Sept 2011 by Wusik Dot Com

Editorial

Wusik Sound Magazine www.wusiksoundmagazine.com Issue September 2011 Managing Editor: MoniKe Assistant Editors: Johnathan Pritchett - aka Trusty A. Arsov Production Manager: MoniKe Articles by: A. Arsov www.arsov.net Adrian Frost - aka anzoid www.anzoid.com Ben Paturzo - aka Astrin www.benpaturzo.com Dave - aka dmbaer Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi www.facebook.com/ginnolegaspi ginno@wusik.com Jay - aka LeVzi www.soundcloud.com/levzi Jeffrey Powell jsp_wsm@yahoo.com Johnathan Pritchett - aka Trusty www.myspace.com/crosssoldiers Stickybeats@yahoo.com Rishabh Rajan www.rishabhrajan.com Robert Halvarsson http://www.suecae.com suecae.sounds@gmail.com Tomislav Zlatić http://bedroomproducers.wordpress.com bedroomproducers@gmail.com

Proof-Reading by: Adrian Frost Ben Paturzo Jeffrey Powell Dave - aka dmbaer Tomislav Zlatić

This is a high honor indeed to be asked to write the Editor's Letter. However, high honors bring high responsibilities...man, I just cannot get that Spiderman quote right. Dang it! William the K takes good care of us. He allows us to sit in the sun for over ten minutes before herding us back into the WSM mill, where we slave over hot IBM Selectrics, churning out the articles for each issue. Of course, these articles are but thinly veiled promotional pieces that W charges companies exorbitant fees and pockets the revenue for our own good. After all, we would only buy clothes and food, and the odd bit of prescription medicine. For example, I've had to put up with ever-enlarging typing fingers as my treatments have had to go by the wayside. Ever the optimist, W has pointed out the good side of this: I am often allowed to be first in line for Gruel and Fish Heads, by the silly group of writers who fear a little mutation. At least I don't bay at the moon as Adrian has been doing of late. Ah, good times. But you'd like to know about this issue... There was some concern that we would not be able to keep to the pace shown since Wusik Sound Magazine was re-launched last May. The idea was that, perhaps we should limit the number of articles presented in each issue, and save some for the "lean times" that were sure to lie ahead. I, for one, have not found the need to limit myself, much to the chagrin of those who find my words sufficient cause for rioting. There seems to be too much to explore and present to you, our dear readers, to slacken the pace, and limit what is included in each issue. The ideas for articles and new columns keep appearing in my fevered brain, to the point where I've had to create my very own web-site—my first, mind you—in order to contain some of the spillover of ideas and plans that started with writing for WSM. Of course, you might think this is blatant self-promotion, but I ask you dear reader: Have I even mentioned the address— www.benpaturzo.com? No, except for that informative example just now. Tut tut, calm yourselves. The pitchforks and torches are really a bit much. I'm very happy to announce in this issue the start of Adrian Frost's series on FM Synthesis. Another great new series makes its debut, Rishabh Rajan's tutorials for non-programmers on Max/MSP. The Additive Synthesis series continues, this time with Native Instruments's Razor. Also, Urs Heckmann returns to the pages of WSM in an article on Bazille, his modular synthesizer. You have your old favorites like Ginno's soundware reviews, Arsov shows us how to Earn Money with Music, plus David Baer gives us the scoop on a long-awaited refresh of Cakewalk's Z3TA+, Jeffrey Powell continues to expand our world of instruments and sample libraries, and we have some things that defy description and which we hope will delight you. All in all, almost thirty articles in this issue of Wusik Sound Magazine. Enjoy!

Ben Paturzo EVE’s Advertising: Henry Gibson Cover, Backcover and some Pictures from: www.dreamstime.com Some of the products reviewed in Wusik Sound Magazine are copies provided free of charge for reviewing purposes.

Trusty

A. Arsov

MoniKe

Table of Contents Table of Contents Creating Sounds: Synthesis 04 FM Part 1: An Introduction by Adrian Frost

Focus On: 100 Hermann Seib by Ben Paturzo

Additive Synthesis Part 3: Native Instruments Razor by Ben Paturzo

Mini-Review: 108 Soundware Roundup by Ginno Legaspi

Developer’s Corner: 20 Review: Analog Universe by dmbaer 23 Interview: Joonas Vaara by dmbaer

Blast from the Past: 136 Novation's V-Station by Adrian Frost

Freebies You Shouldn't Have Missed Last Month: 51 Free Software - Part 1

Free Software - Part 2

Free Soundware - Part 1

119

Free Soundware - Part 2 by Tomislav Zlatic

Tutorials: for Non-Programmers 60 MAX/MSP Part 1 by Rishabh Rajan

Diversions: Usine Pro 52 Sensomusic Setup and Features by Ben Paturzo

Adventures In Capitalism The Old Look in the Box Trick by Ben Paturzo

How to earn money with music (with a little help from our friend Bestservice) by A. Arsov

116

And Now For Something Completely Different: Launchy by Ben Paturzo

KarmaFX 1 • 2 • 3 by Ben Paturzo

Reviews 26 DiscoDSP Corona

68 SONAR X1 Explained

by Adrian Frost

by Ben Paturzo

30 NativeKONTROL

70 Trippin' the Twin 2

32 Preston Gate

78 Image Line Maximus

by Trusty

by Ben Paturzo

by LeVzi

by A. Arsov

105 EKS Pro by Robert Halvarsson

120 Native Instruments Razor Vocoder by Ben Paturzo

122 A Wavesfactory Trio by Jeffrey Powell

36 LinPlug's MorphoX

80 Rob Papen's Punch

Part 3 - Let's make some noise…

by Adrian Frost

by dmbaer

88 BFD Eco by FXpansion by Tomislav Zlatic

42 Tone2's WARMVERB by LeVzi

46 Bazille by Ben Paturzo

126 Z3TA+

Sonokinetic’s Haka by Jeffrey Powell

132 Precisionsound’s Indian Santoor and Indian Surmandal by Jeffrey Powell

Creating

Sounds

FM Synthesis by Adrian Frost

Part 1 - An Introduction "Frequency Modulation". Two words almost guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of any soft synth using musician. Frequency Modulation (FM) Synthesis has a reputation for producing harsh clanging discordant digital noises and bell sounds, lots and lots of bell sounds. Throw in talk of operators, carriers, modulators and ratios and one begins to feel a world away from the oscillators, filters, LFOs and ADSRs that subtractive synthesists are so comfortable with. Oh yes, FM synthesis is also thought to be the hardest synthesis method to learn, understand and put into practice.

Beginnings FM synthesis was discovered by Dr. John Chowning in the late 1960s whilst he was working at Stanford University in California. A short biography of Dr Chowning is available from the Stanford website where Dr Chowning is Professor Emeritus at The Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. Link : ccrma.stanford.edu/people/johnchowning

harmonics around the chosen pitch that can be controlled by the amplitude of the modulating waveform. It was Dr. Chowning's So, just maybe it is a subject that discovery of this harmonic effect, and could use a little demystifying. his hard work in figuring out how it Most of us will be familiar with using Starting this month and for a grand can be harnessed and controlled that total of six months we're going to take synths that have Low Frequency led to a totally new form of synthesis a look at FM synthesis from all angles. Oscillators. We can use an LFO to create a vibrato effect - the pitch of that has inspired musicians for nearly Over the course of this series we'll be the note being rapidly changed around four decades. We have entered into finding out about, and hearing from, the chosen note. Usually LFOs work at the realm of FM synthesis. FM's discoverer, Dr John Chowning. frequencies of less than 20 Hz - "rapid" We'll investigate the first popular FM Although we'll be looking at these is a relative term! Dr. Chowning took synths, journey into FM theory and things in more depth in coming the tremolo effect a (large) step then look at the current state of the further by using an audio rate articles this would be a good time to art in the soft synth plug-in world. introduce the basic vocabulary of FM Time permitting, we may even be able oscillator instead of a low frequency one. Using one audio rate oscillator to synthesis. Firstly we have to think to get a glimpse of the future of FM about Operators, a term which we'll affect (or modulate) another creates synthesis. 04

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September 2011

use over and over. An Operator is, in its most simple form, an oscillator that produces a sine wave. Operators can use other waveforms but Dr. Chowning's work on FM synthesis that led to the Yamaha DX line of synths was based around the use of sine waves. Using sine waves also simplifies the mathematics of FM synthesis - most useful!

discovered the DX7 and its sounds can be heard all over many 1980s singles and albums. The DX7 reigned supreme until the end of the '80s Within an FM synth Operators have when it was overtaken by the likes of two basic functions - they act as either Modulators or Carriers. Some the Korg M1 - the first harbinger of synths allow a Carrier to be its own the sampled music revolution to come. Korg's M1 displaced the DX7 as the Modulator but we'll save that for "must have synth". In effect, the Korg another time. The frequency of the Carrier is modulated by the Modulator M1, in turn, did to the DX7 what the DX7 had previously done to many to produce a new, more complex, analogue synthesizers. sound that can seem to be totally unrelated to the two basic sine waveforms being used. This is the The DX7 was a 6 operator synth that beauty of FM synthesis - simple forms introduced musicians to the idea of algorithms - preset configurations of can create amazingly complicated forms that are harmonically rich, and operators - that would simplify the thus interesting to listen to. creation of sounds with this new style of synth. The DX7 shipped with 32 In the mid 1970s Stanford University algorithms. Depending on the chosen licensed Dr. Chowning's method for algorithm operators act alone, in pairs, in parallel, are cascaded or multiple FM synthesis to Yamaha. It was, however, to be a few years, 1983 to modulators affect single carriers and vice versa. 32 options might not seem be precise, until they unleashed the ground breaking DX7 synth upon an a lot... until you start playing with unsuspecting world. Musicians soon them. September 2011

Introducing... One of the aims of this series is to give you some "hands on" practical information for using FM synthesis in your own music. To do that we'll be looking at a whole range of FM soft synths that range in price from â&#x201A;Ź0 up to nearly â&#x201A;Ź200. So, to finish off this month I'd like to introduce you to the synths that we'll be using over the next few months. Broadly FM soft synths fall into one of three categories: Algorithmic, Matrix or Hybrid. Algorithmic synths give you a fixed number of layouts for the included operators (generally four or six operators). Yamaha's DX7 is the quintessential algorithmic synth and a lot of soft synths stick to using the DX series' algorithms, or a subset of those algorithms. The DX7 (6op) included 32 algorithms and its little brother the DX9 (4op) had 8 algorithms. www.WusikSoundMagazine.com

Creating

FM Synthesis

Sounds

is hidden just below the surface. Feed offers a number of Matrix based FM synths generally offer a grid corresponding to the number of available operators. Using very interesting and unique features that I'll point out as the matrix any operator can act as a carrier or modulator. we go along. Since Feed is freeware there is absolutely no Any carrier can also be its own modulator. Having a matrix excuse for not having a copy. Feed will be our main "theory" synth as it is quite simple (3op) but with enough opens up a whole new universe of sound design guts to be able to produce some great sounds. You can possibilities but, compared to an algorithmic synth, it is easier to program yourself into a corner and create one of download Feed from www.concretefx.com/Feed.zip (Note: the discordant sounds mentioned at the beginning of this the F of Feed is uppercase) Take some time to look around article. the rest of Jon's site at www.concretefx.com because there is a lot of very interesting stuff to be found there! Hybrid synths could well be in a class of their own and it helps to make the distinction between soft synths that ConcreteFX - Digital happen to allow FM synthesis and Hybrid FM synths. In a hybrid FM synth FM is the main form of synthesis on offer. Digital is the second ConcreteFX FM synth that we'll be Elements from other synthesis methods are then included. taking a look at. Digital is an algorithmic synth that also These added "elements" may be as simple as a couple of includes a few "extras" such as Phase Distortion, LFOs and filters or additional oscillator waveforms but can go right 8 sequencers. Digital is actually quite an easy synth to up to wavetable/additive oscillators, LFOs, independent program since it is well laid out and easy on the eye. You modulators and addition routing matrices. can also totally change its look. We'll be using Digital in particular when we come to look at C:M Ratios later in the There is often, of course, some overlap between the three series. For those with a keen eye and a little bit of categories. So, as we look at the synths we're going to knowledge of the VST developer world you may have use in this series one might sometimes be referred to as noticed that Digital has a certain familiarity even if you've being in one category in one place and another category never seen it before… well, Digital is actually the elsewhere. I'll try however to be consistent. forerunner to Rob Papen's "Blue" synth that we'll also be using. Jon created Blue along with Rob and the two now ConcreteFX - Feed make a formidable design and development team. Digital is available from www.concretefx.com/Digital.htm Feed is a relatively unknown matrix based FM synth for $37/€29/£20 created by Jon Ayres of ConcreteFX. It's a bit of a gem and its simple, unadorned interface belies the power that

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September 2011

DiscoDSP - Phantom Phantom from DiscoDSP is an often overlooked algorithmic FM synth that deserves some attention. It is a simple 4 operator design that can produce some really sweet sounding pads and leads. One of Phantom's greatest features is that it can import SysEx patches from Yamaha DX100, DX27 and DX21 synths. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of SysEx patches available for free on the net. Phantom is available from www.discodsp.com/phantom for $69 or â&#x201A;Ź45 including VAT. de la Mancha - FMMF FMMF from de la Mancha is a freeware 4op algorithmic FM synth that won third place in the 2009 KVR Developer's challenge. Its bright orange, white and black interface is well laid out and very clear - if somewhat eye searing. FMMF offers a number of different oscillator waveforms but its main feature, which dominates the interface, is the inclusion of multi-stage envelopes for each operator. Each envelope can have up

to 32 stages operating for as long as you like. This makes FMMF a great synth for pads and for understanding how envelopes affect the FM sound over time. FMMF is available from www.delamancha.co.uk/FMMF.htm

September 2011

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Creating

FM Synthesis

Sounds

LinPlug - Octopus Octopus from LinPlug is probably the most complicated synth that we'll be looking at. As its name suggests it has 8 operators and is a matrix based synth. Octopus however definitely falls into the category of "Hybrid" as it offers additive based oscillator waveforms for each operator, a separate routing matrix, 2 32 step sequencers plus a number of filters. We could spend a whole series on Octopus alone as it is a versatile synth that offers almost unlimited possibilities for sound design. Although it is the most complex of the FM synths that we'll be using it is actually very easy to get to grips with - more of a cuddly, friendly octopus than a DAW crushing sea monster. Octopus is available from www.linplug.com/Instruments/Octo pus/octopus.htm for â&#x201A;Ź99. miniSoftMusik - FEM 1 FEM 1 from miniSoftMusik is another almost unknown freeware FM synth. It's quite new on the scene but offers a lot of great features. It's a matrix based 6op FM synth with two LFOs, an extra mod matrix and great multi-stage envelopes. FEM 1 is well laid out and very clear. We'll be spending some time getting to know this synth when we look in more detail at matrix based FM synths. In the meantime, download it from http://wd81p901z.homepage.tonline.de/freeware.htm and start playing!

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September 2011

Rob Papen - BLUE

Without whom, etc.

This series of articles on FM Synthesis wouldn't have been Finally, last but not least, we have Rob Papen's BLUE. possible without all of the help that I have received from According to the website "This exciting synth delivers FM Synthesis, Phase Distortion Synthesis, Wave Shaping a number of people. They have given of their time, knowledge, experience and some have also provided the Synthesis and Subtractive Synthesis in one creative plug-ins for this series. So, many many thanks go to Dr. combination! We call it 'Crossfusion synthesis'." As mentioned previously BLUE has its roots in ConcreteFX's John Chowning, Jon Ayres, Rob Papen, Peter Linsener, Digital synth. However BLUE takes the ideas found in George Reales, Steve Bramley and Christoph Bielen. The Digital and takes them further, producing a synth that good stuff is theirs, any errors are mine alone! truly can be described as exciting. There is so much on offer in BLUE that it's almost impossible to know where to Thanks also to all the folk at WSM who, having proof read start - just playing around with the FM capabilities of this first article, now realise that there are five more to BLUE will keep us going for a while. FM synthesis in BLUE come. Thanks guys, couldn't have done it without you! is of the algorithmic variety and includes 32 different algorithms that don't all stick to Yamaha's blueprints. This makes BLUE an interesting synth to work with. BLUE is available from www.robpapen.com/blue.html for $239 or â&#x201A;Ź199.

September 2011

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Creating

Additive Synthesis

Sounds Part 3: Native Instruments Razor www.native-instruments.com Figure 1

Native Instruments has a knack for recognizing talent, developing that talent, and effectively marketing the results. This is obvious by their introduction of Razor (Figure 1), a fascinating take on the Additive Synthesis concept. Co-developed with Berlin-based producer, Errorsmith (Erik Wiegand, Figure 2) this is a polished, engaging, and powerful instrument. The sounds can be clean, crisp, and very dynamic. The interface is easy to use, inviting the user to explore and experiment with the Library of over 350 presets. Razor's Additive engine consists of up to 320 partials, making it a serious contender in our search for Additive Synthesis purity. What is startling about Razor is that everything you hear â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the filters, the stereo imaging, even the reverbs and delays are created by manipulating individual sine waves. This gives Razor a "high-resolution" sound (Native Instruments term, and I agree!), and makes it unique among software

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synths. The "3D" display just emphasizes that uniqueness. Apart from the outstanding sound quality, the level of control in Razor's Additive Synthesis provides a host of new possibilities for shaping sound. Some examples: Creative filters â&#x20AC;&#x201C; forget 12dB/24dB per octave -- how about variable slopes and boosts? The filter slope is continuously September 2011

Figure 2

by Ben Paturzo

Figure 3

adjustable from 0 dB per octave to 36dB per octave. Besides Resonance and Cutoff Frequency, you can also set Resonance width. Razor's Comb Filter adds a continuous blend between flanger and phaser behavior, going beyond traditional comb filters. The Waterbed Filter is obviously new. According to Errorsmith "It simulates ripples on a water surface, creating a filter curve with a rippling shape. It's like an 'organic' phaser. This sound, together with the spectral display, has an instant calming, meditative effect on me." See, Razor is even a sleep aid! The choices for Filter 1 are shown in Figure 3 and the choices for Filter 2 are shown in Figure 4. The fact that these "filters" are created by manipulating partials is amazing.

Figure 4

September 2011

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Creating

Additive Synthesis

Sounds

Figure 5

Dissonance â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from modulating single partials to compressing the whole sound. The dissonance effects are shown in Figure 5, with Centroid selected. This effect gradually de-tunes the partials so they meet at one frequency. In the last issue we did some similar types of partials tuning with Camel Audio's Alchemy (www.camelaudio.com). The Centroid effect contributes a lot to the Razor "sound." Reverb per-partial (!) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the reverb tail follows the pitch of the synthesizer voice, so it's pitchable via envelopes, LFO's and dissonance effects. A benefit of this: the dry signal and the overlapping reverb tails are always in tune, so even very long decay doesn't muddy up the melody. The reverb and chorus effects are under Stereo Effects, shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6

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September 2011

Part 3: Native Instruments Razor

Figure 7

Partial panning – pan parts of the frequency spectrum separately. Both the Stereo Pan and the Stereo Spread (Figure 7) effects pan each partial individually in the stereo field. This gives Razor a clean and pure sound. Delay/Echo – the Delay effects in Razor are created by echoing envelopes instead of audio. Thus, the echo affects only those parameters which are modulated by these envelopes, creating artificial but very musical echoes. This gives Razor some dissonant cues to counterbalance the "pure" tones.

Figure 8

Vocoder – an exceptional 34band Vocoder (Figure 8). Unlike in classic channel vocoders, the carrier signal isn't split up into multiple bands. Instead, the band amplitudes detected in the audio input are used to create a dynamic filter, which matches the spectral shape of the input signal. Again, the Vocoder is implemented in Razor's Additive engine.

September 2011

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Creating

Additive Synthesis

Sounds

Figure 9

Complex formants – as filters and oscillators (Figure 9). Errorsmith says "The Formant setting in the oscillators and Filter 1 is great for organic and complex spectral shapes – in fact, it adds 32 different oscillators and filters to Razor! The original idea was to integrate single cycle waveforms. At first I wasn't too sure about this – it seemed to contradict Razor's purist approach. But then I experimented with formant shifting – and I was convinced. Formant shifting is the movement of resonance peaks across the spectrum. It sometimes sounds like shifting the cutoff frequency of a filter – in a way, this oscillator is a hybrid between oscillator and filter. It's a great sound, and a lot of fun. It's a unique Razor feature."

Figure 10

Razor is a musical instrument in the best sense of the word. But what exactly is Razor? In Reaktor-speak, Razor is an ensemble (Figure 10). Looks simple enough. You'll notice two major blocks, but we'll concentrate on the Razor block, which is made up of a Synth block (Figure 11). Wow. Maybe I could design synthesizers! Anyway, the

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Figure 11

September 2011

Part 3: Native Instruments Razor

Figure 12

Synth block is made up of the structure seen in Figure 12. Hey! Who knocked over my jigsaw puzzle? You'd think our journey into the rabbit's hole wound end here. No. One of the blocks in Figure 12, Synth, has the structure shown in Figure 13. You'll notice in Figure 13 a block called Sine Bank, which is actually made up of three Sine Bank Reaktor modules as

Figure 13

September 2011

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Creating

Additive Synthesis

Sounds Figure 14

shown in Figure 14. This is where the magic starts, with Reaktor 5.5's Sine Bank module (Figure 15). This module allows a very large number of partials to be generated, each with a specified amplitude, frequency, and phase, all of which can be controlled dynamically. There is much to this module, as evidenced by the 20-page tutorial on "Building a Simple Structure with the Sine Bank Module" in Reaktor's 445-page Application Reference manual. This module is a significant contribution to the world of Additive Synthesis. With the complexity of Razor revealed, it is no wonder that Native Instruments refers to Errorsmith as a Reaktor ninja! The wonderful thing about owning the full version of Reaktor is that you are able to see the details of synths like Razor and learn from them. Errorsmith didn't "lock down" or hide any details â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it's all there for you to see and experiment with if you so desire. Note that Razor works with Reaktor player as well, but any changes to the presets are not saved, unless your DAW supports this feature.

Figure 15

At this point it might be wise to recap what we've done so far in the Additive Synthesis series. In Part 1 we covered a great deal of theory and implemented that theory using a true modular synthesizer, KarmaFX (www.karmafx.net). Using this synth we had complete freedom of module layout and connection, which is exactly what you want when you are demonstrating the

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Part 3: Native Instruments Razor

Figure 16

principles of Additive Synthesis from the "ground up." In Part 2 we used the versatile and extremely competent Alchemy. With this synth, we could further implement the practical implementation of Additive Synthesis, but do so in a much more efficient manner than building our AS synth oscillator by oscillator. Now, in this part of the series, we have an instrument that uses an Additive engine, but does not require us to fuss over individual partials and their parameters. Razor is therefore closer to what may be called a holistic approach to Additive Synthesis, an approach that allows us to benefit from the clean, natural sound of AS, yet use it as easily as any synth out there. The fact that Razor includes Formants and an excellent Vocoder is just icing on the cake. In keeping with the spirit of this series, we will now build a patch from scratch.

Figure 17

Refer to Figure 16 to initialize Razor. Here we have a simple synth using Osc 1 and Filter 1. I click on one of the modulation knobs under Filter 1's Cutoff control (Figure 17) and assign Envelope 2 to that knob. Turning the modulation knob all the way up, I then adjust the Cutoff control to about 60. Since Razor has a built-in Scope, I select that.

September 2011

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Creating

Additive Synthesis

Sounds Figure 18

Figure 18 is a C note being played. As a note here, the scope display is excellent, and watching Razor transform the many partials back and forth to form a snapshot seen in Figure 18 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; well, just say the effect is mesmerizing, and one picture doesn't do it justice. You really need to stay for the whole feature.

Figure 19

Our simple synth could use some fattening up. All I do is turn on the Reverb and look at the dancing sine waves (Figure 19)! Right away it's musical enough to pack up and go on the road. If there is one fault with Razor, it is that it is extremely addictive. A few tweaks here and there lead to immediate sonic results, which leads one to experiment further. One surprise opens up to reveal another delightful surprise. Note that the oscillator we've been using is the Pulse to Saw variant. The Pulse/Saw control allows us to change the shape between the two, and this control can be modulated. Since a saw has all partials present, odd and even, while the pulse can have only odd partials present (a 50% duty cycle pulse is a square wave, which has only odd partials present), the effect of modulating the Pulse/Saw control is audible. In Figure 20, 18

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I've switched the display so that the output of Osc 1 is visible and turned off the 3D for clarity. Envelope 3 is assigned to modulate the Pulse/Saw control, and the display does show the even partials creeping up as the waveform morphs from square wave to sawtooth. With the reverb engaged and a filter present, the results are very musical.

September 2011

Part 3: Native Instruments Razor

Figure 20

What's important here is that the results are easily varied, but without the "drop off a cliff" touchiness of overreaching controls. For example, I assigned LFO 1 to modulate the Resonance width of Filter 1. Together with this LFO and the Envelopes assigned to Osc 1's Pulse/Saw control and Filter 1's Cutoff frequency, I could easily tune the sound to my liking by simply adjusting the ADSR settings, LFO rate, and so on. Nothing "blew up" or became unstable, all was usable. Quite a feat, which is why I say that Razor is a musical instrument in the best sense of the word. Besides, watching a filter dynamically adjust it's Resonance width is marvelous.

Figure 21

But there are so many other things we can do with Razor. For example, the number of oscillator types leads to much exploration. I selected the Formant oscillator for Osc 1 and together with Filter 2 set to Comb Peak, I modulated the filter's Cutoff and the oscillator's Formant control with separate envelopes (Figure 21). With a little tweaking I got what sounded like a voice echoing off a steel drum, vocals with a steel edge! I'd wager that any sound designer

would consider Razor an indispensable tool, once he played with it. We could easily go on for quite a bit longer. The Centroid dissonance effect for example is intriguing enough to spend a page or two describing it. But one of my favorite features is the Reverb Synced, which I believe works September 2011

beautifully with the pure sounds of Razor's Additive engine. All in all, the experience of using Razor is one of well-rewarded exploration. That the exploration is as pleasant as play to a child, speaks volumes about what Errorsmith and Native Instruments have brought us.

