Wednesday, February 29

2nd demo of an improved MIDI output version for Reason

Koshdukai take a second look at MIDI out with Reason:


"Showing proper velocity-aware polyphonic note output (104 note range, from C-1 to G7), Pitch Bend and Program Change, if needed.

I'm using a VST (NI's Razor) for convenience of getting everything on screen capture but that MIDI out can be sent to any external hardware MIDI device, of course, while you record their audio output with a Reason audio track :)

Mod Wheel was already supported previously, since any of the 128 CC's can be sent out.

oh btw, besides Reason 6 and 5, Reason 4 can also be used with this Codec :]" -Koshdukai

For more information on this and other cool Reason stuff be sure to go to koshdukaimusicreason.blogspot.com!

Tuesday, February 28

Kill Paris-Ableton Tutorial THE SUPER KICKER

Another kick ass Kill Paris Ableton Tutorial:

Soundplane software demo

Madrona Labs, the company behind the fantastic Aalto soft-synth, show off their Soundplane software:


"Quick demo of the Soundplane A touch detection software. Look for a more complete intro video showing the final hardware in two weeks." -Madrona Labs

ARP Odyssey MK2 + XBase 888 = Quick Jam

New squelchy analog improv from n3bsvid:


"Little jam featuring the ARP Odyssey and XBase 888 on drums."-n3bsvid

Monday, February 27

Twisted Tools Micro Kits MK01 Si Begg

Twisted Tools released a new sample pack by Si Begg today called Micro Kits MK01! Looks killer:



Twisted Tools Announces Micro Kits:

"San Francisco, Feb. 27, 2012 -- Twisted Tools has introduced its new series of Micro Kits, small and affordable drum kit sample packs for Maschine, Battery, Kontakt, Ableton, Reaktor and EXS24. Each MICRO KITS release will feature 5 drum kits by a cutting edge sound designer and will represent a wide variety of electronic flavors. The series debuts with MICRO KITS 01 by SI BEGG.

MICRO KITS 01 by SI BEGG features 5 meticulously crafted drum kits, perfectly suited for use in a wide variety of electronic genres. Brought to you by renowned sound designer and music producer, Simon Begg, the sample pack's kits are formatted for a wide variety of samplers, providing instant inspiration for new tracks. The raw .wav files are included as well and can be used with nearly any host software. MICRO KITS 01 has been created with with a signature Si Begg sound that is futuristic, yet playful and bound to no specific genre."

Features:

- 5 Kits (16 sounds per kit) by Si Begg
- Formatted for Maschine, Battery, Kontakt, EXS, Ableton and Reaktor
- 24bit/44.1khz WAVs

MICRO KITS 01 by SI BEGG available for download at twistedtools.com for $9 USD!

Sunday, February 26

edison - tempest test 2 (sloppy mcnasty)

Another tempest experiment from edison:


"another lil dealy...
the tempest is running into ableton....
ableton is running loops... and the finger...
sloppy pad jam!
sting!"
-edisonbeats

Ned Rush = Reason 6 Audio Synth

New Reason video uploaded today from Mr.Ned Rush! Dig it:

Warning - received a comment suggesting this video should be taken down because of a joke Ned makes in the first minute, I apologize to anyone that watched it and was offended... the tutorial part of this video starts around the 1 minute mark and if you are offended by dark humor I'm recommending you watch the video from that point.


"hello and welcome to a new era of the same drunken bullshit from me and my laptop. here i show you how to sing into Reason 6 and makes a synth come out. Thanks for watching you slaaaaaaaaaaaaags" -Mr.Ned Rush

Saturday, February 25

Bluewater VST's Introduction to REAKTOR's Resochord

Brent Kallmer is back with a new in depth look at another Reaktor ensemble - this time the fabulous Resochord! Check out the whole series coming to the Bluewater VST Facebook page.


