Friday, September 27

Peff Idea Sketch 13.16b

New Peff video:

"i'm in need of a fly-swatter module... working out phrases and drum pattern arrangements... has a few rough spots, but the idea is to capture different scenes and finally work them together for a finished track - a la razor blade."


Wednesday, September 25

DSI Tempest as a 6-voice polysynth module

Just when I think I'm over my DSI Tempest lust tblv9300 has to go make this video showing off the Tempest as an analog table top poly synth:


Viking Signature ReFill

Viking Signature - a new refill for the Viking VK-1 Rack Extension for Reason 7 from Soundcells. Featuring 45 Combi patches and 75 Viking sounds for only 7.90 € (until October 20):

"‘Viking Signature‘ - funky and soulful leads, great basses and more!

This ReFill is based on the Viking Rack Extension which is basically a great sounding emulation of the Moog Voyager. For more than thirty years, Moog sounds have been most popular all over the world, and with Viking and especially the Viking Signature ReFill, these legendary sounds are now coming to your Reason Rack. Viking Signature convinces with its funky and soulful leads, authentic sounding bass patches with an awesome bottom end and several wired SFX patches. If you own Viking be sure to complete your ReFill collection with Viking Signature - a powerful soundset at a ‘knockdown‘ price …"

Monday, September 23

NOD-E Generative Beat

Antonio Blanca's NOD-E Reaktor ensemble used with the Newscool synth engine to generate beats/percussion sequences that don't repeat:

 

Friday, September 20

MOOG Analog Synthesized Percussion

Just when I think I'm over the urge to buy the Sub-P Moog puts out this video:

 

Tuesday, September 17

Korg Volca Keys - Sonic Lab Review

Sonic State finally looks at the Volca Keys box from Korg:

"The last of the Volca reviews, be sure to check out our other reviews. Volca Keys is a 3 voice analogue synth capable of the 3 voice poly operation. astonishing in such a small, cost effective package."

 

Propellerhead Artist Feature: Grieves on Stage

I dig these Propellerhead Artist Feature videos. It's always fascinating to see how different people use the same piece of software. Check out the latest featuring Grieves:

"Benjamin Laub or Grieves as he's known to fans, critics, and rappers the world over graduated from his MPC2000 to Reason after getting introduced to it by his long-time collaborator, Budo. Once he realized the depth and possibility, his production quickly shifted over almost entirely inside Reason. And when Grieves set out to take his latest album on tour he was faced with a problem: How could he get his live band to sound EXACTLY like his record sounds. Being a perfectionist, the nearest facsimile just wouldn't do for Grieves and thanks to Reason's rock-solid stability and legendary backwards compatibility, he had an obvious solution.

Opening up his entire back catalog of production files - years worth of music - Grieves was able to save patches to new document and create a live performance set up that includes the exact sounds off his record, complete with the same effects, same combinator routings, keyboard splits, etc. The result is a perfectionist's dream on stage and a fan's delight. We caught up with Grieves and his new band as they finished up rehearsals in Seattle and took their show on the road with the first show in Portland, Oregon."

 

Sunday, September 15

Audio Damage's Eurorack devices in action!

As you may have heard, Audio Damage, the makers of some of the best software effects and instrument plug-ins, has released their first hardware products for the modular set:

"This is a quick demonstration of the first three Audio Damage effects for Eurorack. Source is a tape loop on a Nagra III. First, DubJr is demonstrated, then Grainshift, and finally Errorbox."

 

Thursday, September 12

This Is NOD-E for REAKTOR

Brent Kallmer of Bluewater VST takes a look at Antonio Blanca's NOD-E ensemble for Reaktor:

"You might start by thinking of NOD-E as the sequencer that you get when the nodes in Spiral reach escape velocity and break out of orbit."

 

Random Volca Vids

Like many of you I am looking forward to getting my hands on the new Korg Volca series, particularly the Beats and Keys boxes. Below are a couple of new videos uploaded to youtube from users PerseusTraxx and Maochi Hanayagi. Dig it:

 

Korg Volca Beats and XOXBOX with effects. Acid recorded to tape:

 


Korg Volca Beats + Keys:

 

Chris Watson BBC article!

 

There's a fantastic article on the BBC about sound recordist Chris Watson, check it out here!

 

Wednesday, September 11

Water for Alchemy!

Water is a new sound library for Camel Audio's incredible Alchemy instrument; available now until October 9th for the price you name, with 50% of the proceeds going to Frank Water a charity which funds sustainable clean water projects in developing countries across the world. Dig it:

"Water is a sound library for Alchemy and the free Alchemy Player, with all presets derived from or inspired by water related sounds."

 

Beats Like Bonham!

Is the drummer in your Led Zeppelin tribute act leaving you dazed and confused? Just slap a sigil three sticker on your lappy and pick-up the latest bundle from The Loop Loft and you're good to go:

"The grooves made famous by John Bonham are now at your fingertips. Introducing Beats Like Bonham Drum Loops. Following the success of our hugely popular Bonham Complete Takes series, we have designed a new stereo loop set collection, giving you all of the beats in 24 bit 48 kHz clarity and in a wide range of formats including WAV, REX2, AIFF (Apple Loops) and Stylus RMX, allowing you to easily drag and drop the loops into the DAW of your choice."