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+ plus +

developer’s

corner

Analog Universe by dmbaer

A Most Memorable Sound Library This is a review of the Analog Universe What’s obviously fundamental is the Memories is the product of Elemental – Memories by Elemental Arts sound cost per usable preset. I’m making Arts, a company based in Vantaa, library, and I’ll state right up front I this point because I don’t want Finland and founded by Joonas Vaara. like it ... a lot! In fact, it’s going to be anyone to experience sticker shock Joonas is a composer who wasn’t difficult to avoid outright gushing. But about Memories, which is priced at satisfied with available sounds made before we get into why that is so, a approximately 110 US dollars. Your by digital synths, so he decided to small detour in the form of a first reaction may be similar to mine... create a library that met his own high cautionary tale is warranted. this is just an expensive sound library standards. He spent a year sampling and it costs more than a lot of fullsounds from a favorite analog synth, Not long ago, I purchased a software blown synths! And your first reaction the Alesis A6 Andromeda. From more synth from a company that has a would turn out to be a big mistake. than six thousand samples he looped sterling reputation in the VST the ones for which that was marketplace. That reputation made Analog Universe – Memories delivers appropriate, and created general me believe it would be safe to buy the in spades when it comes to sounds purpose SFZ files to make them software without first auditioning a that aren’t just usable but are outright accessible in any synth which supports demo copy. How could I go wrong, inspiring. I’m not talking about a few that format, including Rapture, given its pedigree and the fact that it standouts; I’m talking about the Alchemy and of course Wusikstation. boasted hundreds and hundreds of majority of the collection. If you’re Finally, he created synth-specific factory presets? I read the willing to take my word for that presets for Alchemy, Rapture and documentation, which was first rate, assertion, then read on. If you’re Dimension Pro. and got even more excited. So, I skeptical, then I’d invite you to just enthusiastically sat down to explore visit the Elemental Arts website and While I was impressed with the online the presets. What a letdown! I don’t play through the extensive list of demos, I was blown away when I got think I found a single sound that got demo sounds for yourself at the library installed on my DAW. As I me even mildly excited. And the few I http://elementalartsplayed through the SFZ offerings, found that were barely passable studios.com/memories-sound-demos. which number in the hundreds, every clipped like crazy if I played a loud Then watch the three videos at other one elicited a “Wow, I can so chord. I won’t name this synth, but by http://elementalartsuse this” reaction. And about one in the end of that day I was so studios.com/videos. If you do this, four made me think “OK, this one frustrated I was seeing double. you may decide you don’t even need belongs in my top ten list”. I honestly to read the rest of this review. Those thought they were that good. So, what’s the moral of this tale? It’s demos may very well convince you all simple. The cost per preset of any by themselves. I’d venture to say that you’ll think so synth or sound library is irrelevant. too, that is, if your pursuits would

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September 2011

benefit from a superlative analog sound. While this library would certainly complement a progressive rock style or a latter day Wakeman style, I’d hesitate to suggest that it should be associated with a specific musical genre. Any style requiring a highly musical sound (as opposed to synth special effects) could find a use for Memories. Let’s look in more detail at the library's composition. At the base level are WAV files. These are mono recordings made at 48kHz. Of the 6202 total files, totaling over 2GB in size, approximately 300 are synth drum samples. The rest are pitched musical tones. A good number of the pitched sounds are single shot (nonlooped) and the rest are looped for continuous play. The files belonging to sample sets are sampled every third semitone, typically starting around MIDI note 21 or 24 and ending between MIDI note 96 and 108. Above the wave files, we have sfz files that organize the multitude of wave files. Of these we have the following numbers by category: • • • • • • •

Brass – 18 Basses – 19 Drums – 68 Keyboards - 6 Leads – 72 Pads – 21 Plucks – 55

• Strings – 22 • Sweeps - 10 The sounds fit the categories well enough, although, as usual, the line between lead and keyboard or between strings and pads can be pretty nebulous. But just visit the aforementioned demo web page to listen to the sounds and you’ll get a good idea of the range of sounds Memories offers. Of the drums, most the SFZ files reference a single sound, but there are a few kits. That’s the last I’ll be talking about them simply because I’m not qualified to comment on their quality, or anything else having to do with drums for that matter. Except for the Pluck category, nearly all sample sets offer looped sounds. The single shot sounds typically have durations of one to two thirds of a second. I noticed no sample sets where the tuning was other than dead on nor the consistency of the multisamples was anything but seamless across the full keyboard range. Above the level of sfz files, we have synth-specific presets. There are banks for Alchemy, Rapture and Dimension Pro. Although I have all three of these instruments, I did not bother to evaluate the Dimension Pro presets under the assumption they’d be quite similar to those for Rapture. September 2011

Some generalizations are in order about all of these synth-specific libraries. For one thing, the majority of presets are thoughtfully offered in two versions: one employing delays and/or reverb effects and those in which those effects are not present. There are a smattering of layers and split presets, but I get the feeling these are present more as an illustration of what can be done, so that the Memories owner will be inspired to roll their own. In fact, the layer presets in Alchemy are mostly different from those offered for Rapture, although there’s technically no reason they could not have been identical. Rapture has one three layer preset called “Still I Miss You” consisting of sounds “LD Technox”, “PD Melody” and “ST Memory Pad”, all at about the same volume setting. This one is absolutely captivating. Alchemy owners, you’re heartily encouraged to recreate it. Back to more generalizations, we can observe that many of the Lead type presets are monophonic, but that’s done at the synth preset level. The underlying SFZ files are polyphonic, so any LD type sound can be used either way. Finally, the amplitude envelopes are pretty generic and there’s normally little filtering at the synth level, this being already accomplished in the source sound.

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Analog Universe The Alchemy implementation follows the Camel Audio recommended practices for the performance controls, at least up to a point. The eight performance composite settings are utilized, although like every other sound library offered for Alchemy, one of those performance options aggressively detunes pitches to a point where the result is unmusical, at least to my ears. I know I digress, but I can’t help voicing a complaint about this seemingly universal practice of which all Alchemy sound designers seem to be guilty.

This is the reason I’d encourage Wusikstation owners who don’t have access to Alchemy, Rapture or DP to consider acquiring Memories. Granted, Elemental Arts does not provide a Wusikstation-tailored bank, but the real treasure here is compilation of sample sets in the form of sfz files. Building presets on top of those should be a piece of cake, and I personally anticipate some happy hours doing just that.

Let me elaborate further on this idea. First, consider building a small number of preset templates. For You may learn more about the synthexample, there are a lot of specific implementations at the possibilities in creating a sound that Elemental Arts web site (visit the FAQ starts with one of the pluck sounds page). I don’t want to spend any and having that quickly crossfade to a more time on them here, because I lead, pad or strings continuous sound. think there’s something more In fact, put in a layering between two significant to discuss. looped sounds and set up a MIDI control with which you can crossfade I have few doubts that I’ll be making between them. Then maybe add a extensive use of Memories in the triangle single cycle wave an octave future, but I just can’t see using the down as a sub-oscillator that you can presets for either Alchemy or Rapture. fold in when you want more gravitas Why? It’s simple. It’s going to be way (if we’re using Alchemy or DP, we’ve too much fun to create my own just used up all our oscillators, but presets, and I’d assert that anyone Rapture users don’t have to stop with even the most basic skills in here). Add some vibrato or tremolo sound design could do the same. controlled by the mod wheel. Tart your template up with some favorite If you know how to construct a basic effects … you get the idea. Then just ADSR amplitude envelope and hook an start playing around by loading LFO up to pitch or amplitude, you various sfz sounds into the oscillators have the requisite skills to create of your template and see where it Memory presets. Elemental Arts has takes you. The possibilities are almost already done the heavy lifting here by limitless. giving you the compelling, complex underlying sounds with which to work. 22

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September 2011

Let me close with one other thought about sampled synth sounds. These sometimes get a bad rap because they limit the animation you can impose when the synthesis is not truly happening in real time. There’s some merit to this argument. Take the sweep sounds in Memories as a case in point. If the sweeps aren’t happening at precisely the rate you need, you’re out of luck (well, you actually could change the sweep rate in Alchemy by using the granular synthesis feature, but that’s a bit beyond the basic skills I’m claiming are all that are needed here). But, the other side of the argument is also pretty convincing. Using the sumptuous analog sounds like those Memories provides allows you to produce rich, complex and compelling results that can be far more appealing than what one can normally digitally synthesize from single-cycle wave forms. Furthermore, there are still plenty of opportunities for real-time animation. Add further filtering, which can tame the sound or make it more aggressive with the high resonance settings, but make it move in either case. Add whatever effects your synth has on board or get that job done with external effects. You are limited only by your imagination. In conclusion, let me just say: excellent work, Elemental Arts. Very well done, indeed. http://elementalarts-studios.com

developerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s corner

Interview with

Joonas Vaara by dmbaer

WSM: On your web site (http://elementalarts-studios.com), you mention that it was your activities as a composer that led you to feeling the need to create the Memories sound library. Tell us about what led you to composing. JV: Music and sounds have always been important for me. Being the youngest son I was surrounded by records bought to the house by my brothers. One of my brothers played the guitar, but lacking that skill my own hobby remained purely a listening fare until in 1994 a friend showed me Scream Tracker 3, a Finnish computer program called a tracker. This tracker made it possible to make music with a normal home PC and opened a new world for me. It took me a while to learn to use the new tool but soon I was making some noise with it. For a 12 years old kid, this was so much fun and in moments I was irreversibly caught by the art of music making.

WSM: You use DAW's for making music now, how did your change from trackers to DAWs happen? JV: MIDI equipment was expensive then and at the time MIDI sequencers did not offer sample playback (a basic task for trackers) so there were very few reasons for me to start using MIDI, that is until SoundFonts came. Sound Fonts enabled me to use better quality multisampled sounds. Because I was so used to the fast workflow of September 2011

trackers I could not bear to enter notes one by one, with a mouse, into a MIDI sequencer staff view. I needed a new way to input note data, this was when I started playing the keyboard, changed to using MIDI and why I got interested in synthesizers later. I still use trackers (Renoise) from time to time but I'm really waiting for the perfect music making application, which for me would be a DAW with a tracker view integrated alongside the piano roll. www.WusikSoundMagazine.com

Joonas Vaara

WSM: Did you learn all these tools and your music knowledge all by yourself? JV: Basically yes. I'm a computer guy (an engineer) so I have always liked to try new things. I learned all my music theory by experimenting and reading articles from the Internet. Later I started reading music making and recording magazines like Computer Music and Sound On Sound, they were of great help particularly in mixing and professional audio recording, tasks I had not paid much mind to when using trackers. There are many great free music theory resources available on the internet, one that stands out and I have to mention is called "Principles of Orchestration On-line" available at the NorthernSounds.com discussion forum.

had nothing to lose but try and get one myself. A lot of research ended with me being convinced that a modern fully programmable polyphonic synthesizer with vast modulation possibilities and flexible voice architecture was the way to go. After this my research quickly came to the Alesis A6 Andromeda as being the best option for me.

WSM: The A6 Andromeda has a reputation of being a hard synth to tackle, how did you find it?

JV: It took me about 6-months to program the sounds for Analog Universe - Memories learning to use the Andromeda along the way. I had some difficulties first getting the sounds that I wanted because I did not understand how sensitive the gain structure of Andromeda was. Most WSM: You soon decided to make VSTis simply don't react to oscillator your own sample library, how did and filter levels in this way. In this happen? Andromeda every gain stage affects the tone of the sound. This dynamic JV: It happened because after getting responce to gain is one of the reasons the Andromeda I understood why why real analog synthesizers have some people still rave about real such a lively sound and also why they analog synthesizers. Andromeda was can be hard to progam since too hot an eye opener for me, its sound "overdriven" signals can easily ruin simply blew my mind away. Before your sound. Current guitar amp getting my Andromeda I had no emulations also struggle to replicate WSM: How did you end up buying earlier experience with real analog this dynamic behavior which happens a real analog synthesizer i.e. the synthesizers thinking virtual in analog circuits naturally. Alesis A6 Andromeda? analogues (VAs) are all that I need. After learning to program the I also realised that using a physical JV: VSTs and VSTis are amazing Andromeda I quickly understood the synthesizer with real pots made me concept because they allow a very difference. approach synthesizer programming fast workflow, multiple instances of from a different angle leading the same plugin and total patch I also realised that there is a need for inevitably to different kinds of sounds. settings recall, and best of all they serious professional sound libraries Andromeda's flexible voice don't take up space in your with usable melodic sounds for architecture got me experimenting room/studio. While the sound of plug- composers to use. I was not totally with different oscillator and filter ins has been getting better year by happy with the sounds I already had. settings which resulted in some nice year I felt that something is still The final factor was that I wanted to new sounds I had not made before. missing in their sound. Having heard a use my favorite Andromeda sounds lot of good things about and, in inside Sonar to have total recall for WSM: How did your sampling general, the mystery of real analog the presets so I decided to make a project go? Did you experience synthesizers I one day decided that I sample library (Memories) of them for difficulties along the way and myself. what did you learn?

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September 2011

developer’s corner

JV: After programming the sounds, I easy to underestimate the time that had to find a way to record, edit and this kind of project takes. loop them and to keep the sound quality as high as possible along this The second thing I would advise is to process. It took some thought to write first program a test sound set of say down all the different phases involved 20 of your best sounds, sample them in such a sampling project and to put and use that experience to research each operation in the right order to and develop the way to do everything avoid any possible issues later on. more easily next time. Also try to Even with good preparations made, make a neutral judgement of your there were some suprises along the sounds and compare them to other way. sounds available on the market. Your sounds should bring something new to Questions like what sample format to the scene or at least try do the classic choose, how many samples to take sounds better than your competition. from each synthesizer patch, how Don't start recording and editing many layers should I record, how to hundreds of sounds until you first normalize and crop the samples and have good enough source material to so on needed to be answered. To be worthy of this amount of work. eliminate the need for sample format conversions it was helpful to choose WSM: Which was the hardest part the final sample format right from the of the process of making a sample start. In contrast to what some people library? believe, even recording line level signals benefits from good quality JV: The most difficult part was recording equipment so I made sure programming great sounds in the first my audio interfaces were up to the place. Most annoying and time task. After recording the sounds I had consuming was, by far, looping the to clean them up by cutting silence sounds because when looping sounds from the beginning and the end. you need to concentrate a long time When processing thousands of sounds, while listening for the smallest clicks each and every extra click when doing and pops. I believe every sample simple tasks accumulates, thus it was library developer must hate looping a project in itself to find the right tools sounds. Manually looping thousands of for each job. sounds is not fun but is, unfortunately, still needed if the highest quality loops WSM: What advice would you offer are your goal. While looping your to someone planning to make a sounds please take enough breaks sample set of his/her own? and monitor your volumes to protect your ears. JV: The most important thing is to reserve enough time for the whole WSM: Now that you’ll have time to process so that the programming and get back to composing, what kind sampling sounds can be fun and not of music will that be? something forced on you. It is very

September 2011

JV: My biggest influences are Jean Michel Jarre, Queen, Judas Priest, Bjørn Lynne, Jean Sibelius, Hans Zimmer and John Williams. So I’m interestend in all kinds of melodic music in general. Some genres I like to write most include dance music, rock music and orchestral music. I try to be open minded and learn new things all the time. WSM: What's next for Joonas Vaara? I'll keep looking for that killer trackerDAW hybrid software I'd like to see some day and hope I don't have to start coding it myself. :-) Its frankly amazing that no one has not done this yet (Cakewalk? wink wink). The closest thing to it I have found is using a VST tracker called reViSiT by nashNet inside a traditional DAW. By Elemental Arts there will be some new products in the Analog Universe sound library later on recorded from a different analog synthesizer and at some point there will probably be a music album from me incorporating some of these sounds. I will keep a keen eye out for any cool new kinds of MIDI input devices like the Eigenharp by Eigenlabs, in the future it's all about how to make the workflow for musicians easier, be it software or hardware. It will also be interesting to see how long the CD-audio format remains the audio standard now that HD video content and HD televisions are everywhere. WSM: Thank you for the interview. JW: It's been a pleasure talking to you guys, thank you.

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DiscoDSP

Corona by Adrian Frost

High quality soft synths are like the proverbial London buses. There are none for a while, and then three show up at once. The year 2010 saw a number of really excellent subtractive synths hit the market, but 2011 seemed to start quietly. Recently though, there has been a flurry of new releases that yours truly has had the good fortune to be able to look at

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almost as soon as they hit the shops. A quick visit to DiscoDSP's website at Next month I'll be taking a look at two www.discodsp.com reveals a very simple advert for Corona that states, newcomers to the VST synth world: "Oscillator Love". George Reales, kiloHearts' "kHs ONE" and Dmitry Corona's developer, is obviously Sches' "Diversion". This month we're staking his and Corona's reputation on going to be investigating DiscoDSP's the quality and, presumably, the latest and greatest: Corona. variety of oscillator options for this new synth. So, without further ado... DiscoDSP already have a very good reputation based upon the Discovery and Discovery Pro soft synth pair that Love is in the air I reviewed back in June's issue. Apart Installation of Corona is simplicity from those two subtractive synths, itself and only takes a very short DiscoDSP also offer an Additive synth amount of time. Corona is available as called "Vertigo", an FM synth called a 64 and 32-bit Audio Unit and VST "Phantom", and a sampler called "HighLife". Although these three synths for Mac and also a 64 and 32-bit VST for Windows. So everybody should be are probably less well-known, they are certainly of a similar quality to the able to find something to suit them. two Discovery synths. So, can Corona Since I'm still running a 32-bit host, I opted for the 32-bit Windows VST continue, or even add to, DiscoDSPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s version. spotless reputation?

September 2011

When you open Corona for the first time the most obvious thing is that the interface is quite large and chunky. I like it a lot even though it's something of a departure from DiscoDSP's normal blue and grey livery. Having said that, there is still definitely a family resemblance.

eight slot mod matrix. It also includes a unison control for up to four voices and a dedicated vibrato control which is the first time I've come across such a thing on a synth.

All of that sounds fairly standard and, dare I say it, a little boring. So, what makes Corona stand out? Remember There's plenty of space to move the "Oscillator love" already around and all of the controls are well, mentioned? The oscillators are where and clearly, labelled. Each movable it's at in Corona. control also includes a clear indication of its current value. Corona is a 3 Some Oscillator Love oscillator subtractive synth with a range of filter types, three envelopes Firstly, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s check out the waveforms. for volume, filter, and mod, and an Corona ships with a few hundred

September 2011

different waveforms which are available to each of the three oscillators. You have the standard selection of Sawtooth, Parabola, Triangle, Sine, Square, and Noise and then a whole pile of specialist waveforms. The image attached to this paragraph shows what is available in the "Factory" category. There is also a "Classics" category that features 287 waveforms from some classic analogue and digital synthesizers. Amongst the selection you'll find waveforms from a Minimoog, an ARP 2600, a Buchla Modular, a Crumar Performer, a Fairlight CMI, a Korg MS-20, a

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Corona

Mellotron, an Oberheim OB8, a Prophet 5, a Roland Juno 60, a Theremin, a Waldorf Pulse, and a Yamaha CS80. That's less than half of the synths in the list. Selecting Corona's basic "Init" preset and trying out a range of the waveforms mentioned above showed them to be good sounding, clean, and well-balanced. They create a good base for the more than three hundred supplied presets. The waveforms are, however, only half of the oscillator love story. Corona presents a new and novel way

of using its three oscillators. Let me explain. Osc 1 and 2 can be mixed together via the "Combine" control using one of 24 methods that we'll take a look at in a moment. The result of mixing Oscs 1 and 2 can then, subsequently, be mixed with Osc 3. When "Combine" is off for Oscs 1 and 2, you only hear Osc 1.

The 24 combine methods are listed in the accompanying picture. ADD, SUB (Subtract), MUL (Multiply), SYNC, RINGMOD, and PM are fairly obvious, standard and well-understood methods of mixing sounds. After that, PYTHAG, when using two sines, we move into new, uncharted territory. produces...not much except a short "blip" sound. However, using two AND, OR, XOR, ABS AND, ABS sawtooth waves gives a beautifully OR, ABS XOR, and PYTHAG are mellow keyboard sound. PYTHAG's unashamedly digital. I'm algorithm for creating this sound is, guessing here, but I would imagine that these methods take according to the manual, O = SQRT (a * a + b * b) where O is Output and a the instantaneous value of the waveforms in question and apply and b are Osc 1 and Osc 2's values at any moment in time. Thankfully, the relevant operation to DiscoDSP have worked the math side produce the output. What is of things out for us. more important though is what these methods produce. I tried The next ten methods appear to be each method using a basic sine the same as those we've already waveform for both Osc 1 and 2, looked at except that they are and for each method, I played a prefixed by "DT" which stands for simple series of chords in the "Detune". Osc 1 is detuned with bass, mid, and upper registers. relation to Osc 2 (or vice-versa), and the sounds produced are all quite AND produces a resonant sound thick and move around. For example, with distinctive highs and a sold DT XOR using just two sines gives a bass end. The overall sound is rich phased string sound - not not unlike what you would get necessarily what you would expect using an FM synth where Osc 1 from two sines. The phasing is also modulates Osc 2. OR is very not entirely static; it changes speed similar to AND in the mid and upper ranges and sounds slightly and depth as you hold a note. fizzy in the bass. XOR produces Finally, amongst the combine something totally new. It's a methods, you have BROKEN PM which similar sound to ADD, but the gives a rough edge to any sound. low end has been heavily attenuated leaving a slightly thin, Compared to the normal PM option, BROKEN PM truly does sound broken. but not unpleasant, sound. ABS AND produces a sound that could probably be best described

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as sounding somewhat like a clavinet. It is significantly thinner than the tone produced using XOR. ABS OR is similar to ABS AND, but this time the mids and lows are slightly more resonant. ABS XOR, like its XOR counterpart, has less low end power than the other two "ABS" methods. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one interesting thing to note: any chord played using XOR appears to be one octave higher than the same chord played using the other methods. I suppose there is a mathematical reason for this.

September 2011

Even before we throw in Osc 3 and start fiddling around with the filter,

mod matrix, and envelopes, it is obvious that Corona is capable of an amazing variety of sounds. I don't think I've ever dedicated so many words to just talking about oscillators!

is microtonal. That is, as you move up or down the keyboard, the tone does not follow the usual semi-tone "gap" between adjacent keys. This interesting result gives just a hint of Corona's potential.

In addition to the oscillator controls already mentioned, Corona also has three controls for phase, leakage, and drift. Playing with phase and drift introduces subtle variations to the timbre of any particular sound. Leakage has a bigger impact which is almost impossible to describe. This is one you're going to have to try for yourself. And the rest Next to the oscillators are a couple of buttons for randomising either just the selection of oscillator waveforms or the complete Oscillator, Unison, and Filter sections. The results can be further refined according to what you want to achieve. The clever thing here is that you can use the forward and backward arrows on the button to move through all of the randomised presets that are produced. This means you can go back to previous sounds if you so desire. Working your way through Corona's other controls reveals some neat touches that set this synth apart. The Attack, Decay, and Release sections of the Volume and Filter envelopes have a small drop down menu from which you can choose either one of five or one of three envelope curves. The differences are subtle but noticeable. The thing that is nice about having this option right there in front of you is that you'll try them and use them. Quite a few synths, if they even have curve options, bury them away in sub menus or the like, so they don't get used. Corona puts them front and centre which encourages exploration and experimentation.

It's also worth pointing out that each destination control shows how it is being affected by its modulation source. This shows up as movement in the band that encircles the knob. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a clever and useful feature. DiscoDSP's reputation? Considering that this is a version one release (i.e. a brand new synth), there is nothing that I would want to complain about. Corona's manual is helpful and detailed, and in it, you can find the answers to most of the The last thing I want to comment on is questions you might have about the the Mod Matrix. Each destination can synthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique features. have two sources assigned to it at the Corona is a high-quality synth and the same time from the same "slot". This possibilities for sound design are effectively doubles the number of modulation slots available and also, it varied and interesting. The included presets give a good feel for what seems to me, makes you think more Corona is capable of doing. It's the carefully about how different sources will inter-relate to affect the kind of synth that invites you to dig in destination. Amongst the source and try stuff out, and the results are generally very pleasing. From my options are a number of random values. The manual says that they are point of view, any unpleasant sounds are a result of my relative lack of skill. "Constant unipolar random values per Corona certainly isn't at fault. voice" and "Constant bipolar random values per voice". One thing is certain, they are quite fun to add to the mix. I started out by wondering how Speaking of mixes, Osc 3 and an Corona would affect DiscoDSP's considerable reputation. "What are option called Oscmix, which is presumably the mix of all three your conclusions?" I hear you cry. I oscillators, can act as modulation think their reputation is safe; actually, I'd go as far as to say that Corona will sources. This gives, amongst other things, some interesting FM style give DiscoDSP's reputation a huge options for your sounds. boost. Is it their crowning glory? Maybe, though they don't seem to As a quick experiment, set Osc 1 to have run out of ideas yet. use a sine wave and turn combine off. Do the same for Osc 3. Now use Osc 3 Corona is available from as a source with "Pitch" as the http://www.discodsp.com for 95 Euros or $139. destination. Play away! You should end up with a high pitched sound that September 2011

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Take Total Control with

NativeKONTROL PadKONTROL (pKC-SCL+STC+STR) by Trusty

Software music production has done incredible things for the music creation process. It is high quality, affordable, and easily accessible. It has also given off the impression that "anyone can do it" and there are millions of beat makers around the globe eager to make the next hottest chart-topping track. There is a slight problem with all this. Out of all those millions, there is not a whole lot of skill once one considers the ratio of the skilled producers compared to the whole number of people producing music these days (and in some cases there isn't a lot of talent either). This is not a bad thing. Not everyone needs to be a trained musician to make music. In fact, many of the more creative producers today lack proper piano skills and music theory knowledge. I will use myself as an example. I am a trumpet player, who studied music theory for years. My piano skills leave a whole lot to be desired. Usually I am step recording my way through piano rolls and then trying to go back with quantizing to make it seem more "natural". For anything I can't play

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slowly with one hand, I use step record. Enter Stray. I don't know his real name. But this guy is a freaking genius. His tutorial video of using only Reason Adapted to compose a simple beat will make you wanna cry to your mom and take a look in the mirror and realize you suck by comparison, regardless of your thousands of dollars worth of gear. That he makes hot beats is on top of the fact that he is a midi genius. He is a whiz when it comes to midi controllers and Bomes Midi Translator. When you check out his videos, he has tens of thousands of views for most of them, you expect to see some kind of hipster nerd type. Nope. Far from it. I am a Korg padKONTROL user, and one night I sat around with the padKONTROL editor and made a bunch of scene-sets for it using different scales and key signatures to make things easier on myself when composing. Stray made something way, way, way better than that, and if I had known about his product, I would have never bothered with all those scene-sets I made. For the