"At last, Bluewater VST has a Facebook page, and we're kicking things off with a free (!) series on Native Instruments REAKTOR's Resochord, a stunning ensemble that "prints" harmonic structures on any sound you feed into it. Join us today @ http://www.facebook.com/bluewatervst"
-Brent Kallmer

Friday, February 24

ThorKit ReFill from Tom Pritchard Sound Design!


Tom Pritchard is back with a new Reason ReFill based on the Thor Polysonic Synthesizer:
ThorKit – 200 patches that push Reason’s Thor synthesiser to its limits! Compatible with versions 4.0 and above, this ReFill contains 20 juicy monosynths, 94 punchy percussion patches, 54 deep polysynths, and 32 massive sequence synths. With a mix of clean, crisp sounds and mashed, gritty tones, these patches are programmed to inspire with their expressive playability and evocative timbres.

ThorKit is available now for £15 from tompritchardsounddesign.com.

Thursday, February 23

How to make a gated filter sweep - Reason Sound Design

James Bernard is back!


"Propellerhead Software's product specialist James Bernard shows you how to do a gated filter sweep in this Reason Sound Design video. This effect is great for transitions and it's very playable once you've set up the Combinator controls!

You can download the patches shown in the video here: http://www.propellerheads.se/stuff/RSD5.zip

Don't forget to send in your own take on the gated filter sweep to productspecialist@propellerheads.se and we might feature it in the next video!"

-Propellerhead

Soundcells - Pads The BIG Box v.3


Received an e-mail from Harald Karla of Soundcells about the release of version 3 of their Pads The Big Box ReFill:
Pads - the BIG box v3 contains more than 470 fantastic combinator patches to give you all you need when searching for atmospheric patches, conventional pads - bright or dark, inspiring soundscapes, rhythmical pads, fx & experimental sounds and more... The variety of sonic atmospheres coming from three original ReFills makes this collection very complete so chances are big that you´ll find what you are looking for while browsing for the right pad.
Version 3 is adding 30 new combinator patches (based on both, the Reason synthesizers and new samples) which are making use of the stunning Reason 6 effect units...

Contents:

• 470+ combinator patches (92 "BIG box" only ones) in 11 different folders.

• 550+ well balanced patches for Thor, Malstroem, Subtractor, NNXT (the basic synth and NNXT patches which were used for the combinator sounds)

• Lots of inspiring demo tracks included.

Pads The Big Box V.3 is on sale for 44.90€ until March 10th! Be sure to check out the demo mp3s at soundcells.de, some great tracks by Harald, as well as Jonson, Harding and my man Adam Fielding!

edison - tempest test

Just when I've finally convinced myself I don't need a DSI Tempest, edison has to go make this video:


"just a quick mellow track i put together this morning...
got my new tempest from the nice folks at DSI
giving some sounds a try...
this machine is really inspiring and fun....
sounds great!

the tempest is master tempo...
ableton is providing backup percussion and melodies...
hope you dig"
-edisonbsbeats

Wednesday, February 22

Peff - Lemur for iPad and ARP2600

This is the awesome sauce:


"Using Antonio Blanca's ABreakpoint2 template to generate MIDI sequences. MIDI is routed into Reason, which in turn translates the data to control voltages. The CV/Gate signals are routed to the ARP2600 Synthesizer. As the iPad Lemur app triggers the ARP, i'm able to tweak the synth and record audio back into Reason 6." -Peff

How to make amazing Visualizations with Reaktor

Video by TranceTips on building visualizations into Reaktor ensembles:

Tuesday, February 21

Nicolas Jaar +1

I've been digging on Nicolas Jaar since seeing his Ableton video My Instrument last summer. Here's a video from Pitchfork about his multi-media MoMA PS1 performance:


"Nicolas Jaar puts on a five-hour collaborative multimedia performance in a geodesic dome at MoMA PS1, and tells us how it came together."
-PitchforkTV

Monday, February 20

How to use the Arpeggiator - Reason Tutorial

Another great tutorial on music production in Reason from Peak Eleven, this time on arpeggios:


"How to use the Arpeggiator video tutorial. Make an arpeggio by using the RPG-8 in Reason. This tutorial shows you how you can shape your arpeggio sound just by using this device.