 

 

Tuesday, September 10

Moog Little Phatty R.I.P.

 

"The Little Phatty was released in 2006 as a tribute to the life and legacy of Moog Music founder and synthesizer pioneer, Bob Moog. Following the passing of Dr. Moog, The Little Phatty was the first Moog synthesizer designed by Moog Music's Chief Engineer, Cyril Lance.

Over the course of its seven year production run, the Little Phatty has gone through three incantations including The Tribute, Stage I, and Stage II editions. During that time, the Little Phatty has become one of the best selling professional analog synthesizers in history. Its sonic impact on modern music can be heard on thousands of records, and its signature swooped-back silhouette can be seen in top recording facilities around the world as well as on the stages of internationally touring musical acts such as Rush, Jack White, Queens of The Stone Age, No Doubt, Bernie Worrell and the hit shows American Idol, Nashville and Portlandia."

 

 

Holy Ghost! - "Okay" Live at the Village on KCRW

Another great live performance on KCRW:

"Brooklyn-based dance band Holy Ghost! join Morning Becomes Eclectic at the Village Studios for a spirited alchemy of electronics."

 

Monday, September 9

Korg Volca Bass - Sonic LAB Review

Sonic State checks out the Volca Bass - Analogue Bass Machine:

"We take a look at the Korg Volca Bass, a three oscillator analog mini synth. Part of the impressive Volca range that has been rocking the synth world."

Saturday, September 7

Abandoned Space Bass Station II

Benedict Roff-Marsh with his new Novation Bass Station II:

"This is the same piece as the album track of almost the same name but re-voiced with the Novation Bass Station II synth. I intended to do this with the Slim Phatty but it wasn't to be. The Bass Station II is such a joy to use that this was fun, slow but fun.

ALL the sounds in the mix (except for the vocode) are from Bass Station II. Sequencing, effects and mixing done in Propellerheads Reason 7."

 

Thursday, September 5

Bluewater VST // REAKTOR: Let There Be Loops

Brent Kallmer with another look at using loops in Reaktor:

"In this tutorial, let's take a look at how to bounce individual parts of a groove from Aerobic and SineBeats—two stunning REAKTOR grooveboxes."

 

Wednesday, September 4

Adam Manning - Roland HandSonic HPD-20

University of Newcastle (Australia) Percussion Teacher Adam Manning takes a look at the new Roland HPD-20 HandSonic Dynamic E-Percussion instrument for stage and studio:

 

Roland HandSonic HPD-20

 

New from Roland - the HandSonic HPD-20!

"Roland takes digital hand percussion to a new dimension with the HandSonic HPD-20, a unique and versatile instrument that’s ideal for a wide range of music creators, from percussionists and drummers to electronic dance music performers, composers, and producers. Equipped with the renowned SuperNATURAL® sound engine and potent multi-effects, the HPD-20 offers 850 dynamic, ready-to-play sounds, plus the ability to import your own custom sounds via USB flash memory. 13 pads provide ultra-sensitive response and flexible control options for playing onboard sounds and external MIDI instruments with an incredible range of expression. The HandSonic pad interface also excels in computer music applications, where it’s perfect for playing virtual instruments, recording MIDI and audio performances in DAW software, and much more. And with its convenient trigger inputs, you can easily expand the HPD-20 with a Roland pad and hi-hat controller to build a super-compact percussion set."

Specs:

- Powerful hand percussion instrument for life performance studio music production

- 850 ready-to-play sounds, including percussion from around the world, melodic instruments, drums, tones for modern electronic beats, and more...

- Roland's acclaimed SuperNATURAL sound engine delivers unparalleled tone quality and expressiveness

- Import up to 500 of your own WAV sounds via USB flash memory and assign them to pads

- Deep editing capability allows you to tweak and layer instruments and process tones with three independent multi-effects engines, ambience and EQ

- 13 silicone rubber pads provide ultra-sensitive velocity response and comfortable feel

- Dynamic pad assignments let you dampen, mute, and tune sounds for authentic performance of acoustic hand percussion like congas and tabla

- Roll button and real-time modifying knob; D–BEAM for controlling sounds and effects with hand movements

- Easily capture performances and ideas with the Quick Rec function and export them as WAV audio files to USB flash memory

- Inputs for connecting a Roland pad and hi-hat controller (sold separately)

- USB Computer port for audio/MIDI communication with popular music software, including DAWs and standalone virtual instruments

 


 

Nektar Panorama P1 Demo | UniqueSquared.com

UniqueSquared.com take a look the the Nektar Panorama P1:

 

SonicLab look at the Korg Volca Beats

The first in depth look at the new Korg Volca Beats comes courtesy of SonicState.com:

"First of the three Volcas to come under our beady eye, its a low-cost analogue drum machine with 6 analogue voices and 4 PCM."