September 2011

record, I use Stray's product from his nativeKONTROL company. I do not use my own scene-sets (they are crap by comparison). I don't know how he figures all this stuff out, but my padKONTROL is the best second best investment I ever made for music production. The best is getting his product for it. In fact, I am just happy he knows how to figure all this out, that it just works almost flawlessly (aside from the occasional user error...there is nothing wrong with the product itself), and I really don't care how it all comes together. That is Stray's trade secrets, but he is very generous with his knowledge, and his product pricing. All I know is that you set up the padKONTROL in your host with some MT Player thing running in the background, make some midi in and midi out configuration in the host, and you're done. Look, the package I am using only costs $30.00 and there are packages for the padKONTROL that go up to about $68.00 and they are all worth every penny. This might be obvious, but any tool that can help you play

music better is pure win. Any tool that you have no idea what I am talking about in the previous few sentences. helps you interact with your software If this, or any part of this describes DAW better than the typical template you, then you need a padKONTROL stuff companies include with their controller products is pure win as well. from Korg (cheap off of eBay these days), and you need nativeKONTROL's I know that many people who can't package. play the keys are always looking for new software products to get more sounds, because they can't do much Here is what pKC-SCL does. You with the sounds they have, even if the select a root note, A through G (with sounds they have are very good. It all the sharps and flats for the isn't the host, the instruments, or the applicable root notes in between) and sounds you already have, it's the fact then you select a scale for it (i.e. you can't really play the keys all that major, minor, diminished, blues, etc. well and make the music in your DAW There are over forty different scales, that you hear in your head. including some great ethnic ones, which can lead to some great Get a padKONTROL and then let Stray experimentation) and then you play and his nativeKONTROL products help the pads. You can select different you out. If it helps you write better octaves as well. Guess what, you can't melodies and original compositions play a wrong note, because all the because you are more comfortable pads are set up to leave the "wrong this way than on the keyboard, then notes" from the scale out. you may find yourself not needing to spend tons of money on getting new That is not all. Stray has also made sounds and instruments because you use of the knobs, XY pad, and buttons can now bring your current sounds to as well to add additional features such life and expression with this package. as "Add Note" to create chords and melodies on the fly. It also gives you Will it make you Mozart, but on the transport functions for your host, and pads? Nope. But what it will do is so forth. There is a full manual and make you ten to twenty times better video on the website, and they are than you are if your keyboard skills worth checking out. are garbage. Even if you have great keyboard skills, there are certain pKC - STC tricks this thing can do to make your life easier, especially with strumming This mode is similar to the one above, sounds (see below). You still gotta be but it involves chords.. It has the able to play the pads well, but Stray chord function for all the root notes, has done a ton of the thinking for you and can even do inversions. It is so you can focus on writing the music limited to major and minor chords and upping your pad skills. Here is only, but it has buttons that can what you can get for your activate it to do power chords. So with padKONTROL for a mere $30.00 this, you are not just limited to using the other one to find chords, this does pKC-SCL it for you. Not to mention, it allows you to not only write simple melodies, Okay. So you suck on the keys, and but fully involved pieces of music. your melodies are sucking even worse, and you don't even know how to keep pKC- STR your bass line in the same key signature as your lead synth. Worse This mode is really cool. It mainly still, you have no idea that this is uses the X Y pad on the padKONTROL. happening. Even worse than that is Dragging your finger left to right, right September 2011

to left, down to up, or up to down (or crisscrossing or whatever) on the X-Y pad makes it sounds like you are strumming an instrument (think guitar, but this mode isn't limited to those kinds of uses). It is really cool. You can use it in mono or poly sustain mode, and it sounds very realistic. It still works much like the other two modes in that you select your root notes and all that. Tapping at random on the X-Y Pad triggers the notes individually for some extra fun. Look! Maybe you are great on the keys, even so, this is just fun to have. I take it though that most people looking at this product are like me...you stink on the keyboard. Once you just admit this, and realize that there are workarounds, the better you and your music will be. Stray is here to help you. Step your game up with this product. It will be one of the best investments in your production game you will ever make. nativeKONTROL offers a lot more for the padKONTROL, providing modes for controlling DAW software and other uses for Ableton, Reason, etc. Furthermore, there are tons of controller options, including the Korg nano-series, Livid Ohm, APC40, Launchpad, MPD 32, and others. Check out the website at http://www.nativekontrol.com/ and have a look around, go check out the forums at http://beatwise.proboards.com/index. cgi because it as a wealth of good information, watch some videos of the products, and read the manuals. You can thank me later. Also, be sure to check out Stray's YouTube channel. There are plenty of great and informative videos that are worth watching as well. http://www.youtube.com/user/Stray4 11

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One Small Clue's I feel very lucky to be part of the One Small Clue family as I am a very happy user of one of their other plugins, the mighty Poise, so when I was offered the chance to review their new plug-in I knew it would be good. Preston Gate is a high quality gate, expander and ducker plug-in. I certainly haven't got another one like

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it in my list of plug-ins, so it makes me think that I am missing out. I have to confess to not being too â&#x20AC;&#x153;au faitâ&#x20AC;? with this style of plug-in so it has been fun learning about how it can benefit me.

familiar with a gate plug-in will know how it works, and this is no different. The attack and release parameters are there as well as a hold parameter. The Hold parameter makes sure the gate remains open for a minimum set time, which is useful because sometimes The GUI is nicely laid out with when you are being very precise with everything needed to get the most out gate settings, i.e. fast attack and fast of this plug-in. Most people who are release times, you can get weird

September 2011

Preston Gate by LeVzi

results. The Hold parameter allows you to fine tune it a bit further, and make things smoother.

break that sounds really choppy but smooth too. It's actually really funky.

With the Ratio at infinity, and Range at infinity too, the gate, when shut, allows nothing through at all, so in effect anything under the threshold is cut out completely. If you adjust the Ratio, you are in fact compressing the signal, but allowing some of it through. You can literally lose yourself in the plug-in just messing around with the controls, trying out different I was recently given a snippet of audio combinations of gating to see how it from a very old track that is the basis can benefit you. What I really like of one of the most popular modern about this gate is how snappy it is. day break beats. I loaded it up as an The response times are very fast audio clip and then applied Preston indeed, lightening quick, and I am gate to it. With the default settings, it convinced that's down to excellent does nothing, so I set a fast attack coding and the use of Delphi. I take and fast release time, I then moved my hat off to Shannon at One Small the Threshold higher until it began to Clue for once again creating a plug-in have an effect. Bearing in mind that that is extremely accurate in every the Ratio is set to infinity (in other way. words, when the gate is shut it lets nothing through) as soon as the sweet Using Preston gate as a dynamics spot level is hit, the music starts to shaper, is something I have to admit stutter. The gate is opening and to being na誰ve about too, as from closing at a lightening pace causing what I understand of the whole what is referred to in the manual as concept, anything under the threshold chattering. This is why the Hold is softened as opposed to how parameter was introduced, to smooth anything over the threshold is this out. So I increased that slightly, softened with a compressor. So how and hey presto, I now have a gated exactly can this make drum sounds

I had to put this to the test. When doing these reviews I prefer to have my DAW open and just use the plugin and write my findings, especially if I go in blind and only reference the manual or such like when really stuck. You never know what results will be achieved.

September 2011

punchier ? Well I decided to experiment with it and see just how it works. I set up two channels with the same kick drum sample on both, and I added an instance of Preston Gate to one. I then adjusted the parameters as follows: fast attack, fast hold and fast release. Then I set the Threshold to sit just under the peak line for the kick drum; Ratio and Range stay on inf. The kick has gained power. In fact it's gone from a normal 909 style to one with a harder edge. I cannot see how this looks so I load up s(M)exoscope x2 and take a look at the dry and wet versions of the kick drum. Looking at the waveforms it is hard to see much difference but there is one things that sticks out a bit. Just past the initial transient, where on the dry signal it is dense, it is slightly sparser, and the overall length is less, so it's taken a full kick and turned it into a snappy, punchier, yet shorter version. I wonder what this would be like in parallel? And sure enough running two channels, one dry the other with Preston Gate, the kick has become very punchy and very full. Route them both to one channel, add some quick EQ, and you've taken a pretty standard kick and turned it into

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Preston Gate

an eardrum rattler. I am using this in a harsh manner as that's how I work. But for the more subtle dynamic changes, namely by lengthening the release a bit and the hold, maybe even the attack, you soften out the kick, make it less harsh, and turn that standard kick into a much more defined, and dare I say it, club style kick drum. So we have yet another option for drum dynamics, and a very welcome one.

Preston Gate has more than one method of being triggered. It can be triggered by the incoming signal of the channel you put it on, or you can use another channel to control Preston Gate as a side chain. A side chained gate, perfect. But you think it ends there? No, as it also has the ability to be triggered from MIDI, which is something that made me sit up and take note as I like to work mostly in MIDI, so using Preston Gate with a MIDI input to trigger it is something Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve found very useful.

time to come. I expect it will grow just like Poise has done over time.

I think it was maybe a bit presumptuous of me, but I would like to mention that I approached the company that are responsible for Delphi's support and development about a possible ETA as to when Delphi will go 64bit. I received an email stating end of Summer 2011. I am not saying that One Small Clue plug-ins will be supported (I hope Using Preston Gate purely as a gate is they will), but at least the option to ideal for cutting out background noise use Delphi in a 64bit environment too. It can be made to sound natural There is also a section for filtering could become a reality. I for one could or unnatural depending on your choice. consisting of a high and low pass filter. not exist without Poise or now Preston What is useful about Preston gate is Preston gate certainly has plenty of Gate, they are so important to my that with so many controls, you can options to use. work. really make it work to perfection and be as gentle, yet effective, as you All in all, I am really pleased to have Visit want. Some gates have basic Attack tested this plug-in. Not only did it http://www.onesmallclue.com/preston gate.php for more information and Release settings with just a provide me with a lot of fun chopping Threshold parameter. Preston Gate up loops and breaks and making them goes way beyond that, making it that almost glitch like, but it allowed me to It is priced at $49, and is a windows VST 32 bit plug-in at present. much more worth purchasing. use a gate with precision accuracy to get rid of some background noise in Getting away from the gating side of some samples I have. it, you can reverse this and use the Ducking option, which basically means Preston Gate is still in its infancy. It that instead of the gate opening when was just released when I was the signal reaches a threshold, it now approached, I expect Shannon to shuts when it reaches a threshold. continue its development for some

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September 2011

Long-term review:

LinPlug's Part 3 - Let's make some noise…

The final part of my long term review of LinPlug's MorphoX was due to appear in last month's issue of Wusik Sound Magazine but life and vacation time caught up with me and I wasn't able to get the review done in time. So, here it is this month.

start with the Morph wheel set to subpreset "A" - otherwise things could get a little confusing. The Bass Let's kick off with the bass preset. I'm going for a crunchy, staccato sound…

In this review I'm going to take a look at Part A creating, from scratch, some new sounds Osc 1 for MorphoX, so I guess this review has • Set both oscillators to "Sine" and gone from being a review to being a tutorial. adjust the pitch to 16" and 32" To help you out and maybe save a bit of • Move the Symmetry (symm) twiddling, all four of the presets - bass, control round to the right to break up lead, pad and FX, can be downloaded from the waveform. You can also fiddle http://wsm.anzoid.com/morphox.zip The file is tiny, only 3130 bytes, so there is no excuse not to download it! For each of the presets I have focused on creating the sound and have not bothered so much with adjusting settings for the arp, velocity, aftertouch or mod wheel. It's up to you to add those to suit your tastes. If you're following along without having downloaded the zip file you'll need to start from the "init" preset in the "Various" category. You'll also need to make sure that you

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September 2011

MorphoX by Adrian Frost

Master • I've added a hint of chorus to the sound but you can leave it off if that's not your thing. around with the phase control if you like. • Move the Wave control around to the left until you almost hit the end point. This means that you get more of the 32" low wave than the 16" wave an octave higher - a good way of adding thump to the sound. • Increase the Spread a small amount. Osc 2 • Set both oscillators to "Dark Pulse 2" at 16" - this gives the crunch. • Increase the Spread, you need more Spread here than for Osc 1. • Turn up Osc 2's FM control to just below the 9 o'clock position. You'll want to adjust

this by ear as a small tweak makes an enormous amount of difference with FM. LFO 1 • Set the Wave to peak and sync to 1/4.

Mod Matrix • Finally, on the Mod Matrix. Choose LFO 1 as source twice and use the two instances to set the symmetry of Osc 1 & 2 to about 0.5 and 0.2 respectively.

Filter • Increase the resonance of the filter by a small amount and drop the cutoff very slightly. The filter envelope needs no adjustment.

We now have our basic bass sound. To create the Morphed sound we'll copy sub-preset "A" over to sub-preset "B". This can be done by clicking on "Morph" and selecting "Copy A to B", Amp Envelope easy! Now move the Morph wheel • Set Attack, Decay and to "B". Make sure the "Link" button is active so that the synth Release to zero but boost Sustain right up to the top. The control window follows the wheel. I've not made too many changes Mod envelope need not be changed. for the second bass sound. You only need to change the settings mentioned on the next page.

September 2011

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MorphoX

Part B Osc 1 • Move the Wave control back to its center position. This brings in some more of the higher octave sine wave. • Increase the Spread by a further small amount. LFO 2 • Set the Wave to Sine with a sync value of 1/8 Master • Add some delay to the sound for a bit of depth. Mod Matrix • Add a LFO 2 as a new source with Osc 1 Pitch as its destination. Set the value to about 0.4. This will add some wobble to the morphed sound. OK, that's our first MorphoX preset completed. Don't forget to save your work! Now, onto a lead sound. The Lead When it comes to creating presets one of my favourite tasks is creating a lead synth sound. It's sometimes hard to categorise the sounds you make so this one might well fall into the "Keys" section too. Again we start from MorphoX's "init" preset.

Osc 2 • Set the waveforms to Saw Thin 1 and Saw Thin 2 both, again, at 4". The sound is quite high and not particularly pleasant at this point. • Move the Wave control slightly to the left and increase the Spread so that it is about half way up. • Back the volume off a small amount.

Part A Osc 1 • Set the waveforms to S+P High 1 and S+P High 2 both at 4". • Move the Wave control slightly to the left and increase the Spread so that it is about half way up. • Click on the "F" to the right of the Osc 1 label. This sets the oscillator to be free running, i.e. it is not retriggered on every key press.

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June 2011

Part 3 - Let's make some noise…

LFO 1 • Set the Wave to Sine with a sync value of 1/16.

Mod Matrix • Decrease slightly the value of the LFO 1 / Filter Cutoff setting.

LFO 2 • Set the Wave to Triangle and the sync to 1/8.

The Pad After leads I think that pads are probably my next favourite for sound design. MorphoX makes pad sounds easy. The pad that I'm trying to make should be, roughly, at the "strings" end of the sound spectrum. It's up to you to judge how close I've come.

Filter • Reduce the Filter Cutoff by about a fifth and increase the Resonance by the same amount. • Increase the BP (Band Pass) control so that it is pointing directly upwards. This lets in a little bit of the higher frequencies.

Part A Osc 1 • Select the Sawtooth wave for both parts of the oscillator. Set the first to 8" and the second to 2". The 2" pitch setting gives a high, crisp edge to the notes. Make sure that the Wave control is centered. You'll probably want to back off the volume for both Osc 1 and Osc 2 to avoid clipping with this preset. • Increase the Spread slightly.

Filter Envelope • Drop all four controls down to zero. Amp Env • Increase Decay to its full value. • Increase Release to about 50% Mod Matrix • Set LFO 1 as a source with Filter Cutoff as destination. Set its value to about 0.03. This means that LFO 1 won't be contributing a huge amount to the sound but enough that it's noticeable. • Set LFO 2 as a source with Osc1 Symmetry as destination. Set its value to about 0.04 Part B Osc 1 • Reduce the Spread control and turn the Wave knob slightly to the left. Filter • Increase the FM control to about 75%. This will add some grit to the morphed sound. Master • Increase the amount of Chorus being added. I've whacked the setting up to nearly 80% but adjust to suit your tastes.

June 2011

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MorphoX

Osc 2 • Select the Saw Plus 1 and Saw Plus 2 at 8" for both parts of the oscillator. • Increase the Spread to about 20%. • Although it's part of the "Mix" control area I'll mention it here. Increase the Ring amount until the pointer on the knob is vertical.

noticeably is the high pitch wave from Osc 1. Playing staccato notes makes that even more apparent. • Using LFO 2 as a source set the destination to Osc 2 Pitch with a lowish value of about 0.4 in order to add a tiny amount of tremolo to the sound.

The FX It has to be said that FX are probably amongst the most fun sounds to try and create as there are no restrictions on how far you can push your synth. Pretty much anything goes! I'm a fan of descending wobbly noises so that's what I'm going to have a go at

LFO 1 • Set the Wave to Sine and the sync to 4/1. This will eventually give us a very slow movement to Osc 1's panning control. • Increase the Delay very slightly. LFO 2 • Set the Wave to Sine and the sync value to 1/8. Everything else can stay at the default values. Filter • The only control we're going to touch here is the resonance that needs a small boost. Master • Again, only one change here from the defaults and that's to add some delay to our sound. Adjust according to how much you like delays. I've set the Delay's value to 1/4 and 1/4* respectively for Left and Right.

Part B Osc 1 • We're going to keep on using two Sawtooth waveforms but adjust the pitch control of the second to be 8" instead of 2". This removes the high frequency component of the un-morphed sound and smoothes it out. • Increase the Spread to just below the point where it sounds like everything is going out of tune.

Amp Envelope • Increase the Attack control to about 30%. This gives us a nice slow start to our sound. • Decay and Sustain need to be just below their highest values. • Release can also be increased to Osc 2 • All I've done here is to increase give a nice tail to the string sound. the Spread. Mod Matrix LFO 1 • In order to set up the slow • Turn the delay back down to panning mentioned earlier set almost zero. source to LFO 1 and destination to Osc 1 Panning. The value for this control should be around about 0.7. Mod Matrix • All that remains is to remove This means that our sound doesn't the setting for LFO 2 go fully left or right. The part of the sound that moves the most 40

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June 2011

creating with MorphoX. You might want to turn the volume of your speakers down when you come to do the morphed sound as it is a little on the shrill side. The Management will not be held responsible for any headaches caused by following this tutorial… Part A Osc 1 • Set the first part of the oscillator to Spectral 1 at 2" and the second to Spectral 2 at 2". You can hear already that we're starting off with a high pitched sound. • Set Wave to its central position. • Set Osc 1 to be free running by clicking the "F".

Part 3 - Let's make some noise…

Osc 2 • We're not using Osc 2 at all so set its volume down to zero. LFO 1 • Set Wave to Square and the sync value to 1/32. This is the "tinkling" sound of our FX, we'll add the descent part in a few moments. LFO 2 • Set the Wave to Sine with sync set to 1/16. We're going to use this to add a little bit of extra interest to the sound later on. Filter • Increase the Resonance control to its maximum value and back the LP volume off slightly. Master Mod Matrix Part B • I've added some Delay to the This is where the magic, such as it is, Osc 1 sound to make it a bit bigger. Left happens. • Increase the Spread slightly. and Right have been set to 1/16 and • Set a source to LFO with 1/16T respectively. destination being Osc 1 Pitch. Filter Mix Increase the value to around 2.8. • Turn LP volume down at zero Mod Env Any more than this and the sound and HP volume up to max. • All controls are set to zero apart starts breaking up, any less and it from Attack which is almost at just doesn't sound as good. Master maximum. The Attack sets how fast • Set another source to Mod • Increase the Delay control. our sound will descend. If Attack is Envelope with a destination of Osc 1 too low then after a few seconds the Pitch. Set the controls values to -48. As a variation you can change the Mod sound will, having descended, revert The negative value is what gives us Envelope value in the Mod Matrix to to its initial values which can sound a descending tone. A positive value +48. As you morph from sub-preset kind of weird. So, keep Attack high. will cause the tone to rise - an "A" to sub-preset "B" the falling tone instant variation to your sound! will start to rise again. • Set LFO 2 as a source whose Well, that's it for this tutorial on destination is Osc 1 making sounds with MorphoX. It has Panning with a value been an interesting few months of about 0.5. getting to know this synth. I have • Set LFO 2 with a been pleased with how easy it is to destination of Osc 1 program new sounds from scratch. Symmetry. Generally MorphoX seems to be quite These last two Mod a smooth synth but, as you will hear if Matrix settings just you listen to the presets, there is add a little bit of some real grit to be found in there too. variety to the sound. MorphoX is available from LinPLug at www.linplug.com for 99 Euros.

June 2011

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Tone2's

WARMVERB by LeVzi

You'd be forgiven for thinking this review is about an analogue reverb plug-in, but I can assure you it is not. Warmverb is the curiously titled effects plug-in from Tone2. Yes, it does have the ability to add reverb, but it is a full multi-effect VST. The reverb is just one part of it.

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When I first opened the plug-in, I was instantly taken aback by Warmverbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stunning GUI. Tone2 definitely take pride in the appearance of their plugins, and this is an example of that.

plainly marked. You have a total of four different effects sections, a mix area for fine-tuning the volume and wet/dry mix, a feedback section, and a signal path section (Routing).

As you can see, each section serves a different purpose and its purpose is

The browser section is where you can load up presets and banks, and where

September 2011

you can copy and paste, reset Warmverb, initialise it, and even randomize all the settings. I am always glad to see randomizing options in multi-effects as they can lead to something unique and interesting that you may not ever arrive at using logical thought.

When you pull up the preset menu, you can see Tone2 have taken a lot of time to prepare a cross section of everything that Warmverb can do: anything from standard effects to the more advanced Talk box feature. But that’s enough descriptive writing. Let’s see if Warmverb sounds as nice as it looks. So it is time to put it through its paces. I decide the first thing I am going to manipulate with Warmverb is a vocal sample. Quickly locating one in my samples folder, I load a familiar sound into my DAW. The vocal sample simply reads “On the count of three, I want you all to tell me the name of my DJ”, and it’s something possibly that most electronic dance producers know. The first test will be the addition of reverb, so in effects slot 1, I turn on Reverb Large and play back the sample. That is a nice reverb indeed as it sounds like a hall reverb and is very full and clean. As I move the mix knob down to around 30%, the sample has the perfect reverb tail and sounds really impressive. You can further tweak the reverb with size, damping, pre-delay, and modulation parameters to give it an even more authentic feel. Using the reverb’s Small option makes it like a studio verb, and the reverb Ultra, with maximum size, sounds like the sampled voice is shouting it in a

September 2011

chasm. I give Warmverb 10 out of 10 for the reverb section alone. The delay section is no different. It can be a ping pong style delay, a ping pong filter delay, or just a standard delay. The standard delay is the one I liked the most as I tend to use ping pong delays a bit too often for my own good. But this was lovely to use, as it gave a sense of the correct echo feeling, especially when altering the mix. As in all my reviews, while I am changing parameters around or using any plug-in, I have half an eye on my CPU/ASIO meter to see how intensive that plug-in is. So I’ll report on Warmverb as soon as it becomes relevant, or at least I will as soon as Warmverb even shows a load on the meter. So far, it isn't even registering! That's less than a few percent even with a full reverb running. Pretty impressive. Now, let’s go on with the tests. Looking down the effects list, I realize am not going to cover every single one with the reason being that I think you'll enjoy it more trying it all for yourself. I don't think I can express in words just how good the effects sound. So I will cover some of the more obscure ones. Like... Rotary. I always thought that was a type of watch maker, but it's also an www.WusikSoundMagazine.com

WARMVERB

effect in Warmverb, too. I loaded it up LFO with variable depth and rate, and played back the vocal sample, which I assume affects the cut-off. and it was being modulated in a way With the LFO set to maximum depth that I am unfamiliar with. So, off to and a slow rate, you can hear the the manual I go to find out more. formant changing with the emphasis Basically, it emulates the Leslie rotary on the vowels in question. It’s almost speaker. I am completely out of my like a phaser effect but with the depth now, as I haven't come across formant being the focus of the filter. this function before, so I did a quick Imagine someone talking normally bit of research into this and found a while mouthing the letter O. Then, the wiki page relating to it: words are put through the mouth in this O shape (strange analogy!!!), and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_S so all the words have the O formant peaker_Simulator emphasised. Bingo, it works. I add another talk box in FX Slot 2 and Maybe vocals aren't the best example modulate the formant, and it actually to use this on, but the effect certainly speaks back with the vowels in almost gives the feel of rotation, in a strange white noise, like a ghost voice should. style of panning. Speakers that I would suggest if you are looking to rotate? It is a bizarre concept that influence things in a talk box style, Tone2 have taken on board and then I’d automate the formant to included in this FX unit. match the waveforms. I am impressed here as we finally have a working Moving onto something different, I try option for a talk box. Is it an accurate out the talk box feature. If you are emulation? I have no idea as I don't unfamiliar with what this style of own a talk box or have access to one. effect is, I urge you to check out the For me though, this will be the one I famous Bon Jovi track called “Livin' on use. a Prayer”. The guitarist uses the effect heavily in that as a riff. Can If you are a fan of Doctor Who, the Warmverb do something similar? modern series, and are familiar with Having no experience, I load it up in the new voices for the Cybermen, one of the slots and see what it has to you'll probably wonder how they do offer. It basically uses a formant filter that. Well, they use a ring modulator, which mimics the vowels A E I O U and Warmverb has one in it. The and then resonance to emulate if the reason I mentioned Doctor Who is voice is that of a child, female, male, that as soon as I switched on the ring or even the devil!!! Then there are the mod and ran the vocal through it, I modulation options in the form of an thought of that, as I turned this chap 44

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September 2011

into a cyberman. It sounded identical. I am loving Warmverb. Each effect is so fun to use and bear in mind, although I am using single effects at a time, you can link up four of these in series. You can also use the routing panel to set it up so that FX1 slot goes to the FX2 + FX3 slots in parallel and then on to the EQ and the FX4 slot. This is advanced routing, and that in itself throws up so many more options than normal. You can switch between the two routing types in the routing panel. They are marked A and B and can be freely switched between. Next comes the vocoder, as I am a sucker for vocoders. I always love to mess around with robotic voices, so I am keen to hear this one. Upon loading up the vocoder, I am shoved back in my chair, jaw wide open as I am hearing the perfect robotic voice. It’s metallic, tubular and mono-tonal. I love vocoders that do this, so I am going to try the controls. Quickly experimenting, I find that once I have the wave form set to SAW, the tune lowered, and the chord set to single, I now have a voice identical to the one used in the famous track “Intergalactic” by the Beastie Boys. OK, can I emulate the famous BB intro? Seeing as my mic is set-up, I record myself saying the lyric, and then apply Warmverb to the audio file. Now I set the parameters as mentioned above and play it back. That sounds so good; all I need now are the pitch

changes, so I’ll automate that in, yes? I'm not a big user of presets. I always Nope, not with Warmverb, since you try to create my own synth sounds, can set a MIDI input to set the pitch effect chains, reverb set-ups, etc., but changes. So, I leave the loop running for the purpose of testing out and play keys on my midi controller Warmverb, I quickly went through the until I get the pattern correct. Then I presets one by one to see how just hit record and make the MIDI file. someone more experienced with the That's it. It took me about five plug-in might program it. As I moved minutes in total to get a pretty decent through each section, I was more and copy of that intro. So, without slipping more impressed by the extreme high off into “another dimension”, I will pry quality of Warmverb's effects. The myself off the vocoder FX, and try one presets tend to use two, maybe three last effect. To say that I think or more, different effects in serial or Warmverb is a gem of a plug-in is an parallel with varying amounts of understatement. general feedback and EQ. Who would have thought that a trance gate on a Finally, I am going to try out the reverb tail would be so effective or Reflect option. I assume this is newly that massive reverb, with a talk box added as I cannot find reference to it sent through a phaser, fed back into in the manual, but it appears to be itself could sound so good? some kind of reverse reverb effect. It is really impressive how it sounds, The actual number of permutations almost like the sound is sucked you can get from Warmverb is through something. I have heard this potentially limitless, and if you are like used somewhere before, but I cannot me, someone who can mess around remember where or with what. But I with plug-ins for no apparent reason do remember thinking then how for great lengths of time, then you will impressive and, to be quite honest, fall in love with Warmverb. spooky it sounded. Fine tuning with the mix parameter does make for a I cannot adequately express my joy of really bizarre effect, too. The different using this plug-in to you, the readers, reflect options place the delayed nor can I get over how much I reverb tail in difference places. It is appreciate Tone2's care for detail in difficult to describe, so I’ll leave that its creation. I think that it still one to your ears. Trust me when I say, contains a lot of unlocked potential you will find many uses for ALL of the and could be developed into the effects. ultimate FX unit. Maybe Warmverb 3 is in development. I have no idea, but I will be watching very, very eagerly. September 2011

In some of my reviews, I do confess to enjoying getting deeply into every single aspect of the plug-in I am reviewing. However, with Warmverb, I actually am extremely reluctant to write about every detail, on the grounds that in some cases less is more. My advice to anyone who is looking for an FX unit is to grab a copy of the demo, and try it yourself. I think you'll agree with me that it is definitely ranked as one of the best multi-effects units on the market. Tone2 makes impressive plug-in's; there is no doubt about that. Warmverb is that gold nugget that you’ve always hoped to find one day. Congratulations to Tone2; this really is an amazing plug-in. For more information, visit the Tone2 product page at: http://tone2.com/html/warmverb_vst _au_effect_synthes.html Warmverb is priced at £57.12 and is available for Mac and PC.