Arpeggio sounds are often shortened arp or arps and can be very useful to spice up any track, and add some beautiful tones without taking up too much room in the mix if you use very short plucked sounds." -peakeleven

Little Phatty + VM Superdelay = Arp Delay

A lovely sounding video from n3bsvid reminding me once again on why I need to buy a Slim Phatty this year:


"Quick little arpeggiator + delay improv with the little phatty.

Hardware:
Moog Little Phatty Stage 2
Empress Effects Vintage Modified Superdelay" -n3bsvid

Sunday, February 19

MaschineR: using NI Maschine to control Reason

Maschine with Reason - looks like a great set-up when using MaschineR from retouch:


"MaschineR is a software solution which customizes NI Maschine to control Propellerhead's Reason. It gives extensive control over transport, Kong, Dr.OctoRex, Redrum and most other devices. All the Maschine functions are intelligently mapped to controls in Reason." -retouch

Saturday, February 18

Koma Elektronik FT201 w/ Skychord SleepDrone 3

Big City Music puts the Koma Elektronik FT201 Analog Filter through its paces with a Skychord Sleepdrone 3 as the noise source:


"Here is the new Koma Elektronik FT201 Variable Analog Filter from the Netherlands being used to process the US-made Skychord SleepDrone 3." -Big City Music

DSI Tempest Video Compilation

Here's a compilation of some of the best videos featuring the Tempest Analog Drum Machine designed by Dave Smith and Roger Linn:


"Tempest is a professional drum machine that generates its sounds using six powerful analog synthesis voices, and uses an innovative, performance-oriented operating system that permits an extraordinary level of control to create, edit, arrange, and manipulate beats in real time without ever stopping." - Dave Smith Instruments

Thursday, February 16

UNKLE – ANOTHER NIGHT OUT

I absolutely loved Unkle's Psyence Fiction album when it came out back in the late 90s - so I'm always interested to see what James Lavelle will do next... And the below video for the Unkle track "Another Night Out" featuring Mark Lanegan (of Screaming Trees fame) is right up my alley with the boxing motif! The video was directed by Toby Dye and released thru Black Dog Films. Another Night Out is off the Unkle lp "Where Did the Night Fall" which came out in 2010 on Surrender-All. Dig it:

Wednesday, February 15

Koshdukai - A bit of fun with MIDI output from Reason

Leave it to Koshdukai to finesse MIDI out with Reason! Here's what he says about the below video:
"A little demo showing Reason 6 (but works with Reason 5) controlling and playing Arturia's Oberheim SEM V 1.1 synth through MIDI.

This is basically demo'ing something I've tried in 2010 just to see if it worked and... it kinda worked but was too cumbersome to release publicly, IMHO, so it's just one of many projects that was burried and forgotten until today that I mentioned it on Props forums and... well, had to make a screencast video showing that it kinda works :)"

ARP Odyssey MK2 + Empress VM Superdelay = Plucky Delay

Dig this improv by n3bsvid featuring an Arp Odyssey Mk2 run thru an Empress VM Superdelay:


"Little improv featuring the ARP Odyssey analog synthesizer going through an empress superdelay digital delay unit set to tape simulation mode.

Hardware:
ARP Odyssey MK II 2813
Empress Effects Vintage Modified Superdelay"

-n3bsvid

Saturday, February 11

Modified Whipany Rhythm Master

Dope Modified Whipany Rhythm Master by anode8 who says the mods "control tones, levels and decay of the drum sounds." Check it:

Friday, February 10

Padshop - VST Granular Synthesizer

Steinberg's new Padshop granular synth looks intriguing:


"Coming straight from the Steinberg sound lab, Padshop is a state-of-the-art granular synthesizer that provides out-of-this-world atmospheres and far-out effects — and a user interface that's a breeze to work with.

Granular synthesis is one of the most fascinating fields of experimental sound design, but the conversions for programming sounds based on granular synthesis algorithms have always been too complex for every-day sound design or too shallow for serious in-depth sound manipulation.

