of yet. Ultimately we Brandon: Yes I totally agree. You hope that everything we do will could take about any tool in any DAW benefit every SONAR user, if not now and trace its origins back to then eventually. SONAR and its user something else. What’s the base are kind of like a town or a saying…”There’s nothing new under country. It needs new blood and new the sun.”? It’s kind of true. I think it’s ideas to stay invigorated and relevant. all about implementation and context. Attracting and empowering new users The Matrix is actually more like is arguably as important as Cyclone than anything and was responding to the myriad needs of definitely inspired by that instrument. current SONAR users. And when you Cyclone has been around since the realize that some of those users have turn of the century…literally. We been using it for less than a year and wanted to take Cyclone to the next others for 10 years or more, you level and that resulted in P5’s Groove quickly realize that there’s sometimes Matrix, which later resulted in October 2010

is just too much fun. I was genuinely having a blast and couldn’t wait to do each demo and I suspect that came across in the performance.

against say trying to use one (Sonar PE) like the other (Project5)...if that makes sense?

SONAR’s Matrix View. So to say we lifted the idea from elsewhere just shows a bit of ignorance regarding the WSM: Did the discontinuing of musical tools we’ve been developing Project5 influence the direction of over the years, and perhaps their Sonar PE? Were you, like me, sad preceding hardware counterparts. to see it go quietly into the night?

Brandon: Hmmm. I think each approach has its pluses and minuses. When starting things in P5 before, I think I would concentrate more on layering grooves and creating structure as opposed to the open world of SONAR. But now that P5 is WSM: Given that heroic Brandon: I was definitely sad to see no longer with us and some of it performance you gave at the it go as were a lot of us. It was a resides in SONAR, I think I’ve learned NAMM show when you debuted tough decision for everyone. We loved a few things and have transferred that Project5's Groove Matrix, is that the software and the community it approach, when desired, to how I kind of workflow essential to your fostered. It just became difficult for us work in SONAR now. I setup SONAR approach to music, or just certain to take P5 to the next level and to to come up very clean – no tracks and styles? It certainly seemed like keep supporting all the latest no floating windows. I also tab the you've been triggering real time technologies. But we learned a lot synth rack and organize all my synths patterns on the fly for a while. from P5 and it certainly has at least and effects into “by type” custom some influence over the direction of menus. This is how my default Brandon: Ha, thanks…that was a lot SONAR as far as workflow and design template appears when I launch of fun! That kind of workflow is not are concerned. I think ultimately, we SONAR. It allows me a truly blank necessarily essential to all the music I would like to give ex-P5 users no slate but with tons of possibilities just do, but it’s near and dear to my heart reason to rule out SONAR as their a click or two away. I also tab the and definitely plays to certain styles I primary music creation environment editors, much like how P5 was laid out. like. Skinny Puppy had a big influence going forward. What I’m working on depends on on me as a teenager and I loved how where I go from there. I may start they interjected found samples and WSM: Does having everything with a virtual instrument and some things into their music. Many years from Project5 now nestled in chord structure, bang out a beat in ago, I used to trigger samples live on Sonar change how you approach the Step Sequencer or bring up the stage from a Sequential Circuits composition in Sonar itself? Is it Matrix and combine some looped Prophet 3000 sampler in a kind of in any way different from using elements and one-shots and use that very primitive Matrix fashion. I guess both Sonar and Project5 in to create a basic structure or some this is just the evolution of that sort of tandem? I ask because a lot of variations on a layered groove. So I thing. Although something like the people who read the magazine are, guess ultimately, I feel less torn Matrix is nice for composition, I really like myself, die hard former having a lot of P5 now in SONAR. The enjoy it for its performance and Project5 users. While we may ability to route the Matrix View right experimental capabilities. Beatsimply be trying to recreate that into SONAR’s mix channels, while not juggling and having control over how workflow inside Sonar PE, what necessarily as straight forward as the your backing tracks evolve while you tricks are we missing out on with one-to-one relationship in P5, allows wail away on synths and arpeggiators the combination of the two, for perhaps the best of both worlds in October 2010

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Brandon Ryan

that you get all the flexibility of SONAR’s mix capabilities with the non-linear approach that P5 offered…all in a single x64 native, multi-core capable application.

are more likely drawn to the professional products?

standalone entities is something I’m unable to comment on at this time. The “super-duper-instrument project” Brandon: Haha…I love this question. was, rather unfortunately it turns out, I suppose it can be hard to get excited based on questionably obtained alien sometimes. I mean, I’m a grizzled old technology that required the aliens WSM: With all the Project5 tools vet so I tend to stay on SONAR Island themselves to actually run the and effects showing up now in where I know my way around and controls. We couldn’t find a Sonar, is there anyone hard at things are more suited to someone workaround and ultimately decided it work on nPULSE v.2, or anything like me. But sometimes you can get would be impractical to release such a like it in the works that you can into the sheer simplicity of something, product. spill? or the elegance of its workflow or its combined features, regardless of what WSM: Final blitz of questions: The Brandon: All I can say on that is that their purpose or limitations are. I can last book you read was? Coolest drums are pretty important to us and get into the shoes of the wide-eyed present you ever got? Things we we’re always looking at ways to make novice and try to imagine what their would not expect to see in your creating them better in SONAR. first experience is like. It’s easier studio that would be of interest? People tend to struggle with this very some days more than others though. The only hairstyle you sported on important aspect of music production a Cakewalk video you regretted and we want to make it possible for WSM: With Rapture and Dimension was__________? Fish much? users to get great sounding, Pro recently updated, is there still Dance without music is________? professional results from SONAR with ongoing development in the sense Despite your itinerary, does air a minimum of hassle. As far as of making them 64 bit for its own travel frighten you... or at least, instrument development at Cakewalk sake, or will we see version 2 of have some strange people you've is concerned, we are definitely either in the near future? After all, sat next to on airplanes frightened working on some significant things there was a survey recently... and you? If you have leisure time, the outside of Rapture and Dimension Pro. whatever happened to the super last thing you want to do I can spill that it is in fact not nPulse duper instrument we were teased is____________? Best film you've v2. with a couple years ago... is that seen in 2010 so far? Singularity, still around in development? Can Multiverse, or cosmology is WSM: How hard is it to get hyped- you spill a bean or two? uninteresting? up about the smaller products like Music Creator or Pyro? Those are Brandon: We are definitely working Brandon: “The Lost City of Z” by products our readers generally to further develop our line of virtual David Grann. My daughter Ruby, ignore in favor of the professional synthesizers. It would be foolish not given to me on Christmas Day last software and as a musician to, especially considering the talent year. Things on display in my studio yourself, how do you get up for we have in René Ceballos. This may include a vintage 8 track those kinds of things? Do you ever very well include the evolution of one player/recorder (yes recorder) in good say to yourself, "how would I talk or more of or current offerings but will working condition and tubes from the myself into buying this product" also likely see new developments over 1940’s, still in their boxes. Hmmm… given that you, like the readers, time. Whether these will enhance I’ll quote the Butthole Surfers on this some aspect of SONAR or be one: “The funny thing about regret is 14

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October 2010

that it’s better to regret something WSM: Thanks for the interview, you have done than something you can't wait to see what you guys haven’t done.” I like to fish, but I are coming up with next. rarely get the opportunity and am therefore a terminal novice. At best, Brandon: It was fun for me. Thanks less than it could be – and at worst, for the thoughtful and interesting just embarrassing for the person questions. doing it. I’ve been flying since I was pretty young so I’m used to air travel. Having said that, I still have those moments where you stop breathing for a bit or realize you’ve been white-knuckling your arm rests. But mild turbulence actually puts me to sleep, so I’d say in general air travel doesn’t frighten me. It’s the walking I struggle with. Troubleshoot any kind of technology that happens to not be working at that moment. I love movies, but since the birth of my daughter I’ve been to fewer movies this year than probably in any year previous. At the risk of sounding very un-cool, I did go see Toy Story 3 in 3D. Other than that I really enjoyed the 2009 films The Road, Moon, and Inglorious Basterds on Blu-Ray. Cosmology is definitely near the top of my list as far as interests go. It’s always been fascinating to me. Currently I’m in the Multiverse camp. October 2010

Be sure to check out Brandon Ryan's website at http://brandonryan.net/ and the links there to his other online websites and material.

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It's a String Thing by Robert Halvarsson

The 70's saw much of the beginning of electronic music. Part of the inventiveness and spirit of that decade saw the beginning of new synthesizer instruments often referred to as string machines. Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, and Pink Floyd among other artists made use of them. The original instruments were viewed as an alternative to a real orchestra for the musician on the road. Of course they never quite sounded like the real deal, but still had a sort of charm which to this day contributes to their popularity. Among the real-life synths back in the days to make their appearance were the Crumar Multiman, Logan String Melody and the prominent Solina. Roland and Moog were also clever enough to join the bandwagon with Moog Opus 3 and Roland with their RS202. Of course the analogue eventually has travelled into the digital domain with more or less successful emulations making their appearances What is especially interesting to see is that a few not-too-expensive plugins have appeared which claim to reproduce these original instruments in all their glory. We decided to compare two different VSTi's whose ambition is to emulate the string machine sound, to see what kind of harmonies might come out. The lucky two are Vintage Strings MKIII and String Dream Synthesizer. Vintage Strings MKIII is manufactured by Musicrow Audio Software, otherwise known for its many 16

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instruments for Native Instruments prominent modular host Reaktor. Behind String Dream Synthesizer is Nusofting, another independent

company which are also the publisher of instrument such as Broken Drum Machine and DK+.

Vintage Strings MKIII offers a retro looking graphical user interface which to me appears a bit unclear. The different sections of the instrument come with heavily italicised tags,

which on a high resolution monitor makes it unnecessary hard to see what it says. String Dream Synthesizer on the other hand, has a distinctly modern look. It comes with

a no-nonsense visual appearance which is hardly pushing the envelope, but is very clear and self-explanatory. Personally I tend to favour the looks found on plugins such as String Dream Synthesizer. Your mileage may vary. It is also clear that each synthesizer has differing philosophies when it comes to how the user alters or creates their own sounds. String Dream Synthesizer lets the user activate different voices named after instruments such as Contra Bass, Cello, Horn etcetera. Vintage Strings has opted for another model with two sections that generate the sound coupled with parts dedicated to adjusting parameters such as fatness, modulation, chorus and reverb. Vintage Strings clearly has the sound generating aspect covered although I find the options less then selfexplanatory. When it comes to the bundled presets found on each plugin, I am pleased to say that both instruments come with top-notch sounds. They are many and they explore and demonstrate each plugins options to a great degree. It also becomes clear that different philosophies continue onto a more fundamental level. Vintage Strings comes forward as having a sort of charming romantic aura which possibly could put its spell on quite a few people out there. String Dream Synthesizer to these ears, appears to be somewhat more modern in its

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It's a String Thing

characteristics and perhaps with a slightly more pronounced warmth. It is hard for me to judge whether either is closer to the original sounds generated by the Crumar's and Logan's back in the day. But it is clear to me that neither of the plugins are sub-standard but they take the user to different territories in the vast world of strings and pads. Vintage

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Strings MKIII stays true to its name in the sense that it clearly offers a more vintage type of sounds which I felt contributed with something distinctly different. The String Dream Synthesizer on the other hand, is capable of a warmer, more luscious character, lending itself well to any type of backing pad or string sound. Overall my verdict is that neither is

October 2010

superior to the other, and they compliment each other nicely. Price-wise, Strings Dream Synthesizer is available for 45 $ and is available in the VST and AU format. Vintage Strings MKIII is exclusively released for Windows VST hosts and can be had for 59â&#x201A;Ź. Make a wise choice ye lover of strings.

Wusikstation

Improving by the minute.

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AmpliTube 3 by A. Arsov

A new version of Amplitube comes to town. I've packed all my electric guitars, nice singing G&L Telecaster, old Casio GM 505 buffed with additional expensive humbuckers which I mostly use for heavier things, my trusty old Aria Diamond bass guitar ( older than most of you, my dear readers ) along with my noname electro-acoustic, and went to see the show.

The sound

Optimization comes later. All big companies have had to play that game, and trust me, they hate it more than you.

To Hell with over the 160 pieces of gear! Even the default preset sounded surprisingly good. I could The main interface has not changed survive my future with that one much, and to be honest, default preset only. It sounds like a there is no need to change real guitar amplifier. O.K. I'm not sixteen anymore and therefore I can't anything. Otherwise, there are plenty of new things try to see if the amp could smash all the windows in the neighborhood, but under the almost identical even on a low level it sounded like the roof. The most noticeable Down the road I saw plenty of posters real thing – even without my trusty is the sound improvement screaming at me about how Amplitube old Pod. It has a nice, solid bottom and finally you don't need 3 has over 160 pieces of gear, 51 to be an amp freak to get end, the crispness and roundness of stomp-boxes and effects, 31 amplifier an real amp along with a cool wide good sound from it. preamps, 46 speaker cabinet models, stereo image as an added bonus. 15 stage and studio mics along with There are also a plenty of Yeah, I know, most of the old guitar 17 post-amp effects. It sounds pretty new amp and stomp model amps were mono, but that's not impressive, but I just thought how simulations to choose from. something that should bother you. everything can easily fall into the Feel free to behave like a water if the general sound is not right. I can't remember the last time that lady in a Prada mega store. You want this color in a I've spent so long playing my guitars specific shade? Like they Amplitube 3 hear I come. ... er sorry ... testing the product for you, my dear readers. I enjoyed it like say in the Bible: “Search and you shall find.” A I've dropped all my guitars in front of a kiddo listening to the variety of bunch of well-known amp my PC, grabbed a guitar cable and sounds while browsing through the models are included along inserted it directly into my computer presets. In the past versions I've with some rare ones. A preamp. Till now I've recorded all my missed some of the weirdo effects bunch of Roland, Marshall, guitars through my Line6 Pod2, which along with a separate section in a I used for adding some punch to the preset groups menu dedicated just to Vox, Gullien Kruger and clean tone. I did that because all the the effects, but now you can go totally similar animals can be virtual guitar preamps of the past lack crazy playing some “out of this world” found there. My favorite addition to this version are some bottom end along with a touch effected sounds. the new stomp effects. of fullness. It was not faultiness, it was just the fact of the software The only drawback is that Amplitube 3 Wild pitch shifters, wahwah's and filters, step limitation at that time, but lately I've is pretty heavy on the processor, but noticed that some synths and effects in a month or two I would bet that we slicer, and some other more-than-welcome reached an entirely new level in will get a version 3.1 with optimized virtual analog emulations. So I CPU usage. That's how it usually goes standard and not-soeveryday effects. Now we thought – it's the year 2010 – time for with all those big companies. If they really can go totally mad direct injection. want to survive in a tough market, with all these effects they should spit a new version at a getting the sound which regular one-year interval. 20

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October 2010

can go far beyond the average guitar sound. As a bonus, stomp effects can be now dragged and dropped around the stomp board allowing us to experiment with the order of the plugins until we get the sound we are looking for. Amplitube 3 also brings a new MIDI learn compatibility, but to tell the truth, I haven't tried it much, nevertheless I'm sure that it can be pretty handy for automating some movements. Browsing through the presets is now also improved with a new preset browser which allow us to categorize presets by our needs along

with getting them all in one big window.

