Editorial
Wusik Sound Magazine www.wusiksoundmagazine.com Issue October 2008
Managing Editor: Paul Evans Assistant Editors: Per Lichtman, Leroi, WilliamK and MoniKe Production Manager: MoniKe
Articles by: A. Arsov www.arsov.net David Keenum david@wusik.com Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi www.myspace.com/gnomusic Mike Loggan Paul Evans - aka Triple-P (PPP) www.triplep.wusik.com Squibs www.musician.ie Sergio - aka Sir Joe www.sir-joe.com info@sir-joe.com Trusty www.myspace.com/crosssoldiers Stickybeats@yahoo.com WilliamK
Proof-Reading by: LeRoi Per Lichtman www.soundclick.com/perlichtman VP/Music and Creative, Beyond Belief Music Corp. beyondbeliefmusic@gmail.com Bruce David Peggy
My fellow Wusikians, the re-launch of our magazine is here. We are going back to the original name of Wusik Sound Magazine. We also now offer a printed copy of the magazine, in case you prefer it in print. I have been away for some time but I am thankful to be back, working on a project I love so much. We have assembled what I believe one of our best stables of writers yet, all committed to bring you the very best that we can. William is hard at work, advancing Wusikstation into one of the premier sampler/synths on the market. One of his latest improvements is integrating his new VSTi, Wusik Groovebox, into Wusikstation, making it extremely easy to make drum patterns and beats. Please be sure to check our forum at KVRaudio.com for all of the latest news and info. Be sure to leave us input on all of our products and the magazine; we need your thoughts and ideas to help improve and shape the future of our company and products. Your involvement is a vital component to our success, making Wusik as great as possible. Right now, with your help, the sky is the limit. I know things have been a bit rocky as of late. I want to thank all our subscribers for sticking with us. You are the reason we do this. We hope to be an inclusive magazine; readers and users like you are welcome to share ideas and articles with us for the magazine. If you would like to join our writing team, please contact us so we can “plug you in�. Let the world know, we are back and better than ever! I hope you enjoy this issue. I also want to thank everyone who has contributed to it - from our writers, to the developers of the products featured within our pages. We have several high profile interviews, as well as exciting new approaches to gear and software reviews, that will be appearing in the next few issues. Stay tuned. Paul Evans
Pictures: www.dreamstime.com
Covers: JC j_carieata@yahoo.com
Paul Evans akaTriple-P
MoniKe
Table of Contents Table of Contents
04
A Defense of Fan-ism by Trusty
05
Freebie Synth of the Month DaHornet by WilliamK
Interview: Waves Under Water 06 by Sir Joe
08
Bradstar by Trusty
11
Did You Know?
12
What's On Your Amp by David Keenum
13/57 19
Ask Doctor Jack
How to do Easy Stuff by Trusty
Review: Native Instruments 34 Guitar Rig 3 XE by A. Arsov
36
Manytone Fretless Bass by A. Arsov
37
Pendle Poucher’s “Ship’s Piano” by David Keenum
38 46 50
Best things about Reason 4 by Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi Liquid Horn Section and Liquid Trumpet by A. Arsov BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer by A. Arsov
52
Amplitube Metal - IK Multimedia by Squibs
Trusty's Top Five Bi-Monthly Foot-Mouth Awards by Trusty
Developer’s Corner:
14
Review: Interview:
Poly-Ana Admiral Quality by Paul Evans
20
Review: Interview:
Digital Sound Factory Timothy Swartz by Trusty
56
Review: Interview:
Phaedra Sam Spacey by David Keenum
Diversions: You Won't Like It 58 by Mike Loggan
26 31 32
Backup by Mike Loggan
Preset Autopsy by WilliamK
Flashback: SB16, DOS, IRQ 7? 59 by WilliamK
by Trusty
A Defense of
Fan-ism bandwidth. After all, those people will also inevitably go on to do the exact thing that they just chastised another forum member for doing. My position on the matter is this: So what? Practically speaking, that which is subjective doesn't necessarily imply that the recommendations themselves aren't worthy of the dialog. More to the point, I don't even mind the "grumbler’s" hypocrisy. In the electronic music Internet forum arena, everyone not only has an opinion, they also believe they have the correct opinion. Everybody also has, to some degree or another, a compulsion to assert those opinions, welcomed or not. This phenomenon is here to stay. Let it be granted by all who would enter, read, and express themselves on such forums that they recognize there are two universal principles that must be accepted without condition. 1. Almost everything stated is subjective. And... 2. What is asserted to be the "best" X category of musical tool under discussion is almost certainly going to be a product in the collection of the person making the assertion. Always, always, always, there will be someone asking for opinions on different products in hopes to make a more informed decision on their next purchase. The responses are always varied, and not without disagreement. Inevitably though, a few grumblers are going to come along and point out the obvious. They'll say, "That's just your opinion," or "You only say that because you need to vindicate your purchase," or some other such nonsense that wastes perfectly good
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In the clashing rhetoric of musical product discussions, inconsistencies are bound to crop up. The heat of the debate causes the irrational levels of most of the participants' minds to forgo all reason or good sense and blindly state their allegiances. Again, so what? The Internet forum was invented for this purpose, it would seem. Fanboys and fangirls have always been around, and always will be. Many acknowledge themselves as such nowadays and wear their fandom as a badge of honor. In fact, it is the people that post on the forums that are "above the fray" and do their level best to remain "neutral" and "objective" that actually deliver the most useless information out of all the people in the discussion. Fanboys and fangirls know their gear... that is how they became such fans of their tools in the first place. It is also how they became so knowledgeable about the products they recommend as well. Some common traits about fanboys and fangirls that I have noticed are the following: 1. They are also, actually, good musicians. 2. They tend to completely know everything about and completely understand the tools they are using to make their music.
FREEBIE SYNTH OF THE MONTH
3. They have also a good deal of knowledge about the products they readily admit are inferior to their own choices. Which is how they came to make the choices they became fanatic about in the first place. 4. They usually have a good deal of technical knowledge about all aspects of composition, recording, mixing, and mastering ...even if they don't perform all those tasks personally. 5. They are very thorough with their posts.
by WilliamK
daHornet
Does the constant debating ever get old? Yes. Will it ever stop? No. Does it keep readers and participants away? Never. Nor should it. As stated before, it is a phenomenon to be embraced. Also, it is extremely useful. Certainly the developers of the tools themselves appreciate the faithful. After all, it would be a safe assumption that the fanatics of such forums generate far more sales than any advertisement in a magazine, or a sales-person at a pro audio store.
Simple, low CPU usage, and very useful
Fan-ism does indeed have an important place on the Internet forums, for all things music-related. It is what makes the online community go and grow. The astute person that initially asks the oft-asked question, "What is the best X?", should consider all information given, and obviously decide for themselves, but also understand that the biased opinions are also the most informed opinions to be read in the discussion.
Being on the development team (years ago) means I'm a bit biased towards this synth, but again, it does a good job of creating simple hybrid sounds while using very little CPU resources. Its also a good start for learning a bit of synthesis.
So fanboys and fangirls, keep at it. I know I will. There is certainly nothing wrong with it. Fanboys and fangirls do most of the heavy lifting on the forums anyway, take the most bullets for everyone else, and deep down, there is a mutual respect among everyone involved in the discussions, even between those that disagree the loudest...and even when discussions turn very, very ugly. At the end of the day, we are all people that, if talking about anything else, especially in person, would most certainly get along on some level or another. For full disclosure, I am a fanboy of the following companies (in no particular order): Cakewalk, Wusik, Sonic Charge, Camel Audio, Voxengo, and occasionally Native Instruments. Not that I limit myself to just these companies but, currently, I only own stuff from them. And unless I acquire something new from someone else (which is rare) and it blows me away, I will probably stick to my favourites and their offerings, before looking anywhere else. These companies simply have the absolute best stuff in the world and all other products, from everywhere else, are just pretenders. Ha Ha Ha!!! Deal with it. :)
from NUSofting/DashSignature Download URL: http://nusofting.liqihsynth.com/freeplugins.html Serial # TMKMKIHGNNKJFMKMKIHGNNKJF
What I love most about daHornet is the Pitch to FilterFrequency. So you can get that old classic Popcorn synth sound out of this. Actually, preset 45 is named “Popcorn” for this exact reason. Another option you don't see that often is the Repeat mode for the envelopes. Set Sustain (or Delay) to Zero and you will see that Repeat lights up. Try adjusting Attack and Decay, you will see how useful the Repeat mode can be. For more options, click the logo for a menu. The Random options let you create new sounds by randomizing all parameters. It's even divided by type of preset you want. One thing about the Envelopes: Decay = Release something you may not see right away. You can use Midi-Learn on any parameter, just right-click and select it from the menu. Presets to check: 81 45 65 56
- Velocity Ring – Popcorn – Air Pads – Wave Pads
The creators also plan on releasing an update later this year that will feature Universal Binary (MAC) and the addition of a Sequencer + Effects.
www.WusikSoundMagazine.com
October 2008
05
Waves under Water
by Sir Joe
Waves under Water
06
Based in Stockholm, Waves under Water is a dark wave duo combining dark romanticism and electronic beats with powerful melodies. As they claim on their MySpace page, “Something is moving beneath the surface”. So we decided to have a few words with Johan (synth, bass, vocals) and Angelica (vocals) to find out what exactly is moving under water.
certain melancholy feel to it - for example, in traditional folk music, which we listen to a lot. But the melancholy in our songs doesn’t only derive from that but is also influenced by goth and industrial, in general.
WSM: It is apparent that growing up in Sweden has influenced your lyrics. What about your music?
WSM: If the two of you hadn’t met, do you think you would have started a group anyway, sooner or later?
WuW: The influence on the lyrics is more apparent since we are inspired much by Nordic and Finnish mythology as well as the seasonal changes that we have up here. But we are also inspired by literature, movies, music and mythology that aren’t Nordic. So it is a mix of many things. Swedish music often has a
J: Before we knew each other I had started a band called Cynthia Leech that plays a blend of EBM and dark wave. For quite a while I had thought about doing something more like Waves under Water.
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A: I had wanted to be part of a band for a long time but before I
met Johan I had never come in contact with anybody that was interested enough or motivated enough. WSM: Your music does not seem to be influenced by what is considered “cool” today and I mean it as a compliment. What do you think of the music hitting the charts nowadays? WuW: We don’t keep much track of what’s cool and what isn’t or what’s in the charts. We listen to music that we like. The majority of the music that is popular today is pretty uninteresting and bland, with a few exceptions. We find that a good song is a good song and undetermined by genre or popularity.
WSM: What kind of instrumentation do you use for your recording sessions? Do you have your own studio?
think there is still room to make money for promising but still relatively unknown groups like yours?
WuW: We use a bass and a Korg MS2000R, but the computer is our main tool when we make our music. As software, we use Reason as a soft synth and Cubase for recording. At this moment we don’t have a proper studio but in the future we may build one.
WuW: Maybe not so much from record sales but combining it with playing live more we think it is possible. The Internet has also made it easier for smaller bands to get international attention and that creates opportunities to play live more often.
WSM: What do you think about virtual instruments and plug-ins in general?
WSM: So it sounds like you are considering live performances
WuW: The only virtual instrument we use is Reason, and that is because it’s both powerful and simple. Most of the virtual instruments that we have tried have either been not good enough or too much for our old computer. Reason caught our attention and since then we haven’t really checked out new products on the market. Now when we have acquired a new computer we might try some other virtual instruments. We think that virtual instruments are good in general; they allow you to have more control. The lower price also makes it affordable for small artists, and you don’t have to have a big record company behind you to make the kind of music you want.
WuW: Yes, we have two performances planned within a month here in Stockholm. We are also planning to get gigs outside of Sweden later. “Thirsty” is quite an intriguing song. How did that one come out? When we wrote the lyrics to “Thirsty” we where inspired by the holy well
of wisdom and fate guarded by three goddesses. The well is so holy that everything turns to white if it touches the surface. It’s about how the narrator desires the water. WSM: What can we expect in future from “Waves under water”? WuW: We are currently working on a full length album which will hopefully be finished during the autumn. The record will contain both danceable music mixed with more atmospheric songs. When it is released we plan to come out and play live - hopefully abroad. Check out Waves under Water on MySpace at the following link: www.myspace.com/wavesunderwater
WSM: What piece of gear (hardware or software) would you like to own if you could afford it? Is there anything you are planning to buy? WuW: First on the wish list is a Korg Radius synth which we are planning to acquire in the near future. It would also be nice to have more analog synths with many knobs especially on stage. WSM: Considering that free music download is taken for granted by the majority, do you
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October 2008
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Bradstar Trusty's column where he highlights underground artists (way more talented than he is) that he thinks should be famous.
by Trusty
Why Ain't Ya' Famous?
Bradstar Name: Bradley McCollum aka Bradstar Age: 24 y/o Hometown: Memphis, TN Genre: Rap/Hip-Hop/Dirty South/Crunk/RnB Gear: Just FL Studio 8 (He swears!) and he just uses his comuter keyboard to input notes! Producers in the south are a dime a dozen these days. At all levels, from the nationally renowned to the regional and local, it becomes harder and harder to stand out above the herd. Easy access to the necessary tools at a reasonable price point has blown the door to the music business wide open, and there are plenty of up-and-comer's willing to pass through that door's threshold. So many, in fact, that in order to actually stand above the herd, one has to be so undeniably talented, that it is impossible for them to go unnoticed. Bradstar is one such producer. One glance at his Myspace tells you from whom and where his inspiration is drawn. But after listening to his music, it is hard to imagine why he isn't in their company, status wise. Since his beats go well beyond that of his music idols. Not that Bradstar lacks in confidence to admit as much, since his tagline is "Home of the Hottest Beats on the Web." However, while theoretically it could be the case that they aren't the 08
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hottest beats on the Internet in the most absolute sense, considering most talented producers expound similar bravado, that claim, nonetheless, isn't too far a stretch.
WSM: Now, on the record, all you use to make your music is FL Studio 8 and it's content, your computer keyboard for a controller, and nothing else?
Listening through the various tracks, of which there are many posted, the word consistency comes to mind. Bradstar has identified his personal style and, regardless of the beat flavor he is going for, the high quality and stylistic approach to the music has a definate signature that many producers, even the successful ones, strive to find for themselves.
Bradstar: Yeah man, just FL 8 and my PC keyboard and my mouse. I was actually about to buy a midi controller but I've decided to go in the direction of the Miko.
At it's worst, Dirty South beats can get the rep. of being stupidly simple and cheesy. Though when this subgenre is at it's best, the end results can be nothing short of amazing. Bradstar always brings the best to his compositions. The track-to-track consistency demonstrates this. While the conventional sound selections for the sub-genre are there to keep his beats commercially viable, his well-crafted, distinct signature is present as well. That combination takes his Dirty South beats to a whole other level, the top tier, where Bradstar works and plots his moves to put his career on that same tier where his music is at already.
WSM: You've been at this 8 years, how long have you been getting by with FL Studio? Did you use anything before then? Bradstar: Well I've been into making my own music for about 8 years but I didn't start actually recording it until about 4 years ago which is when I started using FL. FL was my first DAW program and I never looked back. I actually just started using Reason in FL just for more sounds but I haven't released any of the beats which use Reason sounds yet. WSM: Why do you think Reason is such a common tool for FL Studio users? I know a lot of people use the two together. Bradstar: Well it's easy. All you have to do is rewire reason into FL and you have so many more sounds to use. Reason has much better
stock sounds than FL does so they really come in handy for me. WSM: What made you decide to get into the production game? Bradstar: Well I never really thought about it until I was at the BX on my base one day. I was looking at computers and noticed one of the attendants was messing with a program on one of the computers. He was using FL..I believe it was FL 2. I didn't even know there were programs like that out there. Once I realized I could make music from my computer I was sold. Before that all I ever did was play my Casio keyboard at my house wishing I could record my work, haha. WSM: Man, those old Casio keyboards fetch good money on eBay these days. Those sounds keep coming up in tracks a lot lately. You ever dig it out and sample it? Bradstar: Nah, I don't even have that thing anymore. Mine wasn't a high dollar one or anything. It was something you'd buy for your kid. I have no idea what happened to that keyboard, haha. WSM: Did you have any formal musical background going in to this? Bradstar: No sir, man. I used to play the keyboard and piano as a kid but it was all just for fun. I didn't have any training or anything. I guess you could say I'm one of the ones that have an "ear for music". I used to listen to some of my favorite songs out there and learn them on the keyboard by ear. WSM: Your music always has that epic feel to it, whether it is a street anthem, club banger, introspective type track, whatever, you always bring an epic feel to it. Is that intentional, or does it just always come out like that? Bradstar: I honestly don't try to have that epic sound. I guess they just come out like that. I hear that a lot actually ha. It might be the sounds that I use but no I don't
start my beats out shooting for that epic sound. WSM: You use a lot of different sounds though, I would say it has more to do with the arrangements. Do you usually have an idea that you start with for a beat, that just ends up coming out epic sounding, or do you just fire up the FL Studio and see what happens? Bradstar: Yeah I just go with the flow. Ill lay down a melody and Ill listen to it and then something else will pop in my head so then I lay that down and keep going until I thinks it's perfect. WSM: Your music also has a textured and layered feel to it. Lots of sounds happening, but not to where it is all cluttered and muddy. Is that the direction you wanted to perfect for your style? Bradstar: Yeah man, I've always loved using many sounds in my tracks. I hear so many songs on the radio now that are so simple and boring. Thats not what I want my tracks to sound like. I try to add something new every 4 bars. I do a lot of battling online with my beats so that has something to do with it. But it's definitely a trademark of mine now and Ill never change that. WSM: Yeah, competition causes everyone to step their game up. Do you choose to get involved with battles just to keep from going stale? Bradstar: Yeah man, and it's a good way to get feedback as well. Battling the top dogs always makes you step your game up so I'll probably battle forever...even if I make it big, haha. It's fun and competitive. WSM: How do you find the balance with keeping the beats spacious and layered at the same time? Bradstar: Well I think it all comes down to panning your sounds
strategically and also Eq'ing each sound so frequencies dont clash. WSM: I noticed you also like to listen to 90's grunge music. Do those styles of riffs and melodies play a role as inspiration for your beats? Bradstar: Yeah Id say so...especially when I make a track with a guitar in it. To me those days were the best of "alternative/grunge" music... Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc. WSM: Yeah, and I had to throw on some of those old albums after seeing their mention on your Myspace page. I noticed that those bands in that era, love them or hate them, made music that sticks around for a while. I also noticed that they always had that epic quality to them too. Do you think that there is some stylistic connection with that music that stuck around when you were starting to produce your music? Bradstar: I'd say no. If it did transfer over to my music then I didn't notice. You are right though that almost every song out in that era still sounds great, even to this day. WSM: You have a considerable amount of beats to have only recently been recording your material. How long does it usually take you to put a track together, on average? Also, how much time do you put into the studio each week? Bradstar: Well it depends, really. Id say, to actually finish a beat and mix it down and everything, around 2 - 3 days. I know it sounds crazy but it's true. I usually take hour breaks from a beat and come back and listen to it to see if there is
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Bradstar anything else that I can add. I normally don't finish a beat until I know it's as good as it can be. Theres no reason to put out a beat that isn't up to it's full potential. As far as the amount of time I spend in the studio each week, I'd say a good 70 hours or so. If I'm at home I'm more than likely doing something in the studio. I can't help it, it's addictive, haha. WSM: That is some crazy work ethic. 70 hrs a week, and 2-3 days for a beat...that is taking the time to perfect a beat right there. It takes me as long for one beat, or longer, but I don't recall ever putting in 70 hour weeks...I'd probably be up there on your level if I did though. (LOL) That is some serious dedication right there. I hear people talking like they can make a hot beat in 20 minutes, but when I hear it, I'm like...Nah... Do You ever get the impression that people are in a hurry to just put out something rather than taking time to put out something that's hot? Bradstar: Yeah, I totally agree with you. A lot of dudes say they make 5 beats in a day and then you hear the beats and they are just "ok". Usually it's some simple drum pattern with a couple of instruments for the melody. I can't knock them though because that's what sells these days: simple beats with plenty of room for the artists. WSM: I take it you make most of your bread off this, or do you put in some day-job time as well? Bradstar: Oh no, sir, this is just side money for me. I'm actually in the Air Force, which is good money, believe it or not. It's got me driving an 06 Infiniti G35 coupe and living 10
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in my own apartment with plenty of money to spare, so I can't complain. My dream is to make music for a living though...I want it bad.
WSM: Well, we certainly appreciate your service, especially these days. You mentioned you were eyeing the Miko. What about that unit makes you want to get it over other stuff out there? Bradstar: Well it's all you really need. You can do everything right there on the Miko. Produce, mix, and master it all on the Miko. Instead of having to track out your beats to a DAW in order to mix and master your beats you can just do it all on one unit, since the Miko has it owns computer on it. It's pretty much a hardware keyboard and a DAW, all in one. Plus, you can always add sounds and vst's...it's limitless.
