Keith McMillen Instruments (KMI) this week announced 12 Step, the first lightweight and portable Chromatic Keyboard Foot Controller for musicians at the extraordinarily low price point of SRP (RETAIL) € 245.- ex VAT.
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.
Image Line have been working with CodeWeavers for the past year or so in developing a special version of FL Studio that runs in a customized Crossover wrapper (a Windows emulator/wrapper). This means that you DON’T need anything else (like a Windows installation, Boot Camp or CrossOver) to run FL Studio on Mac OSX. Just install FL Studio using the supplied .dmg and away you go!
Now the Steinberg company have joined the ranks of companies that start to tease a new product with an obscure and mysterious video. What will it be then? Maybe an easy customisable controller for a better workflow setup? Or maybe two controllers? One low-cost and one for the professional users? You are allowed to join in with your own guess in the comments!
Here’s another product we’ve been expecting for a while now. MOTU have introduced their next version of the Machfive Sampler software. Version 3 has been released and is now available from their website.
What do Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Pink, Joe Cocker, The Cranberries, Bonnie Raitt and Nickleback have in common? Aside from sharing world-class artist status, they’ve all worked with Engineer/Mixer Chris Potter. Beyond Potter’s chops behind the console, his diverse skill set includes mastering, studio design/consulting and even electronics repair. Sonnox caught up with him at his Vancouver, CA based studio to chat about his work and Oxford plug ins.
Waves H-EQ is a uniquely powerful hybrid equalizer, featuring vintage and modern EQ inspired by the finest British and American consoles; seven different filter types per band, including a newly-developed, one-of-a-kind asymmetrical bell filter; an intuitive keyboard graphic that lets you choose frequencies by clicking on notes; an exclusive MS Mode so you can apply different EQ to Mid and Side content; and a flexible real-time frequency spectrum analyzer with multiple display options.
With the release of Harmor, Image Line is introducing a powerful additive / subtractive synthesizer, image synthesizer as well as audio resynthesizer.
The video below is really cool we think. It’s about the Chamberlin Expansion Pack For M-Tron Pro from GForce. if you thought that tape playing instruments started and ended with the Mellotron, you’ll probably be blown away to discover that the entire tape playing instrument genre was invented by a Wisconsin based inventor, Harry Chamberlin, back in the 1950s.
Dubstep supergroup Magnetic Man (Artwork, Benga & Skream) talk to Novation TV about their live setup, which comprises 3x Zero SL MkII MIDI controllers, and Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 audio interfaces. Together with three Mac laptops (linked together via their own ‘secret’ recipe) running Ableton Live. Novation caught up with them in Barvelona recently where the trio tell us more about this live setup.
The Pioneer DJM-T1 firmware update is about to take DJs even deeper into mind-blowing features of the new Traktor Scratch Duo 2 and Traktor Scratch Pro 2 DJ software. The update introduces Advanced Shift, the gateway to more advanced features with 75 new controls using a second Shift layer on the mixer, almost tripling the number of Midi controls.
The first ever Native Instruments iPhone® and iPod Touch® App is an intuitive and powerful beat sketchpad based on MASCHINE’s groove production studio concept. iMASCHINE is perfect for developing song ideas anytime, anywhere – Play and record drums on the 16 pads, jam a melody on the keyboard, sing on top of your loops via the built-in audio recorder or create your own unique sample banks from any source – With iMASCHINE the focus is always on the music. And when you’re done, you can finalize your track in the full version of MASCHINE or MASCHINE MIKRO or directly upload it to SoundCloud and share with your friends.
Native Instruments today announced MASCHINE MIKRO, a highly affordable new entry into the world of its popular groove production system.
The Allen & Heath Xone:DB4 can de considered as one of the most elaborate DJ mixers/controllers of the moment. It has tons of functions like a 3 band EQ and a 3 band Filter, an effect processor for each channel, a built-in audio interface, and so much more. To me, personally, it is a mixer of ‘the next level’. To mention just a little detail, the Xone:DB4 comes with its own HQ carrier-bag. Little details like this tells you this is more then just a mixer.
The “nineOnine” for iPad is a simple sample-based emulation of Roland’s classic TR-909 drum machine. With its look and feel the “nineOnine” draws close comparison to the original hardware device. The “nineOnine” not only emulates the sound but also the logic of programming and saving rhythm patterns, giving you that extra blast from the past.