With Padshop, Steinberg offers a granular synthesizer that raises the standard in terms of handling, flexibility, musicality and sound.

Top features:
• Advanced granular synthesis engine with 2 independent layers and individual oscillator, edit and FX sections
• Up to 8 grain streams per oscillator for impressively rich and spacious structures
• Intuitive user interface for effective usability and direct accessibility
• More than 400 presets dedicated to atmospheric pads and evolving textures
• SoftGrain Wave ROM with hundreds of sounds for custom presets

The Padshop VST Granular Synthesizer will soon be available as a download product from the Steinberg Online Shop. So, fasten your safety strap and get ready to expand your universe with this high-class virtual synth.

Find out more and listen to audio demos on www.steinberg.net"

-Steinberg

Thursday, February 9

How to make drum sounds your own with Kong!

Mattias Häggström Gerdt is back with another Reason Sound Design special - this time on sculpting your own sounds with Kong:


"Propellerhead Software's product specialist Mattias Häggström Gerdt shows you how to make some unique drum sounds by using the Tone and Noise generators in Kong. Fat kicks, punchy snares, odd percussion and... 80s synth toms!

You can download the track and Kong patch featured in this video here: http://www.propellerheads.se/stuff/RSD4.reason"

-Propellerhead

How to make WOBBLE BASS in NI's MASSIVE

Mr. Ned Rush just made my morning with this Wobble Bass "tutorial":

Wednesday, February 8

Ladder Filter 500-Series from Moog Music - Demo

SoundPure.com takes a close look at the Moog Ladder Filter 500 Series:



Controls:

"The new Ladder Filter, 500 series from Moog Music, a dynamic, transistor filter, is finally here! SoundPure Studios got to test out a few Moog Modules on a mix created by Jason Richmond on a tune by Prypyat, a local duo consisting of Duncan Webster from Hammer No More the Fingers, and Leah Gibson from Lost in the Trees (check out their website for a free download of Snowglobe (Troubles) at prypyat.bandcamp.com). The new Pro Audio Filter is based on Bob Moog's original design and works great with standard 500 racks and lunch boxes. Check out our other video with more examples featuring Prypyat with the new Moog Ladder Filter on Cello, Drums, Tambourine, and Banjo. Call Sound Pure today for any questions about this brand new Moog Product. 888.528.9703. or 919.682.5552" -Sound Pure

Tuesday, February 7

Kill Paris Ableton Tutorial- THE SUPER KNOB

Ableton Certified Trainer Kill Paris uploaded this new tutorial video on youtube of "The Super Knob" an audio effect rack for Ableton that enables the user to switch between multiple effects devices with one knob:

LEPLOOP Vids

Killer videos by theau61 of the LEPLOOP Synthesizer/Sequencer/Drum Machine created by Peppo Lasagna & Tonylight:


"4 tracks"


"slow tempo"

Saturday, February 4

Surface ii

Saw this wonderful video by Sam Spreckley on one of my favorite art blogs The Fox is Black:


"Ongoing visual/sonic research into notions of surface and immersive sound and the relationship between. 8mm, HD Telecine 2012"
-Sam Spreckley

Robot Koch: Beats in the Details

Robot Koch has quickly become one of my favorite artists. Here he is showing Ableton how he creates his off kilter beats:


"Whether positioning a clap and snare hit just slightly off time, or using a ripped up piece of paper for percussion, it's the little things that give Robot Koch's beats such a deep, unique signature. Koch demonstrates the many individual tweaks in Live that make up his unique grooves." -Ableton

Friday, February 3

Diego Stocco - Improv on a Plate

You've got to hand it to Diego Stucco, if that chocolate cake was sitting on my counter I wouldn't be recording sounds with a plate:


"I was about to cut a chocolate cake and when I moved the plate on the countertop I noticed a very interesting sound.

One side of the plate was free to vibrate because the tiles were not perfectly even, so by applying pressure with one finger and tapping it with another I was able to create some tonal beats. I hope you'll enjoy it!