WSM: What do you think of the production game and the music business as it is now and do you ever get frustrated hearing the radio and thinking that those dudes need to be on your beats?
Bradstar: Honestly I dn't. If they paid the money to lease it then it's all fine with me. If the dudes on it are garbage, then there probably won't be anyone that matters who will end up hearing it. So yeah, I'd have to say no I dont worry about it too much. It's a business... not everything is going to come out great. WSM: That's probably true (LOL). Though, once you get to the next level, do you think you would be more selective with artists? Bradstar: Oh yeah, no doubt man. Once you get to that top level you have to be selective. I wouldn't limit myself to just big name artists though. If an underground dude has some skills he could be the next big thing...you just never know. I definitely wouldnt be doing deals with some random average artist though...unless he wanted to pay big bucks for a beat, haha. WSM: In addition to leasing beats on the Net, you have some projects of your own with some artists. What moves are happening on that? Bradstar: Well me and MLB have been collab'ing for a while. He was my first artist to make music with. He's pretty well known in NY. It's crazy because I'm a Dirty South producer for the most part and I have a dude from New York on my tracks, haha...they turned out well though. Many of our songs have been on numerous mixtapes...hopefully we will continue to make heat. Another local artist I'm with is PAEL. He lives where I do in Georgia but he's from Chicago, Illinois. We're working on his album right now. Once it's finished we'll shoot for radio play and see where it goes from there.
Bradstar: Well I think it's more popular than it's ever been but the quality of music isn't great right now. So many songs that come out now are so simple and boring to me. But, hey, it sells. I respect everyone out there that is successful for their grind but a lot of the music is..well...horrible, haha. Sorry, Souljah Boy. I do think a lot of rappers out right now could do some good things on my beats. Recently I've been making a lot of trap style Dirty South tracks so, of course, Jeezy could kill most of those. I wouldn't say I get frustrated though...I mean the guys had to grind to get where they are and you do have to respect it.
WSM: Does grabbing a mic tempt you? Or do you just work the production end?
WSM: You do a lot of business leasing beats on the Internet. Because of the nature of that business, do you ever think about or worry about some rap artist recording absolute garbage on your beats?
Bradstar: Well when I was a teenager I rapped some and it came pretty easy to me. Sometimes I hear my beats and I want to lay down something of my own to it....even just the hook, but I never do. I'm sure I will eventually,
though. Right now I am just focused on producing though. WSM: Once you get that Miko, do you think you will grab some decks or anything and take it live with your artists, or are you a studio only type of dude? Bradstar: Yeah I could see that happening. Hell, I can even take my Miko to my boys house and have him lay some stuff down as I make a beat, haha. I mean the Miko only weighs 36 pounds. I'll be taking it everywhere with me. Ill definitely be going to my artists shows and doing some crazy live shit...(LOL) Can I say that? WSM: Do you have any advice for people looking to get into production? Bradstar: Yeah, I'd say if you decide to get into producing be sure that you have a good amount of time to put into it. Otherwise you might be wasting your time. It can also be frustrating because producing gets addictive, so you always want to work on something new, haha. I'd also say find your own sound. Try to be original and don't try to sound like someone else...that way you will stand out more and that's how you get noticed. WSM: Do you have anything you want to say to the big name producers out there whom you are obviously more talented than?
Bradstar: It must be nice to have connections like that to get big quick...but watch out for Bradstar!!! I'm coming, haha...
Did You Know
WSM: Any last words or shout outs? Bradstar: Well, I want to thank you for the interview and the time and just the consideration. Shout outs to my Rocbattle peeps and all my boys back in Georgia! WSM: Thanks for your time. Keep up the good work.
Did You Know Your monthly dose of information you didn't want to know.
Bradstar: Thanks again for this and keep an eye out for me. WSM: Don't worry about that, I will probably be leasing some tracks for my next album. (LOL). (Rap artisits listen up, Bradstar's got fair nonex prices, and the beats are better than what you are working with now - - for real.) I've been listening for a while, but with this writing gig coming out, you were the first up to bat. Just a couple of non-music questions before were done. Do you follow college football? If so, are the Vols gonna get the SEC East title this season? Bradstar: Yeah man, hit me up for beats for sure. I have special deals going on now, haha. Man, I'm a HUGE Vol fan and they better win the East. I can see them doing it for sure. Georgia is supposed to get it done but I don't see that happening. Ha, that's crazy...I'm the biggest Vol fan you will ever meet, period! GO VOLS!
Check out Bradstar Productions! http://www.bradstarproductions.com http://www.myspace.com/bradstarproductions
To get a great backwards effect, try this: Reverse the audio of your track/song, then apply a digital-delay to it, and finally reverseback. You can also use a reverb with a long tail, instead of a delay. Test by selecting only the first part of the song - reverse it, add the reverb, and reverse back. You get a long intro tail which stops when the song starts. Another fun effect is to get a portion of the audio, stretch 400%, and apply a fade-envelope to it. This is great on the small stops you do in the song. In the movie “Ferris Bueller's Day Off”, the synthesizer he used to fake his sickness over the phone was the ___________________. (fill out the blank) When converting your songs to MP3, try using VariableBit-Rate 100% (aka VBR), which results into a much better sound – this is because it will lower/raise the Bit-Rate according to the sound-source. You can also use FLAC for a better sound, but larger file-size. But the good thing about VBR MP3 files is that most MP3 players support it. Sometimes, less is more. Try listening to most top hits and you will notice that. The song must sound clean especially when listened to at a low volume. If you need to listen to your music creations really loud in order to enjoy them, there could be a problem. When converted to MP3 format, simple, clean songs also compress better (sound better), while busy, complex tracks tend to ‘smear’. Using two wide LCD monitors instead of four regular ones is much better, as you get two extra large spaces to work with. A study has proven that people react better to live performances, despite the type of music played. So, if you can do great live music, the chance for your musicsuccess is much higher.
www.WusikSoundMagazine.com
October 2008
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what’s on your amp by David Keenum
Liquid Mind When I first started listening to music, there were far fewer genre divisions. For pop/rock music it was basically “Top 40” and “Underground.” “Underground” quickly became “Album Oriented Rock,” but at least it contained a wide variety of musical styles. And being a keyboard player, I was also interested in music produced by the electronic music pioneers. Wendy (Walter) Carlos’ Switched on Bach was an eye-opener. From Switched on Bach I discovered Tomita. His Snowflakes are Dancing (1974), Pictures at an Exhibition (1975), and Firebird Suite (1975) were
amazing experiences for me. It never occurred to me then that there would be divisions like today. Music was music. Fast forward to today, and I still don’t understand a lot of the ways of classifying music into different genres. And the genre that baffles me the most is New Age. New Age seems to encompass everything from elevator music to ambient music that has a tonal center. It seems that if it is instrumental, the tendency is to place it in the New Age bin. Is Tangerine Dream New Age music? How about Jean Michel Jarre? Not to me. And this leads us to the artist I am featuring this month. Liquid Mind is the name composer and songwriter Chuck Wild uses when he is writing his slow, sedative music. Chuck was a member of Missing Persons in the early 1980’s. Since then he has written music for a wide range of media: TV, radio, the concert stage, and pop songs. A complete list of credits can be found here: www.liquidmindmusic.com/graphics/ChuckWildCredits. pdf The story behind Liquid Mind is interesting. According to the Liquid Mind website (www.liquidmindmusic.com/musictherapy/heuristic.ht ml), the music resulted from Chuck’s need to find a solution to a problem. “At the time of onset of my panic and anxiety symptoms in 1987, I had been working 20 hour days for three months, composing music for the ABC-TV series Max Headroom. The combination of the long hours and resulting sleep deprivation, along with the grief of losing literally dozens of friends and associates to HIV and cancer in a few short years in the late 1980's resulted in a nearly incessant case of panic and anxiety disorder.”
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He settled on using slow music to facilitate his healing. “I designed the Liquid Mind prescriptive sedative music to facilitate my own healing regimen with no reliance on pharmaceuticals. My self-imposed prescription was that the music should be slow in tempo, rich harmonically, more or less continuous, somewhat frequency-restricted, atmospheric (did not attract too much attention to itself), and emotionally rich. Of all these elements, the most important was that the compositions be unrushed, at a very slow tempo, without discernible meter, or a meter that reflected only healthy breathing patterns.” And the resulting music is a nice change of pace from most music we hear throughout our day. It is relaxing and interesting at the same time. The chord changes move so slowly that it’s hard to know where they are going to go, but when a chord resolves, it gives a feeling of rest. The music works well as a background music while you are doing other things. As to labels, I know Liquid Mind is generally considered in the New Age category. And maybe it should be. The goal of Liquid Mind is relaxation and therapy, and Chuck's music is widely used by certified music therapists. For more information on music therapy, you can visit the American Music Therapy Association website. (www.musictherapy.org/) In New Age music the relaxation component is usually considered the primary component, whereas in Ambient the music is usually thought to be the most important. And of course, a lot of Ambient is the opposite of relaxing! But for me, Liquid Mind is much closer to early ambient music like Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports. Eno defined it as music "designed to induce calm and space to think." But I guess, when all is said and done, labels don’t mean that much. So call Liquid Mind what you like. I have found it an enjoyable listening. If you want to check out Liquid Mind’s music, you can download a free mp3 from the website. Just point your browser to www.liquidmindmusic.com/.
Ask Doctor Jack “What's the difference between 8, 16, 24, 32 and 64 bits for sound processing? Should I care about 24-bit audio?” From 8 to 16 bits there's a lot of difference. In 8 it. A lot of users have bits you can't have low done tests showing that volumes, so when you the advantages of 64-bit fade the music out, you mixing are just nonsense. will hear (very fast) why 8 But the jury is stilil out. bits is so limited. Not to mention that, when “Why should I bother playing back instruments with anything over in 8 bits, they tend to 44.1 kHz, if the human sound noisy due to the ear can't even process limitations in volume. 16 sound over 22 kHz? bits should be great for And if so, why 44.1 most situations, but again, kHz? Are we listening it can sound bad when to non-human mixing several sounds to frequencies there?” a 16-bit file; unless you have a 24 bit- sound card, Actually, when we talk you won't hear the about sample-rate, (e.g. difference anyway. 44.1 kHz) we are not talking about the "sound24-bit is the new “in-style” rate". Most sound-cards format - it adds more will work at a maximum room for the sound, but of 44.1 kHz, but that the difference from 16 to means it can only output 24 bits is not so audible in ½ of the sample-rate regular players. You will when converting to an need a high-quality 24-bit audible sound-rate. What sound card to really hear happens is that the the “extra bits”. 32-bit is sound-card can process what most software 44,100 samples per synthesizers uses, as it second. To reproduce a let's you go over the 22,050 Hz sound, you audio range without need to send one sample distorting so quickly. If all up and one sample down, software were done in 16 22,050 times a second. bits, it would distort too This requires 44,100 much and you would lose samples per second. But quality when mixing there are some humans several voices and who can hear above 22 sources. That's why 32-bit kHz - that's why most is important for audiocards today can handle 48 processing. But for kHz, making it possible to rendering tracks, 16 bits reproduce up to 24 kHz is still enough. Now, 64sounds. bit processing – there are continue on page 57 some big discussions over www.WusikSoundMagazine.com
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by Admiral Quality
In the wide world of software, one of the most common synths is a virtual analog synth. With so many available it can be hard to find ones that are authentic and actually sound as they are advertised. With a countless number of virtual analog synths on the market there are some that are costly (and may not be that good), as well as alot of virtual analogs that are free. With all of them out there it can be hard to find one that sounds like a real analog synth. Poly-Ana from Admiral Quality is one of the many virtual analog synths.. Unlike the many though it really sounds like an analog synth!Sonically speaking, Poly-Ana delivers on its creator's vision. Not many soft synths measure up to the “real deal�. Poly-Ana is one of the exceptions. It is a 12-voice, 3 oscillator synth with 2 very good filters and a true stereo signal. Each oscillator has 6 types of modulation.The modulation on Poly-Ana I think is very clever.It has destination modulation. This lets you pan the output of the oscillators between the filters. Waveform modulation is another that lets you transition smoothly between waveforms. It gives you 26 sources to effect each type of modulation. This gives you alot of flexibility in shaping your sounds. It has phase modulation which sounds similar to FM synthesis and lets you build some great timbres. One thing more natural about Poly-Ana is that the modulation settings are not in a matrix. They are on the different parts of the synth. The oscillator has its own modulation types and sources on each oscillator. The same is true of the filters and amps. 14
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The filters of this synth are what offer the real raw analog sound. Poly-Ana has two filters and they can be routed to to each other as well as its two amps. The dual filters have cutoff and resonance modulation. You can change settings so the filters have 2 different cutoff modulations while letting you modulate the cutoff by 2 different sources at once. It lets you switch between high-pass and lowpass but because of the destination routing you can create band-reject and band-pass filters. It also makes things simple on the filters with gang switches for the cutoff and resonance. This lets you control the settings for both filters at the same time. PolyAna is avaible in an FX version also. This lets you run any synth or
sampled sounds through them. The filters on Poly-Ana are vintage. You get five quality settings with Poly-Ana. The higher you go the the higher the cpu use. Since its first update Poly-Ana now has an analog drift knob that lets you adjust the variation in tuning for any oscillator and the filters. The envelopes of poly-ana are pretty good also. While they are not fully customizable envelopes it lets you change between 3 different different types of curves as well as letting you adjust how much you want the curve to change. This offers nice flexibility and keeps it from being a regular adsr envelope. These envelopes you give you total control over the note velocity as well. It seems somewhat basic but the sound you get from poly-ana is anything but basic. The power of
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Poly-Ana is an authentic and powerful synth. It does have some drawbacks though; none that are deal-breaker. Poly-Ana has 185 different controls. That makes
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The most unique and powerful of Poly-Ana’s features is the two modmixers. Each mixer allows you to chain four of the 26 different modulation sources together in series and in parallel. This is what really makes this synth above and beyond. It is an extremely good sounding synth with good modulation. The mod-mixers let you create all sorts of complex modulation setups for the oscillator, filter, and amp sections. The modmixer brings in the element of surprise. The quality and variety of sounds you pull out of Poly-Ana is hard to do with many other synths. None of the other synths in my opinion have the same true analog sound quality that Poly-Ana has.
molding sounds very fun and interesting. With its gui though everything is all on one large control board. There are no pages to scroll through or hidden controls. This is of course good and bad. The modulation source knobs are big and a bit clustered together. To help with this it has the option to change the knobs to drop-downs menus to choose between sources. It is a noble idea to have everything right there in front of you, but there are alot of knobs, names, and controls packed onto it's gui. It is just a matter of opinion really, some may like that there is no scrolling and clicking to use the controls. I personally think however that a smaller more streamlined gui would be easier to navigate and be more practical. The only other real downside to Poly-Ana is the cpu use. Depending on how much you have going on in a patch it can drain your computer if you have the quality set very high. Since it's first release the developer has improved cpu use significantly. Admiral Quality's "brute-force method" of processing can be intesive. For the most part, if you have it set to the lowest sample-rate Poly-Ana is fine anyway for basic sounds. I believe
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Admiral Quality this synth is something you just do not find very often in the form of software. When you need a touch of old and classic in your music PolyAna is the tool you pull out of the kit. Creating interesting sounds is easy due to the way Poly-Ana is laid out.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ the cpu usage to be a prety fair trade-off for the sonic power it brings to my arsenal. It is a workhorse sort of synth that is capable of alot of great sounds. If the cpu usage were lower it would be the perfect workhorse.
If you are looking for a nice virtual analog synth that actually sounds real I would give the Poly-Ana demo a try. It gives you seven days of unrestricted use to try it out. It is a PC-only VSTI. The price tag is a modest $129.95. Anyone who loves analog synths will admire the sound quality of Poly-Ana; a truly convincing emulation. It is a synth I truly like and use frequently. The sound is dusty,vintage, and soulful. With the coming addition of an FX section on the synth Poly-Ana is quickly becoming a modern classic.
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WSM: Mike, could you give the readers a bit of background on yourself and what made you start the Admiral Quality company? AQ: I'm a forty-year-old software developer from Toronto. The name "Admiral Quality" was my stage name when I played keyboards and drums in a couple of unknown Toronto bands in the late 90s. But it seemed to fit my vision of the company too, how I was going to differentiate it from everything else out there. It's easy to remember (for some anyway) and it still makes me giggle. So it became the company name too. Most of my programming career has been spent working on graphics, multimedia and Web applications -nothing purely audio related. Music was always just a hobby to me, and while it was the original medium that drew me to using technology and computers in the first place, the multimedia career path I ended up on never treated audio as anything
by Paul Evans
Admiral Quality
more than an asset to plunk into some larger piece. I hadn't written any code to actually generate music since I was a teenager, programming my own "organs" and "synthesizers" on the first Atari and Texas Instruments home computers. This was fine with me, as it left
music to be the art form I pursued for my own enjoyment. Everything else, while related by computer science, I could look at as just a job and still find the energy to come home and work on music after a long day of programming for a multimedia sweatshop.
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by Admiral Quality I found myself out of work in 2005 after the company I had been working for went under, and I wasn't having much luck finding a new position (try having a resume that says you do everything, from graphics to low level coding, and see how many prospective employers believe you.) Around September '05, I was interviewing with a company that built 3D GUIs, and having the usual difficulty in explaining that just because I wasn't doing exactly what they do a week ago, it doesn't mean I won't be doing it expertly a week from now. So, to demonstrate, I decided I'd go home and build a 3D GUI to show off at my next interview (which never happened). But I understood well that you can't really learn how to program something without a real-world application to work on. Without a clear goal in mind you'll just avoid or bypass anything that seems difficult and not really learn anything. So I figured I'd do what they tell novelists to do: "Write what you know". I knew music, and music software, so this seemed like a good opportunity to write my first VST plug-in. Something I cared about. Something for me. I had already downloaded a VST SDK a year earlier and had spent a few hours with it and understood it well enough, so I knew there was nothing beyond me there. But I didn't really know anything about DSP (digital signal processing), the common techniques for doing this stuff that they teach you at "engineer school". I however went to film school and I am mostly selftaught as a programmer. So before getting in too deep, I thought I should see if I could figure out how 16
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to code a simple low pass filter without "cheating" by lifting the code from musicdsp.org or some other site (another sure-fire way to guarantee you won't learn anything!) So to cut to the chase, after a day and a half of experimenting, not only had I independently invented my own low pass filter design, but it sounded more like a real analog filter to my ears than the filters in any other plug-in I've heard. It lacked the "glassy", "syrupy" quality that so many digital instruments and effects have. Instead it sounded "airy", even "hairy" to me -- like there's more going on in there than you can hear (and due to the oversampling based solution I used, there actually is!) -- and just very, very warm sounding. I released this filter as the free product, Naive LPF, and many people who tried it wrote me to rave about the sound. They were hearing the difference in this filter design too, so I knew at that point that I wasn't crazy and just imagining it. A little subsequent research revealed that my algorithm was a lot like Bob Moog's original filter design. His filter circuit schematic actually looked a lot like a flow chart of my code! So at this point I was starting to feel I was really on to something. With a great filter design done, I was 90% of the way to building an analog synthesizer as every other component should be easy in comparison, right? Well, it actually took the rest of a very long year (more like two years given the man-hours I put in) to fill in that remaining 10%, but almost exactly a year later, Poly-Ana was out in Beta. Six months after that, all the remaining features had been filled in and Poly-Ana version 1.0 was released April 2, 2007. While I hope to do many more products, Poly-Ana is the flagship. I shot for the moon on this one; didn't hold anything back on her design. I wanted Poly to be the ultimate, and I really feel I met my goal, especially after this last year of continued improvements to the product. It really is the best VA out there if you're looking to emulate the classics without actually cloning
(and inheriting the limitations of) any one particular classic design. WSM: Selling software no matter the quality is a tough thing in today's oversaturated market. What would you say separates Poly-Ana from other VA synths and that would make people want to buy it? AQ: My original idea wasn't nearly so original. I'm probably an exact fit for the demographic companies like Arturia and N.I. are going after when marketing their re-creations of classic synths; 30 to 50 year old guys who spent their teens drooling over classic analog synths they could never afford, who'd have loved nothing more than to wake up on Christmas morning and find an Oberheim 4 Voice under the tree; classic gear fetishists like that. And I'll certainly say I was impressed and inspired by many of the existing "emulation" products out there. So my original idea was to clone a classic, but I quickly dropped that due to the obvious legal/licensing issues. Instead I decided to take the best features of many classics and pack them all into one panel. But, as someone who grew up playing analog synths, there was something about the analog sound that just wasn't there in any of the examples I'd heard. Not any show stoppers by any means, but the existing competition just lacked a certain presence and didn't seem to "cut through the mix" like the real items do. So that's the first thing, Poly-Ana just sounds different. This is because it uses a fundamentally different method of anti-aliasing than virtually every other product. The other real distinction is Poly's "loyalty" to analog design. While I gave up on limiting myself by sticking too closely to any one classic design quite early, I did make it my mantra that nothing could go in Poly-Ana that wouldn't have made sense on the front panel of a synth in 1977. There's no “supersaws� or voices with tens or even hundreds of oscillators; no imaginary digital stuff that would be out of place in the late 70s. Poly's design is completely attainable in analog electronics (excepting of course the polyphonic keyboard
WSM: Is your focus at the moment squarely on Poly-ana or do you have any other products in the works? AQ: Poly-Ana is the flagship product and will probably always be number one to me. But there's the SCAMP filter too, which is overdue for an update and should be able to benefit from some of the same CPU performance improvements we've
WSM: Getting away from software a bit. What music are you listening to? Are there any artists or bands that excite you nowadays with SO much music being available? AQ: I listen to a lot of classic rock these days as that's closest to the kind of music I make and want to make. So there's still lots of licks and stuff I can learn from the classics that I can apply to my own music. I'm a multi-instrumentalist, and have been "learning" guitar for the last 21 years -- I still feel I'm not so strong at it -- so most of my listening time is actually guitar practicing time. I'll spin my MP3's, mix the guitar in with them, and play all night. I won't repeat the same song twice to actually nail any parts, but the constant change and adaptation make good practice for
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When you write AQ with a support issue, you get a reply back from the same person who designed and coded the product (me). Write support at a big company and, if you ever get a reply at all, it was probably from someone who's job is to do nothing other than support, who has very little if any knowledge of the inner workings of the product, with no power to influence the product design, to get things fixed, to pass on good ideas or serious complaints, etc...
