Blip Interactive, Palm Sounds and SoundCloud have teamed to bring to you the Nano Competition. They challenge you to push the limits for mobile music creation and create the biggest track using the smallest studio; the NanoStudio.
Image-Line is inviting you to their Sound Design Contest. Papam Studios have created a shiny new Image-Line animated logo for use in our videos. They think it needs some audio. If you are a FL Studio user, this is your chance to shine. Make some ‘noise’ to the video and win some cash! Below is the animated video logo.
Music Computing announced their brand new line of keyboard workstations for both gigging musicians and any size recording studio, are now shipping. The StudioBLADE and iKeyDOCK are complete, portable production stations, which either include a built-in Windows 7 64-bit PC with touch-screen and DAW software and virtual software instruments, or a docking system for any PC/Mac notebook.
Earlier this year Loopmasters came with this new series of tools for DJ’s, appropriately named DJ Mixtools. This series wasn’t the average run of the mill sample and loop packs. Nope, these tools are based on a new concept. Each Mixtool pack contains four complete tracks that are split up in full track stems. This means you can use the complete track in your set or all or any one of the seperate elements of the track, drums, percussion, bassline, synthline, etc. Whatever you want, you decide!
What a week! First the Korg MS-20 got its own app and yesterday the Propellerheads followed with the classic ReBirth for the iPad. Both emulations following in the steps of the iElectribe earlier this year. So is this a new trend? The emulation of classics into apps for the iPad.
The guys from SourceDistributionTV packed their camera and went to talk to Bernard Butler. Well known as the guitarist of Suede, McAlmont & Butler, and producer of numerous artists including Duffy and The Libertines, he is a user of the Universal Audio UAD2 Quad Card. They headed to Bernard’s little custom studio to talk about how he’s found working with UAD2, his musical processes, the music industry and the state of music, and how he wrote one of his greatest songs…
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.
SPL announces that their Passeq Analog Code plugin is available now for purchase. The original Passeq hardware is the first passive EQ which provides three separate frequency ranges for both boost and cut stages. One famous, if not the most famous, passive design was the Pulteq EQ from the decades of the 1950’s and 60’s.
ClipStar is a soft clipper effect plugin, designed to prevent peaks in a subtler way than hard clipping, increase loudness and add pleasing saturation. Where ClipStar differs from other clippers is that it can leave the low frequencies untouched, where distortion is more evident, and allow a greater boost in gain without noticeably degrading the signal. You can use ClipStar for peak protection, for loudness gain or for sympathetic distortion depending on your mood and the phase of the moon.
IK Multimedia has completely reworked its registration and authorization system for its entire line of Mac/PC software and plug-ins and is pleased to announce the release of the new Authorization Manager. The Authorization Manager is a standalone application that greatly simplifies the registration and authorization process so users can be up and running with their IK software fast and hassle free.
These past weeks FXpansion teased us with some ‘obscure’ videos on this new instrument they were developing. Little later we got a name. They called it Geist. And today the Geist is out the bag! FXpansion is showing Geist in full, it is their new sampling instrument…
With the next update for Native Instruments Maschine (version 1.6) the biggest new feature will be hosting of VST/AU plugins. A feature that has been requested by many users from the start. So with this coming 1.6 update you will allowed to use VST and AU plugins as sound sources and effects in your Maschine project. This includes both the whole NI range of instruments and effects as well as any third-party plugin.
By ways of great exception Korg has released the schematics of their little Monotron synthesizer. Allthough this little cuty was being hacked the day it came out, now there is an official schematic to follow. As the Monotron is a complete analog synth it is ideal for ‘circuit bending’.
Tascam recently released two new USB Audio/Midi interfaces for their US series. The US-800 offers eight inputs and four outputs. Where the US-1800 offers 16 inputs and four outputs.