Happy end tube All in all, Amplitube 3 brings a bunch of a new things. Maybe they are not so visible at first sight, but you will soon hear the difference. New amp models, new stomp boxes, rewritten and redesigned cabinet room module with freely movable microphones, a new rotary speaker simulation, preset browser and new eco-, mid-, hiquality mode. Yes, you will need that, because CPU usage is the only bad news here, but regarding the achieved

October 2010

results I wouldn't bother too much about that CPU unpleasantness. A new improved engine supports all previous versions and packs, and therefore your old guitar packs will sound noticeable better now if you open them in Amplitube 3. I use the new version of Amplitube more than ever for improving my synths,just as I use it for recording all my guitars. Amplitube 3 makes all my synths and guitars happier. And that's all that counts. By A(mplitube) Arsov

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Digital Sound Factory: Big Sounds, Fair Prices, and

Small Hard Drive Footprints. by Trusty

A Big Thank You

a modern and more flexible context with Dimension Pro was not enough, Digital Sound Factory continues its Digital Sound Factory continues to add winning streak with its newer releases. newer studio sessions to our A great deal of credit is due to master Dimension Pro program folders. It is programmer Timothy Swartz, for now time to catch up on some of the keeping Dimension Pro a mainstay in latest offerings and they come out many lineups. His stellar shining, continuing to show that programming skills, mixed with his Dimension Pro is ahead of its time and experience, means Digital Sound in the hands of a skilled programmer, Factory keeps churning out new continues to be the "go to" instrument releases with big sounds and small for all the useful sounds everyone hard drive footprints. Cakewalk owes needs for every genre. this man a great deal for keeping Dimension Pro fresh and it remains a In no particular order of greatness: great workhorse in its own right -- still relevant in this overcrowded software Digital Sound Factory Studio market. It was a great pleasure to Orchestra review his work, Dimension Pro, when fully stocked with Digital Sound One of the biggest complaints when Factory's offerings in addition to the Dimension Pro was released was the stock sounds, over 11,000 program rather thin factory content when it files, an unbelievable amount of SFZ came to orchestral instruments. Given files, great sounds throughout, and the expression engine was made for still comes in under 17 gigs. This is these sorts of instruments, it was nice for a bread and butter sound rather puzzling that the lack of library that, as an added bonus, has content in this area remained unfilled, wonderful synthesis features. In a despite two free expansions. Digital market where even the full-fledged Sound Factory came through first with synthesizers like Alchemy and the E-Mu Proteus offerings, but they Omnisphere have gigs upon gigs of went back to the studio with a brilliant sample content included, it is great to idea. The result was an incredible save on space when one needs a quality orchestra set that came in trumpet or nice guitar patch. under two and a half gigs and while it offers what most other larger libraries If bringing us the great classic sound offer in terms of sounds and modules from E-Mu and Ensoniq into articulations for a wide range of 22

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October 2010

instrumentation, it also added Timothy's Swartz creativity. One of the coolest things was making full use of the synthesizer capabilities of Dimension Pro. In addition to giving us the standards when it comes to an orchestral library, it also includes incredible layering with synthesizers and manipulations in the programming to get some seriously creative movements in the stacked programming of many of the sounds in the patch list. Many of the programs have those big and moving textures either behind or along side the orchestral instruments and they add new life to this kind of content. The results are from subtle to bombastic and almost all of them are useful. If what one needs is the orchestra basics, they are here, the sound quality is fantastic as well, but when that something extra is needed, this package delivers and has been insanely useful in arrangements that would otherwise be â&#x20AC;&#x153;standardâ&#x20AC;? sounding. The programming is top notch and when unpacking some of the more textured programs, one continues to find that Dimension Pro, in the hands of a programming genius, is deadly. I have found that swapping out SFZ files while leaving the programming intact yields great results as well. This

collection is not to be missed and I would dare say that it makes Dimension Pro worth using and owning for years to come. For all the Sonar 8 users that got Dimension Pro included, don't miss out on this expansion. It alone can put Dimension Pro front and center in your instrument line-up for any genre of music. Digital Sound Factory Atmospheric Energy

sound designers will appreciate the data to use for their own creations. The programming in the sounds themselves is great as well. The range is from the thickest of mist and backdrop moods, to the tinniest of noise droplets to add that presence and texture to any musical composition. Far and away the Atmospheric and the Transition programs are the finest in the bunch. Far from standard fare, the greatness of these is in the intricacy of the sounds that separates them from other collections. The sounds in these two categories are so good that it would almost be a crime to have other instrumentation burying them. Through the shine and shimmer of these programs, you can pass hours of time by just listening to them and unpacking and analyzing their construction.

Atmospheric sounds are all the rage these days. Many of the newer sample-synthesizers that have come out lately use this range of sounds as a major selling point, so it is no mystery why Digital Sound Factory has gotten in on the action with this expansion. Three things stand out about this collection, considering that at first glimpse it looks like an add-on afterthought to an The rest of the batch, including the otherwise aging sampleleads and pads, the textures and synthesizer that initially got a the attacks, is masterfully sampled head start on these types of sounds when Dimension first came and programmed within Dimension Pro as well. They definitely round packaged with the now deceased out the collection and will find a Project5. The first thing that stands out, is that it is better than place in any musical arrangement. Some of the leads are more biting one may think. The second thing that stands out, is that it is as than one would expect, but still maintain that cool and misty feel good or better and more tightly to them given the palette of packaged than some of the more sounds that this collection seeks to bloated sample-synthesizers that fill. Many of the sounds in the target this range of sounds as Texture folder are expertly crafted their strong suit. Finally, it is as well and not to be overlooked better than it ought to be, given when one finds so much gold in that these sounds are found in those other, newer instruments the other folders. that excel in this area of sound In short, if Dimension Pro is in design. your stable already, then this is a must add expansion and may even Coming in at a lean 376 MB, this save you some money over collection of Dimension Pro programs has everything one getting one of those newer sampler-synthesizers that have a could need in a collection of similar range of sounds. sounds in this area. For starters, the raw content is excellent and October 2010

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Digital Sound Factory

Digital Sound Factory Guitars and Basses

In any case, the real kicker here in the plus column though, once again perhaps due to the pairing of genius Dimension Pro came with a good set of programming and an instrument of guitar and bass programs, though like Dimension Pro, is the there was not a lot of range. Digital combinations. Far from flat and boring Sound Factory once again fills the void in the usual sort of ways these stacks left by the factory content and has come in, the work here is very good. done an admirable job. The sound There are some really excellent range is most excellent and the programs here that make for some offering is plenty. The acoustic and useful pairings that go well beyond electric basses are better than any the normal guitar and bass stacking. other expansion I have heard for any Overall, a nice addition to the Digital instrument in this category. I really Sound Factory collection. enjoyed listening to the thickness of the sampling, the most made of the Digital Sound Factory Acoustic Dimension engine to get the clarity Kits and detailed realness out of the sounds. For good measure, a sample One may ask the question as to why of synthesizer basses are included as would there even be a dedicated well. expansion for drum kits in an instrument like Dimension Pro. After The guitars are equally good. A nice all, the instrument lacks outputs to do range offering expressions and serious drum duties and even though effected programs in this batch. There the SFZ format is a natural from is a real richness to the samples here constructing drum kits, Dimension Pro and for those looking for realism in itself is an odd choice to use for a their guitar samples, that realness drum machine. shines in these programs. Though limited in amount, the tremolo and However, if the drum sounds are wah sounds here are very good, which awesome, why not. What is great is unusual in guitar sample sets. There about this collection is not so much is a bit of bad in this set though, but the programs, but rather the excellent not much. The bad is not in terms of collection of samples. To be honest, I sound quality or programming, just only previewed the kits with that some of the guitar licks are Dimension Pro, but used both the SFZ cheesy. Another bit of bad lies in that files and the raw wave files elsewhere. there is not enough “power chord” I use them elsewhere a lot. programs, a good collection of that would set this package apart far This is a really good set of samples, ahead of the competition. the kits are put together very well and it was a pleasant surprise to find some

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October 2010

useful, but not so acoustic, samples thrown in for good measure. The great thing about the SFZ base format for Dimension Pro programs is that the SFZ format is gaining popularity and can be used elsewhere. Given the layering found in the programming here for realism, this is a good set to buy for any SFZ compatible drum sampler. Not to mention, converting the SFZ files to other formats using Extreme Sample Converter has given my other drum samplers are badly needed adjustment in the acoustic kits department. For the price, this set is most excellent. The acoustic samples are processed just right to get that big sound without the “flat sound” many acoustic sample collections are plagued with these days. Digital Sound Factory Old World Instruments While it is tempting to see that these are there for the sake of rounding out the other offerings, this set is surprisingly good, and better in a lot of ways compared to the Proteus Planet Earth set. If you have the former and like it, do not fear expanding it with this collection. Is there some overlap? Very, very little, but if you think a Kalimba is only a Kalimba, you may be in for a surprise. The thing with this set is that it includes everything the Planet Earth set left out or forgot. There are some real gems in here and the sample quality is very, very good. The usual problem of “same sounding” among

various ethic instruments in nowhere to be found here. The stringed instruments, wind instruments and the ethnic percussion instruments are differentiated in their samples. The difference between this and other ethnic collections is all the difference in the world...pardon the pun. Seriously though, Ed Mann, percussionist for Frank Zappa, is to be commended for not delivering a boring collection.

mine is that it can keep the kids entertained while taking a break from making music, that keeps momma happy when I am in the studio working. Give the kids their fill of noise and make the unusual musical number with sound effects being the main thing, can keep the kids engaged and can be lots of fun as well. Just a thought. All Told...

Digital Sound Factory is doing all of us Dimension Pro owners a huge favor. Their expertise in programming, good ear and studio mechanics will keep alive a badly in need of update instrument; and offer incredible sounds for more than a fair price. For those of us happy Dimension Pro users, Digital Sound Factory has delivered the goods in making this instrument useful for years to come and their sound design keeps it fresh and competitive despite newer offerings by other companies. Not only does Digital Sound Factory continue to fill the Digital Sound Factory gaps left by the factory content, it Hollywood SFX does so by delivering sounds that sound incredible, especially given Sound effects are always lots of the small footprints of the fun. This collection covers all the usual suspects and throws in some collections. effects one may have never even By the way, most of the content considered. Favorites in the for Dimension Pro can be used in collection are the sci-fi and any SFZ compatible instrument ambient samples which are all and most of these collections excellently recorded. The animal come in other formats for Kontakt, sounds are great too. Sound Reason, Digidesign's Structure, effects may not be for everyone, Soundfont and other instruments but this collection is great and it as well. Check out the website at really compliments the sound www.digitalsoundfactory.com for effects found in the E-Mu and more information. especially in the Ensoniq sound collections offered by Digital Be sure to check out previous Sound Factory. Possessing this issues of the magazine for reviews covers any and all needs in the of other Digital Sound Factory area should they ever arise. products. One of the things that made this collection a personal favorite of

The standouts are in the Ireland and the Around the Globe folders. There is some really great stuff in there and it would not be surprising in the least to find some of these instruments used in prominent places in any genre of pop music as well as music more suited to this collection. If Planet Earth left some gaps, this fills them completely and gives Dimension Pro a complete arsenal of ethnic instruments useful for any number of musical endeavors.

October 2010

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Granite Intelligent Grains galore by Robert Halvarsson

Granular synthesis has been getting a whole lot of buzz lately. So much buzz that it has found its way to being bundled into the hearts of popular audio platforms such as FL Studio, Propellerhead’s Reason and geek-wizard pick Audiomulch. A couple of standalone offerings have surfaced, too. For this review we chose the new product Granite, which was developed by the freshly sprungout company New Sonic Arts.

then replayed according to the user's wish. These small pieces are called grains; hence Granite is what one may call a Granular synthesiser.

There is much to like about this little synthesizer. It’s intelligent in many aspects, and by just taking a quick peek around the presets, I was amazed at what it is capable of achieving with practically any sampled material. What first struck me, though, was the clean Granite is available as a Windows and straightforward graphical user VST plugin and also in stand-alone interface, which practically irons format. The developer has said out the complexity of the engine that a Mac version is in the works, underneath. Something that also but as I am writing this article: it’s came forward as a really smart all Microsoft. It’s not free, but 60 feature --- at least when ease of Euros for an innovative quality use is concerned --- was the small instrument is not expensive, info icon which enables or disables either. an information bubble. This seriously helped me getting to What is it that Granite does then? know my way around this little Basically it takes any sampled beast. material, and allows the user to manipulate the material by The smarts go deeper then just influencing subtle changes to it, or clever looks, however. Marketing by completely transforming it. and user-manual talk aside, the This is accomplished by setting up word “organic” certainly fits the different variables by which the bill when it comes to describe material is split into shorter pieces, what Granite is possible of 26

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October 2010

generating. I imagine that the ability to create immense atmospheric sounds will be useful to both sound designers and electronic artists alike. The sound can be rich or subtle and either intense or as gentle as a small, audible stream of water down a canal. Just pop in a sound, adjust the right parameters, and you might find yourself like me: listening to the sound for an extended period of time without tiring, that is a rare feature indeed. The sounds are alive and unpredictable at many settings. Most times though, they sound absolutely lovely. There is of course a master envelope, a grain column and two FX columns. Among the things you can modulate are - Space (which sets the frequency of the trigger events), Speed (which sets the traversal speed, moving backward or forward through the sample), Density (the length of the grains themselves). Then there's pitch, pan and attack which probably don't need further explanation.

And that is not all. Each parameter of the grain, including most FX, can be modulated. Furthermore you can change each setting's amount and speed of modulation. The icing on the cake, and one of the best things about Granite, is that you can record your own modulation of either knob by simply clicking and dragging of the cursor. This results in a kind of self-contained automation which does not rely on external DAW input. I've not seen this behaviour anywhere else and it really contributes to the production value. In other words - this baby goes deep.

Another less apparent function of Granite is that it taps into the computer's graphical processor (GPU) power, no doubt unloading the precious power of the central processor (CPU) and also lending to its sleek look. Hopefully this innovative idea will find its way into the mainstream of audio programs in the not-so-far future. But that remains to be seen.

before giving the demo a go. If you happen to by any chance be remotely interested in granular synthesis, make sure to try this out.