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Bazille

Let's put this myth to rest shall we? Doctor Doom (Figure 1) is not Urs Heckmann (Figure 2). Urs Heckmann (Figure 3) is not Victor von Doom (Figure 4). Urs has never even been to Latveria (well, except for that summer backpacking trip) so he could hardly be called its sovereign ruler. This is not Urs (Figure 5) about to play one of his many vintage keyboard synths. It is Doctor Doom about to hurt someone. Or play the harpsichord.

Figure 3

Figure 5 Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 4

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September 2011

Bazille http://www.u-he.com/cms/ by Ben Paturzo

Bazille, which Urs swears means bacterium in German, is part of the Berlin modular synth he's been dreaming of and developing over the years. Berlin refers to the Berlin School of electronic music, which includes the sounds developed by such legends as Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, way back in the 1970's. That is his inspiration: the guys who used the very early, modular synthesizers, and the machines themselves, with their endless patch cords and near-impossibility of staying tuned for longer than 15 minutes. These are the machines that could swallow a room (Figure 6) and still be hungry. I swear that is neither me nor Luigi F. (it's Giorgio Moroder).

technically in alpha stage, which to Urs means not all the features are present. For me, even without all the features, Bazille is quite stableâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I would say it's even commercial ready. And the fans want to buy it now.

Me, I can wait, as I'm sure Urs will develop even cooler features in no time. Just hurry up Urs, so we can buy it.

Figure 6

The nice thing about developing a synth for yourself is that you can take your time, learn new things, try them out, and then keep or abandon them. Urs is not beholden to any corporate or business interests. His fans are another matter. Bazille is September 2011

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Figure 7

Figure 8 So let's play. Figure 7 shows Bazille in its initial stateâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;just enough connections to make some sounds, simple modulation, and no effects. Figure 8 shows the DX Piano3 preset with its FM modulation (phase modulation actually). Figure 9 shows the Knarziger Wechselbass2 preset which demonstrates Bazille's sequencer. These several presets can get you started, but the real help comes from watching the videos Urs has made. However, this synth is not for beginners or anyone unfamiliar with the concept of modular synthesis.

Figure 9

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September 2011

Bazille

Figure 10

Figure 10 shows a simple FM synth. Starting from the initial state, we connect Osc 2's output to the FM input of Osc 1. This is done by click-dragging from Osc 2 out to Osc 1 FM in. If you make a mistake, double clicking on the "end" of the cable eliminates the cable. I detune Osc 2 a few semitones, set Osc 1 FM to 100 and the range to Medium, and modulate Osc 2's output with ADSR 2, which gives the FM a timedependent component. You can achieve quite a range of usable FM sounds by varying the Osc 1 FM (Phase Modulation Depth) knob, by varying Osc 2's detuning and its Volume Modulation knob, and by varying the timing controls on ADSR 2.

Figure 11

Right below the FM area is the Phase Distortion area (Figure 11). Try connecting ADSR 2 to the PD Mod Depth input, tweaking the PD knob a little, and trying different combinations of waveforms (to the right of Waves). Since you have eight waveforms (Saw, Square, Res I, etc.) to choose from, you have quite a range of sounds from buzzy to brassy to something resembling an organ/Leslie setup. Changing the PD value (Waves knob) controls the amount of phase distortion, which varies the timbre quite a lot, especially when used with the PD Mod Depth control.

September 2011

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Bazille

Another big part of Bazille is its Fractal Resonance features. The setup in Figure 12 shows how a little adjustment can go a long way. The orange arrow points to the Fractal area of Osc 1. Modulation comes from Osc 2, with an amplitude modulated level courtesy of ADSR 2; this modulator is set for minimum attack time and zero sustain. Note that Osc 2 also has Fractal Resonance engaged, but not modulated (red arrow, Figure 12). The end result is a slightly distorted, perhaps over-driven, guitar type of sound. A few adjustments of the Fractal Resonance controls, as well as the ADSR's settings, can evoke a pretty wide range of timbres, leading to bell-overtones, bass-heavy sounds, raspy to buzzy elements, and more.

synth can create so many musically the Berlin modular that is to come. No useful sounds shows that it has great doubt we will return to play with potential. Looking at Urs' other Bazille again, digging a little deeper, designs, such as Zebra and ACE, and and playing with the rest of its many comparing them to Bazille, gives one features. Meanwhile, download Bazille the sense that a great unification will and see for yourself how powerful this take place if Urs can pull off the Berlin "alpha" synth is. Just don't ever project. I'm betting that he will. mention the Fantastic Four in front of Urs. So, we'll leave it here as sort of an introduction to Bazille and a teaser to

Figure 12

Up to now, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve used no filters or effects, and yet we have still managed to create quite a wide range of timbre-rich sounds. The fact that this

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September 2011

Freebies

by Tomislav Zlatic No special introductions are needed here. We all love freeware and now it's time to double check if you guys and girls have missed any cool freebie releases from last month! August was very hot here, but apparently that hasn't really stopped the developers from releasing all sorts of exquisite freeware tools. In fact, we've seen some very interesting new free synths, a brand new free sampler plugin, and a fair amount of great sounding drum and percussion samples. So, let's begin!

At the very beginning of this month's freeware round-up, we're proud to announce the release of our own free Studio Reverbs bundle! Released by Wusik.com, these three reverb plugins are based on Martin Eastwood's brilliant MVerb VST, but these add some new functionality and a set of great looking GUIs. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re low on CPU and high on quality which makes it definitely the kind of freebie that's worth checking out! (http://goo.gl/oesj1) After a long wait, Ugo has released a brand new version of his popular Rez mono synthesizer. Rez 3 may seem a bit basic on first look, but after you spend a bit of time with it, it becomes obvious that this little synth is a perfect Lead machine! With its highly resonant filter and modulation by the built-in overdrive and phaser effects, it's easy to create a great sounding Lead that cuts through a busy mix with ease. (http://goo.gl/nOuM0)

If you're more into samples than synths, this one's for you. CWI Technology has released TX16Wx, a freeware emulation of the Yamaha TX16W hardware sampler. Inspired by the classic 80s and 90s hardware sampler units, TX16Wx is designed as a powerful tool for creating brand new sounds using imported samples. (http://goo.gl/jZPeS)

Another freebie synthesizer you really shouldn't miss is Dominique Wurtz's Charlatan, which is a plain simple VA with the sort of character we rarely find in virtual synths (either commercial or free). The great sounding oscillators, brilliant analog-modeled filters, subtle intentional imperfections added to sweeten things up, and a simple and easy to use interface, make this one a real pleasure for playing, as well as tweaking. (http://goo.gl/ijU0p)

September 2011

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Sensomusic Usine Pro Setup and Features www.sensomusic.com by Ben Paturzo

Figure 1

Last issue, we had a bit of fun introducing Usine. The software is different enough from what you're used to that it warrants a "what is Usine?" section at the Sensomusic web site (www.sensomusic.com). You will find that the way it's been designed, the way it looks, and the way you use it have all been done to benefit musicians, especially in live situations, to spontaneously create their music, in such ways as live sampling, effects processingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;even sound design. This means that Usine is especially adapted for touch screen use. Take a look at some of the captures from one of the video tutorials at the web site

(Figures 1 through 6). You can activate different parts of the Usine screen, including knob controls, as you play, purely by touch. Of course, classic midi controllers are fully supported as well! With 50,000 people all focused on you, and brightly colored lights swirling around, making it hard to seeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;tell me what you'd rather do: hunt for a tiny mouse cursor, or use your big, beautiful touch screen to glide your way through your performance? Even if it's 50 people, in a low-light setting, touch is preferable to mousing!

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September 2011

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 5

Figure 4

Figure 6

September 2011

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Figure 7

Figure 8

Let's move on to setting up Usine. Last issue, we used the VST plug-in version of Usine. This time we'll use the standalone version. Also, a new version was released recently, which adds some great new features, so we'll be using the new version. So, the first time I ran Usine, the

warning message shown in Figure 7 appears (the cursor is at the message). Also, the Setup box automatically popped up. Here I set my ASIO driver (ASIO4ALL, Figure 8), set my MPK mini keyboard as Midi In, and set the various folder locations. For example, in Figure 9, I've

Figure 9

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September 2011

Usine Pro

Figure 10

Figure 11

set the location of my VST folder. Once that's done, I restart Usine and voilĂ , Figure 10. Hit the space bar and take some time to feeell-ahh the groove. The Conductor box on the left has the elements of your performance. Things start with "0 : intro"; let it play a few bars, then click on "1 : groove enter." Let it play, then click on "2 : main bass line." Booty shaking, click on "3 : freez." When properly chilled, click on "4 : fade out." Take a bow. I don't know if the folks at Usine change the intro demo workspace with every revision release, but you and I are playing it for the first time! Very nice. Back to work. If you need to go back to the Setup dialog box, it's under "Setup/Global setup" or CtrlF5. Go to "File/New empty workSpace" or Ctrl-N, to get a blank canvas. Click on the Browser button (Figure 11), and in the Browser window, click on the "Midi/Sound" tab. Double click on "Audio" and find the drum/bass loop "Drumat1.wav."

September 2011

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Figure 12

Drag and drop it on the Patch Control Panel (Figure 12). In the menu that appears (Figure 13), select "Audio file player." Arm the patch (hit play), hit the spacebar, and get down with your bad self. Your first patch! Hit the reverse button (under Play in Figure 14) in the patch and proceed to do a

moonwalk. All right, that was too "grid" mode. Click on grid and select easy! (not the moonwalk) Adjust the "rack" from the menu that pops up. track volume (blue arrow, Figure 14), Now, sound is processed vertically, or the Master fader (red arrow, Figure top to bottom. So if I want to tweak 14) until happy. my audio loop, I can drag in an effect by clicking on the Browser button, Now the fun starts. The orange arrow selecting the VST tab, and dropping in Figure 14 indicates that Usine is in my effect right below my audio loop

Figure 14 Figure 13

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September 2011

Usine Pro Figure 15 patch. In Figure 15 the Swiss Army knife of audio tools, SpectrumWorx (www.littleendian.com) gets the nod. You can see the Pitch Shifter effect, with an LFO assigned to the Semitones control. It's a nice wobbly effect, with the Start and Stop frequency controls letting in just enough bass thump. Usine automatically creates the Audio inputs and outputs, as well as the Show and Bypass controls for the effect, as seen in Figure 16 (double click on the SpectrumWorx title, cursor, to get the Patch editor). If I wanted to further work on my audio loop, I could add another effect module to SpectrumWorx, or I could drag and drop another effect to my rack. Again, the audio flow is from top to bottom, so I can drag the patches to change the processing order.

Figure 16

September 2011

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Figure 17

Figure 18 To add another track, click on the Grid menu and select "Add new track" (Ctrl-T). Now for some accompaniment. In Figure 17, I drag onto my new track discoDSP's Vertigo 2 synth (www.discodsp.com). Now I can play along with my wobbly drum/bass loop (Figure 18). Note that in my first track, SpectrumWorx is shown in its "minimized" state. Usine is no slouch when it comes to built-in modules and effects. In Figure 19, the Browser is open and I drag the Glitcher patch (Usine tab, Audio FX) and drop it right below my Vertigo 2 patch. In the menu that pops up, select "Open patch." Then click on the Grid button (green arrow, Figure 19) to change this track to "Rack" mode. Now, my playing is chopped up nicely by Glitcher and blends in well with the wobbly rhythm of my bass/drum loop. Figure 20 shows my workspace with Vertigo 2 and SpectrumWorx minimized, and with Glitcher in play. I can turn on and off, or bypass, effects and sounds. I can also add further tracks, or modify my tracks by adding more effects and instruments. Usine is very flexible and very versatile, and we've only scratched the surface of what this software can do.

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September 2011

Usine Pro Figure 19

We'll leave it here for now. Next issue, we'll cover some additional features including creating our own patch layouts and using the patch editor to modify how we use VST's in Usine.

Figure 20

September 2011

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MAX/MSP for Non-Programmers

tutorial

- Part 1 by Rishabh Rajan

Max/MSP is a program that can open the mouse will control the pitch of the up a lot of possibilities for music theremin while the vertical movement creation, performance and will control the volume. experimentation of any kind. Unfortunately the MAX/MSP You can get a 30 day demo of the environment is not a very familiar one program from www.cycling74.com if for most musicians, especially for you don't already have it. It runs on those who don't have a background in both, Macs and PCs. Cycling74 also programming. There are some really provides a great student discount to good tutorials built into the program get you into the programming world but it can take some time before you without losing much cash. go through all the tutorials and get down to the creative development First Steps process. This would deter most musicians from learning Max/MSP as When you create a the learning curve can be really steep. new patcher in I felt the same way about learning Max/MSP by Max/MSP when I first started and choosing 'New understand this dilemma, hence the Patcher' from the venture into this series of tutorials. file menu, you will be presented with a I am going to gear these tutorials blank screen that towards making something rather says 'Double-click' than just focusing on understanding to make a new the whole 'programming' aspect of 'object'. This screen Max/MSP. Indirectly you will learn the can be very programming aspect and understand intimidating as you Max/MSP even if you're are not have absolutely familiar with any kind of programming. nothing to start with. Another way In this tutorial we are going to learn of looking at this how to make a virtual mouse can be that you theremin. The horizontal movement of have pretty much 60

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September 2011

everything to start with, i.e. as long as you know what to add to this blank patcher. When you do choose to double-click on the screen, you are presented with a palette of objects with names like 'comment', 'flonum', or 'toggle' that don't make much sense, especially if you are only used to using Digital

tutorial

Theory Alert

Audio Workstations or virtual synthesizers. What you are looking at are all the objects that can be utilized to build something in Max/MSP. Wellâ&#x20AC;Ś these are not ALL the objects as there are a gazillion of them and they won't all fit in this small pop-up window. If you know the name of an object you can just choose the very first item in the list which incidentally is called 'object' and enter the name of the object you want to instantiate. Understanding all these objects in Max/MSP can be the key to mastering the program. At this moment we are not going to focus on that but will learn about some of the objects and how to implement them.

Type in 'cycle~' and hit enter. You have now created a valid object and instantiated it. This object is a sine wave generator which will be the sound source in our mouse theremin patch. If you hover the mouse over the black lines on the top and the bottom of the object, you will see a help blurb giving you information about the available inputs & outputs. Reading that information is probably not going to help much at this stage so you can ignore it for now.

Adding Objects Go ahead and click on the 'object' icon. What you will see next is a blank object with the cursor blinking within it, waiting for you to give it a name. September 2011

At this point it would be good to understand one basic, but fundamental programming norm within Max/MSP. If you have ever used a modular synthesizer this concept should come to you easily. If not, basically what happens is that one object generates or processes information (depending on the object) and that information is passed on through its output to the input of another object that would do the same. Think of the following scenario: An electric guitar is plugged into the input of a distortion unit. The distortion unit's output is then sent to an amplifier, whose own output is then sent to a speaker cabinet. Eventually sound is produced. Max/MSP works in very a similar way to this. One object's output is connected to another object's input and a complex chain of interconnected objects is created to produce a patcher that can do something meaningful. In this chain some objects will have many inputs and/or many outputs. It all depends on the function of the object. We will discover this as we go along.

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MAX/MSP for Non-Programmers

tutorial Adding More Objects Let's add a few more objects to our patcher. This time just hit the 'N' key and you will see the same blank object waiting for a name. Type 'gain~' and hit enter. Now you see an object which has a GUI. This object works like a fader, which you may be familiar with from using traditional Digital Audio Workstations. It's not going to work just yet. Let's add one more object called 'ezdac~'. ezdac stands for Easy Digital To Analog Converter. This is usually the very last object is most patchers that produce audio. Think of this as the speaker cabinet from the guitar analogy.

dragging. Let's also connect the leftmost output of the 'gain~' object to the two inputs of the 'ezdac~'. Make sure not to connect the rightmost output of the 'gain~' to anything. Theory Alert II Broadly speaking there are two types of signals that you can work with in Max/MSP; Audio signals & control (or MIDI) signals. Some objects can handle both kinds of signals, an example being the 'gain~' object which outputs audio signals from its leftmost output and control signals from its rightmost output. Some objects accept both kinds of signals at their input, like the 'ezdac~'. Again, it all depends on the object and how it works.

sent. This is how control signals work in Max/MSP. Any object that can send audio signals will have the '~' right after its name while those that can't send audio signals won't. Also, the virtual cable that is used to send audio will look thicker with a lime green-black pattern while control signal cables look simpler with a thin black line. Objects that work in the control domain fall under the category of Max objects while any audio signal related objects fall under the MSP objects category. There are also some objects that bridge the gap between the two. They give you a lot of flexibility when creating complex, but interesting, patchers that work with both.

Back to patching Now that we have the three objects connected you might be expecting to hear a sine wave. We have connected everything but there are two main things missing. Firstly, the 'cycle~' has not been given a frequency so it makes no sound. Secondly, the 'ezdac~' has not been turned ON. We can simply assign a frequency to the Another important think to know is sine wave generator by entering an that when you setup an audio signal connection the data flow is continuous. argument after its name. Ex: cycle~ 440. This will produce a sine wave at However, when you setup a control 440Hz. This can be done but it is not signal the control information only what we want for our patcher. So hold gets sent when you explicitly change off on that part for now. We want the the value of a control. An analogy to horizontal position of the mouse understanding this can be a scenario cursor to define the pitch of the sine where a microphone is connected to wave. So far we have created the an amplifier. Once the connection is sound generating aspect of our made, the signal is constantly being Connecting Objects sent to the amp. The mic doesn't stop program. We now need to create the We now need to make some control aspect of the program. connections. Click on the output of the sending its signal when you stop 'cycle~' object and connect the virtual speaking or singing into it. The only Controlling the Sound way to stop the signal is to mute the cable to the leftmost input of the Let's add a new object that will help amp or disconnect the microphone. 'gain~' object. If you notice there are us achieve this. Create a new blank This is exactly how audio works in actually two inputs on the 'gain~' object and name it 'mousestate' and Max/MSP. Now think of a MIDI object. The rightmost input does not controller connected to your computer. hit enter. Note that there was no '~' accept audio input so Max/MSP won't after the object name. This is because The MIDI data is only sent when you let you make that connection. The 'mousestate' is an object that does not use the MIDI controller. When you 'gain~' object can be resized by generate or process audio. It just stop playing no MIDI data is being clicking on the lower right corner and

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September 2011

tutorial

outputs the current state of the mouse. It's a Max object not an MSP object. From its second output from the left you can get the mouse horizontal location and the third output from the left will give you the mouse vertical location. If you hover the mouse over those outputs, the help tags will verify this information. Double-click on an empty location in the patcher and choose the object called 'number'. You will find it on the topmost row. Add two of these objects. If we connect the identified outputs from the 'mousestate' to these number boxes, we should be able to see the exact integer value of the horizontal & vertical position of the mouse. Go ahead and connect the horizontal mouse location output from the 'mousestate' to the 'number' input. The 'number' object only has one input so you can't go wrong there. Do the same for the vertical mouse location output (third output from left) but connect it to the other number box.

Now if you move your mouse around you might be expecting to see the number boxes updating with different values…but…of course that doesn't happen. If you have been following along so far you will recall that 'mousestate' is a control(Max) object not an audio signal(MSP) object. So it will not output its value unless you explicitly tell it to do so. Bangs Double-click on an empty location and add the 'button' object. This object is like a trigger object. When connected to another object it will force that object to output its current value, or in other words, the 'button' tells the connected object to do whatever it is that it does. In Max/MSP lingo this is called a 'Bang'. Connect the output of the button object to the input of the 'mousestate'.

To trigger the button we need to get out of edit mode (the mode we have been in all this while) and go into locked mode. In locked mode you can't add objects, move them around or change connections but you can interact with the objects. Clicking on the pad lock icon at the bottom left corner of the window will lock the patcher.

More Bangs Now you can click on the 'button' and you will see it light up briefly. You will also see values entered in the two number boxes. Success… Not quite. You will notice that this 'button' only triggers the 'mousestate' for a brief moment and then stops. So we are not really getting dynamic values of the mouse's horizontal and vertical location. It would be nice if there was something that would constantly click on this 'button' while you could move the mouse freely. Well there is... Continuous Bangs Unlock your patcher, add a blank object and name it 'metro'. This object is like a metronome. It outputs bang messages at regular intervals and that interval can be defined in milliseconds. Edit the 'metro' object by double-clicking on it and change the name to 'metro 100'. Having the value of 100 as an argument means that the metro will output a bang every 100 milliseconds. Nice… Connect the output of the 'metro 100' to the input of the 'button'.

September 2011

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MAX/MSP for Non-Programmers

tutorial Enable Sound Sine Wave Pitch Control To listen to this masterpiece of a Unlock the patcher to start editing again. If we simply connect the output virtual theremin, lock the patcher and drag the 'gain~' fader up to the of the 'number' object that is desired level. Click on the 'ezdac~' to displaying the mouse horizontal turn it on. Now as you move the position to the leftmost input of the mouse horizontally you will hear the 'cycle~', those values will act as the frequency of the sine wave change. pitch/frequency of the 'cycle'. Now Voila! Don't forget to save your depending on your screen resolution patcher. this value will probably range from 0 to 1439 or something similar. This I hope this was useful. In the next range may not be very useful for a tutorial I will show you how to use the frequency input so let's scale it. mouse vertical position to control the volume/amplitude of the sine wave There is a handy 'scale' object that which will make this a more does just that. It accepts arguments expressive instrument. that define the existing input range Tracking Mouse Location and the desired STILL nothing happensâ&#x20AC;Ś Well that is output range. So if because even the 'metro' needs an you create a scale input to tell it to start or stop. Add object like this: 'scale another object called 'toggle'. This is a 0 1439 500 5000'. simple ON/OFF switch. Connect its You are telling it to output to the leftmost input of 'metro expect numbers in 100'. Lock the patcher and turn on the the range 0 - 1439 'toggle'. Move your mouse around and and scale those you should see corresponding values values to a range of being shown in the 'number' objects. 500 to 5000. A range Both the 'number' boxes will have of 500 to 5000 is dynamic values showing the mouse's quite useable in horizontal and vertical positions. terms of representing frequency/pitch values. Now let's introduce this scale object into our signal flow. You may connect a 'number' to the output of 'scale' to see what it is doing. This is a great way to understand how objects process numbers in MAX/MSP.

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September 2011

Freebies

by Tomislav Zlatic

Audiosonic has released a free beta version of Stomp, which is their upcoming freeware kick drum synthesizer in VSTi plugin format. The current beta version is quite functional, worth a download, and really useful if you're into synthesizing your own original kick drum sounds. (http://goo.gl/ZjcbJ) After the release of Combo Model V, an almost spot-on emulation of the famous Vox Continental, Martinic has caught us all by surprise again with the release of Combo Model F, a freeware Farfisa Mini Compact organ emulation. It’s another great sounding organ instrument by Martinic, so download and get your cheese on! (http://goo.gl/L9ijc) B.Serrano has released Redshift 3, a freeware multi-effect VST plugin for Windows. The plugin features an X-Y pad, a simple mod matrix, and a sequencer, and it can be used for creating unusual delays, ensemble effects, and vibrato. (http://goo.gl/f2Y91)

Straightarrow has released a free beta version of Quiver, their upcoming modular synthesizer in VSTi plugin format. Check out the developer's official website for some demo videos and a general explanation of this instrument's concept and architecture. (http://goo.gl/t5PyR) Finally, for those of us using VST plugins in live situations, CtrlBrk has released VstBoard, an open source VST host/plugin for Windows. As it’s still a very early release, it’s a bit buggy and unstable, but still actually worth checking out. VstBoard is a simple VST host which could become a rather useful free tool if the development continues. (http://goo.gl/BNnDt) September 2011

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KarmaFX

KarmaFX 1 â&#x20AC;˘ 2 tutorial

Dial-A-FFFFFaattttt

Figure 4 Feeling a bit peckish are we? Need to fatten up that scrawny sound? Use KarmFX's Unison module and it's easy! In Figure 1, after KarmaFX loads, right-click on an empty space, select "New Patch/Simple Synth." Next, shove everything around until it looks like Figure 2â&#x20AC;&#x201D;or at least until you can see where the cursor and finger are pointing. Double click on that arrow and you get the menu shown in Figure 3. Select "Controller/Unison" and that module is inserted between Generator1 and Filter1. Neat trick.

Figure 1

Now comes the hard part. Kidding. Figure 4 shows I've selected 4note polyphony on Controller1 and 16-times unison on Controller 2, which gives 16*4 or 64 voices. I could also select 8-note polyphony

Figure 2

Figure 3

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September 2011

tutorial

2•3

Figure 5

by Ben Paturzo

Figure 6

and 8-times unison for 64 voices. Basically, don't go over 64, or Kasper will come to your door and leave a flaming bag, contents unspecified. Naw, that's KarmaFX's limit. Detune knob—detunes up to one semitone. The voices will be evenly spread out in the selected frequency range. Pan knob—this controls how the voices are spread in the panorama. Center position (0) means no spread. Mode—this Then play with LFO rate, amount, determines whether you get ice etc. Until properly fat. cream with that pie. I know what you're thinking. You Oh and do something with that want more fat. Well, go answer the lonely Modulator1. Like assigning it doorbell, there's a bag waiting for to the Detune and Pan knobs, you. Oh, all right—Figure 6. Figure 5. Oh, all right—right-click on Generator2 feeds Controller3 which a knob, select "Input/Modulator1." feeds Filter1. KarmaFX didn't warn me, and it does sound fuller—I September 2011

mean fatter—but whether this is added volume or more distinct voices spread across the panorama, I'll let you figure out. Because I was told there would be no math. Oh, and see if you can make sure there are distinct voices. Hint: think NotePitch controller......2. Mmmuuuwaahahahaha! www.WusikSoundMagazine.com

SONAR X1 www.groove3.com

Explained by Ben Paturzo

I had tried Cakewalk in the long ago, but the interface had turned me off to the point where I was spitting pits (Steambath, Bruce Jay Friedman, Figure 1). So when Roland rolled out Sonar X1, with its beautiful new UIâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; well, I suddenly felt the need for yet another DAW. And I did something uncharacteristic for me. I sought training. Because I wanted to get a handle on SONAR instead of banging my head, whilst I tried to bend the software to my will. Which never ever happens.