I'm also planning an effects section for Poly-Ana after that, but I have no idea yet when I'll be able to get there. Again, I don't try to predict release dates in advance, AQ products are done when they're done, not when the marketing department tells us they should be.
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As far as customer support, people need to realize that the little guy will always beat up the big guys here. I do this for the love of it, not because my employer pays me to.
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And finally, the price and the customer support. I put Poly-Ana's price point at one a half to one third of any competing product that even comes close to its voice features. About the only thing missing that competing products have is an effects section (which I'm planning to add). But the effects sections of most other products are pretty unspectacular anyway, and we all have our favorite effects plug-ins already -- why weld certain effects to the synthesizer when the users are already free to use whatever they want? (I've since changed my mind a bit on this issue, particularly for Poly-Ana, because I can make its effects happen in the same oversampled domain as the voice generation. This will actually produce a higher quality sound in some cases, and for me was enough to justify the marrying of what ideally should be separate products.)
seen with Poly-Ana over the last year. And I've recently finished experiments and started building in earnest the next product. I don't like to announce things until they're ready, but I'll give you a bit of a scoop here: It's a vintage tape delay simulation effect. It'll be able to make the usual stereo delay/flanger/chorus effects, but it will also provide "variable" modulation controls that introduce randomness, much in the same way Poly-Ana's Analog Drift feature works now. This will provide for other classic effects, particularly ADT (Automatic Double Tracking) which everyone should be familiar with from the vocals on the later Beatles albums. It will be capable of pristine digital quality, as well as having a highly configurable tape simulation that uses a method so revolutionary that I don't even want to hint about it. Suffice to say its sound will stand out in much the same way Poly's sound does when compared to "all the others". You'll also be able to use it as a pure tape simulation, with no delay at all or only enough delay to model "wow and flutter".
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scanning and voice assignment -this is why there could be no true polysynths until gear started getting computerized in the late 70s).
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life in a real band, in which I hope to find myself again someday soon. For me consuming music has always been closely related to making music. And as I haven't been in a band for the last few years, and virtually all my music production time goes into the plugin products, I'm actually not listening to much that's new. My appetite for new stuff increases when I'm making new stuff myself. Otherwise I regress to the 60s and early 70s. All the sounds, all the arrangements I want to make can be found back there... I just want to make new songs to use them in. "New oldies" I like to call them. WSM: Release dates aside, the new tape delay sounds really great. Do you know what all you will include in Poly-Ana's FX section? AQ: Yes. (And here's a case where I'm content to just go and do what everyone else has done). A phaser, delay/chorus/flanger, and reverb -perhaps a spring reverb if I can work out a good sounding algorithm. The delay/chorus/flanger won't have the tape simulation or random modulation features of the upcoming delay product, but will still be very capable; and possibly a compressor, though really you'd be just as well off to use a stand-alone effect for that so I may opt to leave it out. As I mentioned, I don't really see Poly-Ana's current lack of an effects section as a glaring omission, but certainly some potential customers will, so this is really just to make them happy. Not everyone understands when they demo a softsynth just how much of what they're hearing is effects. And most products I've tried come with preset patches that are just absolutely drenched in effects, so you can
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by Admiral Quality barely make out the raw synth character. But Poly-Ana already sounds very thick as it stands now, with no effects at all, largely due to her 3 oscillators, 2 filters, and stereo signal path throughout the entire voice. Echoes, stereo chorusing, and even some phase shift effects are already possible with only the pure synth voice architecture and many of Poly-Ana's preset patches have been designed to show off these capabilities. After I add an effects section I don't plan to substantially change the presets to become effects heavy, as I still feel Poly-Ana's strongest selling point is the quality of sound of the synth voice. For the most part I'll probably just add some tasteful light reverb and/or echo to some presets. Obviously a few patches will feature the phaser (and the thru-zero flanging is going to melt people's brains!) but I don't want the effects to spoil the main course -- Poly's convincing analog character. Poly-Ana won't use its effects section as a crutch like so many other products do. WSM: Do you think Poly Ana will be the only synth you will develop and work on or do you have some idea for new synth you would like to make? AQ: It'll probably be the only virtual analog I'll ever do (unless I decide to do a "lite" version of PolyAna with the patch editing capability removed.) And frankly, there isn't any other form of synthesis that really gets me as excited. I don't have strong feelings for samplers -I use them of course, for pianos, electric pianos, and drums -- but 18
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not much else. Samplers are good for percussive instruments where the keyboard control paradigm fits. But I'd never use, say for example, a sampled trumpet. I'd find a trumpet player. And of course there are already dominant sampler products out there that I doubt I could really improve on by throwing yet another example into the ring. Additive synthesis is of some interest to me, and even more so, a resynthesizer (an additive synthesizer that programs itself to closely match samples that you feed it). But I'd have a lot of R&D to do there and would only follow through to a full blown product if I found I was getting exceptional results (much as stumbling onto the filter design that led me to deciding to build Poly-Ana.) FM (actually phase modulation) is of some interest too, although I have zero interest in making yet another DX-7 clone. I'd want to approach the technique with a completely clean slate and see what I come up with. But my mind was really blown by possibilities after hearing the capabilities of Phase Modulation I added to Poly-Ana in the version 1.1 update was capable of. I'm a big Hammond organ and Wurlitzer electric piano fan too, so I have some interest in doing emulations of those classic instruments. But both are products where plenty of decent examples already exist (including some free Wurlitzers that are quite amazing). If I were to do a Wurly or Hammond sim, it would have to be because I'd done a better job than any other product out there. I just rebuilt and completely retuned a real 1956 Wurlitzer Model 112 over this last year, so I've been thinking quite a bit about the physics of the Wurly tone and have gained some real insight into what makes its sound so unique. And I've found some problems with the most popular B3 emulator product, and am pretty sure I could do a better job than they did, but I would want a real B3 sitting next to me while I work for testing, measuring, and perhaps using real tonewheel samples from. But, sad to say, while I do currently have a fifty-two-year-old Wurly, I have yet to own a real tonewheel organ (or even have the space to
put it!) and I won't approach the organ project until I do. And finally, I'm a guitar player too, so an amp sim and/or stompbox line of effects are always a possibility from me -- though again I'm getting into an already very well populated niche if I choose to go that way. If I do, I'd better have something really different to offer. Perhaps an amp sim that doesn't try to match any particular classic amp's controls, but rather exposes the real parameters that go into an amp sim. Letting you "roll your own" amplifier characteristics, right down to details that are normally hidden from the user. But for the short term, the task is to get the Analog Delay Tool (that's the new product name) out into Beta, then a maintenance update for SCAMP (expect lower CPU usage and an update to VST 2.4), then look at an effects section for PolyAna. WSM: Where would you like to see the Admiral Quality brand in 3 years or so? AQ: Well, I'm not looking for world domination or anything like that. Really, the AQ brand is there to serve the products, not the other way around. But if I could have my wish, it would be for sales of the software to reach the point that it could drive the business into production of actual hardware products, as well as software. Frankly though, I'm still struggling to even scrape a living out of it for myself. I'm still shocked by the disparity between critical success and sales that I've seen with these products. I was hoping that building a better mousetrap would mean they'd beat a path to my door, that quality would sell itself without a huge investment in marketing B.S. (which wastes time, money and other resources and ultimately helps neither myself nor my customers) but I'm afraid it hasn't quite worked out that way yet. That's alright, the company is too small to go under and disappear (yet another advantage the little guy has over the big guy). So, even if I'm forced to take a "day job" again just to pay the bills, AQ will still always be there. Just not
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Here's a screen grab of the work-inprogress GUI for the upcoming
The Beta period is also the only time you'll see a discount price at AQ. Unlike the other companies who charge more for products when they're new, then lower the price as time goes on and try to lure you in with sales, we instead reward the early adopters. After all, the product should be worth more after it's been around for a while and has become well known -- at least if it's any good. And the early adopters
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Your readers already know what they can do to help. All I ask of anyone is, try the products. They're free and fully functional for the first week. Then, if you like it enough to continue using it, to please be one of the good guys and actually pay for the software you use. If the culture out there doesn't change some from how it is now, I'm afraid soon the only small developers you'll see are the part-time hobbyists. The really dedicated, full-time, independent developers like myself might all evaporate in the current climate, and that would be bad for the entire industry.
Analog Delay Tool. Right now it's just been “Frankensteined” together out of existing graphic assets lifted from Poly-Ana and SCAMP, so the perspective is a bit off. But this should be pretty close to the final layout and feature-set, just expect the knob graphics and background image to be updated at some point in the Beta period.
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are the ones who are going to spread the word and let everyone else know. Plus it lets customers relax and not need to worry about missing a sale or making a purchase right before the price drops -- the right time to buy is always right now. I intend to formalize this as policy and post it prominently on the website, as it is rather different from what all the other guys do. Yet again, that's exactly what I've been trying to do with Admiral Quality, provide a real alternative to the usual deal and the same-old-sameold types of products.
Commonly asked easy question:
How to do Easy Stuff by Trusty
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“How do I make that basic, deep bass sound for rap music?” Easy answer: “If you don't have Wusikstation, then get Wusikstation.” Seriously though, besides the fact that there are plenty of fantastic bass presets, what I like to do to get a good deep bass patch is to load up a sine wave in the first oscillator slot and the TrianglePW waveform in the second slot. O1 is going to be left as is, except turn the OSC volume knob one position over to the right (it is defaulted at the twelve o'clock position). In O2, tweak the filter (1) as LP, SER, 2P, and turn the Freq knob facing straight left, the first notch up from its default position, and turn the Res knob to the twelve o'clock position. Adjust the attack and release sliders up slightly, and in the LFO, select the square waveform and set the BPM setting to 1/24. That's it - a good, easy, basic deep bass patch for rap music. If you want some more oomph to it, increase the unison to 10% (but do NOT go over that).
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Products in Dimension Pro/LE format
Proteus Pack: Well, what more can be said about the quality of these sounds? They are, as they have been since their release, some of the most sought after sounds in electronic music production. With over 3,500 patches total, this collection, that includes all the sounds from E-Mu's Proteus 2000, Mo' Phatt, Xtreme Lead 1, Planet Earth, and the PX-7 (Protean) hardware modules, is the most complete package of sounds one could hope for as a Dimension Pro/LE user. Incredibly, the whole collection, even mapped out in a software product, has less than a 300 MB footprint. Even more impressive is that these sounds are even better than they are played within E-Mu's own software. While the sounds themselves are widely available in soundfont, Refill, and EmulatorX format, what makes this package for Dimension Pro the best option is that Dimension Pro's engine has the capabilities, with its clean engine and unique envelope generators, to take these sounds into entirely new directions of expression. As for the sounds themselves, E-Mu has always added a certain extra oomph to their patches which gives them both character and usability. While many of their hardware competitors were giving their ROMplers the widest pallets, made up of the most basic 20
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and bland sounds, E-Mu seemed to have the attitude that quantity didn't have to yield poor quality.
Individual sound collections: $79 download, directly from Cakewalk.com
Many of the sounds are genre specific, per their original modules. Most people, though, like to incorporate a wide range of sound selections into their music these days, and with the manipulability of Dimension Pro, this collection has everything one could need covered. Considering this whole collection is less than the cost of one of the single hardware modules, it is a no-brainer for Dimension Pro/LE users to get one of the packs or indeed the entire Proteus Pack. Some may claim that the sounds are a bit dated, but these sounds, when originally recorded, were so forward thinking in their release that they continue to fit perfectly in today's musical productions. Also, what is great about the collections is they weren't just samples transferred to the sfz format and “dumped in”, but were also set up as actual Dimension Pro programs; the various parameters of the sampling synthesizer were adjusted to make the samples sound as close to the original modules as possible. In many cases, the Dimension Pro sound engine bettered the original hardware.
Both the complete set and the individual collections come with Dimension LE included for free.
Price for the Proteus Pack: $299 download.
Digital Sound Factory Volume 1: The big draw to this expansion is definitely the Yamaha Conservatory Grand Piano, which was recorded at Open Path Studios in San Jose, California. The result of this sampling session is one of the absolute best sampled piano sound collections in all of software - or hardware, for that matter. Though none of the various piano patches exceed a gig in size (the closest patch, “Tweeked Dance Piano” is 975 MB), the sheer sound is remarkable, and the playability of the patches, amazing. These piano samples are also the basis for many of the layered and combination patches, which are also unequivocally outstanding. Not to be out done, found in this volume are a selection of synthesizer, orchestral, woodwind, and keyboard sounds as well, along with the occasional brass and choir patches. With the meticulous sampling and the sound design within the Dimension engine, Digital Sound Factory has filled certain
Timothy Swartz
Price: $59.95 Digital Sound Factory Volume 2 Classic Keys: Question: Why does a relatively new sampling synthesizer need a sound set of classic sounds such as those from Jupiters, Moogs, Junos, ARPs, Trons, Clavs, and Prophets, and the rest of the usual suspects that one would find in a collection titled “Classic Keys”? Answer: Why not? For years it has been the dream of many to combine the engine horse power of modern synth capabilities with the sonic fire power of the classic synthesizers. Volume 2 delivers the goods. The sound samples themselves are very high quality, as to be expected
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This collection can't be highly recommended enough. It is an absolute “must have” for any serious Dimension Pro or LE user. The uniqueness is so much there in the character of the sounds, that they lend themselves to many types of music, effortlessly. For this first volume of original patches for Dimension Pro and LE, Digital Sound Factory delivers an outstanding collection.
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Whether you like knocking, thumping, pumping, or booming basses, the ones here are sure to be crowd pleasers.
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An attention grabber for me was the bass patches. They could have easily been an after thought to round out the collection and up the total patch number, but even here, the basses stand out and will easily find their way into productions.
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creativity expected from Digital Sound Factory. Many of the synth lead and the synth string patches scream for a place in any tracks one could create - their warmth and presence demands it. However, the two sound categories that stand out most are the Effects and Electro Mechanical selections. Some very creative layering and tweaks in the Effects category, and some very punchy Clav and grimy Tron sounds are present in the Electro Mechanical category. It is a shame that the latter category has the smallest selection of all the patch categories. More attention to that area would have been a very welcome prospect for this collection. Perhaps next time. In fact, they are so good, it is hard - almost impossible - not to wish there were more. Also, an honorable mention for the top spots in this would be the combination patches. These types of sounds are probably going to be the most used by everyone who obtains this volume. The combination and effects patches really show what Dimension Pro can do with excellent source samples. To think that these sounds have been covered before in other products, and thus aren’t an essential addition to the Dimension Pro patch selection, would be a
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from Digital Sound Factory, but the creativity in the patches make this a most welcome addition, as well as serving to round out the original stock sound content for Dimension Pro. These essential sounds were rather lacking in the original content, as the synthesizer patches were lending themselves more to certain electronica sub-genres over others ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (okay, they mostly sounded like Trance-only sounds). An in depth survey of the patches generates a serious error. There are plenty of lot of excitement and reveals much stand-out sounds that would serve of the potential that can be as a slate from which to go beyond unleashed with this sample set. just the preset and into new sonic There is a good balance of the territory - all thanks to the standard sound fare one would incredible, yet familiar, sound. The expect in a collection like this, as excellent and creative use of piano well as the usual character and +++++++++++++++++++++++
gaps within the Dimension Pro stock collection, while matching the high standard set by the factory bank and free expansions. All the character, creativity, and excellent use of the Dimension engine is found within each category of sounds. Don't let the piano focus be misleading - this collection, all around, delivers the goods with sounds that are extremely playable and musically useful.
sounds in Vol. 1 is continued in Vol. 2, as a nice bonus - as are the organ sounds, that have been improved upon from the first volume. The only drawback in this collection - besides the absence of more patches in the Electro Mechanical category - is the synth bass set - which is odd, considering the excellent ones present in Vol. 1. And it would be assumed (given the source material) that these would be even better than the previous bass sounds. No matter though; the tweak-ability of Dimension itself can make up for the lack in this area. If one had to choose between volume 1 or 2, I would recommend acquiring them in that order. But both are highly recommended. Price: Included with Sonar 8 Producers Edition. $59.95, otherwise. Note: All patches are set up in Dimension .prog files but also in the standard sfz format. In fact, within Dimension, the sfz files can be accessed independently of the .prog files, so users can layer up to four of any sfz they wish. Moreover, the sfz format can be used with many sampling synthesizers available on the market (including an upcoming version of Wusikstation). So be sure to check your specs and see if these sounds will work in a product you already own. >>>
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Timothy Swartz
Shine On:
Recently, Timothy has ventured into his own company, Digital Sound Factory (www.digitalsoundfactory.com), and he is selling the fruits of his labor with E-MU in the popular SoundFont format, as well in the format of EMU's Emulator and Proteus X software format. Not one to settle in the work of the past, he is still creating new sound banks for software instruments, most notably for Dimension Pro with Cakewalk, and it is a good bet that other formats and sound content offerings will follow in the future.
Timothy Swartz
second grade, it was my turn. I had a difficult time because I did not like my teacher or the music she made me play. I kept with it until high school and then took up the trumpet. This was due to my grandma’s insight that playing in the marching band would keep me off the front lines of any war that would be coming. My junior year in high school a friend gave me a Farfisa organ and asked me to play in his band. That was it, the turning point that started it all. I went on to study and graduate with a Bachelors of Music in classical and jazz. After college I toured the U.S. with many different bands lugging
A Sound Factory This Man Is “Legendary:” a word like this, especially in the music business, is tossed around to just about anyone that has made anything notable to even the smallest audience. However, when applied to Timothy Swartz of Digital Sound Factory, using the term legendary is almost an understatement. Music, even beyond the musician, is about sound, and Timothy Swartz is all about the sound. His ear, and his supervision during the recording sessions with E-MU in development of the various Proteus modules have found their way onto almost everything we have heard on the radio for almost twenty years. >>>
Getting his start with E-MU in 1986, he was first hired on as customer and technical support staff. He was quickly moved in position to oversee one of the greatest expansions that E-MU had ever ventured in terms of sound development. This endeavor was to take the Proteus concept to the next level. From the Vintage Keys module forward, he was the man in charge of all the content that would fill the various sound and genrespecific modules in the E-MU rack module line. The results of that endeavor are clearly evident, and the sounds from all that work are and will continue to be heard in music productions for a long time to come. 22
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If you ask any sound designer, they will tell you that the work that goes into crafting the sound sets, for either hardware or software, is a huge effort, and Timothy is among the best of the best. In any musical genre, from electronica to Rock to Hip-Hop (and everything in between), we have our favorite musicians that we like to refer to as legends. However, it is important to remember that there are also legends, with meticulous attention to the details of sound that make the music we hear possible. It is a privilege to be able to get a glimpse into such a legend as Timothy Swartz. WSM: Greetings: and thank you for taking the time for this interview. Timothy Swartz: Thank you, Trusty, for allowing me to share some of my experiences as a sound designer. WSM: The first questions I have to ask, is what is your musical background, and how did you go from being in customer and tech support to heading up one of the largest production endeavors at E-MU? Timothy Swartz: Mom was a great piano player and insisted the kid’s take lessons. So when I started
around all my keyboards – including my B-3 and 122 Leslie. I joined EMU as customer support manager to get my foot in the door and get familiar with what they were doing. WSM: Everyone in music production is familiar with the sounds, and it is a fair bet that everyone that has no idea what an E-MU rack mount module is also has also heard the sounds. When you are in the studio doing the recording sessions, what is it that you are listening for that you choose to include on a sound set and what is it that you listen for to exclude from a sound set? Timothy Swartz: Before we book studio time, we decide what we want to accomplish by gathering examples of playing techniques and/or musical styles. Next we compile a list and consult with the people out there making the music. I learned a long time ago to seek out the experts and rely on them to show us what works. And then there is the magic of the unplanned things that happen during the session. What may have been brushed off as a mistake during the recording can turn into a really nice, useful waveform. WSM: To me, I think that the thing that makes all those E-MU
Timothy Swartz: As I mentioned previously, defining the session with the pro’s who work in the industry helps narrow down the selection process. Building the initial sample content from the sessions is a long process with many people’s intervention: everything from, “I
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WSM: When you were in the studio for E-MU, dealing with the specific content or genre sound sets constituted the bulk of your tenure. What are the goals? How do you find the balance of providing the widest range of sounds possible to please everyone and at the same time follow your instincts to include those unique sounds that usually, in the end, define the module and make it stand out from the rest of the market? I mean, there are usually 512 sounds, but there are always that 100 or so that are a cut above the rest that pleasantly surprise the user.