All in all Granite is an exiting addition to my software library, one of which I suspect I will make great use. I also feel more then a bit expectant of what path New Sonic Arts will take in the future, Reading Internet forums, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve because with the excellent Granite seen users who experience trouble under their belt: who knows what accessing this GPU feature though, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll come up with? which appears to be related to drivers not being up to date. So http://www.newsonicarts.com/ make sure to check your drivers

October 2010

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Synthesizer stabs extraordinaire by Robert Halvarsson

Deep house, atmospheric electronic music and dub techno. The advent and evolution of these genres are examples of the surge of interest in the deeper aspects of electronic music as of late. Artists and producers have dedicated considerable amounts of time to perfect their skill at chosen synthesizers to create sounds that speak both to the headnodding parts of the mind as well as the body. Given the considerable amount of sample-packs for sale these days and the willingness by companies to provide affordable solutions, it comes as no surprise to find libraries such as Sounds To Sample's Deep House Synths & Stabs selling for a measly â&#x201A;Ź14.95. But I wonder: can it actually be any good, taken into consideration that it goes for such a low price? The audio-demo I listened to on Soundcloud raised my hopes considerably. In fact, if it were to be anything close to the quality of the demo I was going to be blown away. But it couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be that good, right? Having listened through and through to this offering I am slightly at a loss. The bad apples I was expecting were nowhere to be found. Instead Deep House Synths & Stabs quite clearly appears to be everything one would look for when searching for a well rounded collection of samples of the deeper kind. Here we find one-shots with chords and stabs heavily reliant on the Juno 106 synthesizer and some FM-synthesis. The sounds are well crafted, lush and otherworldly. The deepness is bountiful, further emphasized by the fact that the Dual Shaman production team has processed the samples with carefully chosen effects.

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October 2010

The stabs range from very short to those which come with longtailed decayed samples. They also go from the relatively unprocessed dry sounds to those with massive effects and reverb, thus providing a rich palette for a lively sound. To my joy, I can also state that this title is not mainly oriented towards simply supplying readily made loops, even though that part is well covered too. Here we find 128 melodic progressions that might serve as inspiration or a starting point to build a track around. Load them into your sampler of choice and you will be grooving within seconds.

choosing the widely used and accepted MIDI format over any other proprietary format Sound on Sound does not lock the user into closed systems either, which is a bonus. Nearing the end of this vehemently positive review: are there any weak points at all to this sample-pack? To be honest, I wouldn’t mind more one-shots at the expense of the loops. The chords mainly follow a distinction of sharp and minor and it would have been nice to see a couple of odd variations thrown in for good measure. But these are just a couple of minor remarks and do not take away the high which I’ve found for Deep House Synths & Stabs at all.

What is more interesting than the loops themselves is the good taste of the developer to supply a number of highly valuable MIDI files which lay out the “source-code” to the melodic loops found in the sample pack. This is highly valuable as the purchaser now can know and learn techniques for creating their own melodic progressions. Precisely for this reason I find the loops on Deep House Synths & Stabs interesting on a whole different For as much as you’d roughly level than if it was just the loops pay for a regular pop-album themselves. you get something which is much more valuable. So while I really appreciate the open you are fingering the latest philosophy of Dual Shaman here. Britney Spears album in your I can only hope that others are favourite record boutique, you'd inspired by this and start be wise to consider this instead. providing MIDI files too! By October 2010

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Open Your Eyes To by Trusty I must admit, I was completely heart broken when Project5 was discontinued. The Project5/Sonar PE combination moved me completely away from the hardware world and into the cool world of software sequencers, recording, instruments and effects. By buying some really cool midi controllers, I had the setup and interaction with music I could have only dreamt about years ago. Instead of dragging all my hardware gear to a studio, I became the studio with Sonar. And, with all the money I got from unloading my hardware gear, I could buy my own mics and interfaces and have a powerful computer to do all I wanted to do at home. Sonar was the first and only full-featured program for recording, mixing and mastering that I had ever used consistently, but sequencing in it seemed counter-intuitive for the music I did. Project5 on the other hand, was a wonderful sequencing program and a great companion to Sonar. I had used my MV-8000 for quite a while to sequence virtual instruments inside of Sonar PE, but once I discovered Project5, the last holdout for hardware was gone. My wife certainly enjoyed having more floor space and nicer furniture around the house with all the money gained when the modules, samplers, and keyboards left the building. Later, when I had heard that Project5 was gone forever - at least development for it - my heart sank. Now what? Well, I figured Sonar 8 PE and Project5 was my set-up forever, so what point would there be in upgrading Sonar if I would never compose in it anyway? Should I look to other packages? Should I complain endlessly on the Cakewalk forums and threaten them with my â&#x20AC;&#x153;I'll never use Cakewalk again!â&#x20AC;? rhetoric? Well...something close to that may have slipped out on the forums, but I can't remember... 30

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October 2010

Sonar 8.5 Producers Edition

October 2010

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Sonar 8.5

Anyway, Sonar 8.5, not Sonar 9 came out. Limbo was gone. The upgrade from 8 to 8.5 was cheaper than a full update and it has even been admitted by the Cakewalk folks themselves that the step from 8 to 8.5 was much bigger than from 7 to 8. This is quite right. What also is quite right is that after using Sonar 8.5 for about a week, I don't miss Project5 much. I just looked at Sonar 8.5's sequencing mechanics and realized that it is just more nuanced and featured. Also, what felt like incomplete sequencer enhancements in version 8 - at least from the Project5 fanboy perspective are now robust, insanely creative and fleshed out. It is certainly not cumbersome or slower than Project5 anymore, and some of the stuff in the sequencer/piano roll Project5 never had, and that is quite handy. Project5 users...take heart...I am one of you, and Sonar 8.5 makes Project5 almost irrelevant...but not quite. If the piano roll was a bit more like Project5's, with its easy access to everything like automation and swing and such, I think even the Sonar crowd that never bothered with Project5 would be happier (as would all the new users flooding into Sonar now with 8.5 PE...hint to Cakewalk, TAKE NOTES...at least add a “Project5-like view" for the piano roll). Nonetheless, Cakewalk really made the most of their ideas from Project5; rebuilt those ideas and expanded them from the ground up and they have put together a product in Sonar 8.5 Producer that is the most complete, most fully-featured, and most intuitive software platform on the PC 32

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ever. It fits everyone's needs, and it fits them together in such a fluid way that it actually is a jack-of-all-trades and master of all at the same time, without ever getting in its own way. This is no easy accomplishment. I salute Cakewalk for the effort, for a break in the numbering tradition with the .5, and the yearly development cycle is a nice touch as well. This really gives the impression of Calkwalk's sincere belief in the direction they are taking their flagship...and I am gonna sail with them.

experienced nothing but smooth sailing, and I am running quite a bit on my somewhat underwhelming laptop consisting of Vista Home 64bit, dual core 2.1 Intel processors and 4 gigs of RAM.

One of the things that I rarely cared about before was AudioSnap. It looked useful, but it was kind of convoluted and intricate to use. Well, apparently Cakewalk agreed, and cleaned this up quite a bit, making working with it super easy. The new toolbar is clear and clean - as well as simplified - and makes getting the The first, most obvious improvements easy things done quickly. The are the GUI tweaks. I like it. It looks, transient tool, for working within a uh...nice and sleek. Of course, Sonar single transient, is great, also. This boots up super quick as well, and one way, the clumsy folks like me can do is ready to go in no time. I must also the necessary tweaking of a part point out that the new “Hotswapping” without messing up the whole - end is really a very classy addition for up cursing - and clicking undo. Finally, many of us that use lots of different it is gentle and subtle, and makes the interfaces, controllers and the like. I mess-ups and tweaks sound as if used to loathe the issue of rebooting, they were done properly the first as well as any “Changes will take time, rather than robotically lumping effect...” pop-ups, which were a all the timing of multiple tracks into a death knell to creativity before. The tight “up and down” manner. Overall, Media Browser, which makes me feel I think these improvements will make quite at home in Sonar, with the AudioSnap a common tool for us improved REX support, can do things regular folks as well as for the power I wasn't able to do before. Also, the users. addition of Freeze buttons on each track leave the right-click/scroll Okay, the real meat to this update is gymnastics of the past in the dust. all the new additions like the Matrix Finally, of note is that the unsung View and arpeggiator, as well as the optimizations really make a huge new effects, instruments and such. difference in the engine performance. This, of course, is what is on main That they go unnoticed means that display and gets the most attention, one should have less problems, and and rightly so. Cakewalk, for the the occasional program hangs occur strangest reasons, sometimes has more rarely than ever. I have critics moan that they over-stuff their October 2010

releases with too many goodies like this regarding surprisingly uncluttered given all the options content, though I never understood the critics. I available to it. This is great development. am sure most users agree. Many of us are thankful for all these extra goodies. Not only are The Arpeggiator is a great addition as well. This they always top notch quality, but they save one does seem like a port from Project5, as it is money on having to buy the necessary tools almost identical. However, that being the case, elsewhere. And so far, every release of Sonar the arpeggiator is (and has been) the best in its Producer Edition has made it - at the time of its class for DAWs for sometime now and users will release - the most exhaustive and comprehensive absolutely love what it brings to the Sonar toolkit. packaged collection of production tools of any software DAW package. This still holds true with 8.5 to be sure. The Matrix View is simply amazing. Not only that, it is very much improved from Project5 (which itself was NEVER an idea borrowed from some other software program, despite what many think). As Project5 was its own thing, the Matrix View here for Sonar is its own thing, and similarities to other programs is purely peripheral; not unlike the piano roll, waveform display in audio lanes, etc.. One can say whatever they like regarding this, but it is nonetheless true. In any case, the Matrix View offers a new way to compose and arrange in Sonar. Setting up the clips as one likes; with triggering options at the micro and macro level; one can â&#x20AC;&#x153;jamâ&#x20AC;? their work in Sonar either live or in the studio, and the easy control and drag and drop from the browser or other views, as well as easy midi mapping, makes set-up a breeze and in no time, one will be triggering their own works, loops, etc., while bobbing their head to their own music. The creative potential is endless, and now that it is here in Sonar, it will only get better. The arrangements can be recorded easily into the track panes (or not...as one may just want to jam for jamming's sake) and further editing can be done to the resulting arrangement from other views. As insisted upon by Cakewalk, this is no port from Project5, but rather a ground up construction that is sure to be further developed as time goes on. The Matrix View grid is October 2010

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Sonar 8.5

It has so many awesome patterns and manipulation possibilities that it is far beyond the basics and many different instrument styles are covered here for acoustic presets as well as synthesizer sounds. The Step Sequencer 2.0 is a vast improvement over the first one. While the step sequencer was a nice addition to version 8, it was not all that exciting to use. It was, well, a step sequencer and it was something Sonar needed but did not have. The update, though, is exciting. The new parameter functions beneath each row make tweaking each lane very easy. The auto-fill-in function and the step probability features add some randomness to break up the monotony of mechanical drum beats.

Project5 for many things and I never bothered with Session Drummer 2, but I expect this version to get lots of use.

With all this new stuff, it is easy to overlook what else Sonar Producer Edition has included. For starters, some may think that with the new REX compatibility directly in the track The VX-64 Vocal Strip is probably the view and Matrix View, it would be best addition so far. While many easy to think that Beatscape would users were content with the VC-64 be regulated to the dustbin...hardly! from previous versions (still Beatscape is a powerful groove tool included...so no worries) for vocals, in its own right. It has the 16 pad this plug-in offers a dedicated, more slots for Wave or REX files, killer complete feature set for the task it is effects and step generators lifted designed for. Packed with great from Rapture, and individual outputs presents, it is ready to go right away, for each slot. It is also the de facto but the features are definitely there slicing tool for samples, and has for one to shape the sound as desired. excellent REX content: 4 gigs of REX On input, it has the warmth of tube content. Also, remember that it preamps. It has a great De-esser for comes with Dimension Pro, an eliminating that annoying â&#x20AC;&#x153;essâ&#x20AC;? sound excellent sampling synthesizer and out of vocal captures. It is very sound module, and there are tons of smooth in operation. It has a great expansions for it for sale by Session Drummer 3 is way ahead of compressor/expander to shape the Digital Sound Factory. The its predecessor. The Cakewalk claim performance and clean out the trash TruePianos Amber module is a is that there is a road map for this at the same time. The EQ section is fantastic piano instrument that, for all instrument, and version 3 is just one also tube emulation, which is an area its excellent sound quality, has a stop on that road. This is rather Cakewalk is getting really, really small footprint. Now that modern exciting, because it is shaping up to good at and not applauded enough computers have caught up to its be a great addition. The sample and for. It has a doubler (great for rap power, z3ta+ is a fantastic midi file content alone are great, the vocalists) which works surprisingly instrument that is part of the package, extra outs and the mixer is more well. It also has a delay on it for lots and its full weight and effect can be useful than ever. It still lacks some of fun. The chain can be re-ordered applied to any track. Rapture LE is features for this sort of drum to suit the different audio as needed. also included and while it is a small instrument: like overhead mic mixing The PX-64 features similar workflow, but powerful synthesizer in its own and mic placement; as well as some except geared to transient shaping right, it just causes you to want to of those great Cakewalk effects and for maximum use with drums and upgrade to the full version. The filters found in their other percussion. Included also in the strip Roland TTS-1 is a good GM sound instruments, but nonetheless Session is the tube preamp, compressor and module and includes select Roland Drummer 3 is well on its way. The expander, 4 band contour EQ, and sounds as well. I like it anyway. "stop" here is more than enough to delay. Once again, Cakewalk has not Dropzone is a nice, quick and easy get the job done; especially since it is only given fine new tools here, but sampler and REX player, and has an included instrument that does not they give it a class and quality that is some decent sounds included. It is have to be there in the first place. I beyond what is expected for an also a nice lightweight SFZ player as still like, and use, VELOCITY from included unit. well. Like z3ta+, Pentagon I is still a 34

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October 2010

beast of an instrument, as well as a great bread and butter virtual analog synthesizer. RXP is still one of my favorites for easy REX manipulation without loading down the CPU. To be completely honest, I do like the often overlooked PSYN II and though the rest of the instruments are pretty inconsequential, they are nice to have nonetheless. In a custom install, one can pick and choose which instruments to install and which ones to skip. Cakewalk also have some good freebies like SFZ+, Triangle, and Square on their website.

64-bit DAW without all the issues of other bug riddled DAWs on 64-bit platforms. It is surprising that a .5 version would not only be a benchmark version in the Cakewalk flagship, but it is also the turning point for Sonar becoming a truly powerful workstation suitable for any style of production, and the possibilities can take people into new directions within their preferred style of music.

