QuikQuak has announced the release of Fusion Field
QuikQuak has announced the release of Fusion Field, an easy to use diffusion reverb that QuikQuak has created in response to requests for a RaySpace ‘light’ and a version of Glass Viper’s own diffusion reverb.
Features :
– A clean stereo reverb, with an even decay.
– High quality standards, with low CPU resources.
– Fast editing, for that quick grab effect.
– A single impulse source quickly gathers a complex diffusion.
– Intuitively linked Decay and Spread dials.
– Clear reflected sound, with a fast diffusion build up.
– Great for adding sheen to vocals, strings and ambiences.
– Plain visual feedback of filters.
– Zero latency.
– Completely reworked and enhanced diffusion reverb, based on RaySpace and Glass Viper.
Having very few controls does not hinder Fusion Field’s usefulness. The dial ranges have been sloped to give the best sensitivity in useful regions, and the whole unit can create short snappy rooms, or vast time-suspended spaces, and anything in between
* High quality standards, with low CPU resources.
* Fast editing, for that quick grab effect.
* A single impulse source quickly gathers a complex diffusion.
* Intuitively linked Decay and Spread dials.
* Clear reflected sound, with a fast diffusion build up.
* Great for adding sheen to vocals, strings and ambiences.
* Plain visual feedback of filters.
* Zero latency.
* Completely reworked and enhanced diffusion reverb, based on
RaySpace and Glass Viper.
Removing the character of uneven early reflections and various room shapes leaves the sound pure, so it’s able to hold the sound in time. Simply enhancing the sound image without obtrusive additional tones allows for more space in the mix.
While not using traditional all-pass filters, Fusion Field gathers reflections immediately, using unique ‘leaky’ feedback technology. This has the accuracy of an intensive frequency based algorithm, with the movement and zero latency of time based calculations. It also has relatively low CPU usage for such a high quality sound.
Try the demo yourself and choose the “Fusion Field Full” preset, this gives the longest decay and no filtering.
If you send a short sound through the plug-in you will hear the sound as though frozen in the air, and decay perfectly smoothly in about two minutes.
Toontrack has announced the release of Superior Drummer 2.0.
Superior Drummer® 2.0 has been re-developed for optimized use with e-drums with more effective use of sample layers and much improved loading times. It will include custom MIDI played by Nir Z accessed through the all new customized MIDI engine and arranger EZplayer® pro, it will feature stand alone capacity through Toontrack solo. From premium UK based software developer Sonalksis Superior Drummer® 2.0 has been fitted with, 5-band EQ, high and low pass filter, compressor, gate and transient designer filters.
The new interface is reminiscent of EZdrummer® with its simple handling and lay out but gives its user layer upon layer of in depth features to create the ultimate drum track.
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All new construction windows with features such as: • ADSR • X-pads – Load instruments from any Toontrack® library to add positions or to double instruments on the position of your choice. • The ability to read and combine all dfh Superior and EZdrummer® sound librarie |
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All new internal mixer featuring bussing capabilities and with built in FX delivered by Sonalksis such as: • 5 Band EQ • Highpass and Lowpass filter • Gate • Compressor • Transient |
Great interview with Ben Burtt
Ben Burtt, he’s the sound designer who worked on huge films such as Star Wars, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and Indiana Jones to name a few.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZRPHp3UxvA]
If a robot falls on a deserted planet, does it still make noise? According to sound designer extraordinaire Ben Burtt, the talent behind the stars of Disney·Pixar’s “WALL·E,” it most certainly does. And you’d be surprised at how many years of research and development it takes to make every squeak, creak, click, and clank seem so real.
“The assignment was inventing original voices and all the sounds associated with the main characters … mechanisms, movements, force fields. Since WALL·E doesn’t use conventional dialogue, I had to convey the story through the types of sound each character made. By providing the illusion that they had feelings, the audience would care about them,” Ben explains. With a visual start from preliminary paintings and sketches, he …
Don´t miss out on the Music Tech special on Reason
The second Music Tech Focus edition is on sale now. This 132-page special edition magazine concentrates purely on Propellerhead’s Reason and features:
- 16 Reason 4 Workshop
- 5 classic Reason 3 Workshops
- 138 Tips & Tricks
- Free DVD with workshop resources
- 5 Pro User Interviews and more…
Music Tech Focus is on sale priced £7.99 in WH Smith in the UK, Barnes & Noble and Borders in the USA, and larger foreign press bookstores in Canada, Australia, Sweden and Germany, or buy online (£9 UK, £11 Europe, £14 Rest of World – inc Post & Packaging
Find out more…
21 Workshops
Getting the most out of Reason 4…
Programming control devices and more…
Commodore 64 Cynthcart
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKADOmFqRMs]
Overview
A software / hardware combo that allows for control of the analog filter inside a Commodore 64 that is running Cynthcart from a host computer (eg, Macbok, PC).
Software
• 16-step filter sequencer
• Set the speed of the filter sequence (with intervals between values reaching 2ms)
• Set the length of the sequence from 1 to 16 beats
• Offset value allows for shifting the filter values up or down on a larger scale
• MIDI mode allows sending data directly to control the filter (this mode disables the sequencer)
Download the Max/MSP patch here:
http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/downloads/max_patches/C64_FILTER.zip
It requires Max/MSP runtime which can be downloaded from http://www.cycling74.com/.
Screenshot
Interface
The hardware is very simple, and is based around an Arduino board that is using a bit-banging SPI technique to write data to a 100KΩ digital pot (model MCP42100). Approximately 7 of the 8 bits of data actually change the value of the filter (this could be due to the resistance value of the pot).
Any microcontroller that can either do SPI natively or through bit-banging should be able to handle this simple operation.
