Kush Audio’s Clariphonic DSP is a parallel high shelving eq, which in itself it’s a quite unique proces. The DSP code behind this plugin is made by Studio Devil. It’s an emulation of the hardware Clariphonic made by Kush Audio themselves.
Two of the larger players in DJ land are Native Instruments and Pioneer. Their DJ software programs Traktor and Rekordbox are widely used by pro’s as well as the amateurs. They have a lot of similar functionalities, although Rekordbox is only used for preparing dj sets and not for playing them. There are a lot of djs (like myself) who use Traktor as well as Rekordbox. For me it is Pioneer CDJ’s on the road and a nice timecode setup at home. Maintaining the same collection within Rekordbox AND Traktor is tedious work, with a lot of duplicate actions and wasting time.The logical question at that moment is: Can’t I just sync those libraries!?
Working with electronic music can be a very static experience, whether you are a dj or a producer. During performances it can be very difficult for the spectator how tracks are created and what the performer is actually doing. With the Midi Fighter 3D a live performance dimension is possible, comparable of that of a guitar. Next to the live aspect, the MidiFighter 3D is also a valuable midi controller within your studio.
The amount of near field monitors is vastly overwhelming for anyone who’s looking for a set of monitors. Especially in the price range of these Turbo 5 there are various different brands and models out there. Lately there seems to be an up rise of the models that are esthetically pleasing to the eye. To that regard the Turbo 5 stands out by its not typical square shape and availability to have them in yellow, red or black colors. Somehow these red ones remind me of not standing out on the set of the Barbarella movie with their 70-ies look. The logo that lights up when powered on does look a bit odd though.
Last year, Novation released the Launch Series. In order to further expand their popular controller line they have now included a compact controller line. It consists out of two nifty small controllers which are aimed at the travelling artists or that home studio where space is not available in abundance. The controllers are called Launchcontrol and Launchpad Mini. Both are full functional controllers in a small package. How serious can we take these compact units? Read it here in our review:
Solid State Logic (SSL) recently came out with 3 new plugins in their Duende Series: the X-Valvecomp, X-saturator & X-Phase.Time for a test drive!
Synchro Arts Revoice Pro ia a audio processing program designed to work with voice and or monophonic signals. There are 2 main functions in the program, APT (Audio Performance Transfer) and Doubler.
There have been a number of rack application that passed through time and it seems that it is a niche for who is interested in this type of applications. Never less the sheer possibilities of such an application has a wide reach of appliances and the people from Abeem aim to cater to this. The vast possibilities also require a certain technical level where you or someone helping you are comfortable setting up an environment to your own specific wishes. So lets put Abeem Rack proformer to the test!
Arturia is known for both their controller and software range. Lately they released two iPad apps. And they just released a new keyboard controller line, the Keylab series. The keylab controller series are accompanied with their well know Analog Lab software. Today we’ll take a look at the Keylab 49 keyboard.
The Tone Beast is the flagship tone shaping discrete pre-amp model of Warm Audio. To me its orange color implies that it would be a guitar effect unit but it’s actually a pre-amp with benefits. The front does have a pre-amp section with a mic and a 1/4″ input. Including phantom power, hi-z, pad, phase and hpf (@80Hz) options. The Tone control section has a discrete amp selector, impedance switch, transistor bypass switch and a transistor selector. The output section has pots for gain and saturation. The backside has balanced TRS and 1/4″ ins/outs as well as receive/send 1/4″ ins/out to use it as an insert effect.
In the world of abundance of USB2 sound interfaces it can be rather challenging to find the unit that fits your needs. With that in mind we took a look at the newly introduced Scarlett 18i8 up close. The interface is another addition to the rather successful Scarlett series. The previous Scarlett series were more like the starter series of USB interfaces. Focusrite now is extending this with new models that have more ins and outs. The 18i8 in that regard seems to be aimed at the mid-range.
Only about a month ago, ‘out of the blue’, Pioneer came with a sibbling to their XDJ-Aero controller. They introduced us to the new XDJ-R1. One of the very first interesting features we noticed were the physical CD drives! Another feature that caught our eye is the combination of ‘controller and iPad‘, as the controller has a built-on stand for it. Together with the iPad running the remotebox app. This gave us the first idea that Pioneer didn’t just released yet another controller.
Last year gave us a lot of new gear from Native Instruments, who have been introducing new controllers as well as releasing a major new version of their Traktor DJ software. Think Maschine Mk2, Kontrol F1 and Traktor 2.6, that introduced Flux Modus. The release of the latest Traktor software was combined with the introduction of Native Instruments’ DJ mixer, the Kontrol Z2. After absorbing the specs and the rumors, we were pretty curious about the Z2. After we received the Z2 in our lab we took it through some extensive testing. We wanted to find out, is the Kontrol Z2 more than just a 2-channel mixer?
Behringer announced the X32 last year as ‘The Game Changer‘. This is quite the bold statement to be honest, … and is this statement correct? Well, let us be the judge of that. The behringer X32 is a digital mixing console and midi controller. This studio and live mixing console has full digital control with some stunning specifications. Just to name a few: 32 analog inputs, 16 mix busses, 8 DCA groups, 32 IN and 32 audio OUT USB/FireWire audio interface, color display, Mackie HUI Midi controller, LCD and LED VU meters (per channel), virtual effect racks with 8 stereo slots, and on and on!
When Pioneer introduced the CDJ-2000nexus last month there was a lot of fuss in the DJ World. Namely the Sync feature stirred up a lot of heated discussions. But there was more, the fact that the new Industry Standard had the ability to connect wirelessly with devices containing RekordBox gave room for discussion. But when the Pioneer XDJ-AERO was announced a couple of months before, everybody thought that this unit had such great possibilities. Everone was excited about the way of wireless connectivity with IOS and ANDROID devices and the sync feature. So, isn’t that what the Nexus brings us too? At the introduction of the XDJ-Aero we got excited about its features and wanted to test the AERO ourselves. So read all about our findings in the review: XDJ-AERO, the perfect home solution: yes or no?