On the effects side of things, Project5 effects, including the Modfilter and lo-fi Alias Factor come along side standards like the Sonitus effects, the VC-64 Channel Strip, the LP-64 EQ and Multiband Compressor, the LE version of Guitar Rig, and the Roland V-Vocal for pitch correction. The TL-64 Tube Leveler and TS-64 Transient Shapers are excellent as well. Perfect Space is a Voxengo powered Convolution Reverb unit that sounds great. Boast 11 is a hard limiter to use in conjunction with other plugs so that a nice mastering chain is easy to set-up. There are tons more, and checking it all out at www.cakewalk.com is highly recommended. Overall, the total package is jaw-dropping, and it more than enough to get a project from creation to completion. This upgrade is worth the asking price for users of previous Sonar versions. More importantly, Sonar 8 Producers Edition is worth a look from users of other DAWs on the PC. This is especially true for people just getting into music production. $499 is the cost for the whole package, and it is well worth it. To try to piece together this much power individually would cost ten times more, and may not even be as good as the goods here. The price goes down from there given the various upgrade options. Once more, Cakewalk's Sonar is ready to go for Windows 7, as well as it being the leading October 2010

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X-Poly by Robert Halvarsson Synapse Audio is a German software publisher known for publishing a couple of well-thought-out software synths in VST and AU format, and perhaps more notably for the digital audio workstation Orion, which is dark horse in the saturated pool of competing software solutions targeted at producers.

X-Poly is the reinvention of what used to be called Poly 850. Rather then aiming to be a do-it-all synthesizer like so many others, it takes the novel approach of focusing on generating a certain type of sound which falls outside of the norm. One user noted in a several-year-old review on KVR Audio that Poly 850 was excellent for creating 80’s ambient bell-tones; another called it a two- or three-trick pony. Both agreed that is was of great value, and enjoyed its analogue and distinct feel. While testing out the demo a year back or so, I found myself in agreement with them.

listening to the gorgeous presets found on the X-Poly. There is still an 80’s aura surrounding the X-Poly. Aside from bell-tones it is excellent in creating organ , brass and charming leads. Although it is still quite like the original deal in great parts, the earlier thin sound can easily be exchanged with a richer tone. It is as easy as flipping on or off a dualvoice switch. The switch is itself one of the great new features of X-Poly and does a lot in terms of sounds: I kid you not.

Also featured here is deeper control over the built-in chorus FX, which now features feedback and modulation parts. These together with other nifty Some might note that the Poly 850 functions give you plenty control over comes across as sounding quite thin. how you want to shape your own It has lots of character but lacks a presets, including a nice noise certain amount of thickness. This generator which I really enjoyed using. should probably not be considered a design flaw, as the initial version paid The graphics are simple yet effective. One might say conservatively pretty. homage to the hardware synthesizer It does the job and lacks the Korg 800. And likewise: The name nauseating factor of the spacey and change implies a leap forward into unknown territory, easily confirmed by crazy design choices, such as are popular with the creative geniuses

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October 2010

over at Ohm Force. I imagine it would be as appreciated by the fellows over at Korg as it is by me. Overall X Poly synthesizer still holds on to its predecessor’s difference. Something which in the Poly’s case only lets me describe it in vague terms such as “different”, “analogue”, and “rich.” As gigabyte instrumental libraries grow more and more popular, I really appreciate that Synapse goes in the opposite direction delivering this in a measly 1.5 megabyte install. In terms of compatibility it is available for both PC and Mac, in both VST and AU formats. It is yours for $49 and you would do well to consider it no matter if you style yourself a veteran or newbie. A comparatively speaking unrestricted demo is out. Do yourself a favor and try it out: http://www.synapseaudio.com/xpoly.php Related links: http://www.synapse-audio.com

Small synth,

big possibilities

October 2010

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HI-FI 909 A Definite Keeper by Robert Halvarsson

A definite keeper

have most likely been blown away. I would have understood exactly why the original machine continues to be revered as essential to electronic music to this day. The sound is found on countless early and modern techno and house records, and the original machine goes for huge amounts of money on Ebay.

organizational skills of Shreeve. Everything is perfectly ordered with Going back to when I first began clear and easily understandable labels. writing music on my PC, I downloaded I cannot overstate the importance of a couple of samplepacks off the net this, as cluttered labels stifle the using my lo-fi modem. One of the creative workflow every producer packs was the legendary TR 909, and should aim for, whether hobbyist or each type of sound it could generate professional. Otherwise questions was represented with one sample might arise about which samples each. In other words: there was one actually are worth saving when push kick, one clap, one closed and one This sample library, on the other hand, comes to shove. HI-FI 909 probably open hihat etcetera. I could not for costs a measly $24 USD. Practically won't go down as one of â&#x20AC;?thoseâ&#x20AC;? the world understand what all the fuss nothing compared to what you would libraries due to a couple of very was about, since they all sounded have to shell out for the real deal. Of simple reasons. quite lame. Only later did I realise course there are virtual instruments that the original TR 909 was quite a now promising to emulate the original First off, there is a sense of quality different story altogether. machine too, but for some people, that we've come to expect from samples --- through their ease of use ToneBuilder. This offering does not fall If someone could have, by breaking --- are the weapon of choice. behind that of the Driven machine the space-time continuum, jumped drums. The samples are smoothly back in time in order to play me the What first caught my attention, after I overdriven with the warmth HI-FI 909 by ToneBuilder, I would extracted the library, are the associated with analogue gear. The

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October 2010

gear consists of an esoteric list of which is usually only associated with special EQ's, compressors and tubes the instrument. that Nathaniel Shreeve has at his disposal. Also worthy to note is that And last, but certainly not least, there all of the 819 samples are available in are no filler samples. No crap to make pristine 24-bit, 96 kHz resolution, with the numbers look impressive. Who'd optional 16-bit variations. The like navigating through 800 samples if samples are available in Kontakt, one-third sounded like it belongs to Guru and EXS-format as well as one of the worst freeware standard AIFF and WAV. alternatives? Certainly not me. Secondly, it comes forward as very balanced and complete. Most aspects of the original machine are covered with more variations of decay, tone and EQ. The importance of this cannot be overstated, as it gives the user freedom to build more lively sounding patches in their favourite sampler environment, where subtle differences in the kick or clap department will give the rhythm a more lively feel,

In the end it comes down to this: For 24 dollars you end up with a swarm of kicks, hats, rimshots, claps, and toms, all of different character. They will fit into any modern production, but still remain faithful to the original spirit of the TR 909. And what is probably also unique, the set contains specially processed djembes, congos, and bongos. The price is cheap but the product certainly is not.

October 2010

If you for some reason feel disappointed in the product, you can always get a refund for 30 days. And to get a feeling of the product, Nathaniel Shreeve also offers a demokit which isn't broken and quite useful in its own right. A kind gesture repeated from the Driven machine drums offering. In the end I would be very surprised if anyone actually asked for a refund. Simply put: this one's a keeper.

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Twisted Lemon's

Sidekick 4 by A. Arsov

Most modern sequencers have some sort of side-chain compressor in their arsenal. This is not so unusual, because if you are doing dance, techno, or even electro production, you simply can't live without one of these. So far, so good. But perhaps not. Most of the host implemented side-chain compressors are buffed with some sort of imperfections, nearly every one of them have some special routing system that you need a PhD to set it right --- and if you set it for more than a few channels, your arrangement will start to looks like a freak's candy box. Side-chain groups and subgroups routed to the carrier etc., etc. I did that once or twice in Cubase (with all due respect) but got a headache after that.

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Aspirin No, you don't need one of those pills. For the same price you instead get yourself a copy of Sidekick 4. It will cost you 14,99 Eur or 20,99 USD, and it will cure your headache much, much better than the legendary C9H8O4. Instead of melting it in a glass of water, insert it in one of your channels as an insert effect. If you want your kick drum to push down all other instruments, getting that well-known pumping effect, you just need to insert one instance in your kick drum track. All you need to do is to turn off the compressor on that channel, loading separate instances on other channels you want to effect. Adjusting the

October 2010

threshold level and sometimes adding a touch of implemented drive is all that you should do. No more science. Twisted details Sidekick 4 can work as a normal compressor or as a side-chain compressor. With one instance you can control up to 32 busses or channels, and every new instance will automatically get its own unique, unused buss number. When setting it for ducking mode, you'll get the classical pumping effect; switching to keying the compressor will act as an expander letting the signal go through only when the carrier (kick in our case) sends a signal to receiver. There are also knobs for setting the gain, threshold, ratio, attack, release and drive, but in

most cases it will work well on the default settings. For further fine-tuning, you also get two small knobs for setting the low and high cut along with filter input and output buttons which tell the compressor on which frequency range it should act. Nice and useful additions if you want to set just a kick drum as a carrier but you don't have separate drums, using a whole loop instead. Twisted ends

As a bonus, on the Twisted Lemon site has a handy getting starting video clip for making your life even easier. In my honest opinion â&#x20AC;&#x201C; one of the most useful effects I have come across lately. If you are a dance, trance, or techno producer, then this one is definitely a must have. More info on a Twisted lemon site http://www.twistedlemon.nl/sit e/index.php

The graphical interface is simple and clean, setting the plug-in is as easy as can be, the price is right, and it works like a charm.

October 2010

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Celemony

Melodyne Editor DNA by Trusty

You Know the “What”, Here Are the Why(s) Worth the Hype and then Some... When Melodyne DNA was first revealed at Messe 2008, it created a buzz in the music industry that was unprecedented. It literally blew everyone's mind that such a product with the direct note capabilities of Melodyne was even possible. Not only was it possible, but the resulting product exceeded expectations and with the most recent update, the greatest becomes even greater. Far and away, Melodyne DNA is the greatest software for music ever. It is pure magic. One would think that “greatest software ever” would go to some fully featured, do everything but write the music DAW, or some uber do-it-all synthesizer sampler extravaganza. However, this is not the case. Melodyne changes the music creation process in every area. For those living in a sewer and still are not familiar with Melodyne DNA, it is a software tool that takes polyphonic files and splits up the content into individual notes for editing. Yeah, you remember now, the news even reached the sewer didn't it...

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October 2010

However, the: "What does Melodyne DNA do?" question has been covered plenty elsewhere, but the "Why?" has up until now not been sufficiently addressed. Presented here is the editor version, but that alone may be all one would ever need...maybe not? Nonetheless, it is a vital addition to almost every aspect of music creation for the far reaching future. It is the missing piece for the musician and engineer at any level of expertise. It may be that last missing link in one's personal arsenal of musical tools. It replaces the search for new instruments for creating music and replaces the need for any correction tools offered by competitors. It really has so many uses, that what is presented here will barely scratch the surface of what many creative minds, musicians and singers with much or little talent, as well as engineers of every facet, will be able to think of and put to good use.

For Engineers

parts as a midi file, either as is or altered with regards to the pitch and By now, everyone knows of the studio key and other note rearrangement engineering uses of the program. changes made, in order to change the From timing correction and pitch instrumentation all together for the correction, to changing the timing and remix, while keeping the key original pitch without loss in quality, Melodyne melodies and themes intact. Simply has already made quite a name for import the midi files into your host of itself. However, with the addition of choice, line up your favorite DNA, the once-thought impossible is instrument with the perfect patch and now possible. Detailed correction much of the work is already done and within polyphonic audio, such as one can focus more on the remix correction within chords is easily done, arrangement rather than having to as is continuing to manipulating key rebuild the whole thing from the and timing and all this at the ground up while fighting traditional individual note level. This is the new samplers along the way. Now, the standard for these sorts of tasks and samplers can be used for what they probably the main marketing feature are best at doing while not having to of Melodyne DNA in its various do certain remixing tasks the hard product levels. However, these sorts way; which takes time and energy of, albeit advanced, usual studio uses away from the end result. come nowhere close to being the only uses for a program such as this. No stems? No problem. Melodyne DNA is surprisingly agile. While getting For Remixers individual instrumentation is still a long, long way off, the program will In short, this is the one product that Remix artists now have a powerful still quickly give the vital song has achieved that next level greatness tool at their disposal with Melodyne information needed for a good remix. that is so illusive in the software DNA. If one has access to the Even better, is that when activating market. It is not a mere correction individual stems of an original piece polyphonic mode to give direct note and editing tool, it is a tool for the on the chopping block, Melodyne is access, some of the bits that result whole spectrum of the music creation very helpful in picking out the pitch can be manipulated into interesting process. No doubt that since the and key signatures and key changes results to load up the samplers with people that have this program in their in the song. Altering them without the and tweak into new instruments to be toolbox first used it, every audio file introduction of nasty artifacts is made recycled in the project. The they can think of to present a super easy as well. This feature alone possibilities are almost endless and challenge has been thrown at it. is a time saver. Furthermore, being the program itself is easy to use and Melodyne DNA delivers incredibly in able to do a quick analysis on each very intuitive as well as useful in the areas it is supposed to and gives track, rearranging the notes as given getting menial preparation tasks done shockingly usable results when tested makes it super easy to rework the quickly. to its limits. Oh yeah, the best part main melodies or other about Melodyne DNA editor is that it is instrumentation in the music. Even super easy to use as well. better though, is the ability to export bits or the whole track of individual October 2010

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Melodyne Editor DNA

For Producers

to isolate the vocals or lead instruments; especially if the Regardless of genre, and regardless of quality of the record is style, Melodyne has some incredibly questionable. The loudest useful options for the typical producer. component usually gets the Especially these days, when there are best treatment by DNA and so many people with little musical deleting the rest turns up instrument skill getting into the some outstanding “solo” bits production act, this program will come to use in compositions. Using in very handy. The potential for this the pitch analysis information, program in regards to production and composing a song around composition is wide ranging. some of the recording's original material is super easy. If one is a Hip-Hop producer that As always, getting permission loves to dig in the crates, Melodyne for usage of such samples is yields some great results when trying always recommended. Other producers may wish to include variations of favorite melodies in other tracks and using the program to isolate the parts for rearrangement to make something fresh and “original” from the source of inspiration is super easy. Being able to spit out a midi file of the data to use with one's own sound palette is super handy in this regard and it makes composing tracks, especially when inspiration lacks, a refreshing change of pace to call on. Imitation and similarity is not only flattery, but it is also a good way to learn what works and what does not work when analyzing a producer's work you may admire. Furthermore, when it comes to manipulating one's own material, especially since access to all the individual tracks is at one's fingertips, taking old stale songs that were once considered of little worth, when run through the www.WusikSoundMagazine.com

46October 2010

various duties that Melodyne can perform can give them a new lease on life. The results can be edited, rearranged, manipulated in all sorts of ways to knock the rust off an old track and make it something new and unique. For DJs With the recent slew of DJ programs that interface with coded vinyl, now more than ever the turntable is coming into its own as a musical instrument. Whether it is maintaining the vinyl feel while spinning one's own .mp3 collection of favorite songs by both national or local acts, to scratching custom made samples during a live set, the once scoffed at digital DJ has become the mainstream and the level of creativity during sets has soared to new and exciting levels.