Figure 1

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The Cakewalk store had this SONAR X1 Explained by Groove 3 and I ordered it from Groove 3. Because I wanted to be ready. Turns out the user reviews were pretty much on target; the training, which is clear enough for a newbie, is an excellent way to get you started using SONAR X1. The instructor, Eli Krantzberg, is clear and easy to understand. No rushing through the 45 tutorialsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;just a pleasant 4 hours and 47 minutes of solid training. Did I know a lot of the material presented? Yep. Did it matter, or decrease the training's value? Absolutely not. When you feel more confident using a software product, you get more done. Groove 3's media player continues to delight, especially as it does not have to re-load the video if you go back and replay something you missed. I wish the Netflix player worked as well. September 2011

Here are some topics covered: Basics Area: creating your first session; window and toolbar overviews; how to setup and record audio & MIDI; using virtual instruments; moving and zooming around the windows, and editing Audio & MIDI. Intermediate: advanced recording and editing features; functions as well as workflow techniques to get the most

Figure 3

Figure 4

out of SONAR X1, and how to export the full mix and share it with the world. Figures 2 through 5 show some captures from the training videos. The view is nice and big, clear, and easy to follow along. The Menu seen in Figures 3 and 5 disappears when you move off it. Well worth the price. How much? Groove 3 and/or Cakewalk may be running specials by the time you read this, so check them out!

Figure 2

Oh and don't forget: Groove 3 has their All-Access Pass ($30 for 30 days), which allows you to view hundreds of hours of videos, including the new Reaper 4 Explained (yay!). This is one of the best bargains on the interwebs.

Figure 5

September 2011

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Trippin' the

Twin 2 by Ben Paturzo

www.fabfilter.com Figure 1 Bless the folks at FabFilter for the help balloons, or Interactive Help Hints (Figure 1). I know that I can resize Twin 2 by clicking where the cursor is and selecting "Wide." Ahh, much better. The default preset (Figure 2) produces a wonderful sound, and is quite expressive, down to the pianissimo levels I'm forced to play so as not to wake my son. You can learn a lot about a synth by studying its built-in presets, and the Twin 2 has a lot of them, Figure 3. All right, I've got to try "Chicken Picken" and "Muther Plucker" or you'll think less of me. Hmmm. Interesting. Very quickly I move over to "Arpeggio/Dance/Beat and bassline" (look at all the presets, more off screen) (Figure 4).

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Figure 2

September 2011

Figure 3

Figure 4

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Trippin' the Figure 5

Nice disco bâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Ohmygoshâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;startled, I quickly turn around because I'm sure this guy (Figure 5) is behind me. Yes, the old Giorgio Moroder sneaking up on me trick, second time this week.

Figure 6

Seriously, the preset is perfect for dance, very competent and smooth, and very easy to play. Lots of fun. But we are not here to sample presets. No. Our task is to create a brand new world [cue the timpani]. We'll start with a preset. Clicking on "Clean" (Figure 6) gives us a bare-bones synth, Figure 7. This synth has one oscillator, set to sawtooth, the particulars of which I can ogle by clicking where the cursor is in Figure 7. I get the view seen in Figure 8, where I'm told that Osc 1's Pulse Width is a mod target. Now we're getting someplace. But wait. The Pulse Width knob is dark, while the two knobs on either side are lit. So the helpful hint balloon, which I just breezed through, tells me that this Pulse Width knob only works with square waves, not sawtooth. Good thing this is not a test.

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Figure 7

September 2011

Twin 2 Figure 8

Figure 9

After I change the waveform to square, I look around for a modulation source. The lower part of the display (Figure 8) has a modulation source bar, together with a "+" to add a modulation source. Clicking on the plus, I select "New XLFO" (Figure 9). Now comes the tricky part—how do I assign this XLFO to Osc 1's Pulse Width knob? After some mousing around, I land on—Figure 10—and this tells me all I need to know.

Figure 10

September 2011

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Trippin' the

What's a Source Drag button? Ohhh—that's a Source Drag button (Figure 11). When you click on a Source Drag button, you get Figure 12—which shows you why FabFilter interfaces are so über-cool, n'estce pas? I drag from the Source Drag button and drop onto the Pulse Width knob, Figure 13. Now I have a little "M" next to the Pulse Width knob (Figure 14). I can adjust the amount of XLFO modulation (cursor, Figure 14), as well as the XLFO frequency, or rate of modulation (finger, Figure 14). I can also adjust the starting Pulse Width (other finger, Figure 14). Well, I'm done with Osc 1, so I click on the Osc button (red finger, Figure 14) to close up shop. Next, the Filters! Mousing around (Figure 15), I can see that Filter 1 is on, but it's set to a range not even bats can hear. Clicking on the Filter button, the display opens up to reveal the filter controls.

Figure 11

Figure 14

Figure 12

Figure 15

Figure 13

Figure 16

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September 2011

Twin 2

Now, I know that LP stands for propane, and the 12 refers to the filter slope, but what is that FabFilter 1 dropdownâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;oh yeah, it's the Filter Characteristic select button! Turns out you have a baker's dozen (minus two) of filter characteristics from which to choose, from Clean to Gentle to Extreme. I play around with the controls, including using the interactive display curve (Figure 17). To modulate Filter 1's cutoff frequency, I add a new Envelope Generator and assign it to "Filter 1 Freq." Playing with EG 2's controls (Figure 18) provides a wide range of sounds, very smoothly, very easily. Very nice.

Figure 17

Figure 18

September 2011

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Trippin' the Figure 19

Figure 22

Figure 20

Figure 23

Figure 21

Figure 24

Now, Filter 1 has a L/R Pan control, which can also be modulated. XLFO 1 is now doing double duty, Figure 19. A nice effect, especially with sustained notes. Okay I'm done with the filter, so I close up shop. What's all this delay stuff (Figure 20)? Looks pretty complicatedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; instant fetal position. After a cookie and a warm glass of milk, more mousing is in order. Figure 21 shows how you can turn on the whole delay section at once. Instant delay. You can adjust things like delay times and feedback per channel (Figure 22), and also introduce filters into the delay line, Figure 23. FabFilter extended quite a bit of effort into the delay section, and it shows by the sheer number of choices here. I'm going to need another cookie. Figure 24 shows how the L/R delay times, feedback, and Delay Time Sync can be selected. Fortunately we don't have to worry about modulating any of these controls. What?

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September 2011

Twin 2 Oh no窶認igure 25! We're going to need EG's, lots of EG's [Matrix]. And cookies, lots of cookies. This attention to delay effects (including the delay filters) helps to give the Twin 2 its distinctive sound. Look at the "Dark Aurora" preset shown in Figure 26. Lots of little M's. I've clicked on the Wet Level M to show that it is indeed assigned to XLFO 1. Lots of choices, modulation wise. Too cool for reform school (my alma mater). Well, dudes and dudettes, it's time to stop our trippin' and go do some work. Playing with the Twin 2 is way too much fun, especially as the results are so sonically satisfying. I need to find a Sugar Momma, because I don't want to work I just want to play with the Twin 2 all day!

Figure 25

Figure 26

September 2011

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Image Line

Maximus by A. Arsov

I got IL Maximus as a bonus along with my FL Studio Signature Bundle, and I already mentioned it in my Fl Studio review. So, why the hell am I writing a new, separate review for this, one of many Image Line plug-ins? The reason is pretty simple – because it deserves it. I simply fell in love with this worth every penny plug-in. At first, I used it because it didn't use much processor power and slowly figured out that songs that I mastered with Maximus had much better definition than those I mastered with my old tools from competitors. It’s not a matter of magic, a secret spell of programming code, or other nonsense. Image Line simply get the point of how mastering is done, what can go wrong during this process, and what a user really needs. You can make the best simulation of unbeatable hardware from the past, but if you forget to add a stereo separation tool for enhancing or reducing the stereo image divided at least on three essential bands (low, mid, and high), you have missed the whole point of mastering. Sometimes it is not so easy to control the stereo image in the low end. It always happens that some stereo sound sneaks itself in the low end, no matter how hard you try to have really low end centered. Some basses sound excellent if they are stereo, but if the stereo image goes under 50 hz, you are out. Yes, I know, there is a tool for fixing that, but as I said, it always happens that some other instrument squeezes its nose where it should not be. With IL Maximus, you can reduce low end and enhance the middle and high ends. If 78

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I can use an expression from a Hip Hop world: “This sh*t really gives a good definition.” A golden one, if you ask me.

compressor and the stereo separator, are more than enough for starting a love relation with this Maxi tool. Master

More reasons to fall in love I stole a preset from Deadmau5’s demo FL Studio song and with a few As old studio masters love to say: if you need a multiband compressor modifications I use it on most of my during the mix stage, then something songs. It looks like he is a deaf in the is wrong with you and not with your same way I am. mix, but if you don't have a good That's the sentence where our proofreaders usually ask: What do you multiband compressor for the mastering stage, then don't master mean by that? your own music. Simple, but true. O.k. Let me explain. The art of mastering is an easy job. The only Low end shouldn't be squeezed too much. As the studio pros say, it thing you should do is admit to should breathe, but on other hand, if yourself: I'm deaf. It’s the same for alcoholics; they should admit first that it breathes too much, it will ruin your mix. As for the Maximus multiband they have a drinking problem and compressor, it is a top notch. It does then they can change themselves. the job without any problems. For me, Send a few of your mixes to one of those two additions, the multiband your friends with a good ear and he September 2011

will tell you: “I think your mixes have are a bit bass heavy. They leak under 50 hz. You also have a weak points around 2000 kilo” etc. Usually we make the same mistakes, like being deaf for certain things. So, if you know that you are not perfect, or to say it in another way, if you know your mistakes, the only thing you should do is to enhance or cut the points where your weaknesses lie. I've spent plenty of time in a various studios in a past so I know that every studio pro automatically moves some faders, based on the client he is working with at that time. You have guitar players which adore low ends. No problemo, give them low end in the speakers and cut them in a mix. Simple as that. Slave I’ve written already about two things that I love the most, but there is much more in Maximus. As I’ve already said, it has three independent frequency bands along with four limiter/compressors. That’s one per band with an additional one at the master stage. One of the most user friendly interfaces along with a deep analysis display really show you everything, from the separate band

compressor levels to the common input output gain, overall compressor level, compressed signal, uncompressed, and so on and so on. It’s a very clear and evident analyzer.

you can set the low and high filter cutoff frequency along with choosing the 12 or 24 dB slope.

The whole graphical interface is divided into four essential parts. We already mentioned the analyzing display, so the next one is a compression envelope window in upper left corner, where you can drag and draw the envelope curve to set it for various tasks, from limiting, gating, boosting, hard limiting, and hard compression to inversion. You can also drag the threshold point until you get the desired level of compression.

More or less, that's that. The whole thing gives fantastic results without changing the main character of a sound. (Another plus for Maximus.) The only thing I would like to see in some future update is maybe an additional mastering parametric equalizer. With its clear and user friendly interface, its ability to get good and well-defined stereo image along with top compression modes, low processor usage, and a reasonable price, you will soon get the point why I fell in love with this sweet little plugy thing. The more you know the Image Line, the more you love it.

On the bottom left is a band process controller window. It contains band selectors on the left for selecting the low, mid, hi, and master bands. You can turn off and on compression on every band. Each band can be muted, soloed, or even turned off. There’s also a stereo separation knob, and a saturation control for adjusting or simply choosing between the two different types of saturation. It sounds really good if you don't overdo it. Next is an input/output pre and post gain selection, and the last part in this window is reserved for tweaking the envelope by setting the attack, release, curve, peak or rms detection, and fine tuning the look ahead time.

Finale

Btw, because Image Line has gotten this strange dance reputation, I should repeat this again (I'll do that in my every Image Line article): This product is not aimed only for dance electro music. In fact, I have used for only one dance mix. My other usage for it has covered all genres, from orchestral works to downtempo, non-electro things.

Image Line Maximus will cost you 189 usd. It comes as a Vst 2.4 or FL extension only. For Xp, Vista and The last small window on the right is a Win 7 band frequency control window where www.image-line.com September 2011

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Knocked Out: Rob Papen's

Punch by Adrian Frost

"Punch" is Dutch synth-master Rob Papen's latest offering. It's a full-on drum synth with an inspiring array of synthesized and sampled drums. If that is not enough to whet the appetite, there's more! Punch also includes a wide variety of effects, numerous rhythm patterns, and a built-in sequencer. The sequencer can be used to build up and overlay up to eight different rhythm patterns, each made up of four drum tracks.

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So, let's take a closer look at Punch. When you load up Punch, you are presented with a smart brushed aluminium interface containing quite a number of knobs and buttons. Jumping straight to the bottom half of the synth, we have, on the far left, 24 dual purpose buttons, or drum pads. Clicking the main â&#x20AC;&#x153;bodyâ&#x20AC;? of the pad auditions the chosen synthesized drum sound or sample. Clicking the small round inset button switches the

September 2011

upper display allowing you to edit the chosen sound or sample - more on that later. If "DYN SELECT" is on, the upper display automatically follows the chosen pad. This is handy when you're editing a bunch of sounds to make a kit but less useful when you're on the Easy, Mixer, Mod/FX, or

Manager pages and want to preview a particular sound. Try it, and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, seeing as you can turn the dynamic select on and off, this isn't really a problem, more a case of needing to be aware of how things function.

the opposite hand. The two notes are played almost simultaneously, and are intended to sound like a single, broader note. The temporal distance does a good job of explaining all of between the grace note and the the synth's functions, except this one. primary note can vary depending on So a bit of experimentation is required. the style and context of the piece You'll need to call up the MOD/FX being played." So now you know! page to make use of FREE as FREE The rest of the lower half of the Once a flam has been set in the relates to Control Sources for interface is taken up by the sequencer. sequencer, it can be controlled by the envelopes, LFOs and modulators, and, Although the eight buttons on the left FLAM knob below the sequencer. in addition, 'ordinary' Sources for are labelled either "Groove" or "Break", There are also humanise and swing modulators. FREE is possibly best each one is simply one whole controls here for your enjoyment. understood as a way of automating sequencer instance that can be different parts of the synth in time to auditioned in the same way as ENV SP sets the Envelope Speed for the beat. For instance, set the Control individual hits. All of the grooves and the hit (i.e. how quickly the envelope Source to "Groove 1 Free" and the breaks can be controlled from your will react). Negative values tend to destination to "Main Pan" for "Env 1". keyboard or the piano roll of your dampen the sound of a hit, but Then, in Groove 1's sequence, adjust DAW as each one has been assigned positive values can create some FREE from -100 to 100 over the 16 its own note. This is great for mixing interesting sounds particularly on bass steps, and you'll have a pattern that up different patterns for build-ups or drums where, at full range, the hit scoots across your sound field and dropouts. You also have a "TRACK takes on a highly resonant character then jumps back to the other side as VIEW" available for each sequencer that is most usable. the pattern loops. Maybe this is not which gives you an overview of the the best or the most creative example, pattern that you're working on. The OFF controls the sequencer offset. OK, but it gives you an idea of how FREE sequencer offers a number of different so what does that mean? In effect, can be used. controls. "ON", "VEL", "PAN" and you can delay the start of each hit a "TUNE" are fairly obvious but "FLAM", variable amount. When OFF is at 99, Note: In the sequencer, all values can "ENV SP", "OFF" and "FREE" might its highest value, the hit is delayed by be reset by clicking it with the mouse require some clarification. a whole step in the sequencer, but whilst holding down CTRL or CMD. anything under that can be used to FLAM is a simple on/off setting. create some quite interesting and Getting to grips with Punch's According to Wikipedia "A flam weird effects. sequencer is probably only second to consists of two single strokes played designing the sounds themselves. It is, by alternating hands (RL or LR). The FREE is perhaps the hardest control to metaphorically, Punch's beating heart. first stroke is a quieter grace note make use of. Punch comes with an Take the time to get to know it. followed by a louder primary stroke on excellent manual in PDF format that September 2011

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Mixing sounds Flip over to the "Mixer" page, and you are confronted with a whole array of knobs. Each drum pad has its own dedicated volume and pan control. There are also knobs for the four FX slots. Right clicking any of the knobs will open up a menu from which you can assign MIDI controllers though you'll need a pretty hefty controller setup to take advantage of all those knobs! I mustn't forget to say that there is also an "Easy" page available from where you can control a number of Punch's major settings from one panel.

drum type has its own range of controls depending upon its function. For any particular type of drum, you can choose from a whole variety of different models to create the basic sound of your drum. After that, you can tweak settings until you get just the sound you are looking for.

Editing Sounds

You get an easy to use file browser and a number of options for changing and mangling your samples. Punch ships with over 850 samples already in place but you can easily add your own WAV files. Each pad can be made up of two samples, and you can adjust the mix between the two. In conjunction with the built-in effects, you can do a whole pile of sound designing. Try this on for size: select the "RP China 22inch Rivits 1" sample which can be found in the "China" sub-directory of "1 CYMB". Drop the tuning by 23

Now we come to the fun part: editing drum sounds. The first image shows what you will see if you choose to edit one of the synthesised drum pads. You have complete control over every aspect of the drum's sound. Each 82

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The eight sampler drum pads, when selected, will display a set of controls thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s completely different than those of the synthesised drums. September 2011

Punch semitones. This gives you a passable Giant Gong. Then, from the right hand side of the synth, set "OUT" to "FX1". Head over to the "Mod/FX" page and, for FX1, choose the "Comb filter" effect. You don't need to adjust any controls, just hit a key for an instant Sci-Fi "Sonic Charge". Messing with Sounds

The example just given brings us very neatly to Punch's Mod/FX section. Punch offers two routable envelopes, two LFOs and eight modulators which can be used to give even the shortest of sounds some movement. Punch also packs a whopping 26 effects including a bit crusher, reverbs, choruses, delays, a panner, a couple of amp/cab sims, and an auto-wah. You have four slots for effects that are then accessible from the main "Pads" page. The effects sound good and are all very usable. You don't get the feeling that

stuff has just been thrown in to make up numbers or in order to add a bullet point to the feature list. Managing Sounds Punch comes supplied with a decent quantity of presets; there are enough to show off all of the synth's capabilities without a whole lot of

etc. It certainly is useful to be able to see all of your presets laid out in banks and categories. As well as full kit presets, you have access to pattern presets from the manager page. Double clicking a pattern will load it into the currently selected pad's selected sequencer, so be careful not to accidently overwrite any sequence that you have created yourself.

Incidentally, Punch allows you to save any patterns that you create - either in Punch's own format or as an exportable MIDI file. There is an option on Punch's back panel to specify the MIDI map that will be used when exporting. The back repetition. There is a decent-sized panel is accessed by clicking on the manager window from which you have "Rob Papen Punch" logo at the top of access to all your presets plus the synth. functions for copying, pasting, saving,

September 2011

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Punch

A Knock Out Punch is new to the market and is Rob's first drum synth. It has to be said: it is superb. There's a lot on offer, and the interface is generally first class. However, there are a couple of areas that I feel could maybe do with a little tweaking: It would be nice to be able to mute a part on the sequencer, particularly when you are adding effects and messing around with the FREE control, as you need to be able to hear what effect your actions are having on a sound. Currently, you have to manually switch off the sounds that you want to remove temporarily, although they do retain their settings when turned off. Some of Punch's buttons are a bit small, or maybe I'm just getting old. For the sake of my eyes and my shaky mouse hand, I could do with being able to click on, say, the text "MOD/FX" and have the page come up rather than have to hit the small button to the right of the text. Finally, I would like to have a little warning that I'm about to overwrite something when using the Manager to find a pattern. It's not immediately clear where your pattern is going to go when you click. A bit of thinking would suggest it would go to the last

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selected sequencer, but it could be made more obvious. Overall, though these are minor issues Punch is available directly from Rob's in what is a great synth that has a website at www.robpapen.com and costs € 149 (including VAT) or USD great future. 179. If you buy online, you get a download; for those who prefer a box A close inspection of Punch's back and disc, there is a list of suppliers on panel reveals the following warning: the "Buy" page for the synth. “Risk of exploding speakers due to ultra-punchy beats”. I love the humour, and like most humour,

there's a lot of truth in there. I've not had any speakers explode as of yet (maybe I'm too cautious), but Punch certainly does live up to its name. It's easy to use and not as frightening as it might appear when you start it up. The synth's layout encourages exploration but doesn't hide the essentials; so you can get up and running very quickly. By the way, the last three pages of the manual contain some hints and tips from Rob on programming grooves and breaks - read and learn!

September 2011

Punch comes available in a range of different formats, including 1 or 8 stereo output version. PC: 32 & 64 bits VST and RTAS for Windows XP / Vista / Windows 7 Mac: 32 & 64 bits AU and VST and 32 bit RTAS for OSX 10.5 and higher, 32 bit AU, VST & RTAS for OSX 10.4 (Tiger)

Wusikstation

Improving by the minute.

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Adventures In Capitalism

The Old Look in the Box Trick by Ben Paturzo

Tell me if this has ever happened to you. I'm in one of my favorite computer/electronics/geekdom palaces of consumer lust, Fry's Electronics. I happen to see on the mouse wall—Now stop for just a minute. Where else could you read a line like that and not think the writer had a screw loose?—anyway, I spy a new mouse, with no buttons! It's black and smooth, with no visible buttons or switches, very mac like. It's made by Verbatim, and the packaging is festooned, just jampacked, with script, in multiple languages yet, of all the features this new miracle device has to offer.

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The Verbatim mouse uses a touchpad Well, you know where this is going. Inside the box—no I didn't open it, kind of surface, and it recognizes the another malcontent did the deed, old multi-touch type of gestures. Like from which I benefited. Inside the box I said, very mac like. The box, which just couldn't possibly hold one more was the other features—one space or comma, details the type of additional touch gesture. One. Not a whole suite of added functionally. One. gestures, and says—wait for it—see Miserable. Added. Gesture. inside the box for more gestures. Oh happy day! The three gestures they Now, Verbatim is not some fly-bymention on the packaging has night outfit. I mean, they're a probably a whole suite of added functionality—no? Otherwise, with all professional outfit, yes? Why would they make me purchase this item, that verbiage ensconced on yon literate packaging, wouldn't they have with eager anticipation of all those found, um, some room, somewhere to added features, when in fact, it was list those see-inside-the-box features? something of a shell game. I buy the

September 2011

mouse. Check. I take it home, and rip open the packaging. Check. Eager anticipation turns to cold, ugly reality. Check. I throw the mouse onto the pile of discarded devices of dubious design and doubtful descriptive dénouement. Boy, I really had to stretch for that last one. In French yet. Final check.

stupid marketing/packaging trick situ, for those of you that speak only played by a stupid corporation, Latin, even if the packaging is devious, greedy or otherwise. When you see a misleading, or just plain dumb. Take package, with all kinds of information, the packaging to a store professional but not the kind you really want, or it and have them examine it for tells you to look inside (for goodness potential consumer entrapment. sake) the box, why bother? The Which means they'll rip it open. Final malcontent who ripped open the final check. package—in the store—answered the call of the stupid marketing/packaging Cheers! trick: you can't rip us off, mate, we'll rip you up!

Now, this is hardly some new marketing/packaging trick played on a hapless public by the Big Greedy The management does not condone Corporation. No. This is the same ripping open packages in store, or in

September 2011

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BFD Eco by FXpansion by Tomislav Zlatic

Rhythm is, on most occasions, the very foundation of a music track. Thus, As a potential remedy in such having full control over the drum situations, FXpansion has created BFD department is often regarded as Eco, which was imagined as a lighter, essential. But, there are times when yet still quite powerful, version of having a huge amount of available their full-featured BFD acoustic drum options can actually prove to be module software. If you've found counter-productive. Instead of yourself somewhat intrigued by this spending hours picking the "perfect" "lightweight drum module" idea, let's set of samples, sometimes we want to do a bit of exploring together and see take the simpler route and fully what this product actually has to offer. concentrate on the actual composing and/or mixing processes. 88

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September 2011

Installation And Setup Installation of BFD Eco is an easy and pretty straight-forward process. In order to run the software, the user is first required to install the program files and then define a separate folder in which all the other files (including audio and MIDI data) will be saved. Before installing the drum samples, one can choose the preferred amount of data to be saved on the HDD (choosing among a range of options

between 2GB and 5GB). Choosing less data will of course take up less space on the hard drive, but it will also result in a smaller number of available velocity layers when playing the instrument. Still, 5GB for a full library is quite reasonable when compared to the amount of free space required by less economic applications like FXpansion's own BFD2 (which requires more than 50GB for the sample data).

The included presets sound very good and can be used both as a starting point or even a complete solution for users who need a quick drum track, rather than fiddling with the drum mix and all of its individual elements. But, we at WSM are borderline control freaks when it comes to drums, and simply selecting a pre-made kit takes away all the fun from the beat making experience. So, after playing with these presets for approximately 5 minutes, the next step for us was to select a blank init preset and explore the full set of customization features on offer within BFD Eco.

Authorization is done via FXpansion's Licence Manager, which supports both online and offline authorization, so don't expect any issues there. Once installed and authorized, you can run BFD Eco in standalone mode, or The Showdown instead load it as a plug-in (VST/AU/RTAS) in your DAW of choice. Selecting the KIT tab in the upper-left The included sounds should fit all sorts corner of the interface shows the basic overview of the current drum kit of different genres, from classic rock First Impressions setup and allows one-click auditioning and metal, to dub, reggae and some more modern pop and alternative of the loaded samples. Right below BFD Eco comes bundled with a range styles. After all, it's often more about the drum overview section is a fixedof presets, covering various genres size mixer window, offering individual the mixing process than the actual from rock, metal and pop, to hip-hop drum elements being used. The and even DnB. Creating a simple beat channels for each drum element included samples are all taken from (twelve in total), one channel for the and then playing it in a loop while the original BFD 2 library, with the bit overhead mics, one for the room, two browsing through some of these rate being reduced from 24-bit to 16Aux channels, and finally the master presets can be a good way to get bit and the number of velocity layers channel located on the far-right. familiar with the sound and some of being 24 instead of the whooping 96 Double-clicking any part of the kit the basic features available in BFD Eco. in BFD 2. To be honest, these opens a drum selection window from Apart from loading presets for the limitations take only a tiny bit away which the user can choose between whole drum kit, it is also possible to from the final sound quality, while choose the presets for individual drum various drum elements and load them making this product much easier to into the current setup. BFD Eco comes elements. So, for example, you can use on slower machines and laptops. bundled with five kicks, six snares, load one of the available hard rock It's worth noting here though that the three hi-hats, twelve toms, eleven kits and then switch the kick drum user is not at all limited to this initial sound to a reggae/dub preset. In fact, cymbals, and six percussion set of sounds which come bundled instruments. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not an it's also possible to load all the with the BFD Eco installation. Instead, overwhelming amount of choices but individual elements from one preset, the drum collection can be further and then apply all mixer settings from still a rather nice variety of drums to expanded using numerous add-on have at your disposal. another preset. This is done by using packs available for purchase and the two drop-down menus located download on FXpansion's website. right below the main preset selector. September 2011

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BFD Eco

Clicking the CHANNEL tab reveals a whole new section right above the mixer view. From there, the user can access the individual settings for any selected drum element, as well as the three effect insert slots per channel. For example, the kick channel features settings for microphone balance (In/Out), tuning, damp settings, send amount (Aux1/Aux2), and the amount of signal sent to the overheads and to the room channel. Note that these individual settings vary a little depending on the selected element. Regarding the three effect insert slots, the first one is reserved for the parametric equaliser, while the other two can be used for any of the 14 included effects, from compression and distortion, to the great sounding plate reverb (using the Breverb algorithm by Overloud). It is also possible to load and save channel settings, keeping them ready for later use in different drum setups. Finally, each channel can be individually routed to a separate mixer channel in the DAW's mixer, enabling the use of external effects for full control over one's drum sound. Even though the quality of BFD Eco's included effects is more than satisfactory, the fact that it also supports multiple outputs is an essential feature for users who like to treat their drums with some special 3rd party effect chains.

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The GROOVES tab enables access to a set of MIDI groove files, categorized by genre and style. These grooves can be used for building drum tracks inside BFD Eco, but the user can ultimately choose to drag and drop any MIDI groove on a track and further tweak it using the DAW's piano roll. Needless to say, BFD Eco responds to MIDI notes just like any other instrument (meaning it can be played using a MIDI keyboard or edrum kit), but the grooves can help as a quick solution when composing new tracks. They are also handy for looping in the background while setting up a drum kit using the CHANNEL tab. BFD Eco also offers a range of global controls, from global dynamics and humanisation, to mic bleed and global tuning. The drop-down menu located on the top of the interface also reveals the checkbox to activate the so-called Anti-Machine Gun mode, which prevents the nasty repetitive effect which may occur when the same sample repeats multiple times during fast drum rolls and fills. Final Thoughts BFD Eco is, without any doubt, a highquality piece of software. It features FXpansion's signature high-fidelity September 2011

drum sounds and powerful routing/editing functionality, but available in a compact, easier-tohandle package. Thus, whether or not someone will find this software useful ultimately depends on one's needs. What some users would regard as a formidably broad amount of options, others will simply see as unnecessary bloat. BFD Eco takes away this potential bloat, keeping all of the workflowessential features, supported by a smaller, but still very usable set of acoustic drum sounds. The fact that it can be further expanded using numerous downloadable add-on libraries makes it a viable solution for any music producer seeking a lightweight, simple, yet highly effective and flexible source of acoustic drum sounds for their music. Considering the amount of included presets and grooves, as well as the amount of customization options, it could be useful both for absolute beginners and experienced musicians. BFD Eco is available at a standard price of $149, although please note that it can currently be purchased at a discounted price of $29 via audioMIDI.com (for a limited amount of time).

Freebies

by Tomislav Zlatic

It's summer time, and what better place can you spend time on than a tropical island, like Jamaica? Not all of us can afford to go there though, but at least we can afford to add some of its culture to our own music. To help us with that, the creators of Ras Kitchen, a rastafari/ital cooking TV show, have released a set of free vocal samples by Ras Mokko, who’s the show host and main chef. There are some classic rasta quotes in there, which are perfect for your dub/reggae inspired tunes. (http://goo.gl/gtpKu) EVAC has released Cleanroom Electronica Promo, a set of 25 free loops and samples taken from the Cleanroom Electronica sound library, which was released for SONY Creative Software. The promo pack contains some great sounding drones, atmospheric pads, and also some interesting percussion loops. (http://goo.gl/iRFmP) Here’s a treat for all Ableton Live users out there: AfroDJMac continues his series of free samples and tools for Live with Synth Workstation, a free Ableton Live instrument rack. (http://goo.gl/yUw2u) And that's not all for you Live users, as Sonic Faction has released Whoosh Machine, a free Ableton Live instrument based on analog white noise samples. It’s useful for creating classic transition SFX like risers, swooshes, and such. (http://goo.gl/InjEi)

September 2011

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Sonokineticâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Haka by Jeffrey Powell

Sampling company Sonokinetic made their first Wusik Sound Magazine appearance in our last issue (July 2011). As noted then, Sonokinetic has a very diverse range of Kontakt-based sample libraries ranging from ethnic instruments to orchestral effects to movie scoring tools. In that issue we took a look at Maasai which featured actual field recorded tribal music and chants from Kenya. In this issue, we're going to leave Africa behind and head over to the Pacific islands as we take a listen to the warrior and tribal music found in Sonokinetic's Haka. A Little Recap The concept behind the Haka library is similar to the concept behind the Maasai library. Essentially, the idea is to go on location to record tribal music, vocals, and chants performed by the people who actually perform them as a part of their culture. It's a pretty simple concept, but it's hard to think of any other sample company that actually does that. So, these are pretty unique products. The Sonokinetic libraries also have the help of Russ Landau (the award winning composer for the Survivor

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difference in the Haka interface that I'll mention in the next section. Now, I didn't dwell much on the interfaces in my last review, but I must say that I find both interfaces to be little works of art. I love it when a product has a welldesigned interface that also helps me get into the spirit behind the product. The tribal look of the interfaces really helps me get into that mindset when I load up the instruments. So, kudos to the designers! The Tempo-sync'd Content series) who knows a thing or two about recording and using tribal music. In my review of Maasai last month, I took you on a tour of the interface, including their clever sample selector which allows you to simply click on the sample category you want and touch a key on your keyboard to map those samples to that key range. The interface for Haka is almost identical to the one for Maasai as it also has EQ and delay settings, a standard ADSR envelope (that is assignable per sample group), and a convolution reverb with included impulse responses from actual field locations. However, there is one welcome

September 2011

As noted earlier, Haka focuses on the tribal chants and music of the Pacific islands. The locations used for recording were the Vanuatu, Samoan, Hawaiian, New Zealand, and Marquesas Islands. The library itself is broken down into five different categories: Haka, Tribe Ensemble Performances, Vocals, Drums & Percussion, and Bonus. At this point, you're probably wondering, â&#x20AC;&#x153;What is Haka?â&#x20AC;? Haka is a traditional dance form of the peoples of the South Pacific that consists of shouts, feet stamping, and coordinated movement by nearly all parts of the body. Haka are often associated with calls to war,

but they are often performed for many other types of occasions and even just for amusement. Overall, Haka are the combinations of chants and stomps that have become associated with that region. So, the Haka library consists of over 600 loops which make up approximately 680 MB of material. You get a wide variety of chants (both whispered and shouted), drums, tribal percussion, and a few odds and ends (including ukelele loops). Once again, the loops sound fantastic as the recording quality is brilliant. It's like there's a group of tribal warriors in the room right there with you. If you don't believe me, then you can ask my wife who had to put up with the chants coming from my speakers. Haka has one very big advantage over Maasai. With Maasai, the loops were not tempo-sync'd so you had to use the speed knob on the interface to try to match it to your desired tempo. As I noted, this was not ideal. With Haka,

the folks at Sonokinetic took the speed knob off of the interface and tempo-sync'd the loops. So, as long as your tempo isn't too far above or below the tempo listed next to the sample group, then you can easily fit these into your tracks without having to worry about matching the tempo. The tempo-sync'ing makes things easier, although with these sorts of loops there are certainly limitations to the tempo-sync'ing (as I noted in a few loops even with the tempo quite close to the original tempo). Overall, though, I think the tempo-sync'd loops is a move in the right direction. Even though the name is Haka, the library itself really has a nice diversity to it. While there certainly are a number of fearsome sounding chants and drum beats, there are also a number of fun and joyous sample sets. I particularly like the Forlorn Vanu Cowboys set, which despite the name, actually contains some upbeat and joyous music and singing. To my ears,

September 2011

the sample sets all seem very usable, and the authenticity really shines through in these samples. It's quite easy to load up a few sample sets and get lost in a world of islands and warriors. Conclusion In summary, Haka is another fine product from Sonokinetic. It's a unique, well-made product that truly puts the sounds of the Pacific islands at your fingertips. While very similar in quality Maasai, the addition of tempo-sync'ing is a great feature. I recommend taking a listen to the sample songs on their website to get a flavor of the loops in this library. If you like what you hear or are looking to introduce some unique tribal music to your songs, then definitely take a look at Haka. Haka can be purchased for 49,90 Euro at www.sonokinetic.net. Be sure to check out the other quality libraries (including Maasai) while you're at the site.

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How to earn

Facts first. Most of our readers, Not necessarily in that exact or even most computer order but in less than fifteen musicians, are students or minutes you'll get the point. All already employed music those genres use mostly enthusiasts that compose music orchestral music for a in their spare time and mainly background (even cartoons â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at for their own joy. No matter our least big ones) and if you are age or profession, we all share familiar with classical music, you the same musical dreams and at will notice soon that this is not the same time we all know that orchestral music from well it is almost impossible to earn known classical masters. It is enough to live on with music more or less typically so called only. "cinematic music". If we take into consideration that there are No biggie, as long as making an endless number of new music is a pure joy, most movies, documentaries, computer musicians are more commercials, sport shows and than happy if they can share cartoons every year, or every their music with other people month or even every day, since through the net. So far, so good. the world is not such a small But just as many of us don't place, as you can imagine, there know if there is life after death should be someone to write all (though I presume that dead of that music for all those shows. people know) also most of you don't know that being famous is There comes a moment when not the only way to earn money you'll try to unfasten your belt with music. mumbling that orchestral music is not your cup of tea, simply Remote controller exercise because you are not Brahms or even Mozart, and you are just It is a time for a small an afternoon electronic musician experiment. Sit down on your happy as you are. OK, I sofa, fasten your sofa belts, understand your point, but my take your remote controller and answer is yes and no. Leave turn your telly on, finger your belts fastened, take exercise - first channel; action another few minutes and listen thriller, second channel; carefully to that orchestral documentary, third channel; music again. Or, you could just cartoon, next channel; sport go to YouTube, type the name and the last one commercials. of a few of the latest movies, 94

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September 2011

with music (with a little help from our friend

Bestservice) by A. Arsov

adding "soundtrack" after the name and soon you will get the pure essence of all that cinematic music. A fast staccato intro, then long tones with a horn section, long strings chords with a choir, everything spiced with some dramatic drums. Now it is your turn to say yes, but no as you are not Hans Zimmer and there is no way for you to make such music. Maybe, but the problem is that Hans Zimmer is a one off and secondly, he is not the cheapest composer on earth. Endless numbers of new shows and one Hans. Hmmm ... Got the point? If you can finish a few minute long electronic musical pieces then it shouldn't be impossible for you to make something orchestral if you have the right tools.

satisfying their quality requirements. Also bigger stock libraries will not allow you to sell your music through the smaller ones if you sign with them. It is up to you. Cheap ones will bring you just a dollar or two while with the biggest ones you can earn a lot more. In the beginning I uploaded my music to many stock libraries, but now I'm working only with biggest ones. And no, they don't accept only orchestral music, but to tell the truth, almost everyone does some sort of ambient music nowadays and orchestral music is still one of the most desired genres. Most advertising companies use music from stock libraries for their campaigns and there are always some open calls from various radio stations for making jingles for specific shows or, in some cases, for refreshing the whole brand, making jingles for all their shows. If you are more into remixing stuff you should check the "Indaba Music" internet site. They always offer a number of remixing competitions. Also if you make some orchestral stuff you can make a portfolio and send it to your local TV station. You never know what you're gonna get!

OK, but even if you could make such music, how and where can you sell it? You are not naive, you can't simply send your music to movie directors whilst waiting to be discovered. Yes, that's true, but you can sell such music through specialized internet sites. Just Google "Stock music library" and soon you will discover selling heaven. Bigger, more professional stock libraries will sell your music for a higher price, but they also have higher Ok let's go back to our orchestral standards. You need to prepare cinematic music. With the right the required quantity along with tool nothing is impossible. September 2011

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How to earn

The tools Yes, having the right tool is one of the most important things for such a task. You will need a good, realistic sounding orchestral library along with a cinematic drum library. Also, there is one important thing that you should take into consideration when you are working with orchestral sounds. Playing your usual pad sound with just one finger usually gives better results than playing chords. However, most orchestral or string patches give the desired results when you play full chords with both hands. No matter how good a sound library you have there is no way to get an orchestral sound with just one note. It sounds obvious, but trust me, that advice can save you a lot of time when you are dealing with orchestral sounds for the first time.

Orchestral sound libraries There are a lot of libraries and sites where you can get orchestral sound libraries, but I prefer Bestservice as they provide all you need. They also offer pretty attractive prices along with really excellent customer support. I'm a Cancer in the Zodiac, so I'm faithful unto death if I find something that suits me. Bestservice is my place to go when I'm looking for a sound library. 96

Orchestral libraries are really, really expensive and I'm sure you are not willing to spend a fortune just for earning few bucks, so we will start with the most affordable ones, but ones that are still fully appropriate for the task. Yes, you definitely need one of these as the various string patches you have on your synths are good for adding a string section to your ambient or hip hop tune but they are really no good when you are dealing with orchestra. One of the cheapest libraries is Garritan's "Personal Orhcestra 4". It will cost you 120 Euros http://www.bestservice.de/found .asp/orchestra/garritan_personal _orchestra_4_0/en It has all you need and it sounds pretty realistic, so it could do the job perfectly. It is a library with an independent engine containing all the orchestral elements you will ever need. I got information from Garritan that they are preparing a new version. GPO 4 doesn't use much space, it works in any platform and is not too complicated to use. More than a decent starter for orchestral business. I don't have this library, but according to the audio demos it could be that clean and present staccato could be the weakest point of this library. It is somehow not so well defined in a fast part.

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September 2011

with music (with a little help from our friend

Bestservice)

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe not, will let you know as soon as I get the new version. The next one is East West's "Symphonic Orchestra Silver Complete Play edition". http://www.bestservice.de/found .asp/symphonic/symphonic_orche stra_silver_complete_play/en The whole library contains only 16 bit samples with only one mic position and just basic articulations, but to tell you the truth, for 150 Euros you will not find a better one. It sounds like a real orchestra and with its 11 GBs of content it offers you everything you will ever need for making good orchestral pieces. It has strings, brass, choirs and all the other standard orchestral stuff. It has a nice present sound and the only drawback is hidden in the 16 bit nature of the included samples. This means that the final result doesn't sound quite so warm and pleasant as in the case of 32 or 64 bit libraries. As long as you are not trying to make big symphonic masterpieces competing with Bach or Beethoven, I presume that this basic articulation limitation shouldn't be a big problem for you.

heard in Spiderman 2 or Angels and Demons sort of soundtracks) you'll need to pay a bit more. There are a few libraries in the 200 Euros range. For 195 Euros you can get the brand new Vienna Ensemble Pro. It offers two products in one package. A revamped mixing host Vienna Ensemble Pro along with 9 GBs of Epic Orchestra library. http://www.bestservice.de/detail 1.asp/vienna_symphonic_library/ vienna_ensemble_pro/en Two good things with this library are the mixing host which is a good background for adding additional Vienna libraries if you decide to expand your orchestral library (they have a great quantity of additional instruments) and secondly Epic Orchestra contains a really good horn section whose sound has great attack and is really strong. Vienna Ensemble Pro is a well recommended option if you are looking for flexible, expandable orchestral sounds. If you have an additional computer, Vienna Ensemble Pro comes with three licenses for making a network, connecting it with your main computer using your LAN for using almost unlimited audio and midi tracks.

For a clean and present dramatic, Bestservice will be presenting but still warm and pleasant, staccato (important for all those the new version of the Complete Classical Collection by Peter dramatic fast intros that can be September 2011

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How to earn

Siedlaczek in November and, as far as I know, their product will be a good competitor to all those already described. At the moment you can buy a bit more expensive String Essentials 2nd Edition by Peter Siedlaczek.

good, big, bombastic percussion. One thing is sure, no matter how many drum loop collections you have, they will not do the business. You will need special libraries for this specific task.

Definitively one of the best is the old "Epic Drums" from Big Fish Audio. http://www.bestservice.de/found.asp/st ring%20essential/string_essentials_2nd http://www.bestservice.de/found.asp/ _edition_peter_siedlaczek/en epic%20drums/epic_drums/en It contains only a string section and it costs 350 Euros. So why should you spend so much money for just a string section? The reason is simple. Peter Siedlaczek libraries are good and are known for their sound. They sound soft and warm. The library also contains a nice collection of up and down runs, so it is not so hard to make a realistic orchestra, especially if you play with the various key switches and add different midi controllers to control the accent, expression, crescendo, portamento, release and few other things depending on the selected preset. The package also contains a light version of the whole library, so you can install a whole orchestra even on your old computer with 2 GBs of RAM.

For 87 Euros you will get 40 construction kits full of epic rhythms and even bigger ends. All in all 1267 drum loops. From typical war snare rolls to the most adrenalin driven percussion loops you could find in the business. I use them, and abuse them, a lot. A definite must have. I haven't tried the new version yet, but I would put my hand in the fire for this old one! This collection is ideal for news, sport jingles or any other sort of dramatic music. One construction kit with a few long horn notes and fast staccato strings and you are ready to shake the advertising world. Most commercials are 30 seconds long and no matter how many left hands you have, there is no way that you can't make something decent with such a good library, along with your brand new orchestral library.

If you are a wealthy person there are also a large number of other big orchestral libraries costing around 1000 Euros, various East West Hollywood The next, similar but different, is Strings or Symphobia 2 or the whole "Primal Drums", also from Big Fish Vienna collection. Just show me the Audio. money and I will give you advice on how to spend it! http://www.bestservice.de/found.asp/ primal%20drums/primal_drums/en Cinematic part 2 Of course, for big cinematic impact you need a good rhythm along with some

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Same price and same high quality and usability. These fellows really know how to make good collections. It is full September 2011

with music (with a little help from our friend

Bestservice)

of such energetic content that you can make epic songs just using those loops. 50 construction kits, over 700 loops. In general it is a less pompous collection than Epic Drums but far more energetic with dramatic conga bonga shakers and similar primal percussion. All kits really drive the rhythm, so making an action background with this collection is dead easy. The library goes from a slow, 65 bpm, construction kits to high energy fast 190 bpm kit. In combination with Epic Drums it covers everything you will ever need for making a good cinematic track. I never have enough drum loops but these two libraries really embrace the whole cinematic universe. No matter if you compose music for video games, TV shows, multimedia, commercials or radio shows. Both libraries also contain a few kits with more exotic time signatures: 他, 5/4 and 6/8. Big Fish Audio loops are really essential libraries for getting into the cinematic business, but after a while you will need some fresh blood to expand your standard assortment of loops adding a bit of diversity. Then comes Nine Volt Audio with their "Action Drums" series. First up is the Taiko Edition and second is the Cinematic Edition. http://www.bestservice.de/found.asp /action%20drums/action_drums_taik o_edition/en http://www.bestservice.de/found.asp /action%20drums/action_drums_cine matic_edition/en

September 2011

They will cost you 79 Euros each. Taiko Edition has over 680 loops in a range from 120 - 200 bpm and Cinematic Edition contain 850 lops and 200 single hits in a range of 90 170 bpm. In the present edition we also find some 他 and 6/8 signatures along with the standard 4/4. Both libraries brings a combination of various mixes along with separate elements. All of the loops from the Cinematic and Taiko Editions are presented in two different tempos, widening the usability because we all know that stretching algorithms can't stretch drums too far from the original tempo without losing quality. Also, Taiko Edition was recorded only with various Japanese Taiko drums, which brings a bit of a different atmosphere, as there are no high elements in the loops which make this library a good solution for making more discrete, or maybe we should say, more glued backgrounds for your orchestral works. All four libraries comes in various formats: ACIDized wav, REX, Apple loops and three of them also as a RMX compatible loops. After the tools I know that you are a bit skeptical about all this, but I hope you will change your mind as soon as you get your first check earned with your music. Trust me, it is an excellent feeling; and you definitely will not know that until you'll try it.

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Focus On: Hermann Seib

Hermann Seib by Ben Paturzo

Figure 1

With all the art, architecture, and culture of Vienna, Austria (Figure 1), can one fault Hermann Seib (Figure 2) for still choosing to live in this wonderful city of his birth? No, I wouldn't move either, but there does seem to be a shortage of barbers (Figure 2). In his early, formative years, the young Master Seib seemed to naturally gravitate to computers, studying computer science at technical school, playing with punch cards and PDP-11's, just as the first IBM personal computers were joining the microcomputer revolution. A few brushes with Apple products, while pleasant diversions, did not seem to keep him from the PC path, from DOS to OS/2 to Windows of all types. Unix has also, at times, captured his attention, as well as micro-controllers, and even mainframes. Hermann's interest in music started with guitars at age 10, and evolved with the purchase of a Roland SH-101 in the early '80's. Additional synthesizers got added along the way. He has been creating Midi and audio programs since he got his first SoundBlaster audio card. You see kids, the early PC's had a speaker only, and 100

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it went "beep." He seems to have programming and computers in his genetic structure, as his grandfather worked at Hollerith Machines (Tabulating Machine Company), the most technologically significant of the four companies that merged to become IBM. For the past decade or so, Hermann has been employed by the Austrian Army on matters that are not to be discussed. This is the point where I offer the most outrageous scenarios a warped mind can conjure. Or not.

September 2011

Figure 2

This is what you need to know about Hermann. He is a very nice guy and he is very generous. That he is also technically capable goes without saying. So much so that a developer, when asked what could be done to make the standalone version of his product work, suggested instead to use one of Hermann's programs. Hermann doesn't charge for these programs. He added a donation link only after he was asked a number of

times for this. He does what he does for the love of it and to help others in the audio and music world. The least we can do is send him a coupon for Supercuts.

It's a VST-compatible host that's capable of:

• loading VST effects (aka "plugins") • parameterizing / editing them • sound output for VSTis • MIDI-input and -output VSTHost (Figure 3) was started in • loading / saving .fxb / .fxp files 2002 as a project to understand VST's. • I/O through either Windows MME or As of this writing, it was updated last ASIO drivers on August 4th. From the website: • Wave Player / Recorder • MIDI Player

Figure 3

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Hermann Seib

Figure 4

So, even if your particular DAW has trouble loading a certain VST instrument or effect, chances are that it will load in VSTHost. Your mileage may vary. In Figure 4 I've loaded HG Fortune's Ultra Swamp Pro (www.hgf-synthesizer.de) and added MeldaProduction's MMultiBandFlanger

(www.meldaproduction.com) as an effect in series with the synth. VSTHost has an on-screen keyboard, or you can use an external midi keyboard. The program supports multiple types of windows sound formats, and runs ASIO4All without a hitch. There is even an updated 82 page pdf manual!

Figure 5

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There is a derivative of VSTHost called SAVIHost. This is a cool little gem. Here's what you do: 1. Copy the savihost executable (.exe) to one of your VST folders (Figure 5).

Figure 6

2. Rename savihost to the name of your VST (Figure 6). 3. Double click the renamed app and you get Figure 7.

How cool is that? Of course, it only works with AlgoMusic's CZynthia (www.algomusic.net). Just kidding. There are versions of SAVIHost with and without a keyboard. You can even

simplify: double click on the savihost app (Figure 5) and you end up with a dialog box that you can use to navigate to your VST folder and select your VST instrument or effect

Figure 7

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Hermann Seib

Figure 8

(Figure 8). This is quite a nice way to audition VST's, as there is no DAW overhead. The price? Like VSTHost, SAVIHost is a donation. As far as I can tell, Hermann puts no nag screen, or other attempts to "guilt" you into paying something. Oh, and Hermann confirms that!

with Multimedia Extensions. Three So go visit Hermann's site and revel in words. Oh. My. Gorsh. Popeye said it. the useful and historic items he has waiting for you. Oh, and in case you So, as one example, you have, from were going to avoid leaving a the site, GMKbd (Figure 9) which is a donation for all his deserving hard feature-rich General MIDI-compatible work, remember he works for the keyboard simulator for MS-Windows Austrian Army. The guys that gave us V3.1 and later versions. It can be used The Terminator. The guy that further as a stand-alone program to play sunk California into the abyss. Because Hermann has been interested music on attached MIDI devices, or, in audio, especially midi, for quite with appropriate MIDI drivers, it can Oh, and this is Hermann Seib today, some time, a few of the treasures you be used to send MIDI messages to Figure 10. Dank Hermann f端r all die will find at his site will work on -- wait other applications, such as sequencers. harte arbeit! for it -- Windows XP (no big deal!), Man, this takes me back. Do you Windows 98 (huh?), Windows 95 know, back in the day, we used to Cheers! (whuuwat?), Windows 3.1 (das ist hook up kazoos to the PC speaker in unglaublich!) -- even Windows 3.0 order to try and make music? Just kidding. It was pennywhistles.

Figure 9

Figure 10 104

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EKS Pro Ain’t that a kick in the head by Robert Halvarsson

Sometimes you just want a tool to do one thing, and one thing only. This is the philosophical basis of Synapse Audio’s updated kickdrum-generator EKS-9, now aptly titled EKS-Pro. Sure, you can fire up that quite complex synthesizer of yours and generate a kick sound for your song – but odds are that you would drown amidst all the intricate controls. EKS Pro can deliver both vintage analog kick drums, as well as more modern ones, suited for electronic dance music in all its varieties – complete with a few musical and simple controls.

pitch, so playing melodies without live modulation or automation of the the pitch knob makes this impossible).

you want quite fast. The advantage to using a simple kick-drum sample is quite obvious. Instead of having to use filters, equalizers and compressors to try to get the sound you are after, this gets you closer to the desired result straight away. In all honesty I still prefer to run things through a compressor, but more for finer sculpting then introducing dramatic changes to the source material.