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always been our mentality to provide the best sample content possible, no matter what were the size requirements. Adding advanced synthesizer parameters, Z-plane filters, and real-time controllers can really take the source content to a new level.
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Timothy Swartz: E-MU founded sampling with the advent of the Emulator Samplers. I think it has
would never use that”, to “That’s going on my next album”. A lot of the versatility comes in the programming of the sample set. Starting with the basic key maps and applying the various synth parameters, regular sounds take on a new identity. You always need to cover the basic bread and butter sounds, but the “Wow, I got to have those sounds” is what sells products.
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WSM: Is there a particular E-MU module you are most fond of, not necessarily in terms of just the content, but the whole experience? In a video for Cakewalk demonstrating the
twenty minutes of explaining that there is no way we could ever make her harp sound as good as her playing, she signed. Best sounding harp I ever recorded. She also gave us tons of glissandos.
Proteus Collection for Dimension Pro, you spoke of some crazy experiences ranging from dealing with rain drops to session musicians performing naked. There must be plenty of good stories to tell.
WSM: What is your process of taking gigs and gigs of recorded sounds and crafting them into a workable sound set?
Timothy Swartz: There’s always a story when musicians are involved! Too numerous for this interview, but one of my favorites was recording the Seattle Symphony. We were creating the sound set for Virtuoso and made many trips from California to Seattle over the course of a year. We recorded every instrument in numerous size groups, solo, and multiple playing techniques. The symphony gang has a whole different flavor of humor and they would crack me up all the time. The jokes between takes were worth the entire process!!! Anyway, after recording over 150 people, we got to the last instrument, the harp. Before we would start a session, we required the musicians to sign a release form for us to use the content. From the control room I hear, “I’m not signing that”. What? 150 other people signed it with no hesitation. “The other night I was out for dinner and heard a harp coming out of a keyboard. I will never let that happen to my harp”. After about
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sound sets continue to endure is that they have a certain character. I mean, any company can make a bland, nondescript flute patch, but there is something about a bland E-MU flute patch that stands out against the competition. We know that sometimes a plain sounding patch is what is needed, especially for the bread and butter modules, but what is it that gives the E-MU bread and butter sounds that edge?
Timothy Swartz: Having enough source content for selection is imperative. You need to capture the right samples in the session. We always record multiple takes of the same note or groove so that we have an adequate selection. After sifting through the source, we build up the sound set. Difficult choices need to be made on what samples remain, the sample rate, and the looping techniques. WSM: Do you enjoy the whole process, or is it the recording, or is it designing the presets with a sound engine after all the excess is on the cutting room floor? I can't imagine sifting through the sounds and cutting them down is enjoyable at all...or am I wrong? Timothy Swartz: I enjoy the entire development process. Knowing each step helps me to plan the project and envision the final output. Recording is very satisfying, provided we don’t get bogged down in technical issues. Logging and getting the right samples makes the processing steps flow smoother.
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Preset design allows for much creativity based on the synthesizer engine. WSM: Recently, E-MU released a free download of the Proteus XV software rompler with the entire Proteus 2000 sound set. In a year that has seen freebie releases from Native Instruments with the Kore Player, Yellow Tools Independence Free, and others, it was this release that has exploded with extremely positive cheers from all around the software musician community. It even prompted a well respected freelance TV and Film score composer and music producer Dansgold to claim "...that's like the freebee of the decade." In light of all that is out there these days, free or not, hardware or software, what do you think is the reason that these sounds continue to be heralded as much today as they were since at their release? What makes them endure? Timothy Swartz: Due to the vast amount of sounds available, it’s very easy to get inspired by the Proteus and its sound selection. I’ve watched people record MIDI for one instrument, and then switch presets playing back the same MIDI for a 24
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whole new sound and inspiration... really works well for selecting what kit to use. It’s easy to do when you have 1000’s of sounds ready to go. WSM: How did Digital Sound Factory come about? Timothy Swartz: After negotiating a license agreement for the E-MU sound library, I started Digital Sound Factory with a mission to make the E-MU sound library available to anyone with a computer and soft synth. We chose SoundFont as the initial format due to the fact that just about every soft synth will import the format. We are
now offering Cakewalk Dimension, Reason Refills, and Emulator VX/PX/EX sound libraries. Check us out at www.DigitalSoundFactory.com. We offer free examples and downloads available 24/7. WSM: You have not simply traded on your previous work with DSF. You recently have been working back in the studio producing new sound sets for Cakewalk's Dimension Pro. We know why Cakewalk would want you to create sound sets for it, but what attracted you to that synth and what were your goals in the studio coming up with these new volumes for Dimension Pro? Timothy Swartz: After deciding to start with the SoundFont format, I found out about the Cakewalk SFZ player and how accurate it is importing SoundFont libraries. I approached Cakewalk with the idea of creating a Proteus Pack for their synth. That is when I first found out about Dimension. They were in immediate need of a new expansion pack and I was in the studio recording pianos. Digital Sound Factory Volume 1 came about featuring a Yamaha C5 grand piano and over 300 new programs. This was a ‘getting to know you’ project.
Over the next six months we developed the E-MU Proteus Pack consisting of Proteus 2000, Mo’ Phatt, Xtreme Lead-1, Planet Earth, Virtuoso, and PX-7 Drums, over 3,500 programs. This month we are releasing Digital Sound Factory Volume 2 Classic Keys. With over 300 programs, this sound set features an array of authentic analog keyboards and synths. Using Dimension, we took the authentic waveforms to yet another level creating new never heard before synths. The expansion pack was sampled at 24 bit resolution from the finest instruments and even includes a really nice Yamaha C7
grand piano. Volume 2 is included with Sonar 8 and can also be purchased as a standalone. WSM: Do you find the process more enjoyable working in the studio for creating sounds for software instruments over hardware instruments? Is it easier in some ways? Timothy Swartz: Working with software instruments is a real pleasure. There are so many options available and it’s a lot easier to visualize the parameters. Back in the early days of the Proteus, sound designers had very few parameter options and programmed in Unix. Software has opened the door to vast creativity. WSM: In the era of massive gigabyte sound sets for software instruments, you choose to keep your newer sound sets relatively small in comparison...without sacrificing quality I may add...but is this just a result of years of tailoring massive amounts of recorded material into large preset banks that have a 32 Megabyte limit from the hardware days, or is it intentional for other reasons as well? And a follow-up question: taking for granted that some breathing room is a welcome
Timothy Swartz: - We are working closely with many of the synth manufacturers. Developing in the SoundFont format allows our content to import to a large range of soft synths. We would like to eventually support everyone’s native format, but that’s a large undertaking. WSM: Some of your current products are being reviewed in this issue, and honestly, your products are always well received. However, because of the saturated software market, did you feel any extra pressure in creating the new sound sets
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WSM: Are there any other software instruments, like, say, Wusikstation for instance, that you would like to develop sounds for? Anything in particular that has caught your attention? It seems that the market for sound sets for software instruments is bigger than the market for software instruments themselves these days.
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note recorded needs to perfectly match the others. In the smaller libraries, we get rid of the bad samples and stretch the good ones in place.
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Timothy Swartz: When we record, we always capture more than we need so there are choices of what the final size will be. Many of the compression techniques used for the smaller libraries can be applied to larger ones with stunning results. Recording large libraries is great, but has its own set of issues. Each
in the studio to move beyond your previous work with E-MU, to standout and make the same lasting impression with the new sounds as with the older ones? Dimension Pro certainly has a sizable following, but in this current market, and with the increasingly cynical and jaded attitudes of the musical software user community, did you feel any extra pressure since you aren't just dealing with competition from three or four other companies, but rather hundreds?
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WSM: Everyone appreciates you taking the time to talk with us. Timothy Swartz: Trusty and all, again thank you for the opportunity
Timothy Swartz: I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to be involved in providing sound content to help inspire the creativity of musicians. Sound design opportunities are endless. There will always be the need for basic recording, but it’s the technology that is paving the way for future sound content. Digital Sound Factory has allowed me to work with all the soft synth formats and discover the best tools for modern sound design. Each new project we are involved with, whether in the studio or mining through E-MU and Ensoniq source content, new software plug-ins allow for amazing results. WSM: Anything you wish to mention that we can look forward to in the future from your company Digital Sound Factory? Timothy Swartz: Yes, we have quite a lot in the works. We have access to the entire E-MU and Ensoniq source recordings and, believe me, there are quite a few gems. The two libraries represent over 30 years of sound content. We have also been in the studio recording for future products. Please stay tuned.
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change, but in your experience with some of these instruments, do you think that these multigigabyte collections, more often than not, demonstrate clear examples of laziness in the editing process because current computer specs allow for it?
to share some of my sound design experience with you and thanks for your support. Best Regards, Tim. There it is. A goldmine of insight into sample content design. This is how the sausage gets made, so to speak, and many, many electronic musicians and bands of all genres out there have benefited and will continue to benefit from all the hard and meticulous work he has put into his career for us, the musicians. As an experienced musician himself, it is obvious that his passion for all angles in approach to his work shines through in the content he delivers. It is easy to see why “legendary” is both appropriate and almost an understatement for Timothy Swartz. I highly recommended going to www.digitalsoundfactory.com to check out their offerings. Be sure to check out the reviews for the Proteus Pack, and the Digital Sound Factory Vol. 1 and 2 for Dimension Pro in this issue. In the next issue, Wusik Sound Magazine will be reviewing the infamous Ensoniq ZR and MR collections, and perhaps some others. Be sure to download the freebies, they are plentiful, and demonstrate the range and quality of their collections.
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by David Keenum
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Phaedra
Looking for a great collection of classic analog samples? Look no further! The World of Analog
Enter Phaedra
The more things change, the more they stay the same. And sometimes they even go back in time. That is the case with analog. The more we move into digital recording, the more some of us yearn for the days of analog. We dream of real tape, analog boards and effects… and analog synthesizers… the giant humming, puffing, glowing beasts of legend. They are thick, rich, random, and beautiful. But they are expensive and sometimes hard to keep in tune. And the old ones can be hard to maintain. So maybe we yearn for the sound of analog. Can we get that thick richness without the money and the hassles?
to the real thing…. The operative word is “was”. After spending some time with Phaedra, I changed my mind! VAs - at least my VAs - are still missing the thickness, depth, and character of real analog synths. You may disagree with me, and I completely understand if you do. But as for me, Phaedra’s sound won me over to sample-based “virtual analog.”
Sam Spacey, a UK producer and (now) sample developer, was frustrated with two aspects of modern music production:
I have come to the opinion that well-recorded, well-edited samples can really give you analog character. At least, if Sam Spacey does the recording and editing! Now I’m not making a criticism of any other sample or synth developer. It’s just that Sam recorded and edited Phaedra. It was a labor of love… and it shows! So let me tell you about it.
In the process of sampling sounds for his and his friends’ productions, he decided to create this library. When you examine the detail of this library you can see that it became a labor of love… and maybe a sign of obsession!
1. The lack of raw sonic power in virtual emulations of analog synths 2. Sloppy MIDI timing of external analog synths under modern computer operating systems.
Virtual World There are two ways we can get analog synths into our soft world: 1. Samples, and 2. Virtual Analogs. The latter - VA synths - have made a dramatic improvement over the last few years. I have a number of Virtual Analog synths and, personally, I like them. And I’ve spent a considerable amount of time with my VA synths - enough time that I was convinced that VA synths were essentially equivalent 26
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Phaedra is a Zero-G/Xfonic virtual instrument using Native Instrument’s Kontakt 2 Player. It features over 4 gigabytes of sounds, 20,000 samples, and 720 patches.
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Presets Phaedra’s 720 presets are divided into 9 banks: 01 Synth 1 02 Synth 2 03 Bass 04 Leads 05 Pads 06 Seq 07 Fx 08 DnB 09 Synth Builder As you might expect from a library named Phaedra, there are a number of references to Tangerine Dream (Tangram in the Seq folder) and other “classic” analog synth artists: Vince Special (Seq), Jarres Back (Lead), Kraft Not Werk (Synth 2), 808 States (Synth 1), Dr. Who (Pads), and Wake Man (Synth 2); a really cool lead sound that triggered some nice The Six Wives of Henry VIII memories. Of course, not all presets reference classic synth artists. Some are more general in nature, and others are better suited for dance music styles. In fact, there is an entire bank devoted to DnB. Another favorite preset is Starts for Sure (in the Synth 2 folder). It is a great arpeggiator-type sound that changes with velocity. The harder
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But while this library’s sheer size, scope and attention to detail is impressive, it really does come down to the sound. All I can say is, “Wow!” This is where Phaedra shines! The programming is clean and straightforward with tasteful use of effects. The sounds are thick and rich. I am sure the long samples and attention to editing have a lot to do with this, but there has to be great source material for sounds this good! And believe me, Phaedra sounds good!
you hit it, the more the HP filter opens. It is pleasing and musical. For Akko Akkkkai (Synth 1), both velocity and mod wheel adjust the HP filter.
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The list of instruments used for the samples is impressive (see the Sam Spacey interview), with all of the instruments (except for the Ensoniq ESQ-1) being analog. All the sounds were recorded and processed at 24-Bit resolution and 44.1 KHz sample rate, with almost every note sampled.
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The sounds have depth and texture. They feel more alive than ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I would expect from samples. to say that I would like more There is a minimum of delay, reverb, straight-ahead leads. There are and other effects, so you can clearly plenty of nice leads, but I’d like hear the samples. And the samples more “Jan Hammer standing in do sound good! There is a wide front of a band, and playing his variety of shorter sounds, but there Minimoog through a guitar amp” are also plenty of sounds featuring kind of leads. filters opening. And I might add that the filters sound realistic. Each bank is full of presets, and I didn’t I'd also like to see more "smooth" see anything that I would call “filler.” pads - pads that I could use You may not like every preset - I underneath a piano or acoustic know I didn’t - but as far as I could guitar. You know - plain vanilla tell, every preset was created with sounding pads. Pads like Mellow Pad care. (in the 05 Pads folder) that can disappear into the background. That Maybe this is obvious, but string said you can make your own by presets sound more like synth using the “knobs” to adjust a pad strings than the "synth strings" of that is close to what you want. most keyboard workstations. These strings are thick and buzzy! They remind Phaedra – an analog synth sample collection me of the “strings” in with Kontakt 2 Player Jean Michel Jarre’s Distribution: Zero-G (www.zeroOxygene and other g.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1003) classics. There are Distributed in the US by EastWest/Soundsonline also a couple of piano (www.soundsonline.com/Phaedra-Virtualand harp presets, but Analogue-Synth-pr-ZG314.html) they are analog synth KVR information: versions of these www.kvraudio.com/news/8380.html and sounds. What else www.kvraudio.com/get/3014.html would you expect! Price: $199.95 US dollars (169 Euros / £114.95 pounds sterling) The preset GUI allows Formats: Windows and Mac OS X in VST, DXi, for a lot of editing: AU, RTAS and stand-alone formats. Amp and Filter Attack System Requirements: (A), Decay (D), •Mac OS 10.4 or later, G4 1.4 GHz or faster, 512 Sustain (S), and MB RAM or more Release (R), as well as •Windows XP, Pentium IV or Athlon 1.4 GHz or LFO adjustments, faster, 512MB RAM or more Amp velocity, and •CD/DVD drive Filter resonance and Test Computer: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz, cutoff. This gives you 4GB RAM, Windows XP Pro SP 3, Echo MiaMIDI the ability to adjust Audio Card the preset to fit your specific need. In fact, you can essentially And speaking of pads, I really liked create a new preset with nothing the rhythmic pads - I really, really more than these adjustments. This liked them! I'd also like to voice an is a welcome plus, and I would like to see all Kontakt sample providers observation. Many of the pads have a long Amp Release. You may need furnish us with something similar. to adjust that, but it is so easy. So Under the category of “Things I go ahead and adjust those knobs. miss or would like to see,” I’d have www.WusikSoundMagazine.com
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Phaedra + Sam Spacey
Conclusion I guess it is obvious that I am impressed with Phaedra. If we gave awards for software, I’d give Phaedra five Wusik W’s! If you are into synth-based music, and by that I mean analog synth-based music, then this library is something that deserves a serious look. It is extensive in scope and carefully edited, and it sounds great. My only question would be, ‘Will these sounds fit your projects?’. And, of course, only you can answer that. Both Zero-G (http://zerog.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1003) and EastWest/Soundsonline (http://soundsonline.com/PhaedraVirtual-Analogue-Synth-pr-ZG314.html) have many audio demos. There is also a list of presets called Phaedra Instruments List. As for me, I’m looking into starting a Tangerine Dream tribute band!
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by David Keenum
Interview with
Sam Spacey We’d like to introduce you to Sam Spacey. Sam is a producer and sample content provider from England. Phaedra is Sam’s labor of love, so we thought it would be helpful to hear from him. WSM: Sam, could you tell us a little about yourself? Where do you live? Sam: I live in the UK in the middle of nowhere, deep in the countryside near to Stonehenge. I tried the city lifestyle in London for 5 years, while I had a studio in Ladbroke Grove, but it was not for me.
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WSM: How did you get into music? Sam: As for getting into music, I suppose it was in 1987, at the age of 15. I decided, after hearing Tangerine Dream and Equinox by Jarre, that this was what I wanted to do. I dropped all my exams, except basic mathematics, English, etc, to concentrate on the music exams. I was also the first person at my school to enter the music concert competition (a big event at my school). I used a Roland TR-808 drum machine, a Korg MS-20, a Casio SK-5 sampler and a Yamaha DX-9. I had a load of complaints from the parents, as I managed to blow the school PA system. And they didn't like my new Electronic music... I had just got into acid house music. Fond memories...
What is ADSR?
Phaedra presets have a number of knobs for customizing the preset to your needs. To me, the most important - or at least most used - knobs will be the 8 amplifier and filter knobs. Each of these sets of 4 knobs corresponds to the ADSR settings on almost any synth. They may be called something slightly different. For example, in Wusikstation, both the Amplifier Envelope and Modulation Envelopes use ATT, DEC, SUS, and REL. So let’s take a closer look at ADSR. First of all, in Phaedra, ADSR is represented by Attack (Amp and Flt Att), Decay (Amp and Flt Dec), Sustain (Amp and Flt Sus) and Release (Amp and Flt Rel). Attack determines the time the sound takes to rise from an initial value of zero to its maximum level. Decay is the time it takes to fall off to the sustain level. Sustain is the time it remains at this level. And Release is the time it takes to fall from the sustain level to zero. In a practical sense, “Amp Att” and “Amp Rel” are the most adjusted “knobs.” You can lower “Amp Att” to make a pad start with a sharper attack, or raise it to make another preset into a pad. And as I mentioned in the review, you may want to lower “Amp Rel” on many of the pad sounds in Phaedra.
I had a couple of jobs with computers after school, but I became a professional composer/producer at 21. Although my love for music was basically in the Jarre/Kraftwerk/Tangerine Dream/Vangelis style, I produced dance music most of the time. It brought in enough money to live on. I've had about 46 releases, if you include remixes, etc. I had a track in the charts at the amazingly low number of 69! (lol) I also did an MTV video… blah, blah, blah…
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And I was having big problems with all this virtual synth stuff. The bass wasn't cutting through, and I could hear this “samey”, plastic, glassy sounding sound from all the synths. My Ensoniq ESQ-1 started to really shine out from the studio. Before, I had barely noticed it in the company of the great analog synths that I used to have. I miss my OBXA! It came to a point where I was going to have to choose between sample-accurate timing, total recall, ease of use, more space in studio ... with ... the sound of hardware. By this time, I had bought Kontakt 1. I converted some samples from my Emulator E-64. They were samples of my old Mini Moog that I had stupidly sold. It was a simple bass patch that had every key sampled, and it worked really well in Kontakt 1. I started converting my whole library; but I noticed that, when you stretched samples across more than 4 notes in Kontakt 1, it sounded nasty. There were loads of aliasing going on. That was something the E-64 was good at. It
Sam: Yes. To cut a very long story short, I took what money I had and bought back as many of the analogs I used to own… and many more that I hadn’t owned before. I figured that the best way to do it properly was to essentially sample EVERY note and never transpose the sample more than 1 note from its original key. This ended up with some patches having over 400 samples in them. And you had to have very long loops as well, because a big part of the analog sound is the subtle random things that happen. A 2-second looped waveform is not going to cut it.