The recording setup was very simple, Røde NT5, Apogee ONE, Pro Tools 9." -Diego Stucco

New Atlantis Audio - Transmisions


New Atlantis Audio is back with a brand new ReFill for Reason - Transmissions:
Boldly go where no man’s gone before! Transmissions is a collection of playable instruments and soundscape generators powered by specially crafted 24bit/96khz stereo sample material inspired by deep space NASA communications, anomalous SETI signals and dark digital mishaps, designed with only the most adventurous space traveller in mind. Evolving pads, super cinematic atmospheres, fx, glitches, and more.

Mix and match these seamlessly-looping soundscapes, motifs, gestural textures and instrumental tones within the playable Combinators to create epic sci-fi soundscapes, atmosphers and instruments that evolve, twist, turn and throb into orbit. Featuring multilayered soundscapes, single playable instruments, and even some examples which combine acoustic instrument patches from the Reason Factory Soundbank for awesome cinematic ensembles.

The soundscape patches you hear in the audio demo are performed by holding a single key on the keyboard! Transmissions is perfect for scoring projects, game music, or any production that can use a dose of zero gravity ambience.

Loop points and root notes are embedded in every file for easy integration. Load them into any sampler instrument, drop them directly into the Reason timeline and tweak your way into uncharted territory, thanks to the complex and evolving nature of the material. You are highly encouraged to experiment with loop points and sample start settings to create an endless number of spaced out instruments and sounds of your own. The included instruments only begin to scratch the surface.

Specs: Includes 30 Combinators, 350MB Samples, 24bit/96khz Audio

Available from rackflip.com for $19.99 USD!

Thursday, February 2

Tutorial: Removing an unwanted frequency using EQ

A new tutorial uploaded to the youtube this morning by OSDTHelljumper, who I should add has a slew of Reason tutorials on the tube - so if you dig this make sure to subscribe to his site on youtube. Check it:

Killing in the Name of Korg

Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name of" on the Nintendo DS by Harley Likes Music:


"A Remix by HarleyLikesMusic of Killing in the Name of by Rage Against the Machine. This was made purely on Korg DS-10 for the Nintendo DS. Free download: http://harleylikesmusic.bandcamp.com/track/killing-in-the-name" -Harley

Wednesday, February 1

Celluloid Beats Demo ReFill!


Running a little short on money? Haven't picked up Celluloid Beats yet? Be sure to download the demo refill available @ nucleus-soundlab.com today! Find out what you're missing ;-).

Reaktor: Revealed!


macProVideo.com have just released a series on designing and building ensembles in Reaktor called Reaktor: Revealed. Now I've really been exploring Reaktor lately, and no doubt the bluewatervst.com tutorials on using some of Reaktor's greatest ensembles has been a big reason for that. But I've been hoping for a long time that someone would do a video series on building in Reaktor - so when I saw the below videos on Reaktor: Revealed I became excited! macProVideo enlisted the help of veteran Reaktor builder Brian Cass for this series, who is a familiar name to anyone d/ling ensembles from Reaktor User Library. Here's a taste:

Reaktor Anatomy:


Multi-mode Oscillator:


Signal Path:


Reaktor: Revealed is a total of 133 minutes long and consists of 35 separate chapters. It appears from the chapter outline that this series is primarily about building synthesizers in Reaktor and deals with everything from oscillators, envelopes, filters, lfos, romplers, routing and clocking! For $25 you can access this series as well as the 302 other macProVideo on-line titles for 1 month, or for $29.50 you can get a HD download version of Reaktor: Revealed only... what do you think?

What is Recycle?

Propellerhead's Recycle has been updated to version 2.2! This update includes a new GUI, key commands, an on-line Help system and workflow enhancements. I was lucky enough to beta test this new 64 bit compatible application for the last few months and I have to say the new key commands alone make the upgrade worth while. And if you don't already own Recycle, check out this video to get an idea of it's awesome power for Reason users: