Electro-Harmonix introduces the Ravish Sitar pedal, which transforms a guitar into a sitar. A traditional sitar achieves its instantly recognizable sound through a combination of melody, drone and sympathetic strings, as well as its unique construction. Mike Matthews and the pedal wizards at Electro-Harmonix have distilled the essence of that exotic instrument into a compact, polyphonic pedal.
Propellerhead has released ReBirth 1.2 for the Apple iPad. Version 1.2 adds WIST (Wireless Sync-Start Technology developed by Korg). WIST uses a Bluetooth signal to simultaneously start two compatible iPad or iPhone apps. The free update to current owners is available now from the iTunes AppStore.
Robot voices, whispering strings, talking drum loops, rhythmic pads, the resonant ringing of bells, dripping water – the possibilities are all but infinite. With a quick tweak here and there, the Lector turns any incoming signal into novel sounds and effects. Tremendously versatile, the Waldorf Lector puts in your hands a sonic toolset for a wide range of diverse applications. Just about anything goes, from distorting the human voice to adding subtle harmonies to lead vocals and getting creative with movie soundtracks.
Steinberg today released Sequel 3. Designed to meet the needs of entry-level computer music enthusiasts, Sequel 3 is an easy-to-use music software application for recording, editing and mixing. Its instruments and effects, plus the included arranging and performance features, turn Windows and Mac computers into streamlined production studios that cater ideally to the user’s degree of sophistication.
Behold, … a picture of a new Pioneer DJ Controller leaked onto the internet (again). What do we know? Well nothing definitive, but we could assume that it would be a ‘light’ version of the recent released DDJ controllers. This way they would cover the bottom segment of the controller market perhaps. Looking at the Kontrol S2 announcement by Native Instruments last week, this assumption would make sense.
Mason is a DJ and Producers duo from The Netherlands. With a recently released their debut album ‘They are Among Us‘. On this album there are quite the collaborations with some big names in the industry, like Roison Murphy, Kurtis Blow, DMC, Sam Sparro, Aqualung and Sway. The guys felt the need to bring their music to the stage just like a rockband would do. The video actually shows how they did that with the help of Ableton Live and explain how they synced verything on their live system.
Reason 6 introduces three new creative effect devices: Pulveriser, Alligator, and The Echo. In this micro tutorial you’ll get a look at the Alligator Triple Filtered Gate. Gates are commonly found in electronic dance music and are widely loved by producers and audiences, alike. They add rhythm and texture to otherwise flat sounds like pads and sustained chords. A well-crafted gate pattern can make up the hook for a catchy track. In this tutorial, we’ll introduce you to gate effects done “Alligator style” and show you a few ways to use them in your own music, regardless of what genre you make.
To bring his solo productions to the stage, Nicolas Jaar expanded his sound to include a live band. Playing Ableton Live with his band, Nicolas leads a set full of improvisation and creative transitions. Ableton caught up with Nicolas and his band at Sonar 2011 for an incredible performance.
Formerly of duo, DeepDish, Dubfire’s latest solo technical set up comprises the Xone:DB4 at the centre of two X1 controllers running Traktor and an iPad controlling Maschine and Ableton.
Soon Koma Elektronik will release some cool new video’s about their new effect pedals starring Dutch artist Marlon Penn. This clip is one take of the filmshootings from the beginning of this month. No editing, no color correction, just the raw footage and camera sound of Marlon playing around with the KOMA Elektronik BD101. It’s a Analog Gate/Delay with a lot of possibilities, here with just a guitar and an amp.
These are the releases we have encountered this week on the Loops and Samples front. Just like the quality of the audio software we use these days the quality of the content we use (loops and samples) equally matches the high standards of this software. Below is this weeks selection.
Native Instruments today announced TRAKTOR KONTROL S2, a versatile integrated DJ performance system that was designed to set a new professional standard in the two-deck category. Based on a compact version of the market-leading KONTROL S4 hardware, the KONTROL S2 provides a “2+1” setup with sample decks as well as comprehensive mixing and effect features, all based on the included full-featured TRAKTOR PRO 2 software.
The Denon DN-SC2000 is an affordable, professionally spec’d and constructed MIDI controller for Native Instruments TRAKTOR Pro, providing a serious portable control solution for laptop DJs.
Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.