Melodyne DNA has some great features that the DJ can put to creative use.

and computer requirements. To be sure, the website is very useful and has a wealth of videos and articles This only scratches the surface of that offer a wide range of information possibilities that can be had with Many DJs, especially the ones Melodyne DNA. These days, artists are on putting this product to good use. performing solo, always wish for extra wearing all the hats listed above and Quite simply, this program is genius pairs of hands and ears. Allowing and will for many, many years be part certainly, the potential use of this Melodyne DNA to do some prep work of the centerpiece to the production program is becoming clear. Ideas not will give the DJ more time to ride the and engineering process. Stop even presented here are already mixer, effects, add live sampling and spending money chasing hosts and forming in the minds of those that overall engage with the crowd. Rather have yet to explore all that Melodyne instruments when the collection you than spending the bulk of the set already have is probably more than DNA has to offer for every aspect of matching the pitch and tempo of the sufficient. The real power and musical creativity. songs, allowing Melodyne DNA to do potential to take ideas and even some or all of that work in advance learning one's craft from others lies in Would You Like to Know More? saves time and body resources that Melodyne DNA. Finally, if you have a can be dedicated to other tasks. terrible singing voice in regards to key Be sure to check out Melodyne is second to none when it and pitch, this program will help you http://www.celemony.com for more information concerning specs, pricing, too. comes to altering pitch and timing without degradation, and Direct Note Access may even allow for some serious song manipulation to surprise an audience that may be all too familiar with the set list. For All of the Above

October 2010

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Voxengo From Russia with love. by A. Arsov

Voxengo â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a company lead by plugin developer Aleksey Veneev. In the last few years, Voxengo has found its place in a crowded plugin market, offering high-quality, user-friendly and reasonably priced virtual effects along with a good number of useful freeware effects. VST and AU for both Mac and PC platforms. Let's start at the beginning. Last year I've recorded one well-known Slovenian rap singer. After we had finished our recording session, I opened Voxengo Voxformer and

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browsed through the presets. I haven't recorded rap singers before, so I was not sure how to EQ or compress him, and therefore I decided to play it safe. So here I am, browsing through the Voxformer presets. I soon found four presets named Rap 1, Rap 2 , Rap 3 and Rap 4. I tried them all, and Rap 3 proved to be just the right one. A bit of additional low filtering along with a touch of reverb and that song with a Voxformer preset ended up on my last CD. Five months later, I sat down with his manager at a bar talking about

October 2010

this and that when he suddenly asked me how the hell I had succeeded in mixing the rapper properly. All his previous producers had, it seems, big problems because he used to have strong breathing along with a bad habit of mumbling here and there. I just modestly smiled, shrugging my shoulders. I presume you are not expecting me to tell him: "Oh, it wasn't me. It was Alexey Veneev." You get the point. All Voxengo plugins have a good sound combined with a bunch of ready-to-go presets and

plenty of controllers for further finetuning and adjusting all the parameters. We can't present you with a full arsenal of Voxengo goodies, as there are way too many effects and tools offered by them, so for this reason I would rather give you a quick overview of a few of the Voxengo effects I really like and that I use on most of my productions.

Voxengo GlissEQ A professional, clean-sounding dynamic equalizer with a few special additions that make it extra user friendly. It has up to 32 filter bands that can respond dynamically, preventing highs that are overloaded or lows that are blurred while performing an extreme boost. GlissEQ

comes with a multi-channel, real-time spectrum analyzer that can be exported and then imported to other instances of GlissEQ. It's ideal for finding clashing frequencies between tracks, allowing you to separate one instrument from the other. Proverbs say that old professionals do such things just by using one's ear, but thankfully we are neither professionals

Personal choice by Mr. Me. Voxengo Voxformer. This is a vocal channel strip, a magical vocal tool containing two compressors which can be used either in parallel or serial mode, a five-band equalizer, multi-band noise gate, saturation, de-esser with selectable center frequency and threshold, along with a frequency-spectrum analyzer. I've tried almost all the vocal tools on the market and ended up using this one. Even in cases where I don't use Voxformer for managing the whole vocal track, I still use its de-esser. Just browsing through the presets, you will became a high-tech producer, and usually all that you should do is manually adjust the center frequency for de-essing if it has happened that you have some snaky, sizzling vocalist. What's even better for that task is that you don't need to be a scientist. Voxformer has a nice option to setting the output to de-essed signal only, in which case all you need to do is to rotate the knob until you hear only the esses.

October 2010

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Voxengo

or so old. GlissEQ can compete sound-wise with most of the wellknown equalizers at this price range, while it offers some additions that most of the others don't have. Voxengo Elephant Elephant is a mastering limiter. While mixing, I always have Voxengo Elephant on an output buss for controlling the peaks and for making the complete mix a bit louder. If you don't own one of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;allin-one masteringâ&#x20AC;? packages, then Voxengo Elephant could be the right choice as one of your mastering elements. It is simple to use (actually all mastering limiters are), but at the same time it has enough additional options for fine-tuning and consecutively improving the end result. It gives a good result no matter which genre or tempo your song is, and that is the most desired quality of a mastering limiter.

contained some strange frequency jobs where your regular equalizer which sounded pretty annoying in a proves to be too short to finish the mix and I almost despaired but then I task. decided to try this surgically precise equalizer. As a linear-phase equalizer Voxengo Tube Amp which implements spectrum-matching technology, CurveEQ also allows us to I really love this freeware, because it copy frequency balances from one mix adds a nice, not-too-aggressive to another, showing the main warmness to all sort of signals. A differences between the two of them. simple tool which is unbeatable when It is a handy tool for all those extra comes time to add a breath of life to

Voxengo CurveEQ A professional WYSIWYG linear-phase equalizer. It's main point is to help you when nothing else will work. I had a lot of difficulty with one hi-hat loop in the past. It 50

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October 2010

static synth lines, or just slightly coloring all sorts of audio signals. Voxengo MSED Another Voxengo freeware – A mid/side processing tool for splitting a stereo signal into separate left, right, and middle signals, allowing you to manipulate a stereo image of your file. It can do wonders, but whenever you decide to add some extra width to the signal, don't forget to check mono compatibility of the mix processed sound. At the same time it is also a handy tool for fixing audio files that are too wide. Voxengo MSED works much better than similar tools that are usually implemented in most of the modern DAW's.

For Mac or PC, VST or AU, 32 or 64 bits. Voxengo Voxformer $80 USD Voxengo Gliss EQ $120 USD Voxengo Elephant $130 USD Voxeng CurveEQ $90 USD More info at http://www.voxengo.com/

Voxengo Whatever There are many more tools and effects in the Voxengo arsenal. I just mentioned my personal favorites. Having tons of other software, I still can't imagine my production without some of the Voxengo tools and effects. As was said: ”It must be that I'm a really good producer if I can mix properly a rap vocalist with such a problematic voice!” All that I can say is: Thanks, Aleksey. But psst.. let's that be only between you and me. October 2010

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At Work With Addictive Drums by Trusty

A while back I interviewed Magnus Lidström when the awesome Synplant came out. In our discussion, he mentioned the work he did on XLN Audio's Addictive Drums, and how flexible it was for other things besides “drum parts” for aging rockers, who against better judgment are re-living their misspent youth with guitar, a mic, and an LE version of some software DAW. Just kidding, I loosely fit that category myself, minus the talent to play guitar. Addictive Drums has a million uses and it is probably the best realistic/acoustic drum sampler on the market, all told. It has a wide range of uses in many genres. The constant crop of new expansions makes this plain and clear. In any case, I thought it would be a good idea to see how well Addictive Drums might fit into my genre of music. I make rap beats. Adding a live drum feel to beats has become almost non-existent on the radio and I thought it would be a good time to bring it back. Having even less talent on a drum kit than I do on the guitar, Addictive Drums was just the right product. When Magnus speaks, I tend to listen. Microtonic is still my go to drum synth and when he says Addictive Drums is where to go, I follow. The first pleasant surprise for me was that the kits had a very crisp thump and when using them, it makes EQ'ing the low bass and the kick drum a breeze. It was a nice break from the usual wrestling match between the bass and electronic kick in the mixing process. I have demo'd these kinds of products before and I was never too impressed. However, Addictive Drums simply worked for me. The features were quite extensive and the manipulation possibilities took me by surprise. I really enjoyed shaping the drum sounds and was amazed at how much I could accomplish right there inside the plug-in when adding it to the usual rap music sounds.

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October 2010

I worked on two projects with it. On the first one there was an eerie sounding beat with a sparse drums provided by Microtonic and some bells courtesy of Synplant. When the chorus kicks in, complete with a nice choir patch provided by Omnisphere, the Addictive Drums kicks in as well and really brings some punch to the chorus. Working inside Project5, the arrangement of the midi files included with Addictive Drums is lots of fun. Especially with the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fillâ&#x20AC;? files included. I love these drum fills and I love tweaking the midi files in a sequencer to get the messiest, yet most rhythmic, drum fills I can get. One of the great things about the midi drum patterns is that it is simple drag and drop into the sequencer, which allowed me to make the edits I wished to, in familiar territory. When the chorus concludes and the sparse electronic beat drops back in, the results of the juxtaposition are fantastic. To round out the song there are some synth chirps provided by Rapture and Predator that flutter in and out of the sequence. I was really happy with how this turned out and thought that Addictive Drums gave a special spice to the whole thing and complimented Microtonic very well. The song opens with some nice bells sounds from Synplant, Microtonic comes in with the drums after a short intro. As the beat goes on, some backing synthesizers from Rapture and Predator drop in and out. Then everything including the choir from Omnispere comes in full force at the chorus, along with the heavy drums from Addictive Drums. Of course with the rap beats, the formula is repeat-repeat, with slight variations. One of the coolest parts, is a breakdown loaded with drum fills backing the choir from Omnisphere. Overall Addictive Drums really sets this track apart from what it would have been without it. Having said that, it was time for Addictive Drums to carry an entire rap song. It would

October 2010

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Addictive Drums

have been too easy to do some brush jazz type drums and a laid back beat, so I went in the opposite direction. I started with some strings and brass pushing the song along. Then I added Addictive Drums to give me a beat to work with. The beat was one of those groove beats with a bit of drive to it and this inspired a good sub bass line to match, again this was accomplished without the headache of making the kick and the bass work together. Not that Addictive Drums doesn't have some nice low end kicks and the tweaking capability to bring it out, but because it does and was put to good use. The best part was that it was not problematic in the low end bassline. Given the nature of the song, I thought it would be a good idea to throw in some nice crunchy guitars to round it out. This is when the beat got really good in my opinion. I would never have used this sort of instrumentation were it not for Addictive Drums and the midi files found therein. What was great about this second project is that, using multiple instances on some occasions, only four software instruments were used. Addictive Drums, Dimension Pro for the brass and strings, RXP for the guitar rex files and the mighty Zebra 2.5 for the bass. This was a lot of fun to make. Starting out with the guitar chugging along for the intro, some horns start to kick in after a few bars along with some clanging cymbals and then the beat drops in accompanied by some strings. The song was pushing along with a nice gritty, pulsing groove and when the chorus comes in, a brash orchestrated bit takes off with some guitar changes. The drums then break their groove pattern and turn into a more hard rock pattern with those awesome drum fills at the end of bar 4 and 8 of the chorus. The third verse provides some changes in the musical arrangement and the drum pattern becomes a bit more swinging. The way it comes off is a nice change of pace from the first two verses. Back comes the usual verse sequences for the last 8 bars of the verse, then the chorus kicks in again and the song concludes with a ringing guitar and cymbals. It turned out very nice. Addictive Drums really fills out a track well without drowning out everything else, unless that is the desired result. What I enjoyed 54

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October 2010

most is the flexibility and control within Addictive Drums in terms of mixing, micing, effects, and routing. There were lots of included midi files to work with. One of the best things about using the program is the trust I was able to put in XLN Audio for the kits, the arrangements and the default settings in general. This is territory I am not familiar with, so not having to do too much editing work when it comes to levels and what-not was an added bonus. From their product page, it appears there are quite a few expansions in regards to kits and midi patterns. I am personally more interested in the midi files since I could never play the drums well enough on my own, despite the included feature that syncs up Addictive Drums to many of the popular electronic drum sets on the market. That is a nice touch and I should I ever find a stable drummer to work sessions with, I would definitely make use of this feature. It is so much easier than micing a whole drum kit. What would be great is to have all the features of Addictive Drums with a synth engine like Microtonic. I really like how the effects and the mic placements give the drums a full presence that can often times lack in electronic drum synthesizers when not drenching them in effects. The control of the overheads and room add to this. It would be a mistake for electronic musicians of varying genres not to take a glance at Addictive Drums and put it to use in tracks. The program is flexible enough to fit any style and not simply genres that call for drum sets. I could see lots of uses for Drum and Bass, Techno, Trance, Dance music, or anything really. It might take someone's style to the next level by bringing it into the mix here and there... or everywhere. Layering it with drum synthesizers reveals a wealth of potential ground to be covered as well. The point is that, this only scratches the surface and I look forward to getting more creative uses out of Addictive Drums. It just sounds too good not to use... and it doesn't come with the fuss of a real drummer or take precious time in the studio setting up a drum kit and micing it. Be sure to check out all the goodies at XLN Audio's website at http://www.xlnaudio.com/.

October 2010

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Alchemy Expanding by Trusty

More is more, and less is more. It is no secret that Alchemy is my personal favorite software instrument ever. This is not likely to change, except in the event of future upgrade versions. As it is now, there is no other software that touches it. I am also one of the most notorious defenders of the original factory bank, which Camel Audio in recent months has been gracious enough to expand even more, giving more greatness than was present in the original purchase.