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WSM: Was this the beginning of what became Phaedra?
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I loved the sample-accurate timing of the VSTi’s. I had just gone from Notator on the Atari ST (don't laugh - it was, and still is, awesome!) to a lowly powered PC that sounded like a drunk person was playing the MIDI. MIDI timing was awful… and pretty much still is on the PC and Mac. Nothing beats the Atari ST for midi timing.
just sounded good transposing samples.
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When the virtual VSTi synths started to come out, I made the mistake of selling all of my analog gear, thinking that virtual stuff was good enough. Virtual technology was still very much in its infancy. I kept my emulator samplers, as there weren't anything really to replace them, but sold all my synths, FX units and compressors. A lot of my fellow producers were doing the same; in fact, the only synth I kept that was hardware was my old Ensoniq ESQ1 (8 bit samples through totally analog VCA/'s and VCF's, and 3 Osc per note with 8 note polyphony). I needed a master keyboard after all. :)
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As for sampling the synths themselves, you had to have the patience of a saint. I mean the Mini Moog I bought, which was a Welsh Moog (don't ask), basically had a mod done on it to have PWM modulation. But like most of the synths I used for Phaedra, it used to go out of tune if you even looked at it funny. C1 could be in tune, but C2 would be about 2% out. This made the whole process of taking over 20,000 recordings very, very long. I do have a confession, though; I tuned them by ear against my ESQ-1 mainly - note for note.
Yamaha CS5 – It is very snappy with a fast attack and surprisingly bass-y oscillators. Yamaha CS-15 - This one was delivered in a terrible and broken state, but sounded great. Yamaha CS-30 - Sometimes I stacked all 3 Yamaha's, using control voltage, for a huge sound. Korg Monopoly – I am still coming to grips with this 4 oscillator, howling beast. Korg MS-20 – This synth is very quirky, with a great filter. Studio Electronics SE-1 – This is a modern rack-mounted “Moog” that could store presets and will stay relatively in tune. Hurray!!!! Studio Electronics SE-1x – The same as above but with a filter input. I stacked these two a lot, as the sound combinations were awesome. Roland SH-101 - Wet and squelchy. This is a really good little workhorse. Crumar Multiman – A 70's string synth with Arp filters. It has a surprisingly interesting palette of sounds. Akai AX-73 - Cheap and nasty, but I love it for that fact. It has an evil filter! Analog Phaser – This is homemade. It is based on the Small Stone that was modified and used by Jarre on everything he did :) Roland analog chorus pedal Subtle but lovely.
WSM: What synths did you sample for Phaedra?
And the only thing digital to ever get used was the:
Sam: The synths I used were:
Ensoniq ESQ-1 – It has 8-bit grungy samples going through complete Curtis analog circuitry. I love this synth.
Then I looped all the samples by hand. There is really no software that could do it for you with 100% accuracy. You have to be able to hear where the loop points are! This took many months.
Mini Moog D – It was very hard work to sample due to the fact that if you looked at it, it went out of tune. Welsh Moog – It was a prototype of a re-issue Moog made in Wales, but it had a unique PWM mod.
WSM: What was your signal path? Sam: I recorded using a Lynx 2 sound card, dry; no FX or EQ were used. I wanted to keep the path as
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Phaedra + Sam Spacey clear as possible. One of the things a lot of people had trouble with was that I hadn't piled on loads of FX to make it sound better. I wanted FX, EQ, and compression to be the decision of the producer. A lot of synths sound so bad when you take the FX off of them. I wanted Phaedra to sound awesome with no FX, or maybe just a little bit of echo here and there. I added reverb on a few sounds when it was essential to the sound ... but not just to make it sound better. WSM: I really like the interface in Kontakt 2. Sam: Thanks! The interface was designed with the idea that people should be able to edit the sounds with a basic interface. It’s about as basic as my Yamaha CS-5, but its simplicity makes it very quick and easy to change the sound to what you want. I find that a lot of VSTi GUIs are over-complicated - and that ruins the workflow. Nearly all the sounds can be changed with the mod wheel. I did some clever programming in Kontakt 2 so that you use the actual analog synth’s filter in real time as opposed to a digital one. But one thing I did realize in the 3 years of making Phaedra was that the weakest link in a virtual synth is not the filters as I previously thought ... it's the oscillators. One oscillator from the Moog can make the room shake. Try that with the virtual ones. It never sounds quite right for some reason.
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Don't get me wrong. I love virtual stuff, but I can hear digital aliasing on so many synths, and ... well ... I just think the best way to get an analog synth sound is to have actual recordings of the raw sounds. The hybrid approach that I took with Phaedra is the best of both the analog and digital worlds: sampleaccurate timing, no need for a huge bank account, room for all the synths, and no tuning problems ... with the rawness and power of real analog. The other benefit of sampling every blasted note (and usually 5-8 octaves as well) is that Kontakt is not re-sampling the samples. It takes a lot of CPU to play a sample two octaves above its root note on high quality. The way I've done it was mainly for sound quality and no aliasing, but it also means the CPU is just playing the sample back ... no resampling. :) WSM: Did you use any convolution effects? Sam: Yes. Where effects were used, I took some convolutions of guitar pedals and a couple of reverbs from my trusty Lexicon PCM 81. I've had a lot of comments from people about the fullness of the bass and the fact that you just don't need to compress or EQ Phaedra to get it to sit in a mix. Phaedra is designed as an analog workstation type library. I wanted to make a library that was useable and not filled with sonically impressive over the top sounds; sounds filled with reverb, etc, but useless in a mix (Roland D-50’s Digital Native Dance… anyone? lol). WSM: I thought the name Phaedra had to be a Tangerine Dream reference, and then you gave your influences ... .
Why did you name the library Phaedra? Sam: I called it Phaedra pretty much as you thought, due to the “hippydelic synthmonsteresq” album by Tangerine Dream. :) They were great until they went digital! lol I hope you enjoy Phaedra. All the best, Sam
Phaedra Resources Website: http://zerog.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1003 Developer: Zero-G Platforms: Win and Mac Formats: VST, Audio Unit, RTAS, DXi Powered by: Kontakt 2 Player
by Mike Loggan
Don't Lose Yourself
Backup! "But I did save everything -
to the DVD I sent you. How come you lost it?" Redundancy is the key today. If aeroplanes have redundant systems, why shouldn't your backups be redundant too? Here are a few tips on how to store your precious data better. The best option today, for small and medium files, is online backup. But before you go nuts with this new Web 2.0 feature, be sure that the company you choose has redundancy too. If they are saving your files to a single HD (hard drive) and are not doing any offsite backups, what's the point? If they get a virus, everything is gone, and you are left with nothing. They should be doing some sort of off-site backup, where the data is saved daily to another computer that’s away from the building. Yes, you should be that careful. Our first experience with web-servers was terrible. The company we were using years ago didn't have anything like that. The server crashed
badly and corrupted all its hard drives. We lost everything. Today, we have 2 HDs and off-site backups, for that reason. Another way to go, is just to use 2 different online backup solutions. In any case, check first that they aren’t owned by the same company - who knows, you could end up saving your data to the same location after all. Another option is to do daily backups to an external HD that can be detached from your computer, when not in use. This is a bit tricky, as if you get some sort of virus, and it decides to act when you plug in the external HD, you are toast. But it sure is a nice solution. If you could have 2 external HDs, that you intercalate between backups, it would be much safer. But if your data is really critical, be sure to have a 3rd option, stored in a safe place in the house. When using CD or DVD media, be sure to keep duplicate copies. Also, double-check that the disks you are using are protected from topscratches. What does that mean?
Simple - most cheap media use an ink on top of the disk - that is where the actual data is stored. So if you scratch that ink, your data is gone for good. So always check if the CDs and DVDs you get have some sort of protection on top of this layer, or if it’s actually a sandwich, where the data-ink is between two layers of protection. (Most expensive media are like this) Finally, for every new data you add to a CD or DVD, be sure to use the Test option, so the software writes everything and tests it, before finishing the burnjob.
Online Backup Alternatives – –
http://www.idrive.com/ Free for 2G,
– –
http://www.backup.com $4.95 monthly for 2G.
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October 2008
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t e s e Pr y s p o Aut
by WilliamK
Archy Digits
The inner architecture of complex presets can scare even the bravest user... Have you ever wondered what's going on under the hood? Well, you don't have to wonder anymore. Starting with this issue, we will take a bunch of presets and dismantle them for you. So you can better understand what's happening. With each article we will assume that you understand the basics of Wusikstation's interface layout. (meaning: Modulation-Matrix, LFO's, Layers, Wave-sequencing, ...). Be sure to consult the user-manual if you are in doubt about any term we use.
About the Archy Digits SoundSet: This particular set uses singlewaveforms, each created with a process called PAD synthesis; algorithm created by Paul Nascas. (http://zynaddsubfx.sourceforge.ne t/doc/PADsynth/PADsynth.htm) Also, each layer uses the new HQ (High Quality) mode. This mode oversamples the waveform by 4 times, removing most aliasing artifacts from the resulting sound.
Preset: Ultra Archy 1 This is a very high CPU usage preset, as it uses 5 layers and VectorSynthesis. Open the Master page and play a single note. Listen to how the sound changes as a line is 32
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drawn in the X/Y Pad. This is Vector-Synthesis, each corner of the X/Y Pad is one layer. There are 2 LFO's modulating the X and the Y of the X/Y Pad. LFO3 is also modulating a master Notch filter, that results in a flanger-like effect. The Notch filter removes frequencies from the sound, while keeping everything intact (Unlike a Low-Pass filter, that removes the top frequencies, and a High-Pass filter that removes bottom frequencies). In the Modulation-Matrix, the first entry is using the Mod-Wheel to speed-up LFO 1 which mixes the X vector from the X/Y Pad. You can also enable manual Vector-Mixing by pressing the “>M� button and removing the last 3 entries from the Mod-Matrix. Now, there's one more part for this preset. The W1 layer uses Wavesequencing to move the sound in a very special way. Open the Wavesequencer-Editor; you can right-click on W1 to go directly. Notice how the Tune lane was used to change the sound with time. Each step has a different tune, and the time of each step is determined by the Speed knob at the top. Here we used 2/4 which is synced to the host tempo. xFade is set to Max for each step, as we want each step's sound to fade from one step to the next. Producing a smooth transition.
You can turn all layers out, leaving only this layer On, and change the xFade values to hear the difference. Mind you that since Vector-Synthesis is being used by the modulationmatrix, you may not hear this layer all the time, since layers are mixed in different ways when VectorSynthesis is used. (Check the manual to know how this works in depth) Now, the 3rd lane is the SoundSet lane. It's not very visible, but the first 4 steps are using one sound and the other 4 stops are using another sound. Just hover the mouse over each step and the Digits display (next to the preset name area) will show which sound was used. To see which sounds are loaded for this layer, just right click and a list will appear. Preset: Ultra Archy 3 Here we used the preset above, changed the sound for each layer and added another layer: W2. This new layer has been modulated by the Mod-Matrix for the Stereo-Pan position. The LFO 4 was used for this task. Also, we are using a regular Pulse (aka Square) waveform for this layer. As before, open the Wavesequencer-Editor to see what we have done for this preset.
For this sequence nothing fancy was done. We are only changing the Tune and Volume for each step, creating some sort of sequenced-sound; again, in sync with the host's tempo. Since we didn't use the xFade option, the sound is changed abruptly which gives the sense of a note being hit on and off, instead of a smooth padlike transition. Preset: SFX 2 This is one complex, but also simple, preset. Only 2 layers were used. But with the help of 6 LFO's and one Modulation-Envelope, we can produce some modular-like sounds. The first thing you should notice, is that both layers' Amp-Envelope Sustain are set to zero. So, when you play a note, the sound should stop very fast and you wouldn't hear anything else until you pressed a new note. So, why do you get several sounds when you hold a note? Simple, we are using LFO's to retrigger the Amp-Envelope of each layer. Note how the LFO 2 is set to O1 Gate as the destination from the Mod-Matrix. Since we used a Pulse (aka Square) waveform for the LFO, each time it raises the waveform, it re-triggers (gates) the layer's AmpEnvelope. And since LFO 4 is sending random deviations to LFO 2 Speed, we get a very random result, like someone playing the note over and over at random. We also had to use Mod-Envelope 1 to O1 Gate, so when you release the note the LFO 2 stops acting on the O1 Amp-Envelope. Otherwise the sound would never stop, even if you released all keys. Since we have 2 Mod-Matrix Sources going to the same Destination, the O1 Gate, the second entry multiplies the first
one. Click on the second O1 Gate from the ModMatrix and select Options to see this. Preset: ARP 1 This is a simple Arpeggiator in action; hold several keys at once to hear it in action. Open up the Wavesequencer-Editor for the layer W1. Notice how the Arpeggiator option is set to Up-Down. You can click on it to change to other options; try Random for instance. But the real fun for this preset happens in the sequence-steps. We used 2 sounds, which are changed on every 4 steps. Each step is set to a 1/16 note. (in sync with the host's tempo). We also change fine-tuning each step, just a bit, so it produces a slight detuning in real-time. (like an old tape-machine) Again, xFade was used to make smooth-transitions at times. Now, the last part was to change the type of envelope that is used to change the sound from one step to the other. This option is the small box over “Hard-Sync”. The option we used makes the transition from one step to another a bit less smooth, even when xFade is used. Try changing this parameter to hear the difference from one option to another. Preset: Multi Strikes 1 Sometimes the simple things can have a big impact on a sound. Since each waveform is a longsound, with no start or end, we created this preset with a special random modulation: Sample-Start. Each key you press sets a new random start position for the sound. Try pressing the same key over and over very fast. You will
hear how the sound changes on each note. Its a small change, but the result is actually very good. That's pretty much it. The only addition was a second layer with the same sound, but one octave above the original note to produce a richer sound. We used the same process for all “Guitar Style” presets. But there, we added a Mod-Envelope that “When designing presets, modulates both Filteralways be sure to set Frequency and Finethe correct number of Tunning, mimicking the voices for each layer, sound of a real acoustic according to the sound guitar. (kinda') you want. For complex FX sounds, use only 1 Preset: Digital Attack 1 or 4 voices. This will reduce the CPU usage. The Distortion Effect can Also keep in mind that produce some pretty the WusikEngine chaotic sounds, when used processes voices in right. For this preset, most blocks of 4. So one of the job is been done by voice will use almost the Insert-Effect applied to the same CPU usage as the first layer. A Mod4 voices.” Envelope modulates the layer's Filter-Frequency, “Don't use a Velocity to which does the rest of the Volume/Amplitude in job. A simple variation, but the Mod-Matrix. Use the the resulting sound is very Amp-Envelope Vel Knob impressive for a single instead. It does the layer. same job while using much less CPU Now, if you want to go resources.” deeper here, see how the type-of-curve for Mod“In some situations, use Envelope 1 changes the the Master-Filter sound. Its the small box at instead, especially for the top-right area for this Bass-Sounds. Set each section. Click on it to select layer's number of different curves. voices to 1, and now you can even use a For Digital Attack 4, we Mod-Envelope to the removed the Insert-Effect, Master Filter Frequency. and used the DigitalSee the preset: Another Distortion on FX1 instead. Bass” Turning the FX1 Editor's DryOut to Zero, So you “When rendering your would hear only the project, open the ConDistortion effect. This figuration-Window and allowed more layers to be set Quality to “High added while keeping CPU 16x”. This will force all usage lower, compared to Wusikstation instances loading the Distortion for to render at Maximumeach layer as an insert. We Quality. It will oversamalso used the Master-Filter ple each Layer's Sound because it uses much less 16 times, removing any CPU compared to, again, Aliasing artifacts, and using one filter for each also improving overall layer. quality of sound.” www.WusikSoundMagazine.com
October 2008
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by A. Arsov
Native Instruments
Guitar Rig 3 XE Let's not pretend. I know what you want to know: Does Guitar Rig sound better than Amplitube from IK? After this review, I have to write an article about IK’s range of amplifiers. So, after testing both, I have to disappoint you: There is no better/worse comparison. They simply sound different. They each have a different general character. They are like an old Fender/Gibson comparison story. Which one is better? I.K is more Fender-like and N.I a bit more on the Gibson side. Using them both in the same song will give fantastic and versatile results - just as if you used Fender and Gibson guitars in the same band. End of rival story. So, let's talk about Guitar Rig 3 XE. It’s a little brother - a light version - of Guitar Rig 3 full edition. Costing 99 Euro, it gives us a touch of Native Instruments’ widely known quality. "Native Instruments" has become a synonym for "quality virtual instruments and effects". On the other hand, we also know that guitarists (hey, I'm one) are big purists. Most guitarists swear by anything old and analogue. They can also talk for hours 34
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about various amplifier models, guitars and even strings. There are a million guitarists and a zillion opinions about the best and worst, and why one thing is absolutely better than another. Pure mad science, full of tribal mysticism, if you ask me. But I’ve always enjoyed those debates.
What We Get Guitar Rig 3 XE is a stripped down version of its big brother. Same quality, fewer presets, fewer amplifiers and fewer effects. But it’s not as bad as it sounds. The main difference that I noticed was a lack of crazy and unusual FX presets. Yet, talking about a normal guitar sound (distorted or clean), you get a nice and carefully chosen range of amplifiers that will cover most of your clean, mean and dirty guitar needs. With the last upgrade we even get an additional amplifier, the Bass Pro - intended mainly for recording bass guitar. That was what I missed most in the previous version. NI’s Guitar Rig 3 XE is equipped with six amplifiers, an AC-Box, Twang Reverb, Citrus, Gratifier, Lead 800 and Bass pro. As most of the original inspirations are protected by copyright, you'll need to infer for yourself what models are being emulated. It is not so hard; different names, similar graphical interfaces… all the essential big names are there. We can’t forget to mention twelve matching cabinets with plenty of options for picking the right mic placement. We also have twentyone guitar effects; a few filters, delays, one reverb, distortions and overdrives, along with a few
modulation effects and one LFO modifier. All effects are above average and, as I have already mentioned, we’re only missing some crazy ones from the full version. But let's face it, for the money (shouldn't there be something for that money?) there are more than enough quality toys to play with. And if you really need some unusual effects, there are plenty of crazy free VST ones that you could add from other developers. Along with all these amplifiers, cabinets and effects, there are a few miscellaneous additions: A tuner, a metronome, two tape decks and one input controller. The tape decks are useful for recording some ideas on the fly or just for practising especially if you use GR3 XE as a standalone effect. Ditto for the metronome.
How It Sounds In the past, virtual amplifiers were mainly used as recording tools, but these days, more and more guitarists use them on a stage as well. The full version of Guitar Rig 3, with the additional Rig control, has destroyed the final barriers between virtual and real space and has convinced many skeptics. I haven't tried it on stage yet, but my friend has. He’s the same guy who told me (a few years ago) that nothing can be compared to the real thing - the reply he offered when I asked for an opinion regarding my Line 6 Pod. But it seems he has changed his mind over the past few years. So be careful - open your umbrella because purists are falling down all over the place. I can only add that, compared to the real thing, Guitar Rig 3 XE lacks the groupies, the booze, and the presence of small
Guitar Rig 3 XE comes as a standalone program, VST, DX Effect or RTAS, for both Mac and PC. For more info and a demo version, visit the Native Instruments home page: www.native-instruments.com/ “Guitar Rig 3XE" can be upgraded to "Guitar Rig 3 full version” for 199 Euros. time crooks with their quality weeds. Other than that, in a song or standalone, it sounds amazing. And what's more, it is cheaper, more versatile and far easier to record with or transport than the real thing. Okay, you can't physically lean on your virtual guitar rig, but you can take it everywhere you go. You just need a USB key or a CD and, voila, you are in. And, last but not least, Guitar Rig 3 XE comes packed with 150 presets, covering all categories and all your essential needs. So, all you need to do is choose the right one.
How It Looks Native Instruments are a true bunch of professionals, so it’s no surprise that Guitar Rig 3 XE’s graphical interface is well designed and easy to scan with the eyes. The main interface is divided into two big windows. On the left, we find a menu with three main options at the top - for switching between the Browser, Components and Options view.
chosen elements. Amplifiers and effects can be freely moved up or down, thus changing their connection order. There is also a Live View button for, well, using the Guitar Rig 3 XE live. This mode assures that all parameters are always on top and visible. A small window sits at the top right corner, near the CPU meter, for selecting a high quality mode. As you may have already heard, Guitar Rig 3 can be pretty CPU intensive. But there is no such thing as a free lunch; if you want something that sounds like the real thing, you'll need to tolerate high processor usage. It is not a matter of bad coding - it is pure mathematics; the better precision demands more processor power. Simple as that. On the other hand, I'm sure the NI fellows are math wizzos, so I presume there is some room for future improvement regarding this issue.
XE Final Thoughts In the Browser section, we find a bunch of presets sorted either by amplifiers or by purpose. There is also a place for saving your own presets. A component section shows us amplifiers and effects that can be easily dragged and dropped to the rig window on the right side. The Options view gives various options for setting controllers and similar things. A virtual rig is shown on the right side with all your
So, for only 99 Euros, you get a prime solution for your all-inclusive and essential guitar and bass needs: A stripped down yet professional solution for home recording. Maybe I should mention that, at first, I couldn’t get quite the right sound with some of the included presets . But, after setting the input volume and a few other parameters, everything now
sounded as it should. There are enough parameters to tweak and enough ways to put elements in desired order that there should be no problem finding just the right sound despite the reduced number of included amplifiers and effects. I can sincerely recommend this one to all home studio users who are on a tight budget and looking for a pro guitar recording solution. The only thing I miss with the Guitar Rig 3 XE is the ability to buy separate, additional amplifiers or effects there is only the option to upgrade to the full version. Other than that, I like it, my guitar likes it …and even my virtual synths like it.
www.WusikSoundMagazine.com
October 2008
35
by David Keenum
Manytone Fretless Bass To borrow a phrase, “Like butter!” Bass sounds and samples can become an obsession. I guess, for some people, they are nothing more than functional necessities, but for some of us they are an obsession. I’m one of those “obsession” people. Bass sounds are important to me… really important! And the bass sounds I “must” have are the sounds of real bass players. I want… no, need the sounds of fingers plucking bass strings. And I need detail… bends, pull-off’s, slides, and even fret noise. Fortunately, there are a number of sample developers that have taken up the challenge of accurate, realistic bass sounds. And Manytone Music is one of the best. I first ran across Manytone’s Ultimate Bass Kit and then their Acoustic Electric and Upright Basses. But that was only the beginning. ManyBass was the combination of great bass samples with a dedicated VSTi player. So how could they top that? I can’t think of anything more… except a fretless bass maybe…. well, what do ya know! They did just that! Manytone’s Fretless Bass consists of 4 sets of samples, a set of sustained tones with samples of both index and middle fingers, a set of staccato (meaning short) notes, and sets of both half and full step bends. The sustained sounds use
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vibrato… just what I wanted to hear from a fretless bass! Fretless Bass comes in ManyBass, Cakewalk Dimension and SFZ, Kontakt, and Soundfont - SF2 formats. I reviewed the ManyBass version. Many Bass’s soundsets also load into any ManyTone instrument and Wusikstation. I tried the sounds in Wusikstation by changing the soundset in a UBK preset; simple and quick. It sounded really good in Wusikstation, but I missed the bass-oriented effects and amp simulator in ManyBass. Besides, ManyBass has keyswitching, which helps a lot when you are trying to recreate an accurate bass performance. There are a number of ManyBass presets with the emphasis on usability. There are smooth, chorused presets for ballads, echoed presets for solo work (Now go be Jaco!), and some deep sounding presets for laying down that deep groove. There are also a number of presets that utilize keyswitching. Pressing C0 accesses the Sustained Tones soundset; pressing C#0 accesses the Staccato Tones soundset; D0 accesses Halfstep Bends; and D#0 accesses Whole-step Bends. So all the soundsets can be accessed in one preset. Cool, huh?
All of this is well and good, but how does it sound? To borrow a phrase, “Like butter!” For me the temptation is going to use it on every project. The sound is fluid and still precise, and it begs for some melody playing. Listen to the demos at www.manytone.com/productinfo_fr etlessbass.php and you will see the capabilities of this set of samples. As for me, I’m not quite that proficient… yet. But I am inspired to incorporate a lot of fretless bass in my music. Hats off to Greg Schlaepfer and Paul Brown. Obviously obsession can pay off!
ManyTone Music Fretless Bass – a set of fretless bass samples Distribution: ManyTone Music (http://www.manytone.com/) and (http://www.manytone.com/prod uctinfo_fretlessbass.php) KVR information: ManyTone Music’s forum on KVR Formats: , Cakewalk Dimension and SFZ, Kontakt, and Soundfont (SF2) Price: download for $59.95 $49.95 (single format) and $69.95 $59.95 (multi-format). Test Computer: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM, Windows XP Pro SP 3, Echo MiaMIDI Audio Card
by David Keenum
Pendle Poucher’s “Ship’s Piano” Like a warm quilt on a cold evening! Pendle Poucher has a knack for finding, and sampling, rare and unusual instruments. His first instrument is the delightful Dulcitone, a portable keyboard with a sound similar to a Celeste. That was followed by the Tiny Binaural Harpsichord, the Steel Drum Percussion Room, the Ship’s Piano, and the recently released Grand Thrift Auto (harp). Each of his instruments has a uniqueness and character that could even be described as “quirky” - but that sounds negative to me, and these instruments are a thing of beauty! Besides being interesting, they are also lovingly sampled and edited. I know of no other instrument quite like Ship’s Piano. It sounds nothing like a grand piano. In fact, it sounds a little like an upright piano. Maybe it will help you to know more about it. Let me quote Pendle’s website: “Designed by JB Cramer and Sons of London in the late 1800's, the ship’s piano (or yacht piano) was built especially for the cramped confines of Victorian pleasure boats. A ship’s piano is basically a tiny
rudimentary upright piano with a five-octave keyboard that Ship’s Piano – a set of samples of a Victorian era ship’s (or Yacht) piano folds upwards to save space. It Creator and Distributor: Pendle Poucher has no bottom half and sits Web-site: http://virb.com/dulcitone1884 either on a low table or a stand Price: £15 with a small leather and chain Formats: Kontakt 2/3 , EXS, Reason contraption dangling from its Combinator, Soundfont bottom that loops around the Test Computer: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ foot for the sustain pedal. 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM, Windows XP Pro SP 3, Because of its small frame size, Echo MiaMIDI Audio Card it struggles with low notes so the bass strings are very wide Ratatouille.” But I’m thinking the gauge and particularly flabby, ratatouille metaphor will only work resulting in a strange, almost atonal if you have young children around. metallic sound in the lower reaches.” So I guess the next question That sounds like no piano I might be, “Can I use it in my have ever heard! Where does he music?” First of all, people can find his instruments? Well, figure out very creative ways of wherever he finds them, he takes using sounds the “wrong” way. So great care in sampling them. And don’t let my opinions limit you. this instrument is no exception. Listen to the demo on Pendle’s site Again quoting Pendle, he “sampled (http://virb.com/dulcitone1884) before you make your decision. every usable white note binaurally Two applications immediately with 4 and sometimes 5 velocity come to mind when I play Ship’s layers for 155MB of 16bit samples.” Piano. First, is the off-beat pop So how does it sound? As music of artists/producers like Jon strange as it sounds, I think it Brion or T Bone Burnett. sounds nostalgic... like a trip to Producers/artists like these two are your grandma’s house. The sound is genius at using old or unusual a little muffled like an old house, instruments and making those but like grandma’s house, it sounds instruments sound fresh and new. comfortable. The second application that comes Remember her to mind is audio for pictures. I think soft quilts? It Ship’s Piano would be a great sounds like that resource for composers in this too. Soft, warm, genre. and comfortable... So maybe Ship’s Piano wouldn’t good memories. be your first choice for your next As a side note, trance opus… or maybe it would... Pendle described But if you need a piano with a Ship’s Piano to me nostalgic sound as warm as as “the piano grandma’s quilts, be sure to take a equivalent of the listen to Ship’s Piano. Nothing like ratatouille moment it! in the film www.WusikMagazine.com
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Reason 4 by Ginno 'g.no' Legaspi
best things about
Reason Okay, so Reason 4 has been out for about a year now. I remember that, last year when Propellerhead Software announced they were updating Reason to version 4, it generated a lot of buzz and speculation on the internet forums, audio and music sites, various publications and rumor sites. People were curious and excited as to what Propellerhead was going to add to an already feature-packed virtual studio. With version 4, I'm pretty sure people's high expectations were satisfied. It is a hot release, with a plethora of great features and addition, like, the new overhauled sequencer, the mighty Thor synthesizer, the RPG-8 Monophonic Arpeggiator and the ReGroove mixer. Propellerhead delivered. Big time. Here are some of the 35 things I compiled that help make Reason a complete production tool. Things that will make your composing, arranging, mixing and mastering with ease. So, if you're looking for an alternative to your aging hardware rack, read on. There's no better time to get into Reason, than now. Let's take a look at what makes this "studio-in-a-rack" a power packed, one-stop production tool.
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The MClass Mastering Suite Like the Mercedes-Benz M-Class series sports utility vehicles, the MClass Mastering Suite gives Reason users the 'luxury' to polish their mixes with a complete set of fine mastering tools. When I say fine, I mean that they are good. Sound-wise, it can rival some of the mastering software out there in the market. With these tools, your Reason mixes will sound clearer, punchier, louder and you can improve the stereo imaging/width of your tracks. The MClass does it all. In fact, you can load up all the devices as a Combinator patch or use each unit as a separate effect. The complete set includes a 4-band equalizer, stereo imager, single-band compressor and a maximizer. From the friendlier 'Gentle Mastering' to the heavy 'Dance Mastering' patches, one thing is for sure: These units sound great and can add punch and definition to your Reason mixes.
That "WOW" Factor Reason never ceases to amaze me whenever I launch it on my studio desktop or my trusty portable laptop. I just stare at it and think, "Wow, what an amazing piece of audio software. Producers have got it made in this
day and age, with the availability of affordable yet powerful production tools." Unlimited samplers and synths; as much as your CPU can handle, and animated, swinging virtual cables! This program is a real jaw dropper. Amazing.
THOR Synthesizer
RV7000 Propellerhead's head honcho, Ernst Nathorst-BÜÜs, once claimed that RV7000 is among the best and richestsounding software reverb units available on the market. Does he have a valid claim? You be the judge. Try this algorithm-based reverb and hear for yourself. RV7000 has three different sections: Reverb, EQ, and Gate. It includes 9 different reverb algorithms including Small Space, Room Hall, Arena, Plate, Spring, Diffuse Echo, Multi Tap and Reverse. Common reverb parameters such as Decay, HF Damp and Hi EQ can be easily accessed thru the unit's front controls. The independent EQ and Gate modules can also be applied to the reverb's 'wet' signal for further sound shaping.
THOR Synthesizer Judging from the specs, this is one awe-inspiring monster synth. The almighty Thor is the newest built-in synth added to Reason. Its semimodular architecture makes this synth deep and complex. Spec-wise, Thor includes three oscillator modules that feature six oscillator types (Analog, FM Pair, Multi, Wavetable, Phase Mod and Noise). Thor can run three filter slots (two per voice) and a global filter, for more tonal shaping. Filters available for sound shaping include: Low-pass, comb, variable state and formant models. It also sports four envelopes, a shaper, and two LFOs. The fun doesn't stop there. Synth programmers and sound designers alike will love Thor's powerful builtin modulation matrix. The matrix lets you modulate virtually every knob, pot, slider and button in Thor, providing an exciting way to manipulate parameters.
Houston, We Don't Have a Problem!
After their initial releases, a lot of audio programs tend to be unstable and full of bugs. Typically, numerous users then flood the software developer's site forum with complaints that the buggy software is wasting their precious time, instead of being productive. Not to mention, the software's unstable performance has rendered it useless. Oh yeah, I've seen many complaints in my life. Not Reason! Reason has been one of the exceptions - rock solid after installation. Since I first got my hands on Reason version 2, six years ago, I don't recall it ever crashing on me. Now that I have version 4, I've tested it to death and it never crashed on me once. Dependable and rock solid, indeed.
NN-XT Advanced Sampler Before, I used to think software samplers were inferior compared to their hardware counterparts. People always swear of having a reliable hardware sampler onstage. But trying the NN-XT Advanced sampler when Reason v2 came out in '02 changed my attitude towards
soft samplers. And since then, this sampler has been one of my software favourites. The NN-XT is a sampler (or sample player would be more appropriate) that is easy to use and jam packed with an impressive list of useful features. It is so intuitive, and yet advanced, that you'll be inspired using it. It can be the perfect tool for both manipulating samples and playing them back. The strengths of the NN-XT are its ability to detect pitch automatically, map zones with individual parameters, sample playback options and its 16 audio outputs. The instrument also has good envelopes, tempo+pitch+filter+panning syncable LFOs that have great parameters for experimentation and sound design. The NN-XT sampler comes with ready-to-use, high-quality patches (acoustic and synthetic) along with the highly regarded orchestral ReFill called the Orkester.
NN-19 Sampler The NN-19 sampler is NNXT's little brother. Rumour
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best things about
Reason The New Sequencer
has it that the sampler's name was inspired by one of Paul Hardcastle's classic hits called "19". It is a very simple sampler, with fully automatable controls and is easy to understand. It is perfect for sample playback and sound tweaking duties. Like its bigger sibling, NN-XT, the NN-19 can auto-map samples (WAV or AIFF) in the edit menu. This of course will speed and ease the process of creating a patch, and is especially helpful if you're loading realistic multi-samples of recorded instruments, like the piano. The only drawback to this sampler is that it can't set a sample's loop point. An audio editor like Sony's Sound Forge or the marvelous freeware editor called Audacity will need to be called up, for this type of processing.
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It took Propellerhead years to release version 4. But one of the reasons why the wait was worth it was because of the sequencer's new look. This has got to be Reason's biggest improvement - a redisgned and mature sequencer. In previous Reason versions, when creating a sequencer device or instrument, you pretty much assigned MIDI notes, performance and automation data to multiple different tracks in the sequencer. That has all changed in version 4. Each device or instrument now has its own dedicated track, complete with separate lanes for notes, automation, and velocity data, etc. This is a big improvement, for a more intuitive and easy workflow. Sometimes, too many tracks in the sequencer can get in the way when composing, but thankfully you can 'fold tracks' to minimize clutter. All data is now housed in clips, meaning
you can slice, move, or copy clips to a new location along with the various MIDI data within a clip. Furthermore, the Transport now has its own track at the top of the sequencer, where you can automate tempo and time signature changes. This major overhaul in the sequencing department should allow for a faster, easier and smoother workflow when producing tracks.
RPG-8 Monophonic Arpeggiator Another cool addition to Reason 4 is the RPG-8 - a great arpeggiator in a class of its own. Many electronic musicians will be delighted that this arpeggiator is advanced yet also fun to use. The graphical user interface (GUI) is clean and everything is laid out beautifully. RPG-8 is a hands-on module that begs to be played with. For
starters, you have full control of arpeggiation, with a wide-range of parameters neatly displayed. Control parameters include Arp Mode (up, up+down, down, random and manual), Octave, Insert (low, hi, 3-1 and 4-2), Gate Length, Rate, Octave Shifter switch and Hold button (which lets the arp continue to run on its own even after notes are released). The Single Note Repeat button lets you activate the arpeggiator when two or three notes are held down. RPG-8 can also be used for other sources, such as drum loops, vocals and orchestral stuff.
Subtractor Synthesizer Although I find Subtractor an aging synth, it still does the job of delivering analog-type sounds when called to service. Based on subtractive synthesis, Subtractor is a virtual analog synth capable of producing sounds from warm pads to full-on screaming leads. Subtractor looks much like the synths that dominated and graced much of the 70's & 80's. I love its interface thanks to its classic look and simple layout. In my opinion, Subtractor is good for beginners and for those who are just learning how to program synthesizers. It is easy to understand, yet powerful. Subtractor sports two oscillators with 2 waveforms each, plus a noise generator, dual filters, three envelope generators and two LFOs.
Dr.Rex Dr.Rex is a sound generator dedicated to audio playback. It plays Propellerhead's own propriety format called 'Rex' files, originally developed for the ReCycle applcation and now used in many others. A Rex file is an 'elastic audio' that can be sliced and, as a result, pitched up/down and time-stretched, without sounding 'funny' (for lack of better term). Not only that, it lets you rearrange a loop to your own taste. But DR.Rex can also tweak loops by adjusting the pitch, pan, level and decay for each slice. Other parameter controls for editing loops include filters, filter envelopes and
amplitude envelopes - also playable in real-time.
Spider Audio and CV Merger & Splitters Just like the name says, the Spider Audio and CV Mergers and Splitters are two simple utility devices that split and merge audio and CV (control voltage) signals. For example, the Spider Audio can split an instrument's audio output and process it with 4 different effects. Or try merging 4 different synths' outputs, for a stacked sound. The Spider CV also functions like its brother Spider Audio but works with CV and gate signals.
ReGroove Mixer This cool module is dedicated to one thing: to control and manage shuffles and grooves on your programmed sequences - whether it's a beat, synth phrase, loop or appregiated patterns, it can add a humanisedfeel to your MIDI parts. The ReGroove mixer is activated from the transport control where you can apply up to 32 individual channels of non-destructive groove-quantization and shuffle on any sequenced element in real-time. One cool feature that the ReGroove mixer has is the Global Shuffle which makes your song have that unified, tight feel, by applying the same settings to all tracks. Other parameters include the groove amount, and slide and shuffle controls on each of the ReGroove's eight mixer channels.
The Combinator Introduced in version 3, Reason's Combinator is a unit that allows you to build your own unique instruments, effects and pattern sequencer devices. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities from existing Reason devices. The Combinator can combine, stack, split, and layer an unlimited number of existing Reason devices - as many as your computer can handle. You can recall a setup or a saved combi patch that's loaded with all the instruments plus the effects and cable routing - good for studio or live use. Fancy thicksounding pads or fat leads? No
problem. Just stack a couple of nice Malstrom pad patches into a reverb unit and you've got one monster pad sound. Or you can stack several Subtractors for that perfect fat lead you crave for. Super effect units? Easy...that's the Combinator's job.
ReDrum The 10-channel ReDrum is a drum machine in Reason, and is also a drum hit(s) player. You can load either a WAV or AIFF file into each of its channels. The ReDrum has a cool interface - its look and overall feel has that 80's drum machine vibe. The navigating and loading of samples is easy. On the plus side, it has the basic parameters you'd want from a drum box. Each of the 10 channels can control the samples' effect sends (S1 and S2), pan, level, velocity, decay, pitch, tone. ReDrum also has a built-in pattern sequencer in which you can step-record your drum parts, ala Roland's famous TR-808 beatbox. The ReDrum comes with a bunch of kits that are ready to rock, courtesy of Factory Sound Bank. Kits include acoustic (brush), hip-hop, dub, glitch, house, rock, tight, etc. So it has everything for everyone's drum sound demands. I love the variety of kits that comes with the Factory Sound Bank but my favourite have got to be the obscure 'Glitch kit' (that's suitable
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best things about
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for glitch and ambient productions) and the banging 'Techno kit'.
Matrix Module The Matrix Module is an analogue-style sequencer, capable of controlling other Reason rack modules. Its monophonic sequencer works well - especially with the Subtractor subtractive synth, in mono mode. It can be programmed to have 32-steps per pattern, a playback resolution from half notes to 1/128th and patterns can differ regardless of global time signature. The Matrix can also be used to control panning, osc modulations for a synth, rhythmic grooves and to program intricate LFO controls, say for a predelay or a reverb tail.
The Rack When writing tracks, whether placing notes/data in the sequencer or tweaking parameters on Reason modules, most of the time, this is where the action takes place. You will be flipping back and forth between the rack and the detachable sequencer. Needless to say, the Rack is where you setup the Reason modules, in which they will get bolted, screwed, corded or patched. The rack has 4 main parts: the sequencer, a 64-channel Audio out device, 4-input buses of 16 MIDI channels (4x16=64) for MIDI devices and the... er... rack space itself. Creating a rack of synths, samplers and effects is very easy. You add them by going to the 'Create' menu. This menu gives you a drop down list of the devices included in Reason. But, first things first: everything has to be routed to 42
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a mixer. Once you create a mixer, you can simply add instruments by clicking on 'Create' and Reason will automatically patch the device to the first free mixer channel. If you click on the 'Tab' button you will see, on the back of the rack, that the device is virtually patched by a cable. Say, if you want to route the output of the Thor synth thru Scream 4, you can do that. There is almost no limitation with the routing, since Reason is semimodular in design. You can re-patch the cables on the back if need be.
Everything Can Be Robotized With the BV512 Vocoder effect units, in my opinion, are always a great and welcome addition to any studio arsenal. Whether you're trying to apply cool vocodeddrum effects or perfecting the vocodedstyle sounds of Daft Punk, you can't go wrong. It adds interest to any track, especially electronic music. The BV512 Digital Vocoder in Reason is one heck of a versatile vocoder and is capable of the
processing I mentioned. It has a good sound, much like that of traditional analogue vocoders, yet it is a two-faced beast, that also able to vocode in digital FFT fashion. Not only is the BV512 a vocoder, it also doubles as a handy 4 to 512-band equalizer. This unit is so simple to use that it doesn't require singing into a mic while playing your controller keyboard. The BV512 can be set to vocode by taking two input signals; the carrier and modulator - both of which handle the pitch and supplying the characteristics respectively. Not bad for a 2-in-1 unit.
The Rack
Warm it, Destroy it and Make it Scream... 4. If you've got the desire to torture, mangle or distort the heck out of your sound sources, look no further than Scream 4. Once you run them through it, your sound sources will never be the same. This sound destruction unit is very versatile, having a wide variety of uses. Available distortion types include: Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz, Tube, Tape, Feedback, Modulate, Warp, Digital and Scream. Each type has P1 and P2 knob controls to further shape your sounds. [The "P" stands for "parameter" since the knobs may work differently for each mode.] In "Overdrive", the 'Tone' is assigned to P1 which you can use to enhance the sound's tonal character. P2 controls the amount of 'Presence'. Scream 4's applications range from warm [distortion] to full-on mayhem. And if that doesn't tickle your fancy, it has a built-in basic EQ (+/-dB) and a speaker simulator at the end of its chain, called 'Body'. Included are five 'Body' types, knobs for Resonance, Scale and Auto. The Body speaker simulator sounds great and is handy for those who are looking to add interest to their guitar tracks.
soundbanks containing files, like patches for synths, pre-configureds effects modules and samplers [not to be confused with new modules that are added in Reason updates], REX2 loops, WAV and AIFF audio samples, MIDI data, templates and song files that only Reason can open. I have been a Reason user since version 2 and having lots of ReFills is like having unlimited sound sources for Reason. Of course, there are tons of 3rd-party commercial ReFills out there that you can buy, but you can also amass gigabytes and gigabytes of free ReFills from generous sample developers such Nucleus Soundlab, Synthsonix, Pink Noise Studio, Peff, Doru Malaia, etc. Even the Propellerheads themselves offered free ElectroMechanical ReFills to all registered users. If you're looking to expand your sound library, head over to www.propellerheads.se for a list of free ReFills, including my '50 States' Refill.
Abbey Road Keyboards ReFill [An optional expansion set.]
CPU Efficiency Many people who are new to software music making, flood the internet's many audio forums (including Propellerhead's General Forums) with questions about the advantages of Reason as a complete soft-synth studio solution, and whether or not the application will run on their system. Well, seasoned Reason users have always preached that the software is CPU efficient. On my laptop rig, I can run 15 instances of Thor Polysonic synth before my CPU crawls to its knees.
Free ReFills Galore A ReFill is proprietary technology, unique to Reason. ReFills are
One of the best sample libraries to have arrived in ReFill form is the Abbey Road Keyboards ReFill Collection. This ReFill collection by Propellerhead was meticulously recorded at Abbey Road Studio (located in Westminster England). The original classic instruments, such as the Steinway Upright piano, Challen Studio piano, Hammond RT-8, Mannborg Harmonium, Shiedmayer Celeste, Mellotron M400 and Premier Tubular Bells
were "hyper-sampled" to bring the sound of legendary Abbey Road Studios into your Reason rack. The recording took place in Abbey Road's spacious Studio Two, along with various vintage microphones, analog hardware processors and vintage mixing desk. This ReFill gives you access to seven wonderfully Abbey Road instruments and comes in various Combinator patches with various mic possitions and combinations. If you ever wanted to supplement the stock Factory Sound Bank with some great vintage keyboard sounds, you can't go wrong with this. At $229, this is highly recommended. It is a good addition to your ReFill arsenal.
Malstrom Synth Added in Reason version 2, the Propellerhead team had a truly unique take on synthesis with the release of the Malstrom Graintable synthesizer. The technology behind graintable synthesis, as stated on the Propellerhead's site, is to "combine granular synthesis with wavetable synthesis" to form a sound like no other. This synthesizer has two oscillators and comes with a healthy selection of impressive graintables (82 identical graintables for Osc A and B ), filtering and modulation options. Tweaking the spectral modulation, sweeping the wavetable and real-time stretching of waveforms can produce unheard of, unique sounds. This is a sound designer's dream synth. [The sound is so desirable that at least one patch was sampled for use in Spectrasonics Atmosphere and Omnisphere].
Automation Nation Like many other audio programs, virtually anything in Reason can be automated.
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From the filter envelope in Thor to automating the mixer's Pan knobs, it's all possible in Reason. All automation data is recorded in the sequencer. In fact, the new sequencer provides a performance and automation data lane, where you can input manually or record it in real-time. And all automation data lanes are now housed and tucked in 'Clips'.
It's a Complete Virtual Studio I've been a happy user for many years, simply because the program just delivers. It meets my need. Not to mention that using it is a pure joy and fun. Say, if Reason was a bunch of real hardware units, it would easily cost thousands of dollars. The NN-XT sampler would probably retail for at least $400 including the soundbank, Thor would be an easy $400 and the 14x2 Mixer would probably set you for another $300. You get the picture. With Reason, you have everything you need to produce high quality tracks, without getting a second mortgage. All you need is a reliable computer, a good soundcard/interface, a pair of professional monitoring speakers and you have a complete virtual studio, capable of translating your ideas into pieces of music. The key word here is 'complete'. [The only caveat is if you need to record audio into your computer, for example from a microphone, you will need additional software but that can be addressed for free using programs such as Audacity, or with a ReWire host, as mentioned in point 32.]
Meet Peff If you're an avid Reason softstudio user, 44
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chances are you've heard of Peff (aka Kurt Karusaki) before. He is one popular dude in the Reason community because he, like many other nice guys out there, has offered countless tips and tricks about the program and has continually offered free samples and ReFills for all Reason users. But what Peff is really known for is his series of excellent books called 'Power Tools for Reason'. His books guide you on how to maximize program use, but not only that, also explain basic and advanced techniques for novice and intermediate users. His site, "peff.com", is loaded with tons of resources and articles. Check it out!
One of the Best Selling Audio Programs of All Time Reason climbed to the top after its 2001 release, with great gaining popularity and a wide ranging user-base. I would quickly run out of superlatives in describing Reason but the number of users in the community speaks for itself. Reason has had solid sales, year after year. Its popularity gives its users confidence that the program will continue to be developed further, for many years to come.
Artists and Professionals Dig It Reason is so userfriendly and 'musical' that many recording artists, music scene professionals and sound designers dig it. Not only that; they use it for live applications. Many also use it for their day-today productions. The previous and current crops of Reason users include Liam Howlett, Craig Anderson, Luke Vibert, Richard Barbieri, Mark Vail, Richard Devine,
Gordon Reid, Jason McGerr, Aaron Albano, etc.
It's a Great Live Tool The good thing about Reason is you can take it with you and use it live. If you have created complex songs with multiple mixer setups in your studio, rest assured that Reason will work and deliver the exact same setups in live situations. No need to be scared that something might go wrong on stage as Reason is a very stable application. So pack up your laptop, a MIDI-controller and an external soundcard and you are good to go.
Unlimited Routing Reason's environment makes it a good tool for sound designers and experimentalists alike. The devices have a lot of connectivity options, similar to that of a modular synthesizer. When you want to create a Reason device, the audio connections are cabled automatically. But you can also create an unpatched device, by holding down the 'Shift' key + Create. Wherever you want to route the device's input/output, it can be done. You can unpatch and drag a connector to any of the device's in/out connections. Needless to say, repatching is possible in Reason.
Good Composing Tools on the Go The best thing about technology nowadays is that it is affordable. Laptops, for example, have drastically dropped in price. When I started writing music back in the early 90's, everything was done in
my home studio. Now, I can work in my studio and take my unfinished songs anywhere and work on them, say while staying at a hotel or stuck at the airport. Having Reason installed on my portable laptop enables me to take my 'virtual studio' wherever I'm going to work on songs or new ideas. For me, combined with a mini keyboard controller and a reliable soundcard, Reason is the perfect "on the go" composing tool.
and RV7000. Out of all of these patches, the Combinator lead synth ones are my favourites, because of the fat, layered sound you can get from them. All in all, the library consists of almost 3,000 instrument patches and tons of Rex files for your Dr. Rex pleasure. The Factory Sound Bank is also bundled with "Orkester" - the orchestral library.
ReWire Syncing Reason to Other DAWs
Sure, Reason has been a dream machine for many musicians and producers since it came out in 2001. Its architecture and included synths and modules tend to draw the 'electronica' crowd ...well, mostly. But that doesn't mean it's solely for electronic fun. Producers of rock, orchestral and jazz can rejoice with the availability of 'acoustic' or 'organic-themed' ReFills from Propellerhead, some of them are even free. So if you want real acoustic drum sounds for pop rock compositions, then "Reason Drum Kits" is the answer. For your funk, jazz and other groovy productions, the Electromechanical, RDK, Pianos, Electric Bass and Abbey Roads ReFills have got you covered. These are all high quality ReFills that use Hyper-Sampling technology for the NN-XT sampler so expect good results from them.
ReWire is a system that enables one computer application to stream audio (up to 256 channels) into another [and, since version 2, it supports MIDI as well]. It is a 'virtual cable' of some sort, recognized by programs that are ReWire-compliant or compatible. Most DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) or sequencing programs, such as Samplitude, Sonar, Live or Pro Tools, have adopted the technology and can accept audio outputs from a slave ReWire application, like Reason [and send MIDI to it as well]. Think of these DAWs as hosts for Reason's outputs. ReWire features highprecision synchronization between the two applications (host/master and slave). If you have a DAW as your master, Reason can act as a 'slave' application - meaning, when you click play, forward, rewind, or stop, on the host DAW's transport controls, Reason will locate to the same position in sync. For a list of ReWire compatible applications, visit www.propellerheads.se.
The Big Factory Sound Bank Reason's bundled Factory Sound Bank contains a huge selection of sounds and professional patches, ready to be used in your own productions. Patches for devices include some nice multi-sampleed real instruments for the NN-XT and NN19 Digital Samplers, signature Thor patches made by popular electronic artists and effects patches for units such as Scream 4
Reason ReFill Collection
Easy to Learn Program At first launch, Reason's empty rack can be daunting. But don't let the looks fool you. Whether your're a seasoned user or even a novice, Reason is a very easy program to use. When creating modules, the program automatically patches them to the mixer, sets the levels and creates sequencer tracks for you. It is a good starter program. Since Reason is snap to use, schools all over the world have adopted the program into their curriculum, allowing students to learn about synthesis, sampling, sound design, sequencing and audio routing more easily.
In closing, it is good to see that Reason has evolved into a more mature product since its initial release, back in 2001. Propellerhead wowed the world when the software-alternative to the real rack finally became a reality for musicians - especially for those who couldn't afford expensive hardware synths, samplers and effect processor units. With version 4, there's plenty to play with. Even if you're an advanced Reason user there are always new things to discover about the program. Not to mention, the new toys in version 4 have that instant cool fun factor.
CONTACT: Propellerhead Software, www.propellerhead.se LIST PRICE: $399. Upgrade from previous versions is $129. MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (Mac/PC): Mac OSX 10.4 Processor: G4 1GHz and up, or Intel Mac Memory: 512MB RAM minimum, 1GB recommended Screen Resolution: 1024x768 2GB free hard disc space DVD drive PC: Windows XP SP2 or Vista Processor: Intel P4 / AMD Athlon XP or better Memory: 512MB minimum, 1GB recommended Screen Resolution: 1024x768 2GB free hard disc space DVD drive Recommended: MIDI keyboard/controller (with or without built-in audio interface) and a good low-latency soundcard.
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October 2008
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by A. Arsov
Liquid Horn Section and
Liquid Trumpet by Ueberschall Distributed by Bestservice
Troubles In Paradise Brass section. Such a nice addition to your songs and such a troublesome thing to make sound right. Sampled brass libraries often sound a bit dead and unreal. All samples lack this well known aggressive attack that real brass instruments have. You could program them till the dawn knocks on your window but they will not sound exactly realistic. I presume the main reason for this is that brass players don't play with the same power on separate notes as when they play licks. The other situation: Brass loop libraries sound realistic but you're stuck with the loops you get on a particular disc. It's a bit like: “I got a funny hat, so I have to style my hair to suit the hat. To tell it more straight; you'll need to write a song to fit the loop you choose. And the third option? The real brass? It's the real nightmare. I used to play in a band with a few of the most wellknown brass players in my country. So what can we tell about the typical
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brass player? They are artists. In full definition: Sensible, intelligent, witty fellows who typically have some sort of alcohol or maybe “always so much weed” problem. I remember one concert we had in a club in a big town in Slovenia. We arrived in the early afternoon so we would have time for a drink or two. The owner of the club was our fan, so we got unlimited access to all things liquid. A half-day later we had the concert, which was... er... let’s just say it was one of the most original and odd that I’ve played in my life. After the concert, Joco our main Saxophone player - came to me and asked anxiously, “Hey Alex, do we have any song in B flat?“ It took me a few moments to hunt through our entire repertoire but, after a minute or two, I told him, “No, we don't have any songs in that key.” He looked at me with great surprise. “Shit, and I played the whole concert in B flat.” And now, just imagine how nice it would be to record such a loud instrument, with its unpredictable owner, in a small home studio.
Is there any way out of this? In the past, there was one simple solution: Don't use brass instruments in your song if you really don't need to. But thankfully, times are changing and we have a new alternative: A liquid sample library. Ueberschall’s Liquid series is based on Celemony Melodyne technology. So it is basically a loop collection where all tones in all loops can be freely manipulated for tone length or pitch - almost like they were composed from MIDI data. Liquid series comes in various forms: Liquid Bass, Liquid Guitar, Liquid Saxophone, Liquid Horn section and Liquid Trumpet. Our article is about the latter two, because this pair represents the most commonly used brass instruments in modern pop music. However, if you are not a bass or guitar player, or if you need a good saxophone phrase or lick, then I'm sure you can't go wrong with the rest of the Liquid series, either.
Horns and Trumpet Liquid Horn Section comes as a library packed with about 700 MB of horn loops, licks and phrases, in various genres. As they wrote in an info file: From funk, through disco, acid jazz, rock and all other fancy named genres. As always, there are never enough licks or phrases to fulfil your need at the moment, but thanks to Melodyne technology, which was leant to Ueberschall, we are offered the excellent Liquid player. Coming in the form of a VST
instrument, all “blowpipes” can be changed in such unrecognisable ways, that even the creators can hardly identify them. I have to say, many times in the past I tried to change the pitch of a vocal line and ran into problems when I pushed them up or down more than a few semitones. Thankfully, it looks like the brass instruments are not so sensitive to pitch or length changes; you can go totally wild with both parameters without running into any noticeable deformation issues. Same with Liquid Trumpet. It comes with an even weightier library; all in all 1,570 licks, where 480 of them are loop based. It’s understandable, because Trumpet phrases are more solo based, so every line has to have unique character. With Liquid Horn Section you have background brass players for your pop, soul, rock or whatever genre you play, while with Liquid Trumpet (I presume it is the same with Liquid Saxophone) you get your “stand up and go-daddy-go” solo player. As with the Horn section, Trumpet gives you all the styles and genres you need or want. Because of their solo nature and greater number of presented licks and phrases you will typically find there is no need to totally change the note lengths or melody structure. When you choose the right key and tempo, most of the solos fit nearly everywhere. And talking about tempo, in all Liquid libraries the tempo is always synced to the host tempo.
How it looks and how it works Liquid Horn section and Liquid Trumpet instruments share the same Liquid player interface, which has three main sub views: The first contains the browser view, with all general additions for tweaking all other parameters (more about that later). The second is a MIDI piano roll like editor, while the third is an automation view for fine-tuning the controllers. Under these sub views are some pop-up menus that are always visible. They include a program menu - for choosing the library and a tempo window - for setting speeds other than the host’s tempo. As there is also an option for doubling or halving the tempo under the Actions pop-up menu, there will be hardly any need for manually tweaking the tempo. There is a multi / solo pop-up along with Setup menu and File menu. The latter has all the load, save, export audio or MIDI variants along with the already mentioned Actions pop-up menu. In this common view, we can also find five sliders for fine-tuning the volume, panorama, quantisation, pitch and formant of the tone. So let's start with the first sub view – the browser view. At the top of the browser window is a key menu, where you can chose the key for the library along with a specific scale. All phrases, licks and loops are then adapted to the chosen key and scale. There is no
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Liquid Horn Section and
Liquid Trumpet by Ueberschall Distributed by Bestservice
option to construct your own scale but, since there is an enormous number of included scales, that is not such a big issue. Still, it would be nice to see that option included in the future. I spent some time on the ‘net finding out what all those fancy scale names mean and since then I haven't had a problem finding the right scale. There is an option for auto-syncing the scale (it is selected by default) and an option for transposing or mapping the scale. I found that mapping, along with the
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right chosen scale, works just perfect. So don't fix it if it ain't broke. There are also two additional pop-up menus for choosing one-shot, cycle or folder preview, along with a pop-up menu for increasing or decreasing the main output level. The browser itself has three main browsing windows for going deeper and deeper into a library, along with an additional keyboard-like key assignment window for dragging and dropping the “chosen ones” and
mapping them along the keyboard. Browsing through the licks, phrases and loops is a pure joy. All “blowpipes” are sorted in general groups. Inside, there are smaller groups, each named with a unique name, along with a common key. The horn section library allows you to preview a whole group with just one click, while the trumpet library has an option to preview just the single phrases. Finally, the chosen ones can be arranged in the key
assignment window for triggering via an external MIDI keyboard or from MIDI notes inside the sequencer. Selected samples can be also exported from this window to a WAV or MIDI file. After finding the right one and selecting it, it is time for the editor view. It comes in the shape of the well known piano roll, so there’s no need to explain this in detail. All notes can be tortured in many ways, just as if they were MIDI notes. Quantisation works excellently and notes can also be micro-tuned, erased or changed in various way. The only drawback I’ve found is that legato notes can't be disunited. Also there is no way to join staccato notes in a legato phrase. After a short time of brain boiled rumination, I found a solid solution for the problem: They can't be disunited or joined but, thankfully, every note in a legato phrase can be deleted. So, you just have to find the appropriate phrase where the legato notes are already in the right place (because you can't join staccato ones) along
with finding a doubled number of legato notes for every staccato note you need. Then, after deleting every second legato one, you finally get a desired number of staccato notes. I know it is a workaround, and a bit complicated, but at least it works. I will be grateful to the Ueberschall fellows if they fix that in a future upgrade. In the third sub window - the one with automation - we can find eight sliders that can be routed to our desired parameters. But since this is just a brass parade and not rocket science, normally there will be no need for tweaking all these things.
hours, making the Horns and Trumpets sound as I want - but the end result is amazing. I now have a realistic sounding brass section for my song and they play unique licks that match what I composed. In a few other songs I just used slightly modified phrases, changing just a few notes. This is not so time consuming and sometimes has advantages, and sometimes not. This way or another you get your real brass players for a reasonable amount of money and without any booze problems.
Liquid summary Both libraries are not just “one magic finger” solutions. For that purpose, you should look for ordinary sample libraries and then spend hours searching for that magic sample which can be played with just one finger. Instead, I've spent just two of them, maybe three
If you are looking for good brass and don't know someone who plays it well (or you know someone and like their fingers but not the person) then look no further. Best Service will serve you best: they definitely live up to their name.
Formats: All Liquid series prodcuts come with standalone, VST, RTAS and AU versions and are available for both Mac and PC. Pricing: Every product in the Liquid series shares the same price: 174 Euros a piece (roughly equivalent to $259 U.S. at the time of writing). Test System: PC - Intel Dual Core 1.8 GHz, 1GB RAM.
Best Service provides stories in English and German about Liquid Horn Section and Trumpet on their site. Here are the links. http://bestservice.de/detail.asp/en/ueberschall/liquid_horn_section (English) http://bestservice.de/detail.asp/de/ueberschall/liquid_horn_section (German) http://bestservice.de/detail.asp/en/ueberschall/liquid_trumpet (English http://bestservice.de/detail.asp/de/ueberschall/liquid_trumpet (German)
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October 2008
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BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer
by A. Arsov
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BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer The new version of the BBE Sonic Maximizer - the BBE D82 - is one of the easiest pieces of music software to use, ever. With just three knobs, it almost looks like my faithful old gramophone, from my childhood. A blast from the past, with three knobs: Bass, Treble and Volume. Gosh, I will never forget how my neighbours hated the latter one. They were totally scared of this knob. The more I loved it, the more they hated it. Bass and Treble were there just to give the right colour to our love-hate relationship. Almost my whole youth lay between those three knobs. So, how could I resist falling in love with the BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer, which almost looks like a younger brother to my old ‘g-phone’? They’ve just changed the names of the knobs to more fancy ones. But basically, those are my good ol’ bass, treble and volume knobs.