As usual, Synapse plugins graphical user interface is clean and plainly laid out. Nothing is really out of the ordinary, and the controls steer away of the trend of being too miniscule. By The point is that with EKS Pro I am switching between different main instantly closer to the desired sound, settings (Club 2012, Progressive, without having to consciously warp Distorted, Vintage, 808 and 909), the original sample with more esoteric different types of sounds are Those of you that keep yourself up to effects, in such a way that it does not achievable blazingly fast. There are date with Wusik Sound Magazine’s resemble its original character. also pitch, envelope, timbre and LFO back-issues may know that I have With fewer controls and a focused goal reviewed several of Synapse Audio’s controls, all neatly laid out. It comes comes a type of freedom which other products in the past. The last with its own manual in PDF format, synths should do good in aspiring to. but it's easier to use than most synths And it really sounds good to boot. If synthesizer up for testing was Dune, which, in comparison, EKS-Pro is quite I've tried or owned. kicks are what you are after, this is a the opposite off. Whereas Dune really good option. While it won’t go In terms of personal workflow, I practically has almost limitless down history in the same league as possibilities in the hands of a capable usually try out the main settings to Dune, it’s a cool little plugin which is roughly get what I am after, then get sound designer, you won’t even be quite capable of delivering what's to work on the finer controls. After able to easily do baselines with the expected of it. EKS (all MIDI notes produce the same spending some time, you get to where http://www.synapse-audio.com September 2011

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Soundware Roundup by Ginno Legaspi

Big Fish Audio Quirky Guitars I've reviewed a bunch of guitar sample packs but not with a literally “quirky” title. While the title is catchy, this pack kicks some serious ax. The 321 files in WAV format (duplicated in REX and Apple loops) has all the ingredients to kick start your creative juices. Whether you need rhythms, melodies, or textures, this 1.2 GB set is packed with unique and fresh sample sounds from acoustic guitar (hi-strung, detuned, natural), banjo, mandolin, and vintage electric guitars. There are even basses, glockenspiel, bells, music boxes, vintage synths, organs, etc. that even the pop and rock crowd will appreciate. So if you need a little character or unconventional guitar loops, expect this collection of 12 construction kits to deliver. Web: www.bigfishaudio.com Format: Apple Loops/REX/WAV/RMX/Acid Price: $69.95

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professional-sounding and ready to prime the dancefloors. There is some pretty interesting stuff included here, especially the squelching synths and throbbing basses. Also, the glitchy drum loops are designed to work with, and could easily make their way into, the more experimental side of electronica. Nice. Web: www.loopmasters.com Format: Wav, Aiff, Rex Delectable Records Minimal Tech Grooves Selection 01 Inside this collection you will find 389 MB of 24-bit samples that contains attack, bass, full-groove, hats, tops, synths, vocals, FX, and oneshots. The main focus of Minimal Tech 01 is to offer producers a small but useful set of upfront sounding samples for Minimal and Tech genres. All samples were recorded and shaped with processing units such as the Manley Variable Mu Limiter, Manley Massive Passive Stereo Tbe Eq, TubeTech Smc 2b Mutliband compressor, and Shadow Hill Industries Mastering Compressor. The resulting samples are really September 2011

Price: £ 24.95

Best Service Modern Pop As what the name suggests, Modern Pop is a sample library that is definitely intended for commercial and current pop music. Think Britney Spears, the Black Eyed Peas, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, and Keisha. This library serves as a comprehensive source of sounds for mainstream producers passionate about adding inspiration to their productions. The 2.2 GB of content is organized into 35 'song' construction kits, each which is comprised of a full mix file, basses, drums, synths, pianos, organs, guitars, effects, vocals, brass, and many more. Tempo ranges from 121-137 BPM with the loops recorded in different root keys. Aside from the construction kit folder, Modern Pop also ships with a bonus folder of 30 odd percussion grooves and 100 one-shots (hi-hats, percs, and special processed sounds) that can be combined with the other loops. Best Service stated that the samples "were all created with the most modern technology in a high quality studio setting", and it shows. Auditioning them imparts that new trendy sound which I really like. Overall, this library covers a lot of ground, not just for pop but electronic, lounge, new age, and experimental as well. Web: www.bestservice.de Format: Acid Wav, REX, Halion, Battery 3, Kontakt, Reason

sampler format. Loops and samples on offer include 41 subby bass loops, 54 broken drum loops, 48 music loops, 27 bass hits, 12 FX samples, 262 oneshot drum hits, 10 instrument shots, and 36 synth hits. The one-shot drum hits are plentiful with a great variety to choose from. You can use these drum hits to build your own complex rhythm arrangements or load them into your DAWs drum rack for to make your own drum kits. Broken Beats and Electronica sounds superb, and now you can stamp your productions with that IG Culture signature sound. Web: www.loopmasters.com Format: REX, WAVS, Kontakt, Halion, EXS24, Reason, Live, Apple Loops Price: $103.49

Price: ÂŁ 24.95

Loopmasters IG Culture: Broken Beats and Electronica This library focuses on broken beat and is produced by none other than one of the originators of the broken beat scene in the 90's, IG Culture himself. Broken Beats and Electronica is a no-nonsense sample pack offering plenty of material for use in styles such as breaks, glitch, jazz, dubstep, and hip hop. This library can be called for service for anything that requires syncopated rhythms. The collection weighs in at 777 MB with 24-bit sample rate and supports virtually every major audio and software September 2011

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Soundware Roundup

shot with tempos ranging from 90142 BPM. In the loops folders, there are lots of dubbed out goodness that are very inspirational, and the drum hits include kicks, snares, percussions, and cymbals that are ready to go inside your DAW's drumrack. The heavily-processed samples are useful, but the live instrument samples are a definite keeper.

Big Fish Audio The Crate: Ultimate Urban Samples Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one thing about Big Fish Audio: when they release a sample library, they are not stingy with the content. When I reviewed Big Fish Audio's G-Suite and Web: Urban Nation sample libraries, I www.loopmasters.com was so impressed with the number of materials included. The Format: Crate follows those footsteps with Multi-format audio with various soft a whopping 7 GB of pure and raw sampler presets supported. urban samples. This collection includes over 6,000 (16, 24-bit) Price: files of loops and with over 2000 one- Loopmasters Twisted Dub ÂŁ 29.95 shots alone. Compatibility-wise, The Modern dubby sounds are the name of Crate will work in major software the game in this sample samplers and loads in DAWS supporting WAV format. From strings, library by Loopmasters. Whether you're into the keys, basses, flutes, organs, guitars, production of Dub, Reggae, orchestral, synthesizers, harp, brass, Dubstep, or other and pianos, The Crate gives you all electronica sub-genres, the tools to finish your R'nB, Urban, Twisted Dub fills your and Hip Hop masterpiece. I love the gritty, lo-fi drum loops, but the strings needs...with a unique flavour. There are plenty shine bright as they are full-sounding of samples here that are and warm. This is a must for any urban producers who want a one-stop categorized. They include some neat soaring synths, library of amazing drum hits. bass wobbles, psychedelic echoed vocals, chords, Web: and twisted FX and www.bigfishaudio.com textures. Twisted Dub contains 1.5 GB of content Format: Apple Loops/REX/WAV/RMX/Acid delivered in 24-bit pristine audio plus major soft sampler patches are Price: $99.95 supported. The 820 files includes loops and one110

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Best Service K-Size Electro Edition This fifth installment of the K-Size Series is another excellent pack that focuses on the sounds on the electro sub-genre of electronica. Here we have a nice collection of samples from Best Service that screams 'dancefloor'. Primarily aimed at electro-house producers, you get loops and one-shots categorized into folders for easy use. From pumping basses to club synths and wild percussions to one-shots galore, the production is excellent due to the use of high-end studio gear. It is clear that lots of creative programming and time went into recording these highquality samples as the hi-hats sizzle and the bass kicks thump. Lacking that certain magic in your own arrangement? Well, with over 2500 nicely-recorded and up-to-date files, this library is ready to fill the slots necessary to complete your house, electro, minimal, techno, and progressive tracks in all manners. These are definitely dancefloor ready! Web: www.bestservice.de Format: WAV/ACID, REX2, APPLE LOOPS and Stylus RMX SAGE files. Preset for Kontakt, Battery, EXS24, HALion, Live and NNXT Price: $105.29

Sony Creative Software Cinemascape 1 & 2 There are plenty of cinematic/atmospheric/soundtracktype libraries out there that offer great sampling material. They are designed as tools for adding magic in trailers, tv ads, films, and game music. Pretty much all of them can be used as a "backdrop" to different mix projects and some (provided they are polished and mastered) can stand on their own "as is" - just drop and combine them with your own arrangements. That's why there is Sony Creative Software's Cinemascape Series - a collection of cinematic samples that are crafted to assist composers in their daily production needs. The idea behind this collection is nothing new; yet if you're a composer with a tight deadline, they can be a lifesaver. They can also ease the process of writing tracks for various projects.

September 2011

Studio wizard and ambient composer James Johnson has delivered a selection of textures and melodies in 24-bit Acidzied WAV format. From layerable elements to fully-produced soundtracks, this collection offer enormous usability. The first volume includes 214 (1293 MB) original loops and samples while volume two picks up where volume one left off with 229 (1074 MB) files. The samples on Cinemascape 1 are broken down into individual folders of Field Manipulations, String Phrases, Textures, and Thematics. All samples have been captured with care, offering plenty of inspiration to spark your creativity. Volume 2 basically has the same formula as the first one, but it

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Soundware Roundup

has a greater emphasis on Atmospherics, One-shots, and Synth Pads - an 'all-rounder' library that compliments the first volume. The samples are marked with sample information, making adjustments in Acid Pro easy with a few mouse clicks. Sound-wise, the quality is exceptionally good and James Johnson's ability to create something unique from various lines of gear is nothing short of impressive. Instruments and effects processors used in making Cinemascape include Ensoniq Fizmo, Yamaha TG33, Eventide H8000FW, Alesis AI3, Apogee and RME converters, Lexicon MPX1, Ensoniq DP/4, Korg microKORG, Vaz Modular, and Yamaha DX200 Loopfactory for FM percussion and glitch-type percussion loops. Couple that with his imagination and innovation, and you've got a collection Big Fish Audio Mariachi of compositional elements that is great for making non-repetitive music. Simply called Mariachi, this 3 GB sample pack by Big Fish Audio will make you put on a wideAs usual, Sony Creative Software has brimmed hat and a silverdelivered something useful even the studded charo outfit and shout demanding producer can appreciate. "Viva la musica". With this Cinemascape has materials that can library, expect a spicy blend of be used across the board, with loops traditional and modern designed primarily to be used in the context of supporting visuals. If you're rhythms of Mexico such as Jarabe, Son Jaliscience, looking for atmospheric samples, this Huapango and Ranchera. is a seriously high quality collection Arranged over 6 construction worth considering. kits, the sounds include guitarron, nylon guitar, vihuela, Web: violins, trumpets, grito, and www.sonycreativesoftware.com coro. Each kit has a full mix file, Format: melodic, rhythmic, and all the add-on elements to construct WAV, 44.1kHz/24-bit stereo new arrangements. Mariachi is delivered in 24-bit files of new Price: material, duplicated in different $69.95 each 112

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audio formats such as WAV (1.26 GB), REX and Apple loops. There are 2078 files altogether that will serve as an inspiration and guide in producing the mariachi style. Overall, the authentic loops have a great live feel and the performances of the players can only be described as spicy and hot. Make that burning!! Web: www.bigfishaudio.com Format: Acid, Wav, Aiff Apple loops, REX and RMX Price: $69.95

Monster Sounds Baker Brothers Funk Session Vol. 1 & 2 With seven albums and numerous releases under their belt, the much adorned Baker Brothers have finally unleashed some fantastic funk samples via Monster Sounds. This package includes a strong collection of funked up basslines, keys, horns, flutes, sax, percs, guitars, and groovin' drum loops in great funk fashion. The samples are designed to work specifically for the production of funk, hip hop, drum & bass, breaks, cinematic, and downtempo styles. Volume 1 includes 645 files (1.6 GB of loops and one-shots) with tempos ranging from 86-130 BPM. The second volume is even better at 772 files, of which 531 are loops and 241 one-shot samples. All samples are offered in 24-bit pristine format. What can I say? The quality of the recording is amazing with a great live vibe. The loops are tightly played, and their authenticity is undeniable. There are some really interesting sounds here, and this collection should help you get movin' in your funky songwriting session. Get it!

other words, you're not going to exhaust the content anytime soon. Plus, everything is played 100% live, so it's like getting studio musicians to record and play the instruments for you. Three words describe this library: Explosive, Punchy and Raw. Rock on!! Web: www.bigfishaudio.com Format: Acid, Wav, Aiff Apple loops, REX and RMX Price: $99.95

Big Fish Audio Modern Rock: Guitar and Bass Loops So what is the outcome when you bring a stack of guitars, basses, amps, and effects in a recording studio? A massive rock loop library. This huge 8 GB sample pack of rock loops has everything you need to make modern rock arrangements in the likes of such bands as Paramore, 30 Seconds to Mars, Death Cab for Cutie, Fall Out Boy, The Black Keys, Muse, and My Chemical Romance. Inside this Web: collection, you will find 27 www.loopmasters.com construction kits, labeled by root key and tempo, which are loaded with Format: electric and bass guitar loops. Each kit 7 Soft Sampler patches for Kontakt, Halion, EXS24, SFZ and NNXT formats, contains files in multiple song sections Apple Loops, Ableton Live 7+ and (verse, chorus, bridge, outro), and comes in two versions, Amped and Reason 4 Refill available seperate Direct, for flexibility and tonal options. Price: What I like about this library is that there are lots of variations in style. In ÂŁ 39.95 each volume September 2011

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Soundware Roundup

Sample Magic Deep House When it comes to house sample packs, Sample Magic has always been at the forefront of releasing such libraries. One of their best house offering is Electro-House, an instant classic released a couple of years ago. At first glance, this 650 MB follows the Sample Magic standard with essential deep house ingredients. Bluezone Corporation You get lots of crisp drum hits, Ambient Breaks raw pounding grooves, thick The demo tune of Ambient Breaks on throbbing basslines, inspiring Bluezone's website features a jawanalog synths, massive pads, dropping, fat synth line with an chords, and a superb collection of underlying break loop and a hypnotic percussion. The top loops and keys loop. You don't have to have a stuttered & glitched vocal offcuts fast tune to have one killer demo. All are something 'special' and add you need are some really good value to Deep House. It was samples that are great-sounding and functional. That is what this pack is all great auditioning all of them. As always, Sample Magic delivers about. Ambient Breaks is a library of the high quality stuff. A good buy. loops, layers, and hits in WAV and AIFF format. All files are recorded in Web: 110 BPM with an emphasis on www.samplemagic.com ambient, chill, lounge, breaks, and www.soundstosample.com soundtrack/film/game/sound FX. Auditioning the samples was an Format: absolutely joy, and these will quite Wav, Rex2, Sylus-RMX Rex2, help producers create strong arrangements in their preferred DAWs Apple Loops, EXS24, Kontakt, NN-XT, Halion (digital audio workstations). Also, a majority of the samples are good 'as List Price: is' and require no additional processing. That's not to say you can't £39.90 (digital) be experimental, but the possibilities and usability of the samples here are endless, really. And for the price, I think this is a good deal.

Loopmasters Fracture - Cosmic Drum and Bass It's good to know that Fracture has finally made a sample pack showing off his skills. Unlike other drum and bass libraries out there, Cosmic Drum and Bass (854 MB) is a trip to the classic underground sound of D'nB with an emphasis on gritty progressive style with heavy atmospherics layered underneath. It’s a carefully crafted selection of fast & furious drums, bass, sci-fi FX, pads, atmospheres, guitars, Rhodes, and single drum samples comprises this collection - all captured in 24-bit quality. The main attraction of this pack is the 106 full loop construction kits section. Here you can just about go ape utilizing them in your own productions. I wish there were more melodic guitar loops and atmos synth loops as I really liked them. With that being said, this is one of the coolest drum and bass sample packs I've reviewed. Drop this bomb in your productions and you'll be delighted that you did. Web: www.loopmasters.com

Format: Wav, Aiff

Format: Wav, Acid, Rex2, Reason Refill, Ableton Live Pack, Apple Loops, Halion, Kontakt, EXS, SFZ, Stylus RMX, Ableton Live Presets, NNXT and GarageBand

Price: €21.95 (digital download)

Price: £ 29.95

Web: www.bluezone-corporation

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Sony Creative Software Austerity Measures: Electronica by EVAC This is the next wave of electronica sample pack! Austerity Measure: Electronica by EVAC is a take on early electronic samples inspired by the likes of early Warp label acts. The material here covers the more experimental, techno, breaks end of electronic dance music. Web: It is presented in six folders of www.sonycreativesoftware.com Atmospheres, Field Recordings, FX, Synthesizers, Drums, and Bass with a Format: 321 WAV files, 492 MB, lot of sophisticated, up-to-date, 44.1kHz/16-bit stereo analog-sounding samples. There are 681 WAVs file in 16-bit format, and Price: the loops are recorded in different BPMs. Sound-wise, the loops are clean $39.95 sounding, free of clicks & pops, and Big Fish Audio recorded very well. Of my favorites, Urban String Session the drums loops and FX samples are You know how it is. It costs an arm great. The drums folder is separated and a leg to hire a string section or into three subfolders of drum parts, ensemble to perform string parts for which are basically kick-free loops, you. Not to mention, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tough finding drum hits, and drum loops. The FX the right string players for the job. So folder on the other hand, in my what do you do when you're short on opinion is the star here. There are a budget and the space in your studio is total of 86 files of digital noise, cold limited? Well, you can either program scapes, downers, risers, swooshes, the string parts yourself using a squelches, sonic hiccups, and odd virtual orchestral instrument or use reverberated hits that can be used as Urban String Sessions for a quick 'transition sounds' between song solution. This sample library by Big sections. If you're after some great Fish Audio is a handy tool if you're synthesizers and drum samples, this writing urban, hip hop, and RnB music. sample pack is full of killer loops - no You can slap on some strings quickly, filler. September 2011

and you're good to go. Urban String Sessions provides you with 214 loops and samples (1.38 GB) in different audio format. Each loop is broken down into different sections for maximum usability and flexibility in adding them to any arrangement. The loops are lush, authentic, and creamy enough to be used in mainstream urban productions. If string is your thing, I would suggest checking out this pack.

Web: www.bigfishaudio.com Format: Acid, Wav, Apple loops Price: $69.95

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And Now For Something Completely Different

Launchy by Ben Paturzo

Figure 1

Take a look at this, Figure 1. What a disgrace! This is merely a section of my normal desktop, seen through my eyes as they cross, go out of focus, and just about pop out of my head—as I look for my handy desktop icon! Oh, I know— just do what Figure 2 is showing—right-click on an empty (hah!) area of the desktop, and so on. Sure. Try this then—Figure 3. Your new text document just went into a Black Hole—Figure 4. Sure, I know, there's probably some Windows Registry hack that will allow me to display only new text documents written by me in haste that I really really want to show up. Just suggest it— I've got my whipping stick ready.

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Figure 2

September 2011

Figure 4 Figure 3

Figure 5

Instead, try this—Figure 5. Launchy. Oh sweet relief. I type in one letter—and it shows me a list of my programs starting with "s" (Figure 6). Notice it doesn't care about upper/lower case. My hands are on the keyboard, I can use my up/down arrows to scroll through the list, hit enter—program launched. Oh, I just got it! Kidding. Launchy learns—yes it does, good puppy—here's a burger! I had typed in "sonar" the first time I, er, launched Launchy, and it remembered! Imagine that—a program with some smarts. Maybe 'ole Minsky (Figure 7) had it right about AI. What am I saying?

Figure 6

Figure 7

You're probably thinking that was way too easy. What if I wanted another program starting with "s." Figure 8 shows, after I scrolled—just a bit—with my down arrow—Snagit 10. You could use the mouse wheel to scroll, but keep your hands on the keyboard because it is much much faster. To narrow down the search, type "sn" for Snagit 10 or "sol" for Solitaire. Too cool.

Figure 8

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Figure 9

Completely Different

Launchy

But I still have to go to Start....All Programs......oh the sleep apnea is kicking in. Nope. Alt-Spacebar. Easy peasy. But it's probably expensive. The talented creator of this absolutely essential software, one Josh Karlin, asks merely for a donation. Go to www.launchy.net to get Figure 9. And you'd better do what the Electro Finger is telling you in Figure 10â&#x20AC;&#x201D;the Electro Cursor has a suggestion. I'm watching you.

Figure 10

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September 2011

Freebies

by Tomislav Zlatic

Wait! We're still not finished with you Live users! Francis Prève has released a set of free Mattel Synsonics drum machine samples, mapped for use in Ableton Live. These are dirty, lo-fi, and cheap sounding samples - perfect for adding a bit of edge to sterile drum and percussion loops. Ok, Ableton Live fans, that is all we have in store for you guys this time around. :] (http://goo.gl/iN138) Suitable for all DAWs worldwide, Subaqueous has released a set of free dubstep MIDI grooves. Paste these in your project, add your favorite drum samples, and perhaps you'll be inspired to make the kind of drum tracks that usually wouldn't fit your style. (http://goo.gl/ttkLW)

And finally, Goldbaby has added another brilliant sounding set of sounds to the freebies section on his website. This time it's a pack of free tape-processed Technics DP50 drum machine samples. (http://goo.gl/bsFso)

Speaking of MIDI, Alan Stuart has released a set of 50 Free Analog Sequencer Style MIDI Sequences which are perfect for trying out new synth patches. Of course, these sequences are 100% royalty free so you can even use them in your own tunes, if you'd like. (http://goo.gl/LxLRd) There are even more great freebies for beatmakers as loops de la crème has released a pack featuring 113 Free Clap And Snap Samples. These are not your usual synthesized snaps and claps, but actually real organic samples, and they also sound very good! (http://goo.gl/aZzmS) John Haddad has released a set of free kick and snare samples, recorded from his own acoustic drum kit. They are useful for layering with other samples or even programming whole drum tracks. (http://goo.gl/uzo19)

That's all for this month. Make some great music with these freebies, and I’ll see you next time!

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Native Instruments

Razor Vocoder www.native-instruments.com

by Ben Paturzo

Elsewhere in this issue is Part 3 of the Additive Synthesis series, featuring Native Instrument's cutting-edge synth, Razor. Now you might say that Razor's raison d'ĂŞtre is its Additive engine being used for music creation. However, far be it from me to deter you from raisins [read the French in a Texan accent], but Razor's excellent Vocoder deserves special consideration. Native Figure 1 Instruments is basically handing us a bargain: a great, new synth, and a fabulous Vocoder to boot.

I could sing into a mike and send the audio over to 1-Audio, or I can use an audio clip. Now, with the thousands of clips available to me, what do you suppose I'm going to use? Well, according to Figure 1, it's Louis Prima singing Yes, We Have No Bananas. It's too bad that the wild man can't be here to see and hear what we can do

Setting up Razor as a Vocoder is easy. In Figure 1, I've assigned the FX version of Razor to the first track, which is an audio track. The second track is a midi track, set to respond to all midi messages and send it on to 1-Audio, which is RazorFX. Now, all I need do is send audio to 1-Audio, and RazorFX (Vocoder) will do its magic based on my midi-keyboard playing. 120

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with his vocalsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;he would probably smile and say, wild, man. I'm using the "Carpetcoder" preset and I've got the scope switched on in Razor. With the wild man singing about bananas, I can amp the sound with some Vocoder goodness, sliding the pitch up and down, depending on

Figure 2

the keys I play. This is one effect you have to hear for your self in order to appreciate how well it's been done.

Figure 3

Switching to a different preset—check out how many there are in Figure 2—I choose "Bayou Paradise Chordcoder" and King Louis sounds like he's guest-starring on The Outer Limits. Of course, if you're after the classic Vocoder styling, well the creator (E not G), Errorsmith, has got you covered—Figure 3. Razor is a heck of a lot of fun, especially the Vocoder. If this baby can't make you smile, your lips are sewn shut. Just saying. Cheers!

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Wavesfactory Trio by Jeffrey Powell

Although Wavesfactory has been around for a little while, they really didn’t make a big splash on the sample scene until they released their Tea Towel drum library, which offered a unique sounding 8.3 GB drum library with an easy to use Kontakt interface for only 9.95 Euro. At that time a number of people realized that Wavesfactory wasn’t kidding when they asked, “Who gives you more for less?” In fact, their sample line consists of a wide variety of sampled instruments each at a price of 9.95 Euro.

miss it. W-Honky is a great character library that's worth having in your arsenal for those times when you just need that honkytonk sound. I'll be playing this library quite a bit in the future. W-Flugelhorn Not surprisingly, the W-Flugelhorn is a flugelhorn library. Recall that a flugelhorn is a brass instrument that is similar to a trumpet, but a flugelhorn has a wider, cone-shaped interior chamber. The result is that the sound of a flugelhorn is a bit more mellow and warmer than a trumpet. If

While there are more instruments on the way from Wavesfactory, I thought I’d give three of their earlier libraries a workout to get a glimpse of their sample line outside of the Tea Towel library. Let’s take a closer look at their W-Honky, W-Flugelhorn, and WTambourine libraries.

samples from a Kawai vertical piano with “a digitally processed metal sound for the attack.” This is a bit unusual, but I have to agree with them that the combined sound works great. It really captures the sound quite well. I found myself pulling out some sheet music and having a great W-Honky time playing another honkytonk piano classic, Elton John's “I Think I'm Going to Kill Myself,” using the WThe W-Honky is a piano library which Honky. The sound was pretty much simulates the honkytonk piano sound you find on songs like “Lady Madonna.” spot on, and I got great playability Often these types of pianos are called from the library. tack pianos because such a sound can The sample library itself has release be made by a piano that has had noises and comes in at 430 MB. While tacks put on the hammers. Basically, clearly it's not the most highly the result is a very percussive piano sampled piano library out there, it has sound with a bit of de-tuning. Interestingly, Wavesfactory has made a great sound. Also, there’s no fancy Kontakt interface here, but I didn't their honkytonk piano by combining 122

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you're familiar with the song “Feels So Good” by Chuck Mangione, then you're familiar with the sound of a flugelhorn. I am always on the lookout for great, realistic sounding solo instruments (whether brass or string) that will allow me to pepper my tracks with believable solos and fills. After spending some time with WFlugelhorn, I can say that it nicely fits the bill. Even though the library is at a modest (by some standards) 231 MB, the flugelhorn is very, very playable. This could be due to the velocity layers (four layers with three roundrobin layers each) or due to the way the library was recorded. According to their website, W-Flugelhorn was recorded with three mics: one in the front and a pair of stereo placed overhead mics. According to Wavesfactory, this mic placement is ideal because it “gives the most natural sound you can achieve.” While I don't know if that's true or not, I can say that the library has a great sound. It's very easy to just sit down and play a convincing solo line without having to worry about key-switches or multiple patches. The mellow sound of the horn makes it ideal for a number of genres particularly chillout or downtempo. Put on a little (or a lot of) reverb, and you can get lost in the brassy goodness. Yes, I just used the term “brassy goodness.”