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October 2010

Now that Alchemy has been out for quite a while, more and more expansions have become available from Camel Audio. For this issue I selected two packages to cover, one being a group effort and the other one being an individual effort. What is obvious from both of these expansions is the comfort and adventurousness the sound designers have in programming Alchemy. To be sure, even the more out there patches that have the awe of 'what if' still display a certain level of intentionality to them. These sound designers know what they are doing and where they are

going. The deeper elements of Alchemy's features are becoming used more and more in the design and crafting of these patches. Just so you know, even the remix pad variations are not just some randomness fair, the detail extends all the way down to the depths of Alchemy, my friends. This is a plus to all the Alchemy expansions that have been observed so far.

of the instrument's features to give them one or two levels greater of depth in the sounds. Dance and Trance

Some people have asked whether there is indeed any need of yet another Trance and Dance soundbank. The question has been answered when it comes to Alchemy. Alchemy is going to make its Usually, famous sound designers of statement in every category synthesizers use a stable of eventually and these sounds offer no mainstay sounds they go back to for exception to the general rule but are every instrument and approximate also very welcome...and once more, them given the individual they were actually asked for. instrument's features. This is still Alchemy has a habit of retiring other present in Alchemy to a minor extent, instruments in the VST folder and if but far and away more originality is it can outshine other synthesizers in present in these sound offerings. this area - then why not? More importantly, even the familiar sound designs feel fresh. There are This collaborative effort is far more original patches than come fantastic. There is a serious effort on with other instruments, and the “go the part of these guys and especially to” sound standards these designers noteworthy are Adam Van Baker, are known for add a dimension to Bryan Lee and Junkie XL, who will their own personal bread and butter inspire hits for just about any sounds to make them shine brighter peripheral genre of music that falls in Alchemy than in other instruments. under the category of “Dance”. The This is most likely due to the one thing that can be said about all potential of the instrument itself and the sounds in this bank is that there the creativity of the sound designers is plenty of texture, shimmer, and that make the most of the flexibility sparkle in this sounds. This is not a

October 2010

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Alchemy Expanding

good sound bank, it is a great one right! All the contributors have their space they leave out rather than fill in. that knocks any staleness off “dance highlights and the aforementioned The more aggresive ones here test the and trance” sounds. standouts have outdone themselves limits of both the speaker and the The leads and basses in this here. All around, this makes the musicians hip gyrations. collection are destined to rip and roar collaborative effort well balanced, and across many tracks in the near future the overall package worth every The basses here are insanely useful and thanks to the detailed penny. and the subtle aggressiveness found programming, the remix pads keep in the variations of the remix pads the variations engaging to the ears. Bigtone have a touch of genius because it The results go beyond any mere doesn't take one too far away from tweaking of filter settings and what The sounds in this collection really live the original in most cases. It just adds have you. The pads, though few, are up to the Bigtone name. While the the right touches of flare to keep the really deft in their character. The previous collection under our sounds from becoming stale, as is the sound effects, though also few in microscope was a collaborative effort, case with most bass sounds in many number, are fun fillers as well. More this solo effort from Bigtone for tracks. Alchemy itself and the Bigtone of each would have been a plus. There Alchemy is top notch. His work here is programming keep the basslines being is some good stuff in the twelve or so second to none when it comes to obligatory or an afterthought. sounds between the two categories. wreching out of Alchemy all that an The sounds in the “synth” folder are instrument like this can deliver. Every The leads are scarce, but have that probably the least interesting, but category shines in this set and while particularness that makes each useful, remember, the least interesting in the aim of this collection is similar to if not dominating. They have that Alchemy are miles ahead of whatever the other expansions, it is "familiarity plus" factor that Alchemy is else one may be using for these complentary rather than in known for and though they are not sounds. The "synth" sounds are good, competition. the main feature of this collection, and they definately round out the set. they are very, very good and catchy. With his work in the Arps and Loops The magic of this expansion is not just department, Bigtone grabs your Pads, Soundscapes, Sound Effects, in the leads and basses though, the attention and takes you on a journey. and Synth sounds are the core of this really fun stuff is in the arpeggiator The range of sounds and moods collection. Bigtone must have gotten and loops sections and the variations presented is impressive and it is a tired of standard synth fair, because therein. My goodness, people can testament to both the instrument he takes his programming far beyond complain all they like about the oneitself and the mind of a programmer what most find in the "synth" category note wonder patches but when the who has found a perfect muse in the of patches in other instruments. The programming in these categories instrument. The arps and loops here concoctive blend of useful but exciting makes one stand up and have a are very creative and even the most makes these sounds stand out among private dance party in the studio, sparse sounding ones make even the synth fare in other Alchemy something has clearly been done exceptional use of the ambience and folders. There is no hint of the

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October 2010

mundane here. The synth sounds are most excellent. However, the sheer magnitude of the effort put into the Pads and Soundscapes is incredible. They range from subtle to big and biting. The best thing is that none are skip-worthy when previewing. If one is not immediately needed, it still lingers in the back of the mind for another song. The layering and sprinkling that are found in the Pads fluttering about, giving one pause to clear out the accompanying parts and let them breathe.

Every patch is nothing short of fantastic. The familiarity the designers with Alchemy is showing through. It is not the case that these banks are far and away better than the initial factory banks, but rather that the comfortableness comes through in finer details and that make Alchemy so special. While it can do the big things better than the other "big synths", it is also better at the finer, sublime things that kick in that extra dash of spice to liven up even the more familiar standby types of sounds. Each of these soundbanks, as well as Bigtone must think in terms of albums the ones to be reviewed in in his approach to sound design. The forthcoming issues, also includes the range of sounds delivered in this Alchemy player. package cover the entire spectrum of genres and each one will find a The Alchemy player is basically the prominent spot in any mix. While "simple" mode of the full retail version sound designers working with other of Alchemy. There are enough instruments might try to give you a features even in this "limited" version wide range of sounds, they seem to keep the user interested and in more of a conglomerate mish-mash tweak heaven. While it is mainly a rather than giving you the cohesive preset player, it leaves out nothing in feel found here in this sound collection. terms of delivering the sounds as they Simply pursuing the sounds in this would be in the default mode of the expansion oozes inspiration and if that full version. Since many people are is the worst that can be said about expert programmers that these sound this collection, imagine what the best designers are, the player gives is... everyone a chance to have all the genius of Alchemy and the sounds In closing. therein without the overwhelming feeling of the full version's extensive The level of quality control going on at feature list. It is meant to be a preset Camel Audio is to be commended. player and for some it will be just that.

October 2010

For others, it will provide an entrance to the full version and many will inevitable make the investment. The price range for these expansions is just right, the flexibility of Alchemy and the access to the additional content provided by these expansions will give every user more fine food for a very fine instrument.

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Nomen est omen. Yes these grooves are really pretty odd, but I presume that you already have all the boring, four-on-the-floor MIDI drum loops that came along with one of your drum players, sampler, or rompler. If you are a boring conservative sort of person, then you already have everything you will ever need. Average wife, average kids, good-cooking mother-in-law along with a slow, sliding house loan and average fouron-the-floor MIDI loops for your spare time. Who in the world wants anything more?

by A. Arsov

Me – because odd is good. For the price of two unhealthy burgers you can get one of the unique Oddgrooves MIDI packs. A little piece of heaven for all progressive, obsessive or even aggressive jazz or rock players. After banging the hell out of all odd time signatures, the magnificent Swedish duo of Per Ulfhielm, producer and Magnus Brandell, drummer (according to his slamming beats he is some sort of reincarnation of Animal from the Muppet Show), decided to record some wild four-on-the-floor grooves. I'm not sure if I – as an electro producer – will ever need these odd signatures (If you need them, just grab them and run like a hell – it is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity), but I have to admit that I fell in love with all those unusual fills and “beat the hell out of” progressive rhythms. Lately they have even done an almost-normal groove pack containing West Coast rhythms for all young Allman brothers around the globe.

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October 2010

Odd details. It is not hard to find some decent four-on-the-floor MIDI grooves among the competition, but when the time comes for fills and intros, Oddgrooves packs are absolutely unbeatable. Hats off to mister Magnus. The usefulness of all the other non-intro fills and grooves depends on the end user – if you swear by order, quantization, and discipline, then you will not find any joy and happiness inside those packs; but if you are a progressive rock, jazz player or an electronic musician who doesn't think that everything should be quantized to death, than these packs could be a fine addition for you. I exported a few wild loops, filtering them to get rid of all lows and highs and then used them as a background for straight kick-hat patterns adding a healthy dose of life to the otherwise dead rhythm.

Oddgrooves - MIDI drum loops Time for more normal divisions. Oddgrooves Four Four Drumming $29.95 USD Oddgrooves Four Four collection is full Odd divisions. of different tempo-defined directories – from 66 to 104 BPM. I missed having Oddgrooves fill pack more intros in this pack but otherwise $29.95 USD it is a nice collection of wild and notNomen est omen part II. -A bunch of so-ordinary 4/4 rhythms. In this pack wild fills in various time signature: ¾, there are also two additional 4/4, 5/4, 7/4, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 11/8 directories, one under the name and 12/8 ranging from 70 to 130 “Polyrhythms” and other called “Odd to beats per minute. Even.” In the latter we are back to math again: a lot of 7/8 + 5/8 and Oddgrooves Basic drumming such sort of calculations. Thank god $14.95 USD there are no “integrals.” Basic in your dreams. Odd like hell. Divided in Fill, Hat (containing full kit Oddgrooves Four Four 2 Drumming grooves), Jams, Ride and Tom $29.95 USD directories ranging from ¾, to 7/4. Oddgroves Four Four 2 Drumming has Tom and Fill directories proved to be some progressive hard rock, hihat, my favorite because I like those ride, bell fill and song segment stomp-alike tom-tom rhythms and directories along with funk, snare and really enjoyed the wild fills. offbeat sections that are also filled with hat, bell, ride etc. subgroups. We Oddgrooves Advanced drumming could say it is - nearly a normal pack. $19.95 USD Similar to Basic drumming containing Oddgrooves Westcoast Drummar more odd time signatures. 5/8, 6/8, $27 USD 7/8, 9/8, 12/8 The least odd collection – West-coast drum loops in all tempos with Oddgrooves Crazy Drumming standard hihat, ride, bell, fill $39.95 USD configuration along with one separate Odder than odd. Same directories but directory containing all the loops you the signatures go totally cuckoo. 3/8, need to compose a whole song. A 11/8, 13/8, 15/8, 17/8, 13/16, 15/16, seven-song collection with Intro, 19/16. chorus, verse, break, fills and all other I presume it is aimed mostly at necessary goodies for making a good programmers, as they dedicate their revival of the genre. lives to mathematics. October 2010

Odd conclusions. Live MIDI drum clips played by an excellent drummer, a collection where everything except the ordinary could be found. Magnus is a real drummer in all matters – unpredictable, wild with plenty of crazy ideas. A nice addition for everyone who wants something fresh, live and uncommon. All packs come in a standard MIDI format prearranged for Toontrack EZdrummer/Superior Drummer, Addictive Drums, Steven Slate 3.0 players along with General MIDI and I-MAP format.

By Oddmaster Arsov

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Poise by Tomislav Zlatic

Poise is a software drum sampler published by One Small Clue, an indie audio software developer, and is available for Windows users. It seems to hit the perfect balance featurewise; offering all the tools a beatmaker would need in a sampler program, while keeping a simple and fast workflow and avoiding the trap of becoming bloatware. Let's make a quick run through the features and see what this little gem has to offer.

the workflow on certain occasions. be turned off using a switch below the With Poise, you can add a few more browser window. You can add as kick candidates to the same pad many different folders to the browser holding the original kick sample, press as you want, so there is no need to play and simply browse through the browse through the whole contents of loaded samples, trying different kicks the hard drive all the time. Standard until you find the one that works best. WAV, AIF and SND audio files are Samples can also be triggered supported. randomly, or by using round-robin. Poise allows a maximum of 16 Once the samples are loaded, they individual audio outputs. So basically, can be further tweaked using all the each of the 16 pads can be assigned standard shaping tools one would to a different track in the host Poise comes with 16 drum pads expect to find in a drum sampler. program. This is an essential feature, organized in a standard 4x4 Apart from the usual level, pitch, and allowing the user to apply different rectangular grid. Each of these pads pan knobs, as well as amplitude and compression and eq setting using 3rd can hold up to 8 samples and can be pitch envelopes, Poise also packs a party plugins and hardware. used to trigger the loaded samples in couple of effects including distortion various modes. The loaded samples and ring modulation. Finally, a noisy Another intersting feature is the can be layered on top of each other or or bassy sample can be cleaned up simple kit saving system. If you have they can be set up so that each using the 12dB LP or HP filters. These selected a nice set of samples, but sample corresponds to a different tone controls work per-sample and can't come up with a beat, you can velocity value. There's also the option not per-pad, which means that, even simply save the samples as a kit and of simply selecting a single sample to if there are multiple samples loaded to reload them later in a different be triggered, which is great for testing a single pad, each of them can be session. The kits are automatically out different samples and finding the tweaked individually. Pretty neat! saved in different folders, including all ones that fit together well. Imagine the sample files and a kit file which you've started working on a drum Speaking of loading the samples, this keeps the information about different track and even though the beat is nice is done simply by dragging them from settings and pad assignments. The file and groovy, the kick sample doesn't the built-in sample browser to one of paths are saved relative to the kit really work too well with the snare the 16 pads. By default, clicking on a folder, so these kits are portable and drum. This kind of situation happens sample in the browser will result in an can be loaded on any computer pretty often and can really slow down audio preview, but this behavior can without fear of missing file problems.

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October 2010

I've tried to cover all the basic features in this review, but let me add that Poise also comes with humanization, simple beat slicing capabilities, MIDI learn, many different skins, trigger maps, and a couple of other goodies you can discover if you try the demo. The demo is freely downloadable from the official website: http://www.anothersmallclue.com/poi

se.php. The full version of Poise costs US$49 and comes bundled with 30 drum kits made by TeamDNR. So there you go, a feature-packed plugin that performs well and doesn't cost a small fortune. Poise is a very powerful and yet very compact sampler, kind of like the Swiss Army knife of beatmaking software, offering plenty of features in a simple,

October 2010

affordable, and easy to use package. Since a drum sampler is certainly one of the most important tools in any beatmaker's arsenal, if you're still looking for that perfect tool to work with your drum samples, head on to the One Small Clue Website and give Poise a go.

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When Alien Drum Robots Attack! A Goldbaby Classic by Tomislav Zlatic

You have probably already heard about Goldbaby and his praised drum samples. Getting 10/10 marks in various reviews and being the most common answer to the "Hey, which 808 samples should I get?" question so often posted in online message boards, the Goldbaby Tape 808 sample pack has become a true legend, enjoying a near godlike status among electronic music producers. The other Goldbaby products never

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October 2010

dissapoint either, from high quality vintage synthesizer multisamples processed with a UBK Fatso, to drum machine hits being sampled from vinyl and receiving tape treatment. But we all know that great publicity can easily become a great burden, too. Let's see if Goldbaby's new sample pack can live up to the expectations, or even overcome the quality of it's predecessors.

Omg, they are attacking! What the hell are they?!

Sweet Jesus, where did these giant robots come from?!

Goldbaby states that various So what can one expect to find pieces of equipment were used to inside a sample pack curiously generate the sound for these called 'When Alien Drum Robots samples, from vintage and Attack!'? Its name certainly modern drum machines, to synths, doesn't reveal too much. Does it samplers, vinyl, real drums and contain the sounds of explosions field recordings. The processing caused by the rapid fire of advancing drum machine mechas? was done using various rack effects, tape saturation and also Well, no...surprisingly. Oh...what else could it be then? Hmm, is it a different distortion pedals for adding more serious amounts of bunch of tasty bursts of noise dirt. So basically, all the stuff that caused by overdriven drum can be found inside the Goldbaby machines? That is much closer, Studio was included in the but still not completely on point! The WADRA! pack is actually quite creation process of the WADRA! samples and even some additional a large mixed bag, as it covers a equipment and sound sources variety of sounds, from various were put to use in making this set. drum and percussion hits to FX samples like swooshes, blips and noise bursts. The samples are structured into folders by type, which means you There are 1516 different single hit get separate folders full of kicks, samples to be found inside the snares, other percussion and FX pack, all of which are 24bit WAVs. samples that went through the Beside the WAV samples, the pack same kind of preparation and also contains Battery, Guru and treatment. An interesting addition EXS-24 patches, and, of course, a to these are the so called "layer" Reason 3 Refill. As a special samples which can be used to addition, some interesting groove emphasise the attack or fatten the elements in REX format are also release of your other drum hits. included.

October 2010

What the hell is going on? All this destruction sounds so good! What makes this pack different from most of the previous Goldbaby products is that the equipment used to make the samples is not the point here. Rather than that, the Goldbaby signature sound has become the focus, which is characteristic by its emphasized attention on warmth and fatness, for which it takes the leading role and could easily be awarded an Oscar for it. As mentioned already, the samples come from a vast variety of different sources. Some are synthesized while the others are recorded or sampled, which of course results in a broad palette of fairly different sounds, but all of these sample still have a notably similar "feel" to them; and this similarity of sound characteristics is exactly what makes the WADRA sample pack a great resource for beat crafting. A huge benefit of having such a sample pack at your disposal is the fact that, even though it offers a huge variety of different sounds -- from vinyl samples to classic drum machine hits -- they can all be easily used together and they get along perfectly!

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WADRA A Goldbaby Classic

As a great bonus to these mixed samples, the WADRA! pack also features two folders labeled 'Fat 808' and 'Fat 909'. These samples were processed using a UBK Fatso (hence the folder labels), and they sound so good that they easily deserve to be sold as separate sample packs. From overdriven 808 subs to thumping 909 kicks, you have it all here, ready to blast the speakers which survived any previous robot drum machine attacks.

Breakbeat productions, but they can also be used for freshening up a dull Techno or House track.

So, can the WADRA! samples be considered as a notable addition to the Goldbaby legacy? They certainly can, as they fulfill all the expectations and even exceed them at some point. In fact, these samples can easily be considered the new definition of the Goldbaby signature sound. If you liked his samples in the past, these will be a treat, and if you haven't yet heard them, now is So who can put these samples to the right time. good use? Anyone who is bored with the usual, clean kind of drum sounds and needs to breathe some dirt and overdrive into their sample collection. Genre-wise, these samples will fit like a glove into different HipHop, Dubstep, Drum & Bass and

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October 2010

Soundware Round-up by Ginno Legaspi

analog 'flavoring' thrown in. As I've come to expect from Sample Magic, the quality of this sample pack is excellent - thanks to its 24-bit sample rate. The sounds are true to the genre, very usable and the variety is plenty. I find the 'Combi' loops very inspirational for song starters with lots of loops to choose from. Bottomline, Sample Magic delivers the goods.

Big Fish Audio Remix Revolution Producers and musicians are well aware that Big Fish Audio have been in the sample arena since day one. They have been churning out sample libraries for many years. This release, though, is specialized for in-demand remixers and producers making dance tunes. Remix Revolution is created by US mainstream remixer Jack D. Elliot and includes 38 construction kits with tempos ranging from 123-145 BPM - all key-tagged for convenience. Although no sampler patches are included, major sample files such as ACID WAV and Apple Loops AIFF are supported. The remix-style sound is definitely there with pounding drum loops and rumble-filled basses leading the way. If you're stuck making good dance remixes, Remix Revolution is a good aid to fire up your creativity. WEB: www.bigfishaudio.com FORMAT: - Royalty-free ACID, WAV, Apple AIFF loops, REX and RMX - 44.1kHz/24-Bit, 3 GB of content LIST PRICE: $99.95

Sample Magic 68

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WEB: www.samplemagic.com www.soundstosample.com

FORMAT: - 1.8 GB - 44.1kHz/24Bit WAV's (741 MB, 757 files)

Dubstep and Grime A huge collection of dubstep and grime samples (1.8 GB), Sample Magic has done it again with this urban-tinged release. Dubstep and Grime features loops and one-hit samples. It offers 100's of tight drum grooves, rumbling basses, filthy synth lines and music loops, combis and vox mashups, lots of weird FX's and hundreds of punchy drums hits (kicks, snares, hats, cymbals, etc) with a bit of

October 2010

- Stylus RMX compatible REX2 files (579 files) - Apple Loops (581 files) - EXS24, NNXT, Kontakt and Halion patches LIST PRICE: - ÂŁ46.90

Sounds Of Revolution FX Revolution Vol. 1 Last issue, when I reviewed Kick Free Revolution Vol. 1 & 2 from Sounds of Revolution, I gave both libraries high marks for their excellent quality. Lots of good dance sounds, I remember. In this sample pack, however, SOR's Oliver Schmitt unveils himself as a diverse sound designer by serving modern FX samples for use in electronic and dance genre. Although Sounds of Revolution is known worldwide to make techno, house and dance loops, FX Revolution Vol. 1 is as equally impressive as his other releases. Included in this pack are odd noises, nice filtered sweeps, twisted LFO sounds, hard-hitting impacts & explosions, futuristic percussive sounds and a massive set of one-shots for building your own custom drum kits. I explored the 900+ samples by auditioning them in Sound Forge 9. I find that the sounds are carefully crafted and edited with the use of clever processing. What impressed me are the good selections of impact and explosion sounds, even the

additional 300+ kick-free loops rock.

Best Service K-Size Techhouse Edition

WEB: www.soundsof-revolution.com FORMAT: - 1.37 GB WAV, AIFF Apple loops, REX, Kontakt and EXS24 - 3.20 GB DVD - 44.1kHz/24-bit LIST PRICE: â&#x201A;Ź67.22 (digital download via share*it)

This second offering from KSize and Best Service features more than 2800 loops and sounds ready to drop in every tech house production. The WAV files alone weighs in at a massive 1.12 GB. It's clear that K-Size wants users to get their money's worth by packing in plenty of samples (6 GB) on the DVD. You'll get lots of high quality sounds such as kicks, claps, cymbals, FX, basses, percussion, snares and synths - all recorded and processed using state-of-the-art equipment. The sounds are looped but you'll get hits to go as well. This is one great library that can help stir your creativity. Good second release from K-Size. Thumbs up.

WEB: www.soundsonline.com FORMAT: - Acid WAV, REX2, Apple Loops, Reason, Live, Halion, Battery, Kontakt, EXS24 and Stylus RMX/SAGE - 44.1kHz/16-bit, 1.12 GB WAV's LIST PRICE: - $89.95 October 2010

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Soundware Round-up

second volume is great, just like the first one. You'll get 35 construction kits and each one of them comprises drum loops, single-hit drum samples, an instrument folder with multisampled instruments and MIDI files. This is an all-dance-affair library so expect tempos in the range of 125145 BPM. The sound quality is astounding and is very consistent throughout. The whole content is very inspiring and can be used as a basis to start a composition or can be augmented with other loops. For producers looking seriously at a library offering progressive, electro

Loopmasters Fidget House Vol. 1 &2 The spread of Fidget House from the UK to the rest of world is like a wildfire. As the sub-genre suggest, Fidget focuses on the innovative and wild side of house. It incorporates a lot of cool sound design, funked-up wobbly bass lines, glitched-out drums, processed vocal snippets and warped synths. For Fidget House Vol. 1 and 2, WEB: Loopmasters commissioned all the www.loopmasters.com sounds from renowned producer Darren Payton. Volume 1 features 595 FORMAT: WAV samples (370 MB) and volume 2 - 370 MB and 625 MB Vol. 1 & 2 weighs in even bigger at 625 MB with respectively (download) 950 samples. From a production WAV, Acid, REX2, AIFF Apple perspective, Darren Payton's work is loops, Kontakt, Halion, EXS24 and sonically excellent and the samples SFZ themselves are impressively useful even for breakbeat, electro, tech LIST PRICE: house. The fifty-five slick and glitchy - ÂŁ19.95 drumloops from the first volume captured my attention while 122 Best Service broken-band glitch loops and the 28 Production Tools Vol. 2 twisted and broken vocal FX are my volume two favorites. All in all, Fidget When I reviewed the first Production House 1 & 2 is very techy and Tool volume a couple of issues back, I sophisticated sample packs. A great was really impressed by the sheer buy. amount of content included. This

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October 2010

and over 1000 samples there's a lot to play with, WEB: including the www.soundsonline.com usual categories of uptempo drum loops, dirty synth lines, tough basses, FORMAT: FX, one-shots and multi samples for - WAV files, AIFF Apple Loops, REX2, various samplers. While not mindMIDI files and Kontakt blowing, I find Electro House - 44.1kHz/24bit, 5 GB DVD inspirational for song startups. The effect sounds in the "FX and Misc LIST PRICE: loops" and the uplifting "Drum loops" $89.95 folders are very useful in any house music production. and tech house samples, Production Tools Vol. 2 from Germany's soundborder.com might be the ticket.

Zero-G Electro House This collection from Zero-G offers a lot of electro samples that are on the heavy and filthy side of house. What's beautiful here is that Electro House offers far more than the standard house genre sample pack. With the help of analog synthesizers such as Juno 106, Moog Little Phatty and SH-101, the material has something for every producer wanting to create any techno, breakbeat, minimal, tech house and even nu disco. With 1.6 GB

WEB:

Wave Alchemy Electro Collection

Wave Alchemy have packaged this download-only sample library with a whooping 1.5 GB of content. This bundle includes Wave Alchemy's Electro House Underground and Electro House Progressions libraries designed to aid your electro house productions. The electro samples dominate this bundle but the sounds are also usable for other electronic www.soundso sub-genres. You'll find dirty analog nline.com basses, minimal and tech house drum loops, stabs, textures and ambiences, FORMAT: thick pads and synth loops galore. - 1.6 GB of There are also 36 playable multimulti-format sampled bass and synth patches samples on included for popular sample players DVD such as Kontakt. All the samples are well-recorded using high-end gear 44.1kHz/24B (Sherman Filterbank, Prophet 08, SPL it Gainstation, Waldorf Pulse, etc.) and - Acid WAV, the quality is superb. What's neat AIFF Apple about this strong collection is that it Loops, Stylus saves you money from buying both RMX, REX2, Electro House Underground and EXS24 Electro House Progressions Reason individually - about ÂŁ15.00. For the NNXT and price and massive content, this Kontakt collection comes highly recommended. PRICE: $99.95

October 2010

WEB: www.loopmasters.com

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Soundware Round-up

The creative front cover is very cool, too. Oh....sexy!

FORMAT: - 1.5GB DVD - Acidized WAV, Stylus RMX, REX2, NNXT, Kontakt, EXS24, SFZ and Halion

WEB: www.soundsonline.com FORMAT: - WAV, Acid WAV, AIFF Apple loops, REX2, - NI Kontakt, Logic EXS24 and Reason NNXT sampler patches. - 44.1kHz/24bit Stereo

LIST PRICE: - ÂŁ59.95 (digital download)

Best Service Black Pearl Anyone producing HipHop and RnB music knows how important it is to have the best gear possible and highquality samples when creating tracks. This is where Black Pearl comes in - a collection of 35 construction kits of loops with a modern take in today's urban music. With over 1 GB of content, this is a good collection of starter samples or to augment into your own mixes. From beats to hits and basses to guitars, the loops sounds very fresh, crisp and the production is superb. I especially like the 180-files 'Hot Material_Bonus' folder because there are some useful gems on there. The e-bass and strings are stand outs particularly. WEB: www.soundsonline.com FORMAT: - Acid WAV, REX2, WAV, NNXT, Halion and Soundfont - 44.1kHz/16-bit stereo LIST PRICE: - $89.95

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LIST PRICE: - $99.95

Zero-G Brazil Chillout Sophisticated, cool, sexy, relaxing and silky smooth are some of the superlatives I can use to describe to this sample library from Zero-G. Brazil Chillout consist of 32 construction kits with plenty of fantastic live performances including pianos, acoustic & electric guitars, drums & percussions, bass and synths - with tempos ranging from a soothing 60 BPM to a house-y 115 BPM. The 1.6 GB of samples in 24-bit format are well recorded and very well played, especially the extra guitar riffs folder and additional drum and percussion loops. If you're a producer looking for that authentic Brazilian bossa nova and samba sounds with a touch of contemporary flare, this library will not disappoint. October 2010

Push Button Bang Rise SFX

soundtrack and game music. A must buy.

No doubt effect sounds are very useful in giving productions that certain edge or interest. They also help ease the transition of a song going from one section to another. Many dance/electronica producers rely on quality effect samples for this reason. Rise SFX from Push Button Bang is an FX pack with 700 MB of content that is instantly suitable for any productions. More than 500 ultra, up-to-date samples comprise this pack. It includes 540 exotic noises, 70 bang, 55 climbers, 20 cymbal, 40 Doppler and 40 drop-downs, 60 fader, 60 multiple movements, 65 seamless noise FX loops and 120 transitional elements. The production of Rise is stunning and a lot of the samples have that nice sheen on the top end. Throw down some dynamic flare in your production with this unique collection of effects sounds.

WEB: www.soundsonline.com

CONTACT: www.loopmasters.com FORMAT: - 700 MB - WAV + Ableton Live pack PRICE: - ÂŁ19.95

FORMAT: - 4.3 GB of multi-format samples on 2 DVD - 44.1kHz/24Bit - Acid WAV, AIFF Apple Loops, NNXT, Kontakt and EXS24

Zero-G Dark Skies

PRICE: From the UK sample library $149.95 developers Zero-G, comes a collection of soundscapes, drones and atmospheres for TV, film and game soundtracks. Dark Skies is an all-new sample pack offering 4.3 GB of 24-bit audio material that is beyond the traditional cinematic sounds. The samples are organized into three main folders, Ambiences, Construction Kits and Single Hits. The Ambience and Single Hits folders offer loops that are themed into sections of drones, FX, soundscapes, impacts, textures and ambiences. In the Construction kits folder, you'll find 50 kits with a general heading of Ambient Score, Dark Score, Science Core and Textural. These offer a tremendous amount of inspirational material that makes you want to write a score or soundtrack for a sci-fi, horror, thriller or futuristic film. All in all, the content is staggering with the samples mapped for use in sample players such as EXS24, NNXT and Kontakt. This is an essential resource for TV, film,

October 2010

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Soundware Round-up

comparable to Justice or those making sparse Minimal Tech can benefit to the different materials on offer. For me, the FX section sizzles particularly with its over-the-top processing employed.

