PERCUSSA announced SOUNDOR, the free and open source FM Synthesizer for Max for Live, the visual programming environment in Ableton Live based on Cycling 74’s Max/MSP. SOUNDOR is available as a free download from the Percussa website, and allows users to explore FM Synthesis using hand and finger gestures, through AudioCubes’ high speed and low latency sensors, requiring no MIDI mapping or programming.
Since joining Sarm Studios in 2005, Graham Archer has moved up the ranks to become one of Trevor Horn’s top in-house engineers. Having recently engineered recordings for Seal, Robbie Williams, Massive Attack, Ellie Goulding and Madonna, Archer is often found in Sarm’s London or Los Angeles studio reaching for his A-Designs Audio HM2 NAIL compressor/limiter.
Mario is a good friend of Gearjunkies. We have posted already more of his great work he does on custom specialised software controllers. His latest work is a controller for the u-he Diva software synthesizer. Inside the controller there are 2 Doepfer USB64 Midi Interfaces, one special Wheel Electronic for Pitch and Mod Wheel and the MKE Electronic for the 4 octave Fatar keyboard with velocity. The DIVA Controller has about 90 knobs and 25 switches.
Native Instruments introduced CONANT GARDENS, a new MASCHINE Expansion that reflects the soulful side of Detroit – covering hip-hop, funk, afrobeat and deep house. Named after the district of Detroit renowned as the birthplace of many African American musicians and artists, this expansion explores the distinctive sound of the neighborhood through tailored drum sounds, percussion and sampled phrases.
The Pianocade is a synthesizer designed to sound, look, and feel like vintage arcade games. It’s easy for people who want to dive right in, powerful and feature-rich for people who want to tinker, and fun to play for everyone.
With the recent increase of DJs who play using music files, many people are using music management software installed on computers to control the music they own. At the same time, the massive popularity of smartphones and tablets is leading to increased demand for mobile based management of music used in DJ play as well as demand for ability to give DJ performances using music stored inside smartphones. In order to satisfy these demands, Pioneer will provide a smartphone and tablet version of the rekordbox DJ music management software for download free of charge as of August 21, 2012.
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.
Mario Galeano Toro, one half of Colombia’s hottest musical export Ondatrópica and musical mastermind behind the Colombian band Frente Cumbiero takes us on on a trip through the rich heritage of Colómbian music and performs a seriously cool track on Maschine. Video produced, filmed and edited by Luis Antonio Delgado.
After the release of Google+ last year it has been relatively quiet (we think). But that doesn’t mean Google hasn’t been busy. This week they annouced a new high quality ‘Studio Mode’ for musicians to play live concerts, online! Bands can now stream online concerts to their fans with good sound quality.
Being a DJ, producer, remixer, music culture researcher as well as a label owner, Anna Gavanas is a mainstay of the Swedish electronic music scene. When producing, her perfect sense for musical intensity and mellowness guarantees a captivating listening experience. Tracks like »Technomad communitas« simply can’t stop, won’t stop.
Pioneer’s most versatile controller, the DDJ-ERGO-V is popular among DJs for its usability, portability and compatibility with virtually all DJ software. And now the white DDJ-ERGO-V is available in a sleek new black model – the DDJ-ERGO-K.
It is not quite the secret that Native Instruments stands at the top of the ‘digital dj’ing world’ with their Traktor DJ software. Especially here in Europe they have a firm grip on the market and are the most used DJ software available. However, Serato comes in a strong second and is growing as we speak. Many DJs love the no-nonesens approach of Serato and also the collaboration with Ableton with The Bridge brought a lot of attention to the brand. I have been able to work with this Kontrol F1 for some time now and will give you my findings about this controller. I’ll try to keep it short and concise. However this is more difficult said then done as the Kontrol F1 is such a comprehensive controller / software combination.
The Dark Knight Rises is currently the biggest film in the world. To score this film German composer Hans Zimmer wired up his beloved Moog Modular and let the vintage oscillators sing. Zimmer’s body of work in the film industry includes such prolific films as Rain Man, Thelma & Louise, and The Lion King. For the past few years Zimmer has been working very closely with Christopher Nolan composing scores for Inception and the Batman trilogy. In this video Hans Zimmer and Richard King discuss the sound design of The Dark Knight Rises, fast forward to 5:12 to hear Zimmer’s thoughts on using a Moog Modular as part of the score.
Space Club in Ibiza recently held its summer season opening night, installing three of Allen & Heath’s industry standard Xone:92 mixers in the main room to fulfil the rider request of a majority of the performing DJs.
Steinberg today announced a sizeable price drop for its CMC controllers. Effective as of today, the suggested retail price for the CMC-CH, CMC-AI, CMC-QC, CMC-TP and CMC-PD is now 99.99 euros including 19% VAT and 119 euros including 19% VAT for the CMC-FD controller.