Once again, there's no fancy Kontakt interface, but as before, this is not a big deal. There are two different Kontakt patches in the package. One allows you to control the breath intensity with the mod wheel while the other allows you to use the mod wheel for vibrato and velocity for breath intensity. I prefer the latter mainly because I'm not very skilled at controlling breath intensity with an external controller. At any rate, it's great to have the choice between the two different patches. My only minor quibble with the library W-Tambourine is that a couple of the low notes at certain velocities have a bit of “scoop” The tambourine is often the forgotten to them that isn't present in the step-child of the typical drum library. Many times you'll get highly detailed neighboring notes. This could be an snares, kicks, toms, and cymbals, but issue with the recording of the samples, or it could be a quirk about only get a couple of lightly sampled playing notes that low on a flugelhorn. tambourines. Well, W-Tambourine is intended to help you overcome this As they are near the lowest range of the instrument, they aren’t too much shortcoming found in many drum of an issue as you're not likely to be libraries. The instrument contains 117 MB of tambourine loops and samples. spending a great deal of time in that This content is spread out over three range anyway. different Kontakt instruments, and each one has a great looking interface Overall, though, the W-Flugelhorn sounds fantastic and realistic. It's with several controls right on them. easily worth the asking price. On the interfaces, you have basic control over EQ (lows, mids, highs), reverb level, and delay time/feedback. September 2011

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Wavesfactory Trio

patterns based on a quarter note Conclusion division, four patterns based on an Often we associate the idea of eighth note division, and a handful of “inexpensive” with the idea of “poor patterns based on a sixteenth note division. As a handy bonus, you'll also quality,” but Wavesfactory shows The first instrument of the three is find the tambourine rolls at the top of these terms are definitely not the keyboard on these instruments. synonymous. These libraries sound entitled “Sticks, Shake, and Rolls,” and it contains two hits with a stick, These patches are a great idea as they fantastic. Each is well-sampled and programmed, and the quality makes put at your fingertips all of the most three different tambourine hand common tambourine playing patterns. them ready to drop into any track. For shakes, and eleven different 9.95 Euro, these libraries are an tambourine rolls. The stick and shake These instruments will add a spice of absolutely incredible bargain, and I sounds have four velocity layers with realism to your songs and save you four round-robin samples for each time when you put down your drum highly recommend checking out these three libraries (or one of layer. So, in other words, this is more tracks. Wavesfactory's other offerings) at deeply sampled than your run-of-thetheir site. mill drum kit tambourine. There's a All in all, W-Tambourine is highly Company website: useful and will likely fulfill the great deal of variety in the rolls, and http://samples.wavesfactory.com these have the potential to be really tambourine needs of most musicians. useful in tracks particularly in the pop I find this library to be really quite and rock genres. clever, as it is a targeted, well-made library that fills in the gaps found in The other two patches entitled “3_4” other drum libraries. As noted above, and “4_4” give you some common particularly if you're into rock or pop and useful patterns for songs in 3/4 music, then you'll find good use for and 4/4 time, respectively. Essentially, this library. you get two or three tempo sync'd You also have a button that allows you to widen the stereo image of the sound, which is a handy feature for tambourine samples.

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Z3TA+ Figure 1

The Old Cakewalk’s Z3TA+ software synthesizer first became available over eight years ago. It’s old enough to warrant adjectives like “venerable” and for the Cakewalk marketing department to label it as “a legend”. In June of this year, Cakewalk

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surprised a great many people when it announced that a major upgrade was forthcoming. In some quarters, this news was greeted with (no pun intended) rapture. Certainly, Z3TA+ has enjoyed a large, enthusiastic following, but it also has its share of detractors. A common

September 2011

criticism I’ve picked up via several forums over the last few years is that the sound tends to be harsh, overly aggressive, or strident. Hold that thought--we’ll return to this consideration in a bit. At the time of its release, Z3TA+ was a formidable competitor in the

Gets A Major Overhaul by dmbaer

softsynth marketplace. It had all the usual accoutrements of a virtual analog instrument: • • • • • • •

Single cycle oscillators? Check. Multi-stage envelopes? Check. Resonant filters? Check. LFOs? Check. Modulation matrix? Check. Effects section? Check. Arpeggiator? Check.

To the above, add the fact that the interface was very logical and that there were some especially nice features like daisy chained oscillators (six of them, in fact) that could do hard sync, PW modulation, FM, and ring modulation.

• Twist: Wraps around and inverts the polarity of the waveform when its amplitude goes over the selected threshold point. • Drive: Boosts and clips the output as a hard clipping stage. The transform controls were not modulation targets via the modulation matrix, but they could be altered in real time via MIDI control data. What was especially fun was that the wave shaper control window showed a depiction of the waveform as it was being subject to the transformations.

While not all of the transforms did so, the majority mangled the waveform in such a way as to increase the levels of the component partials (partials being The Shape of Waves to Come the sine wave harmonics, all of which when summed produce the wave What really distinguished Z3TA+ from actually being played in the oscillator). the competition was its unique (at Start with a tame waveform and many that time) wave-shaping technology. of the transforms could make it This feature offered fourteen types of scream. Start with an already transforms that could be applied to screaming one ... well, need more be the selected waveform in an oscillator said? The wave shaping feature was to alter it in a variety of ways. Some so intriguing and easy to use that it examples (verbatim from the Z3TA+ almost begged sound designers to do 1.5 documentation): so. Now, recall the criticism that many Z3TA+ sounds were too strident? • Warp: Wraps around the waveform Hmmm ... could there be a connection when the amplitude goes over the here? selected threshold point. While this reviewer makes no claim to know the architecture of every September 2011

software synth out there, I have looked at quite a few. I’ve come across two others that offer something at least somewhat similar to Z3TA+’s wave shaping. The first of these is Zebra from u-he. In Zebra, these capabilities are called spectral effects. While Zebra provides a dozen or so shaping options, some of which (at least based on their description) sound like they perform similar transforms to Z3TA+’s, you can only use two at a time in Zebra. Furthermore, Zebra does not let you see a depiction of what the shaping is doing to the wave form. Advantage: Z3TA+. The other is Omnisphere from Spectrasonics, although in this case, the wave shaping feels like almost an afterthought. Spectrasonics is circumspect about what its wave shaping algorithms do, simply labeling them as 1 thru 4 and saying only that as you go from 1 to 4, the effects are more extreme. But now, let’s get back to Z3TA+. Whether one loved the previous version or was completely indifferent, no one could deny that it was anything other than an extremely innovative creation at the time of its initial release. What’s to improve upon? Let’s fast forward to the present and find out. www.WusikSoundMagazine.com

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What’s New? In addition to being interested in what’s new, Z3TA-phites will want to know if any features have been removed. At least one has and that’s the ability to use alternate tunings. While the vast majority of users will not even notice its absence, to those that care about such things, this will be a frustrating loss. Other than that, though, as far as I can tell the old Z3TA+ remains intact, to the point that existing Z3TA+ patches are forward compatible (the original factory patches being included in the new version). There’s a fairly robust pool of free user-created patches available for downloaded. You can just Google “Z3TA free patches” to find them. Before we go further, I want to address one issue with the documentation. Yes, there are a few obvious small errors like including prerelease screen shots as illustrations. But there’s one very serious problem, or at least it will be serious for geeks like this reviewer who like to study the documentation before diving in to a new synth.

was even defined. I can only surmise the following. Oscillators can be in one of three modes: sending a signal to one or both of the two buses, modulating the next oscillator in the chain, or inactive. I believe what’s intended here is that a “voice” is an oscillator that’s producing a sound, i.e., one that’s in the first of the three modes just mentioned. Nothing else makes any sense. Cakewalk really should redo this misleading diagram. Let’s cut straight to the chase and get to what’s most interesting (to this reviewer at least), something that’s at the center of the essential Z3TA-ness of it all. To begin with, there are four new wave shaping options. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, can a sound be described in a thousand words? Not likely. But it’s still interesting to see what’s going on with wave shaping transformations nevertheless. To that end, we can see in Figure 2 what the four new transforms do to a basic saw wave. The other big news in this area is that all the shaping options are now modulation-matrix assignable. So, we can do what we could not with the earlier version, which is to assign envelopes or LFO modulations or even per-note random values to one or more of the wave shaping controls. Way cool? It sure is in my book.

There’s a diagram that presents the signal flow in Z3TA. In it, it shows a panel labeled “Voice 1” that contains six oscillators and two filters. Stacked behind it is a sibling panel labeled There’s another new innovation that’s “Voice 2” and behind that another most intriguing. A Cakewalk labeled “Voice …”. The implication is marketing blurb describes it thusly: that we have multiple sets of six “Real-time Expression is enhanced oscillator sound generators. But this with Adaptive Pitch Bend which certainly isn’t evident in the user allows for the bending of notes within interface. I could find nowhere in the the key and mode performed; documentation that the term “voice” 128

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automatically learns key based on performance [italics mine].” Perhaps you can understand that this feature probably cannot be evaluated with just a quick “let’s see what it sounds like when I turn on this option”. Let me try to summarize. First, let’s look at some other new non-adaptive bend options. In the Performance tab page, you specify a Key (C is the default) and a Scale. The first three Scale options are Chromatic, Major and Minor. Set the Down Bend value to -2. If you press a C key, then with Chromatic, the bend gets you to B-flat, with Major, to A and with Minor, to A-flat. In other words, the target note at maximum bend is in the scale you’ve specified (key and scale type). So now for perhaps the first time ever, bend is musically viable with chords. The only down side is the need to properly set the key in the preset prior to playing in a new key. But wait, there’s more! Add to the Scale selections: Melodic, Harmonic, Pent, and Blues. What are these all about? Well, the documentation doesn’t tell us a thing; that’s for certain. Presumably, these settings are for the melodic minor, harmonic minor, pentatonic, and blues scales, respectively. Some experiments with the sound make it appear that these could be correct, and perhaps given more time to experiment, the rules would become clear. Still, this is a really intriguing feature that I’ve seen nowhere before and merits further exploration. However, it also merits some better documentation than Cakewalk has provided. The last “scale” option is Adaptive. This presumably is what was being

Figure 2 Fold 33%

Spectrum 33%

Fold 67%

Spectrum 67%

Random All 50%

Random All 100%

Random Odd 50%

Random Odd 100%

cited in the marketing text quoted above. Does it work? I’d have to say this jury is still deliberating on this point, but it’s most interesting nevertheless. In any case, it’s not intuitively clear how it’s supposed to work. There’s another very nice new feature that’s not related to pitch bend, other than it’s also on the Performance tab page. This is a knob called Drift, and non-zero settings introduce a random pitch drift for the oscillators that is intended to simulate analog pitch inaccuracy. Yes, you could do this with a random LFO pattern, but this is considerably easier. Since Z3TA+ 2 still provides only six LFOs, we’d like to keep them available for other purposes in any case. I really like this feature and hope other synth makers will take note.

The Not-So-New New There are any number of additional features new to Z3TA+ that one would have to admit are pretty much expected as standard fare on any synth aspiring to greatness these days. The first and most obvious thing you’ll notice about the new Z3TA+ is that the user

September 2011

interface has been considerably updated (see Figure 1 at the top of this review). It makes the original look stone-age by comparison. That’s not to imply it’s more intuitive because the original left little to improve upon in that regard. It just looks much more modern, but retains the same efficient control presentation and clarity of function as its predecessor. However, there’s more here than just a buffed appearance. There are new GUI capabilities that are most welcome. These include mouse-enabled drawing of envelopes and drag and drop effects insertion. Not least of the interface improvements is a modernized browser, which was a much needed enhancement if Z3TA+ was going to be considered a contemporary instrument. There are also some small but thoughtful details like the menus from which you select an oscillator waveform. Each entry now displays a thumbnail image (albeit a fairly tiny thumbnail image) of the waveform. Cakewalk has made much of the new graphical arpeggiator in the marketing blurbs for Z3TA+

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Z3TA+

Figure 3

2, but I’m not sure it’s quite so exciting as the hype would like you to believe. Yes, the arp now has a graphical interface, but that does not mean you can define patterns graphically. You can just see the patterns now, which is still a nice improvement. To define patterns, you need to create a MIDI file in an external sequencer and import it. But as there are many factory patterns available, you probably have enough to keep you occupied for some time before feeling the need to step outside of Z3TA+ to create new ones. There’s also a gate mode, which turns the arp into, well, obviously a gating device. 130

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Finally, new Humanize and Swing controls provide a means to demechanize the arp output.

mysterious after all. Nicer still, the graphic depiction changes to reflect cutoff and resonance setting changes.

I’m always pleased to see any improvements in filter capabilities, and we find several in Z3TA+ 2. Four new filter modes have been added to the previous ten. The new ones are Reso-2 BPF, Reso-2 BRF, Reso-3 Boost, and Comb. The Comb option will be a familiar one to most readers, but what are the others? The bad news is that the documentation gives us no hint (once again!). The good news is that the filter area of the GUI shows us a graphic of what to expect, so this is perhaps not all that

In the area of effects, we have a few minor enhancements to individual effects. The distortion effect has one new option called HyperTube, which is a medium saturation tube emulation. The Modulation effect has some new EQ mode options. The main improvement in this area, though, is the ability to order the effects as desired using a simple drag and drop mouse movement. Figure 3 shows what the new effects layout looks like.

September 2011

Sound Check So, a big question naturally is “What does it sound like?” I think it’s completely safe to predict that current fans of Z3TA+ will remain in that camp. I played several duplicate patches in the old and new versions and could discern no differences. Although the sound engine has reportedly been improved in version two, it didn’t sound any different to these (admittedly aging) ears. For those who want to go through this exercise, be warned. It’s not easy to locate presets to match in the old and new versions. Happily, in the new version, the browser has a top level of organization which separates old Z3TA sounds and new factory sounds. Under each, there are subcategories: Synth, Keys, Special Effects, etc. In the previous version, we just had page upon page of non-alphabetized content. While I expected little change when playing sounds supported by the earlier version, the bigger question for me was “what sounds are possible with version 2 that weren’t with its predecessor?” To answer that, I just had to play through many of the thousand plus new patches (according to Cakewalk—I certainly didn’t bother to count them all). For single-note sounds (non-arp, non-sequence), I was frankly underwhelmed by the number of presets that inspired me. On top of that, there’s an entire category of special effects presets that I cannot imagine anyone ever wanting to use. In this day where we have libraries like Alchemy’s Steamworks and Cinematic Impacts, some cheesy low-grade sound tricks will hold minimal interest, amusing or otherwise, to most folks. In fact, Cakewalk should be embarrassed with

the patch titled “Bad Gas” that is a pathetic attempt at a fart sound. I think it’s safe to say that the sound designers for Camel Audio are hardly quaking in their boots over Cakewalk’s new offering. Where the new Z3TA+ does shine is in the arp and sequence presets. Here it becomes a trance monster with some very compelling presets (assuming trance type sequences and gated sounds are your thing). I have one caution, however, if your music computer is showing its age; the sequence presets may quickly overwhelm it. My computer (due to be replaced by the time this is published) is an eight (or so) year old dual core Pentium-4. The sequence presets simply overrun the CPU capacity in no time at all. Just because an older computer can do justice to the previous version of Z3TA+, don’t assume it can handle the new one.

Decisions, Decisions ... So, is the new Z3TA+ for you? For existing Z3TA+ owners who like their current version, this is really close to no-brainer territory. The fifty dollar upgrade price buys a lot of new features and improved existing features. Over 1000 new patches will be reason enough to spend a few bucks in any case for many.

entirely. While it’s not clear that the arpeggiator is significantly more powerful, the many new factory patterns clearly have been taken advantage of in the sequence and arp presets. My advice would be to pay attention to the on-line forums to gage user reaction and possibly take the trouble to download a demo once it becomes available. After all, as existing owners, you’re only being asked to part with fifty bucks if you’re in the US. Those paying in Euros or pounds will pay about the same: 39 Euros or 35 pounds at the time this is being written. My suggestion to those who have no familiarity with Z3TA+ is to definitely take a look at this new version. But if it’s the wave shaping synthesis capability that intrigues you, also take a look at Zebra 2.5 from U-He, which as pointed out earlier, offers its own version of wave shaping. For those unappreciated practitioners of microtuning out there, Zebra gives you what Z3TA+ 2 has taken away, so you’ll especially want to consider Zebra as an alternative. Although Zebra costs about twice what Z3TA+ does, my own preference would be Zebra, mostly based on the quality of the factory presets. That’s just me though. I don’t have any interest in creating trance type music, and that’s something at which, I think, Z3TA+ 2 excels. Your mileage may vary, with beauty being in the eye/ear of the beholder and all that. Z3TA+ 2 definitely delivers some goods, and it’s an excellent value, even at the non-upgrade price of 99 dollars, 99 Euros, or 89 pounds. You can purchase it at www.cakewalk.com.

For existing Z3TA+ owners who aren’t great enthusiasts, the decision isn’t so obvious. There’s much new capability in version two, and although the sound of original patches is effectively identical on the old and new versions, there are enough new effect and Welcome back into the Cool Synth modulation options to legitimately Club, Z3TA+! label Z3TA+ 2 a different instrument September 2011

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Precisionsound’s

Indian Santoor and

Indian Surmandal by Jeffrey Powell

In the June 2011 issue of Wusik What are these instruments? Sound Magazine we reviewed two Before getting to the sample libraries, sound libraries by Precisionsound and let’s make sure we’re up to speed on got a chance to talk with Lars Westin the actual real-life instruments. An who’s one of the guys behind the sonic goodness at Precisionsound. As Indian santoor is trapezoidal-shaped instrument usually made of walnut or mentioned in that issue, maple wood. It is played using Precisionsound is a company with a lightweight mallets with which you wide variety of sample libraries from detailed ethnic instruments to unusual strike the strings. Thus, the Indian electronic organs. In fact, our santoor is in the hammered dulcimer previous reviews looked at one family. The particular santoor sampled by Precisionsound has 31 different instrument from each of these notes where each note consists of categories as we examined the Russian Balalaika and the Maestrovox three strings for a total of 93 strings. You can see a couple of these sets of Ps-Mod organ. If you missed that three strings in the product logo issue, be sure to check it out at www.wusikmagazine.com. picture with this article. The sample library itself has approximately a In this issue, I’m going to take a look three octave range. at two more libraries from their collection of ethnic strings: the Indian The Indian surmandal (or swarmandal Santoor and Indian Surmandal. These as it often appears) is also a stringed libraries are available in Halion, EXS24, instrument. However, it is a smaller and Kontakt 1-4 formats. I’ll be instrument and is played by plucking looking at the Kontakt 4 version of the or picking the strings instead of using libraries for this review, which have mallets. The surmandal sampled by the greatest functionality out of the Precisionsound has been plucked, and different formats. it has thirty-six strings. In their sampling, they've been able to extend the range by quite a bit. As the 132

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surmandal is plucked, it has a bit of a sharper, more present sound than the santoor. You've no doubt heard a surmandal in the recordings of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, “Strawberry Fields”, and other songs by the Fab Four. Common Goodness Although these two instruments are quite different, the two sample libraries themselves have some important points in common. As with the previous libraries reviewed in Wusik Sound Magazine, both the santoor and the surmandal have beautiful and easy-to-use Kontakt interfaces. Credit here goes to Lars Westin and Iain Morland, who are the designers behind the interfaces and scripts. Both instruments feature a multi-page interface although the santoor uses tabs while the surmandal uses a button to switch between pages. For both instruments, you'll find envelope (attack/decay) settings, a tweakable delay effect, and tremolo controls (where tremolo here refers to repeated striking or plucking of the strings). You can set the tremolo

speed using the interface and then use a MIDI CC command to accelerate or decelerate the tremolo. This gives you quite a bit of control over the sound. Also, there are some humanization options for the tremolo which can provide variation in timing, velocity, and tuning. All in all, this allows you to get tremolo playing that sounds very much like an actual player. Most importantly, both instruments feature very deep sampling. You'll find that both instruments feature four

velocity layers where each layer has four round robin hits. The result is that you have plenty of sampling that allows these libraries to avoid the dreaded â&#x20AC;&#x153;machine gunâ&#x20AC;? effect and to make these instruments sound like the real thing. Precisionsound also gives you a generous selection of FX sounds for each instrument including string noises and percussion hits made by hitting the frame of the instruments. Overall, Indian Santoor library weighs in at 1.35 GB and the Indian Surmandal weighs in at 3.37 GB. September 2011

A Few Differences There are a few differences between the two instruments worth noting. First of all, the santoor has a few more features accessible via the interface. You'll find settings for a convolution reverb which uses included impulse responses. The santoor also has an arpeggiator with several different patterns (up, down, up/down, and down/up). The humanization settings mentioned above also work on the arpeggiator.

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Indian Surmandal

While the surmandal does not include these settings, it does have a second instrument that is included in the package which features thaats. These are modes in traditional Hindustani music which are based on intervals of pitches. There are ten generally accepted thaats, and they're described in detail in the accompanying .pdf file that comes with the instrument. The Kontakt instrument itself contains three octaves of various strums across the strings for each of the ten thaats. Keyswitches or a drop down menu will allow you to switch between the ten thaats, and this instrument allows you to use the strums to set the appropriate modal setting for your Indian music if you so desire to do so. How Do They Sound? Well, it's clear that these instruments are full-featured, but as always, it's the sound that counts. The good news is that the sound here is impeccable. 134

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The sampling to my ears is flawless in both instruments, and as noted above, there's enough variety in the sample layers to allow you to make a truly realistic sounding performance. The interfaces are really works of art, and the tremolo and arpeggio functions are really useful. They take a bit of getting used to, but once you are acquainted with all of the controls, you can really put together some dynamic performances. It's important to note that these libraries have the potential for many uses outside of Indian music. For example, the santoor would work well in any context needing a hammered dulcimer so it could easily be used to create Appalachian or other types of folk music. The surmandal would also September 2011

work in a folk context, but I could easily see it being used to spice up a dance or electronica track. Overall, these are just great sounding instruments that are a joy to play. It's easy to get lost in the great sound and the deep sampling which allows you to create a dynamic performance. These are definitely two libraries you should check out. You can purchase the Indian Santoor and Indian Surmandal libraries from the Precisionsound website at www.precionsound.net for $69 each. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find sound demos there along with the .pdf manuals. As always, be sure to check out all of their other great offerings while you're at their site.

October 2011 Special Issue: Wusik Products Reviews Tutorials Interviews Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss that! www.wusik.com

Novation's

V-Station by Adrian Frost

This month in "Blast from the Past", we're going to be taking a look at yet another influential soft-synth: Novation's V-Station (http://www.novationmusic.com/). V-Station was originally released way back at the beginning of 2003, and this was a bold move for a company which, up until that time, had concentrated exclusively on hardware synths. V-Station was their first foray into the world of soft synths.

skin deep. V-Station is a near perfect emulation of the K-Station to the point that presets can be exchanged between the two and produce practically identical results. There are advantages though to owning the V-Station compared to its hardware brother. Lookin' good

The V-Station was based upon Novation's popular K-Station hardware synth. If you take a quick look at the K-Station, you can clearly see the inspiration for the V-Station. However, the looks are more than

Firstly, all of the V-Station's controls are easily accessible - no scrolling through settings, squinting at a small LCD display or

trying to figure out which knob is going to change which parameter. In addition, you can run as many instances of V-Station as your computer will allow, and on today's computers, that can mean a lot of instances of this incredibly lightweight synth. So, what does V-Station offer that makes it worthy of our consideration? Well, in the first place, it sounds really good. Running through the rather unimaginatively named factory presets shows a lot of variety on offer, from 136

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some very deep thudding basses, to harsh (and soft) leads, icy pads, warm strings, and some really inspiring arps. Add in a few FX, some decent FM sounds, and some presets named "Motion", and you have a good amount of stuff to work with. About 90% of what you'll need is

out of this synth without too much difficulty, particularly if you pump up the filter's "o-drive" control. Being able to solo each oscillator is quite a handy feature as you can quickly figure out the effect that each one is having on the overall sound. Something extra

cluttering up the MAIN panel". I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. First up, V-Station offers a unison control that allows you to stack up to eight voices for a real wide and thick sound. The manual warns that each time you add a voice the polyphony drops, but who cares? Go wild.

The more interesting features of VThe second thing worth pointing out is Station can be found on the "Extra" that V-Station offers a decent, if page. In one sense, it's a shame that somewhat basic, FM capability; those the controls here aren't more in the know will realise that FM is my prominent (i.e. didn't make it to the "thing" at the moment with a new front page) because there's some series on FM synthesis due to start in interesting stuff here that might easily next month's issue. The FM level be missed. The V-Station manual says controls how much Osc3 is modulated that "The EXTRA page is where youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll by Osc2. Amongst the presets, there find the little 'extras' that add a lot to are a number that make use of FM, the basic functionality but are only and the tones are generally good, if used occasionally and don't warrant maybe a little clichĂŠd. The FM envelope control affects the operation

packed into the main screen, and all of the controls are clearly labelled. There are only two envelopes on offer, "Amp" and "Mod". However, the Mod envelope can be assigned to quite a number of other controls and is put to good use in a number of the factory presets. V-Station's three oscillators sound good. They're generally clean, but "dirt" can be coaxed September 2011

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Novation's

V-Station

of Osc2, so it adds a bit more interest into the mix. You only have attack and decay at your disposal, but that is sufficient for most things you're likely to want to attempt. After all, first and foremost V-Station is a subtractive synth. The "Extra" page also gives you access to more options for the arpeggiator. Personally, I would have liked to have seen at least the "latch" control on the main page or on the section of the synth dedicated to the arp. It took me a while to figure out why one preset was acting all weird...

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In control The "Controls" page gives you a surprising amount of control over how the synth reacts to user input. "Mod Wheel" and "Pitch Bend" are pretty standard, but having access to controls for a "Breath" controller and "Aftertouch" is definitely an added extra.

I've never owned a MIDI controller or keyboard with Aftertouch so I can't say much here. However, I imagine that being able to route Aftertouch to various parts of the synth can certainly broaden the sonic palette.

The ability to affect your effects with the Mod Wheel is something Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve not seen before on a synth and could prove useful for moving your sound around the sound stage. Being able to increase reverb on a sound will move it from front to back, and increasing delay (depending, of course, on how you set it) can be used for widening a sound. Anyway, they are an interesting set of options.

The "Global" page is somewhat sparse but hides the "Memory" options. This is where the V-Station's link to its hardware brother the K-Station comes into play.

September 2011

Memories

Firstly, we have "restore". It just does a simple reset of the synth to the original factory presets - handy if you mess stuff up by fiddling... not that I have any experience with that...

ahem... Restore is the "Take off and nuke it from orbit" option as everything that you may have done will be overwritten and, thus, lost. So get to know the "Export" button first if you've created any particularly awesome or precious sounds. While the "export" button allows you to, funnily enough, export the contents of the V-Station's memory in a form that can be used by the KStation, you could also use this feature to back-up your V-Station before fiddling with the factory presets or any presets that you've created yourself. But the most interesting control of the three has to be "import". Clicking the import button will open up a standard file finder window - smart or ugly, depending on your OS. From that window you simply need to browse to a folder containing any SysEx dumps of individual K-station presets. These files will end in .syx. If you are a K-Station owner wanting to

transfer presets, it's worth reading the manual at this point if you have anything other than .syx files. It's only 96 pages long and has some very interesting info about general synthesis as well as detailed usage instructions for the V-Station.

which includes a fix or two for some very small bugs related to the newer Mac version. Anyway, V-Station shows no signs of being abandoned by Novation.

For those who prefer presets and don't want to go hunting for free KSo where are we? Station SysEx dumps, it's useful to know that a number of sound Despite being nine years old V-Station designers are still releasing preset is still a pretty usable, solid, goodbanks for this synth. This shows that sounding synth. Whilst preparing this there's some life in it yet and that article, I ended up getting quite a even after all this time, it's a synth groove going with Bass5, Pad7, Hard that is worth investing in. There are Lead10, and Arpeggio16. The sounds also many free presets available all fit nicely together, which isn't so online if you know where to look. surprising, but what was surprising is KVR's (http://www.kvraudio.com) that you could easily put together a "Banks & Patches" section would be a whole track with nothing but V-Station good place to start. and maybe a drum machine. You might not win any awards with your Although you can't buy V-Station directly from Novation, you can find it track, but that won't be V-Station's fault. in many different places online for a variety of prices. Novation continue to work on their synth although it's already very stable. V-Station has now reached version 1.7 September 2011

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