Sounds Of Revolution Electro House Revolution Vol. 1 This sample pack from Sounds of Revolution takes inspiration from the dirty side of house genre and includes a variety of electro staples such as banging drum loops, gritty basses, punch-thru-the-mix synthlines, cool chords, vocals and gnarly effect samples. SOR's head honcho Oliver Schmitt, packed plenty of samples to play with (2.58 GB of content) along with popular audio formats supported. With WAV, Apple AIFF loops, REX and Kontakt patches there are plenty of quality sounds here. If you're experimental like me, the samples are easy to work with because most of them were left dry for further processing. This is a big plus because, sometimes, I'd like to torture my samples beyond recognition. If you're seeking a library chuck full of electro elements make sure you consider auditioning, demoing or purchasing this pack. WEB: www.sounds-of-revolution.com FORMAT: - 44.1kHz/24-Bit WAV, REX, AIFF Apple loops, EXS24 and Kontakt - 2.58 GB multi-format DVD, 985 MB of WAVS

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CONTACT: www.loopmasters.com FORMAT: - 980 MB - WAV, Rex, Kontakt, Halion, EXS24 and NNXT, Stylus RMX - Live pack available PRICE: â&#x201A;Ź67.22 (download via share*it)

Push Button Bang Dark House If you want samples that specialize on the darker side of house, Dark House from Push Button Bang is a collection of loops and samples intended for just that. Featuring 980 MB of content, you'll find drum loops, synths, special FX, percussions and single hits ready to drop in your own productions. The loop content is split into three different categories with subfolders added - all labeled with key and tempo info. The sounds themselves have that dark twist but yet they are very accessible. Even more, Electro producers October 2010

PRICE: - ÂŁ24.95 (download)

loops can be used to give your tracks plenty of edge. An awesome weapon in your arsenal if you're into glitch electronica.

Big Fish Audio Off the Hook Guitars This guitar sample DVD from Big Fish Audio is a selection of sexy guitar loops running at 57-114 BPM. The quality of this library is good and the samples are spot-on for its intended purpose - that is, to provide every producer a variety of urban-inspired guitar loops, licks, leads, chords, wah-wahs, rhythm, solos and effects. Off the Hook Guitars offers acoustic and electric guitar loops and the 5.6 GB content on disc is split into 40 construction kits, with each kit containing several guitar loops and a guide drum mix. Most of loops have that laid-back, smooth feel making it appropriate for anyone producing HipHop, Soul and RnB. Aside from the construction kits, Big Fish Audio included a 'Loops and Licks' folder which, I think, is finger lickin' good. WEB: www.bigfishaudio.com FORMAT: - Royalty-free ACID, WAV, AIFF Apple loops and RMX - 5.6 GB - 549 WAV loops on disc PRICE: $99.95

WEB: www.bigfishaudio.com FORMAT: - ACID, WAV, Apple Loops, REX and RMX - 4.67 GB on disc (2.1 GB of 24-bit Acidized WAV files) - 717 WAV loops on disc PRICE: $99.95

Big Fish Audio Electron Smasher One-hundred-thirty-one construction kits for use in a variety of breaks and broken beats genres. Electron Smasher is split into two separate folders providing producers with plenty of materials. The Grooving Kits folder features glitchy, stretched, crushed and mangled loops, while Ambient Kits is an assortment of textural, ambient and drone-y sample material. There is even a bonus folder full of good effect sounds definitely suitable for dance. Each construction kit has a mixdown file and contain anywhere from two to ten loops. Tempo-wise, the loops range from 60-180 BMP. The quality of Electron Smasher is excellent and the October 2010

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Soundware Round-up

Big Fish Audio Studio Guitars: The Michael Ripoll Project In demand studio session guitar player Michael Ripoll burst on to the recording scene by playing with some of the music industry's Alisters such Carrie Underwood, Mary J. Blige, India Arie and Stevie Wonder - to name a few. He is well versed in different playing styles and can switch between rock to pop and Loopmasters country to jazz. In this sample pack, Minimal Underground Techno he lends his talent to Big Fish Audio for a massive 4.7 GB loop library of This 450+ MB release from acoustic and electric guitars. Studio Guitars features him playing licks and Loopmasters is based around samples rhythm parts as well as intros, verses, programmed by Marc Adamo. As the name chorus, fill, outros and more. The suggest, Minimal recording sound great but what Underground Techno is impressed me the most is the overall quality - it is perfectly consistent. The a set of high-quality samples geared for loops will most definitely work in producers of dance styles such as blues, country, funk, music. It includes jazz, pop and rock. drums, bass, kick-free loops, kick-only loops, WEB: FX, synth, FX hits and www.bigfishaudio.com an assortment of single drum hits. All FORMAT: popular sample - ACID WAV, WAV, Apple Loops, formats are covered in REX and RMX this collection as well - 4.7 GB on disc (1.8 GB of 24-bit as patches for major WAV files) soft samplers. Most of the samples were PRICE: created using analog $99.95 machines and the result is warm and punchy. They are well 76

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October 2010

processed and the synth loops have a nice sheen on top, the drums are punchy and the use of creative effects processing is gorgeous. CONTACT: www.loopmasters.com FORMAT: - 450+ MB - 267 WAV, 209 Apple AIFF, 212 REX2, Ableton Pack, ReFill - Patches for Kontakt, Halion, EXS24, SFZ and NNXT PRICE: - ÂŁ24.95 (digital download)

Wave Alchemy SFX Collection Vol. 1 Last but not the least this month and the third effects library reviewed, is Wave Alchemy's SFX Collection Volume 1. This sample pack is a collection of cutting edge effect sounds that includes textures, impacts, stabs & acid hits, sweeps & drones, short FX & hits, cymbal FX, downlifter and uplifters. With 1.5 GB of 24-bit samples, there is plenty of material to inject in your productions. The use of vintage and new equipment and highend tools such as Eventide H3000 and Sherman Filterback really help to make SFX Collecton sound fresh and very polished with a good fidelity. The samples tend to lend itself to electronica, game, TV and film music. A sophisticated collection. WEB: www.loopmasters.com FORMAT: - 1.5 GB - Acidized WAV, NNXT, Kontakt, Halion, EXS24 and SFZ PRICE: - ÂŁ44.95 (download)

October 2010

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by Ginno Legaspi

Native Instruments Essential Bass Native Instrument's Essential Bass is a SoundPack for Kore 2/Kore 2 Player, aimed to be the "one-stop" bass instrument for producers looking for tasty low-end in their productions. This pack includes 200 synthetic, acoustic and electric bass sounds that are suitable for almost any genre from Blues to Rock and Hip Hop to Electronica. While most bass libraries come in huge gigabytes of data, Essential Bass boast around 1 GB of content. The synthetic basses in this collection were recorded using classic analog synths of yesteryear and modern digital synthesizers such as Minimoog, Studio Electronics SE-1 and Roland Juno-60. The sounds have a variation in sounds, this soundpack is lot of bite and are woofer-shattering and bone-shaking. In the electric bass useful in any situation. department you'll find some nicely Format: Kore SoundPack for Kore 2 programmed patches that are or Free Kore player (Mac/PC) overflowing with warmth and Web: www.native-instruments.com presence. Sonically, Essential Bass is very impressive because the samples, Price: $79 (Download) acoustic and electric basses for d16 group example, were commissioned from Syntorus sample giants Scarbee and Pettinhouse. Each instrument or patch This latest plug-in effect from d16 has a useful selection of controls to group is part of the Silver Line series. modify the right amount of settings It is a double analog delay line chorus for modulation, filter, tone, effects, etc. to your liking. Fancy cranking the similar to the ones found on Solina, Juno and Synthex analog synthesizers. fret noise on a picked bass? No Its familiar GUI is borrowed from its problem, that parameter is included. other siblings, like the Devastor and Overall, Essential Bass represents Decimort, which have a very easy to excellent value. With over 1000-plus 78

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October 2010

navigate and simple to operate interface. Syntorus is all about the sound and implementing the right delay module is top priority according to d16. The implementation of a precise model of a high quality analog delay line gave this plug-in its true, unique chorus sound without the unwanted digital artifacts. It dons two delay lines, unlike other chorus units, giving users a much fuller sound. Labeled Path 1 and 2, both delay lines have the same identical knob, slider and switch controls to suit your taste, including Depth, Offset, Tremolo (adds dynamic and moving sound), Waveform (sine, triangle, square, etc), Stereo Phase and Path 1 and 2 Volume, Rate and Tempo Sync (full, dotted, triplet). Each path's LFO can be sync'd to the host application, which enables users to sculpt the sound rhythmically. A great way of adding interest to your sounds. Additionally, there is a Bucket-Brigade Device (BBD) emulation switch available for adding extra analog warmth and character to your sound. Turn this switch off and Syntorus will

revert back to a clean and pristinesounding effect.

Digital Sound Factory Mo' Phatt

patches along with 512 NN-XT sampler patches.

I auditioned Syntorus with a bunch of audio materials and was impressed with the result I was getting. It added life to a thin bass sound with a nice touch of a creamy and wide effect. I find Syntorus to be a good alternative to synthesizers with lackluster chorus effects. If you're looking to add richness to anemic and dull sounds, Syntorus is a sure bet to be useful in your tracks in many ways. I particularly love it when used to thicken a guitar sound, especially a clean Strat guitar. Good job, d16.

If you've ever wanted an E-mu Mo' Phatt hardware rack module from years ago but couldn't afford to buy one, Digital Sound Factory has the affordable answer. They have converted all patches from the famous hardware to soundware for a fraction of a price. Dubbed the "legendary urban dance synth", Mo' Phatt is a Reason ReFill with an urban dance and hip hop theme based on the original sound samples of the Mo' Phatt sound module. According to DSF, each instrument was fine-tuned to match the hardware and then placed in Reason's Combinator to add effects. The result? 512 great Combinator

You'll find lots of basses, drums & perc, synths, strings, guitars, effects and hits. What I really like are the expertly crafted patches in Combinator because they just sound so 'on the money'. The 100-plus loops in REX format is a nice addition. They make a good song starters or manipulate them in any way you want in Dr. Rex or NN-XT to augment in your own drum mixes. Bottom line, this ReFill is a great tool for producers making club bangers.

Format: PC/Mac, AU or VST host Web: www.d16.pl PRICE: â&#x201A;Ź35 (Silverline Collection and Total Bundle are available)

October 2010

Format: PC/MAC, Reason 4 ReFill (265 MB) Web: www.digitalsoundfactory.com Price: $69.95 (digital download)

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Ohm Force Predatohm People might be wondering why I included this plug-in in this month's "Mini Reviews" section. Yes, I know it's old but I wanted to revisit this classic plug-in for people who might have missed it or are interested in adding a distortion plug to their arsenal. Predatohm is from the same French guys who brought us the "highly addictive" Ohmboyz plug-in. It is simply a unit capable of producing some creative sound plug-ins, Predatohm has an integrated Native Instruments destruction. It comes in two skin Acoustic Refractions & Sonic preset morphing feature. A very cool flavors; the classic, which is very Fiction way to add interest in your track by clean and simple, and the funky skin seamlessly morphing a sound. Other which looks like a claw from an evil If you're a producer or modern cartoon character. Predatohm consists notables are its capability of render high-quality audio and the parameters musician looking for a heavy dose of of several sections: a Tone shaper are totally MIDI controllable. What's weird and wonderful yet beautifully section with Freq and Shape knobs, a great about Predatohm is that it has playable instrument for film, TV, game Feedback section with Frequency and and experimental & ambient music, Amount knobs, a Super Stereo section its own character and sound - it's full Acoustic Refractions and Sonic Fiction (aka widener) with Phase knob and an of bite. The inclusion of 13 distortion types is a real treat, but the feedback from Native Instruments are gems enable switch and a Four-Band generator on this beast is totally nasty packed full of original and innovative distortion section. The distortion and would just make your ears bleed. sounds. These Kore-powered section is where the damage of audio soundpacks are created by musician takes place. Each band has its own Format: RTAS, VST and AudioUnits and sound design extraordinaire Level amount, a Character and (Mac/PC) Jeremiah Savage - whose patchwork Intensity knobs, a distortion Amount Web: www.ohmforce.com can also be heard on the Absynth and Type knobs, from which you can synthesizer. Acoustic Refractions is Price: starting from $19 choose 13 distortion types (tube, based on sampled everyday sounds crunch, etc). Like other Ohm Force

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October 2010

such as spinning washing machines, traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge, rain hitting the car windshield and underground parking garage noises. Likewise Sonic Fiction, which is an something very imaginative expansion on the idea of Acoustic and a breathe of fresh air. I Refraction, is a science fiction-based love the sound morphing conceptual instruments wherein a options Kore provides and variety of non-musical items and with 24 sound parameters situations were sampled. Natural per sound available, tweaking sound samples includes river/streams, can be fun. After auditioning bubbling volcanic mudpots, television the 100 patches on both static, filing a metal sheet, industrial Acoustic Refractions and machines and more. After each Sonic Fiction I have to give sampling session, Jeremy then edits these two a thumbs up. the samples with advanced processing While these two soundpacks are very and programming applied utilizing the similar, they prove to be a Format: Kore SoundPack for Kore 2 Kontakt, FM8, Absynth and Kore FX compliment to each other. Jeremy's or Free Kore player (Mac/PC) engines. The result is a highly work on both packs is nothing short of Web: www.native-instruments.com Price: $79 each (Download) playable instruments capable of impressive. His idea of transforming producing otherworldly and evocative non-musical objects into flexible, sounds. playable keyboard instruments is

October 2010

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Ueberschall Electrolines Electrolines is an electronic library primarily focused on bass and lead lines, as the name suggest. This 800 MB DVD features 78 'themes' with 1000-plus analog sequences made from synthesizers such as Moog Voyager, Korg Monopoly, Omega 8 and Oberheim Xpander among others. The resulting sounds are juicy and fat with lots of analog grit. You'll find useful phrases including melodies, backings and fill-ins - all programmed to fit in genres such as electro house,

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minimal, progressive, trance, tech house and drum and bass. These phrases are very handy if you run out of ideas or need some inspiration to start a tune. The quality is good and there is a lot of material to choose from. Standouts are the effected loops as they sound very polished. As with other Ueberschall libraries, this all-lead and bass line volume is powered by the versatile Liquid instrument. The samples within Liquid make it very flexible for users to alter the pitch and timestretching with no noticable artifacts. A great way to easily augment your own synth, keys and other lines with Electrolines.

fight a deadline for tv and film score can benefit from the up-to-date, commercial-ready sound this library offers. Just drop the sounds into your production, do a bit of tweaking and be amazed at the immediate result. The loops and seqeunces are just that good and they are very addictive when played with the included Liquid player powered by Melodyne Format: AU/VST/RTAS (Mac/PC) technology. Kudos to top flight producer and sound designer Markus Web: www.bigfishaudio.com Price: $99.95 each (DVD) Guentner for bringing excellent quality and expertise to this library. Be ready to get inspired and expect to be in Ueberschall front of DAW (music computer) for Ambient Works hours just noodling around. He has definitely done the good, dirty job Another Liquid instrument from Ueberschall, Ambient Works is an here for producers who want to focus on music rather than sound design. ambient sample DVD comprised of 780 loops. The included 24 contruction kits work particularly Format: AU/VST/RTAS (Mac/PC) Web: www.bigfishaudio.com well for producers who are into cinematic, soundscape, ambient, Price: $99.95 atmospheric and experimental music. Those who are rushing to

October 2010