BBE D82 is the successor to the old BBE Sonic Maximizer plug-in. It looks almost the same and also sounds like the old one. Last year, they decided to discontinue it - but after realizing what a truly faithful base of fans it had, BBE decided to give it another try, updating it and releasing it under a new name. I would just say, “Thanks, BBE.”
The new version of Sonic Maximizer arises out of a cooperation between BBE and a well-known musical software developer, Nomad Factory. The end result is a more modern looking graphical interface and refreshed main code. Otherwise, it
sounds and looks much the same as the old one. That's good, because I simply liked the old one’s sound and look.
I reviewed the hardware model of the BBE Sonic Maximizer some time ago; a unit which, according to BBE, uses the same technology and should be the same as the software - at least, in terms of utility and processing. So there is nothing left for us to explain - except to refresh our memories, update some of the facts, and maybe even learn something new - especially if you’re a novice Wusik reader, or maybe even an old one with the usual signs of Alzheimer’s we all have... occasionally. So, let's start. The BBE D82 is almost an exciter. Almost, in that it corrects the phase and amplitude discordances caused by a loudspeaker’s inability to faithfully reproduce the sound sent to it by the amplifier. This discordance causes the phenomenon known as ‘envelope distortion’, where the higher frequencies are delayed for a few milliseconds, resulting in a muddy and somehow undefined sound. Forty-two U.S patents later (registered by BBE) we have a solid solution; the BBE range of sonic maximizers, which brings the clarity and definition back in the house. [They are classified as enhancers rather than exciters.]
treble, and the third for exterminating the neighbours. I'm not a tweaking queen but, with these three knobs, I can't go wrong. BBE and Nomad are also fellows who haven't lost their sense of humour, providing us with a big bag of presets. For what? It has only three knobs. Never mind. With or without the presets, the BBE D82 provides us with excellent end results. It has the ability to change every sound you process through it, into a pure pleasure. And, if you find yourself lost in a sea of endless bass and treble possibilities, there's that big bag of presets to help you find your way out. Joke aside, it makes your acoustic guitar sparkle, gives better definition to bass and makes a vocal clearer and more defined. I can confirm that even some local vocalists down here could sound nearly bearable when processed through the BBE D82. We should not forget to mention that it can magically improve drum loops, as if they were separate drum hits. The BBE D82 is like spectacles for the weak eyed. You don't know that you need them until you’ve tried them. For that reason, I suggest you visit the BBE or Nomad Factory site, download a demo, put it on your nose, and you will hear the difference. I used to use the old version, and still use this updated version of the old effect, in nearly every song. It is like my old gphone; most of my friends grew up without it, and the same could have happened with me, but those three old knobs gave me new direction. And now, similar knobs are giving added fodder to the clarity in my music.
BBE D82 is as simple as it can be. A set of three happy knobs, anchored on a red, fancy background: Lo Contour, Process and Volume. The first knob is for bass, the second for
www.WusikSoundMagazine.com
October 2008
51
by Squibs
Precious Metal Amplitube Metal from IK Multimedia I’m a mediocre guitarist, and I spend more time messing with sounds than actually playing. In a lot of ways, I’m like Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmore – I like to come up with big lush guitar sounds which mask the fact that what I’m playing is actually quite simple. In the early 90s, my trusty Fender Stratocaster and Fender Ultimate Chorus
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gave me a nice, but basic tone. The combo had a nice clean channel and a nice drive channel. I could beef it up with the amp’s spring reverb and chorus module, but that was the extent of my sonic capabilities in early years, until I invested in what was arguably the world’s first truly budget guitar multi-fx unit, the Zoom 505.
This little marvel was crunchy and noisy but provided me with a multistage effects chain, allowing me to have compression, distortion, noise reduction, EQ, modulation and delay/reverb all in the one patch. For the first number of months, it seemed like a waste not to use every available effect in every patch, but over time I moderated my behaviour. I experimented with some of the earlier amp simulation VST plug-ins when they came out. Products such as Cakewalk’s amp
simulator failed to impress. Later efforts such as Peavey’s Revalver and Freeamp were usable, but not something you’d want to put on a guitar at the forefront of a mix. I returned to hardware, trying Behringer’s V-amp and V-amp pro, the Johnson J-Station and Line 6’s Pod before finally settling on the Boss GT6 for it’s sp/dif out and it’s ability to sit in a mix just right. The only problem is that it’s far too clean to sound authentic. So it was with great excitement that I installed IK Multimedia’s Amplitube Metal. Could this be the one to finally
provide the cornucopia of golden tones I’ve been craving for all these years? I’ve always liked metal, for the most part. I find some thrash and death metal ludicrous, and I’d rather hear one beautiful note than 100 in 5 seconds; speed for the sake of speed does not impress me. I’ve stuck with metal from the late 70s as a kid, and I still see new stuff that moves me on the Kerrang channel. As a player, I know my
limits and I tend to go for slower melodic stuff by bands like Thin Lizzy who play using scales I can actually pronounce. So, having presented my limited credentials, let’s move on to the review. The installation procedure was pretty straightforward, with part of the registration done online. As well as the VST plug-in, a standalone executable is installed, and you get a competently written manual in PDF format. I finally consulted the
manual, for the first and only time, when I was nearly done with the review - to see what some of the stomp boxes were modelled on. I guess this is testament to the usability of the software. Functionally, the standalone app and the plug-in are nigh on identical; the only significant difference being that the standalone version incorporates a nifty little phrase trainer. This trainer allows you to load a song in mp3 and other formats. You can set the volume, start point, end point, pitch and tempo. The stretching engine is basic and you’ll hear the artefacts if you change the tempo or pitch too much, but it’s an excellent tool for learning solos and re-pitching those troublesome live tracks that live somewhere between D# and E. I spent most of my time using the VST within Sonar 6, and am delighted to report that I was able to achieve very low latencies with no audio break-up - even on the most complex of patches - using ASIO drivers. It used a modest portion of my dual-core CPU, and only glitched when I got silly and ran two parallel amp chains, with an array of stomp boxes and rack effects. This product is definitely suitable for real-time use on any reasonably specified machine made in the last couple of years. So how does it sound? Imagine a chainsaw-wielding army of lions on dirt-bikes being pursued by a swarm of wasps that is on fire. It sounds a little like that. I’d like to go on the record now and state that I’m not much of a cackler. In fact, huge periods of my life have been largely cackle free. But this software made me cackle manically. By the time I had a few minutes to dial through some of the presets, I was grinning from ear to ear and shredding merrily on a drop-D tuning.
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Precious Metal Amplitube Metal from IK Multimedia
I still hadn’t explored any of the controls, so my input was running hot and the noise gate was turned all the way down. This meant that any time I eased up on the shredding, the high-gain patches would shriek with glorious feedback in an effort to fry my tweeters or pop my eardrums. My wife actually appeared at the studio door at one point to make sure I was okay.
master volume, as well as a gate with threshold and release controls. I strongly advise everybody to turn master volumes down when patching in some of the distortions – they really can hurt your ears and speakers! The tuner is pretty capable – stable and accurate across three different guitars using different string gauges
stomp boxes supplied as standalone effects also, but I guess IK have their reasons for not doing this. A small niggle is that the stomp boxes can’t be moved within the pedal board - so if you’ve got the first three slots populated and want to insert a fourth at the start of the chain, you’ll need to start from scratch.
The presets are a good representation of 4 odd decades of metal; the origins of some of the preset names, such as “Gritallica” and “Smokey Intro”, were obvious. But others were more original and experimental, such as “K Kaos”. Some of them are too heavy on the gain and effects, and some are just goofy, but most are thoughtfully programmed and authentic sounding. Once I’d spent some time with the presets (and there are gazillions of them) I settled back to explore the innards of the beast. The audio chain is configured as two pedal boards for your stomp effects, two amps, two cabinets and two racks of effects. There’s also a tuner at the start of the chain. It’s easy to set up the overall chain in a number of different permutations. You can use just one of each, or have 2 rigs running side-by-side with different setups (to give you a truly enormous sound), or you can select from the many other variations available. There is a common section which appears on each page, giving you access to input trim and
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with both single coil and humbucker pickups. The display is large, making it easy to see when you’re right on the money. The pedal boards can each accommodate up to six effects. There is a heavy bias on distortion pedals here, but there’s a useful selection of modulation effects. It would have been nice to see these
The abundance of distortion effects is well justified, given the genre being catered for, and every distortion has its own character. Each is modelled on a famous stomp box. The Boss DS1 seemed to be faithful to the memory of my own DS1, which I sold in a moment of madness last year.
certainly pays to spend time in this section when rolling your own presets, as the parameters here influence the overall sound quite significantly.
The amps are based on a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier (clean and gain channels), a Peavey 5150, A Randall Warhead and a Marshall JPM100. I only ever had direct experience with the 5150 many years ago. This is an amp so heavy that Van Halen named an album after it, and indeed the emulation shines with Van Halen tones. Once you start creating your own presets, you realise that the amp emulations are very versatile. With no stomp or rack effects loaded, you can achieve screaming gain nirvana, but you can also dial up a variety of crunch and blues tones, and the Mesa Boogie clean channel sings nicely with a little chorus and spring reverb
applied. All the usual guitar amp controls appear, including the reverb volume. The spring reverb is particularly lush, although the effect tends to get quite extreme at higher settings, and I found the usable range was between 0 and 3. The cabs are also modelled on some of the big metal legends. They may be tweaked in a number of ways. Mic positioning is catered for with an on or off axis toggle, as well as a far or near setting. There is also an ambience slider to introduce some room sound. The mic itself can be one of 6 classic guitar mics - from the ubiquitous Shure SM57 to the expensive Neumann U87. It
The rack of effects consists of the usual workhorse compressors, reverbs, delays and EQs, as well as some more unusual effects. This seems to be the only section where the virtual hardware isn’t explicitly modelled on real hardware. Most are competent, fairly generic effects which will be perfect for that last little tweak at the end of the effects chain. IK has pulled off a remarkable coup with this plug-in. It sounds wonderful and provides a huge amount of tweakability to satisfy the most demanding tone-hunter. Yet it is remarkably intuitive and easy to use. The pedants might argue that an emulation never sounds as good as the real thing, but I wonder how many would be able to identify the fake in the context of a mix? For metal and hardcore aficionados, there is nothing else to touch this product, and it is sensibly priced at €199. For somebody looking for more general sounds, I would recommend they look at one of IK Multimedia’s other products in the Amplitube range, at www.ikmultimedia.com/
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This is where we like to give more notice to those willing to display ignorant, moronic, or otherwise silly utterances on music production related forums. If you were willing to post it once, we feel it is worth repeating here! And please, don't take it personally; we all say stupid things, on occasion.
Trusty's Top Five Bi-Monthly Foot-Mouth Awards press keys, turn knobs, move sliders, and even use the mouse too (as yet another useful controller) with software instruments using hardware controllers.
The Top Five: “jahrome” on 5 futureproducers.com wrote: “Its funny to read how a bunch of kids that use only software dis MPCs. That is cool. But us MPC users, typically use it alongside our favorite software not instead of software. Hardware sequencing and samplingis much more fun and inspirational. I mash buttons, bang on pads...not click a mouse. If you can make hot music by simply clicking a mouse, you can do the same hot music using an MPC and have more fun doing it. Yes, cost is a factor..at least for those that feel there is no need for an MPC. I am just not one of you. Long live hardware.....” http://futureproducers.com/forums/ showthread.php?t=268654&page=4 Comments: What a false dichotomy. Why is software always reduced to mouse clicking? It is funny to read how seemingly intelligent people commit such silly fallacies. These days, someone can also bang on pads, mash buttons, 56
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Long live people using whatever the heck they want to use.
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“chuka” on futureproducers.com wrote: “i...like 90% of us on here started on FL...but dam i just couldnt get the hang of it...so i said fuk it...saved up for a Yamaha MO8 and Sonar ...i havent looked bak since....”
http://futureproducers.com/forums/ showthread.php?t=268142&page=9 Comments: Lies, damn lies, and statistics! Poor grammar too. I understand that English isn't the first language of many people on these forums but, if it is your first language, please try to type as if you could actually speak with any coherency whatsoever.
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“Ilhiphop” on futureproducers.com wrote: “I dont get it why do people tend to use the software Reason so much? I mean you got Cubase or other alternatives like Sonar which
is way better for mixing your beats and dont add no "color" in same way Reason is, so i dont get why people using Reason. If it aint for the sounds / Since you got **** loads of plugins that matches and surpasses reasons quality refills. Someone lecture me... Is it the workflow? I just dont get it.” http://futureproducers.com/forums/ showthread.php?t=268944 Comments: Shortest lecture ever. Because people like Reason.
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“Mteezy” on futureproducers.com wrote: ”I just played some tracks from All Eyez On Me in Samplitude v9 and upconverted them to 96Hz [Assistant Editor's Note: I'm hoping they at least meant 96 kHz!] and wow, the difference is night and day to my ears. Tupac's vocals and background harmonies were so clear that I almost thought I was in the studio with em. The presence of the sound is crazy. Has anybody else did this and hear a remarkable difference in the sound?” http://futureproducers.com/forums/ showthread.php?t=255969 Comments: Just read the thread this started (above). Solid Gold!!!
Ask Doctor Jack continuing from page 13
by Trusty
“H&R” on futureproducers .com wrote: “A new thing I have been noticing ... Individuals claiming very hard that they are "Different" when their "Different" actually is just flat out "Wackness" but they use "Different" as an excuse.”
1
"Its not wack its different you just dont understand it." “No ... I understand perfectly that its wack/ridculous and its different all right cause no normal person would make ish like that and actually think its "hot fire" ... I am a fan of many genres which range from hip hop, rnb, dancehall, rock, and techno and when something is wack its wack without a biased opinion of actually liking the song or not. “I'm all for something that is different when it is done right and sounds good ... But passing off wack talentless poems/rhymes crappy wierd sounding production as "different" is an excuse. To many people worshiping Kanye then making wack ish and saying
"im different, look at kanye hes diffrent and he made it". Also it's usually wierd people in general that can't fit into society. “Disclaimer : I'm speaking in general.” http://futureproducers.com/ forums/showthread.php?t=2 68878 Comments: Sometimes, I just don't know where to begin - you can read our fussing at the link below and make up your own mind... Now, to me, music is completely subjective to most people, but if you want the complete objective standard of all things “wack” or “hot fire”, this man has the answer. He obviously knows, without any bias, what is wack and what is not. So send him your tracks for approval and find out if your music is wack or not. You can hear his nonwack, better-than-yours music here: http://myspace.com/djni ce013 which also features a list of accomplishments in a blog that would make “Jay-Z” jealous.
“Okay, but why do most synths sound much better when I render my project with a much higher samplerate? Like 96 kHz, for instance?” What happens here, is that you are raising the number of samples each synth uses to process the audio. This removes digital artifacts such as aliasing something that sounds bad, like a digital noisy in the background. Aliasing is the enemy when it comes to digital audio processing and virtual synthesis. But you don't need to raise the sample-rate for your whole project. The best thing is to find which synths work better at the higher sample-rates, and use software like Wusik VM (its free: www.wusik.com/w/w vm.html) to “wrap the culprits” and over-sample only the ones requiring extra sample-frames, to sound better. Also, keep in mind that not all synths will support over-sampling. Some will not work at over 48 or 96 kHz - they may even crash if you try to.
“Why does my computer keep failing on me? Every time, I do something where it gets maxed out and it just shutsdown and restarts especially at high CPU peaks.” You need to check 2 things: your CPU cooler device and your power-supply. One of those two are failing somehow. There are some cool tools around on the Internet that let you check the CPU temperature, powersupply voltages and even CPU cooler speed - to know which one is failing. SpeedFan is such a great program - you can use it to monitor several things: www.almico.com/sfdo wnload.php “My Girlfriend doesn't like my music. What should I do?” Upgrade to Girlfriend V2.0. That should take care of the bugs you’re experiencing.
Thanks for reading. www.WusikSoundMagazine.com
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by Mike Loggan
You Won't Like It "It’s impressive how "pure" we want our food to be. White flour, white rice, white sugar, ... you get the point." We all know that most of that "good" stuff is bad for us. So why do we still eat crap? Are we all crazy? I think it starts with what's near us. In our daily life, we don't have time to do what's best for us. We are in such a hurry that we grab what we can. We don't really take the time to read labels and see what's good and what's not so good. For instance, most ready-food is full of sugar and sodium - aka table salt. Sometimes we have alternatives with low sugar and low sodium, but higher fat content or other artificial cancerous ingredients. "But what should I do? Won't I loose time worrying about everything?" Yes, you will - at the start. But with time, it’ll be so automated you
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Wusik Sound Magazine
October 2008
won't even notice it anymore. You will know which brands are bad, where to shop, and so on. It’s only a burden until you get used to the new lifestyle. You will loose weight, feel better and be healthier. You may not live longer, but at least you will live better. Chances are, you *will* live longer - with healthier food, your body self-maintains and repairs itself better. There's an old expression that reads: Modern technology is here to fix problems introduced by modern life. For instance, most forms of cancer are due to the exposure of our bodies to electricity-fields, food-preservatives, artificialflavors and unnatural products. Have you ever tasted a free-range chicken egg and compared it to a regular egg? And did you notice the color difference? Try it some time. Some people say that organic food tastes worse than ‘regular’
food. This is because organic foods are not so "prepared" to taste better. But once you get used to it, it tastes normal - the other stuff is the one that is wrong. ;-) Organic food is here, and it’s the start of something new. Actually, that's not true. We are in fact going back in time, to when we used to care about ourselves and our planet. Did you know that Organic food is not just healthier for you, but for the planet too? You may think it’s expensive, but you save in visits to the doctor. I'm not saying we should go back to the Stone Age, but to embrace technology in a way that doesn't harm us. Less processed food, more organic life-style. Start making your own bread. Trust me - you are really going to like the experience.
by WilliamK
SB16, DOS, IRQ 7? A long time ago, when I was part of an electronic-music band, I had the job of setting up some gear for a live presentation. At that time, our budget was very limited, so we had to use what we had already. One of the things was a Pentium100 computer with a Sound-Blaster card. It didn't even have its own monitor, I shared my main AMD 333 with the P100. It was mainly a very ugly Desktop case that was hand-painted black ...badly, I might add. The old dinosaur was running DOS with the AXS program already mentioned in past issues. (http://resolutionaudio.nl/) The problem was that the computer was always halting, as there was some conflict with MIDI and audio, somehow, in the same card. So I had to find another sound-card for the MIDI part alone. The audio was still being processed by my old Sound-Blaster 16 (aka SB16). I don't remember the name of the
second card, but I think it was a Gravy something. Still, with MIDI using the second card, the machine turned out to be a rock-solid workstation. Since AXS supports 16 channels and loads WAV files, I started rendering all songs into small WAV files that I could loop inside AXS. I could load several WAV files and assign them to keys - build a pattern that plays back each stream into one slot. The result was something I could use live to mix the song in real-time. Now, since you can use Shift+0..9 and Shift+A...F to toggle tracks in real-time, I decided to rip a keyboard apart and made a “custom” keyboard that had 16 keys side-by-side. I hard-wired the keys so they would be 0...9-A...F and I made a small switch that would hold the Shift key. I removed all the rest of the keys so I would see only the 16 keys and the switch; all forming a straight line. The mouse was used to load the tracks from one song to another. A Lexicon Delay was used so the sound wouldn't stop during the loading of the new track. The computer had a 9” B&W CRT monitor, so I wouldn't have to carry a big one. I got a piece of wood that had a hole in the middle, so the monitor could fit and not fall in the ground while facing up. It looked pretty good for the time and for the especially low budget.
The Ensoniq-TS10 I had at the time was loaded with more samples to play live, and an Alpha Juno 2 was used for some Raising-Filter-Pads. A pretty good setup, and easy to carry. I remember having an extra HD that would hold the whole thing separate from the computer, hidden in the car in case of an emergency. Never had to use it, but I image if I did, it wouldn't have been that simple to handle. Still, it made me feel safe, just by having it. We did several gigs with this gear, and the device never failed on me. With time, I decided to go Windowscrazy and even used some real-time synthesis for Windows. An external Vocoder and another Synth for the sound-carrier. But I never presented with this gear, as I decided to “retire” from the music scene for a while. Still, if you want to take a look at some songs I did using AXS, you can use the following links. I couldn't find the big ones that I used to mix in real-time (around 90 Meg each song), but the ones I found are pretty good AXS examples. AXS Program – free, and now works on Windows: http://resolutionaudio.nl/ Some AXS Songs made by me: http://www.wusik.com/williamk/AX S_Songs.e
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October 2008
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