With that many typical Nord red keyboards you see on live stages and in studio setups you may wonder how much they can improve on a 4th version of a keyboard player oriented board for playing organs, piano’s, EP’s and whatnot. Short version is that they made it better. Long version will take some explaining but first the most important bit, the sound.
Native Instruments released HELIOS RAY – a new MASCHINE Expansion providing sounds and beats drawing from London’s broken beat scene and LA’s abstract beat producers. Containing three separate styles of drum kits as well as unique Melodic Kits and new MASSIVE presets, HELIOS RAY is out now for MASCHINE and MASCHINE MIKRO, with a compact version for iMASCHINE also now available as an in-app purchase via the Apple App Store.
Introducing Slice Machine 002 // Loop Loft Beats, a custom beat slicing machine for Kontakt 5 containing 225 of the finest drum breaks from The Loop Loft.
Gospel Musicians releases Neo-Soul Keys for iPad in the Apple App store. You can download all three versions (Mark I Suitcase, Mark I Stage, Wurlitzer 200A) for FREE on a limited use basis. Neo-Soul Keys for iPad is specifically designed for professional gigging or live studio work. Gospel Musician’s goal was to build a professional app that could compete with any hardware synth and/or desktop audio electric piano solution.
The XW-P1 is a 61 key performance synthesizer with Casio‘s exclusive (HPSS) Hybrid Processing Sound Source. Providing screaming virtual analog monophonic leads and basses, drawbar organs, complex layers, stereo pianos, drums and more, the XW-P1 has the sounds and real-time control the performing musician needs. The XW-P1CO will be available in April 2013 for an MSRP of $699.99 at select Guitar Center Stores, Musicians Friend, and other independent music retailers in the US.
The wait is over, a winner has been chosen! When Austin resident Thomas Echols was choosen at random to win the 10th Anniversary Minimoog Voyager Moog knew they had the opportunity to do something very special. In order to surprise Tom with the gift of a lifetime, they invited him to play a brief set in front of Switched On as part of their presence at SXSW this year. Grateful for the invite and happy to play, Tom had no idea just how amazing a day this would turn out to be for him.
Sasha is a DJ who almost needs no introduction, but we’re going to give him one anyway… A living legend to many and certainly a widely-acknowledged inspiration to a plethora of DJs all around thanks to his advanced skills, blending tracks together into one seamless composition and playing with keys and chords like no other DJ. It was a complete honour for Point Blank to be able to not only speak with Sasha over the phone for this interview, but also to welcome him into Point Blank a few weeks back where he took a tour of the college.
Below are some of the new 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.
Elektron has teamed up with renowned sample producer Goldbaby to offer Cult of SP 1200, an Octatrack Sound pack brimming with old school vibes. All samples are straight out of the SP 1200 and, since Goldbaby are behind them, sound excellent of course.
The world’s best music technology innovators gathered at the SXSW Music Accelerator in Austin, Texas today to unveil their most ambitious new products. Among them was design-led technology startup ROLI, announced today as the 2013 Music Accelerator winner for its Seaboard GRAND.
Virsyn have announced that they have updated Addictive Synth for iPad to version 2.1. The unique dynamic wavetable synthesis allows you to explore an unprecedented wide range of sonic territory. From acid loops, crystal clear percussions, realistic human choirs to complex musical sound scapes nothing seems impossible with only a handful parameters to tweak.
The latest online course in the Producertech Presents series is a brand new set of tutorials, shot live in the studio of Santé, one of Berlin’s hottest rising stars. In the course, Santé shows how he constructed the classic house track ‘Do You Wanna 808‘ with his preferred music software platform, Ableton Live.
Here is another video this weekend. Again something we like to watch and show you, … of course. It’s Chris Randall (Audio Damage) doing a jam on the Elektron Analog Four with the soundpack by Richard Devine.
Simon Mills from the band ‘Bent‘ opens his studio doors and gives a walkthrough of the track ‘Swollen’. Simon has remixed this classic track under his new guise ‘Napoleon’ Mills and has built up a musical portfolio that graced everywhere from Eastenders’ Queen Vic to the Acropolis in Athens and featured cameos from members of Faithless, Simian and The Beloved, not to mention a multitude of revived songstresses from crackly charity shop records.
With inspiration ranging all the way from grime to flamenco, listening to the French hiphop outfit Ghostown is a bit like turning the frequency knob on a radio receiving signals from all corners of the world. Rael Powell, the beatsmith and vocalist of the project, explains how he masters his loops.