Software, schematics + code >>
Introducing the Audeon UFO – good or bad, you be the judge
Audeon UFO Signal Flow
Yet another synthesis technique?
Audeon objectives: build a synthesizer where controls would be:
- Perceptually meaningful, to make sound programming an intuitive and quick process (unlike FM for instance)
- Continuous, so any characteristic of the sound can be modulated and evolve over time (unlike virtual analog or sample based synths for instance, where the character of the sound mostly relies on selectors: waveform and filter type), for unparalleled power and expressiveness.
UFO is:
- Innovative: it is built upon original algorithms, rather than an existing synthesis technique;
- Versatile, flexible and expressive: most parameters are continuous and can be modulated by many sources at once. You can apply envelopes and LFOs to virtually anything, have the velocity and aftertouch drastically alter the timbre or to turn a sound into a completely different one with the modulation wheel (“morphing” feature).
- Simple and intuitive: its parameters are either easy-to-understand perceptual attributes (mellow, chaotic, harmonic, noise…) or familiar controls (attack time, LFO delay…)
- Fast and easy to program: you don’t need many synthesis modules (thanks to their versatility) to build complex sounds, and the ergonomics of the user interface has been carefully designed.
About TransModal Synthesis (TM):
Thanks to Audeon’s strong background in signal processing and algorithm design, we came up with a set of innovative and flexible synthesis algorithms gathered under the name “TransModal Synthesis”. The name comes from the fact that instead of operating in several distinct modes, these synthesis modules can perform smooth transitions between their oscillation modes (periodic, chaotic, random, etc) or their filtering mode (low-pass, high-pass, etc). This capability makes them much more flexible and expressive than synthesis modules with waveform or filter type selectors for instance.
TransModal Synthesis algorithms include:
- K-Osc (TM): named after a contraction of “Chaos” and “Oscillator”, K-Osc is a powerful and versatile Chaotic Oscillator Model where the user controls the sound characteristics by balancing perceptual attributes like Mellowness, Brightness, Periodicity, Noisiness, Chaos or Transient duration. These high level controls drive the low level model parameters in order to favor one oscillation mode or another.
- Morphilter (TM): it can be a low-pass, a high-pass or a peaking filter, but also anything in between: you can make it evolve smoothly over time from one shape to another for more complex sound transformations than the usual cutoff frequency sweep.
- A few other synthesis modules are also available: vector synthesis oscillator (waveform interpolation), ring modulator, formant filters, effects…
Sound programming:
A good synthesis engine is nothing without a good user interface to go with. We designed UFO’s interface with two goals in mind:
- Make programming fast, by minimizing the number of required mouse clicks
- Make programming easy, by offering meaningful controls and a global and intuitive way of displaying them
Thanks to this interface, combined with the underlying synthesis algorithms, programming a sound is quick and intuitive.
Demo Version Download
(Save and Automation are disabled, A hissing noise can sometimes be heard, 6 Mb) :
Audeon UFO VST Synth DemoAudio demos:
Morphing (Mp3 File)
This example demonstrates the Morphing feature, between a wind instrument and a percussive sound. You will hear the source sound first: a pan flute / bottle type of sound, then the target sound: a kind of steel drum, and finally UFO slowly morphing from the source to the target.
Texture (Mp3 File)
To make this demo, we dialed the “Infinite space” preset, then pressed two keys at the beginning of the recording and released them at the end (no sequencer, no arpeggiator). A quick and easy way to compose ambient tracks!
Hardcore (Mp3 File)
starting with a virtual didgeridoo, this track evolves into a somewhat dark techno style. After the ethereal pads found in the first demo, some of the sounds in this track explore the opposite side of the sonic palette, showing the dirty and grainy sounds that can be achieved by pushing the oscillator to the edge.
Audeon UFO Screenshot
Future Audio Workshop unveils Circle
semi-modular software synthesizer
Future Audio Workshop unveils Circle is a new semi-modular software synthesizer, designed to be easy to use, allowing you to concentrate fully on sound design and performance. Circle, a new semi modular software synthesizer. Designed to be easy to use and intuitive through simple work flows. Circle comes with lots of great, ready to use sounds. Choose from a large varied pool of sound generators, effects, filters and modulations. Unrestricted modulation allows you to experiment with sound in new ways. Works as Standalone, Audio Unit, VST and RTAS.
What makes it unique is it’s interface. It has a fantastic new work “Flow” and feedback mechanism all presented via a high contrast single page user interface making it much easier to tweak and program than most synths.
Part of this flow is a scheme where modulate sources (LFO, Envelopes, Sequencers) have corresponding color coded “circles”. Simply drag the circle to the parameter you want to modulate and you’ll hear a preview. Drop the circle and the parameter is now connected to the modulation source (see a link to videos below). Very cool! The color coding makes it very easy to identify which modulation source is tied to what parameter making it easier to learn how Circle works.
The interface offers real-time feedback on parameters for the selected sound. For example, if you hit a note on your controller, this sends a circle down the volume envelope. Hold a key down and watch the LFO shape pulse. Again, this feedback system makes it much easier to see what’s happening inside the synth and then tweak to get a different result. Awesome!
Aside from the interface a few other features to note are:
- Midi Learn capability. A real time saver when it comes to assigning knobs from your favorite controller. Each instance of Circle in your host can have it’s own set of mappings.
- Wave morphing. Circle has a pre-defined set of waveforms. You can assign two to an oscillator and then use a modulator to morph.
- Built-in FX
- Sound browser not unlike Native Instruments Kore.
- Interesting “Keyboard” screen for setting up keyboard related modulations and more traditional arpeggiation.
Circle is now available for $199.00 / €149.00. Even you have other similar sounding synths in your rig, you should try the demo to get a feel for this innovative user interface.
More Info:
- Circle Web Page (mp3 demos of Circle in Action).
- Download a free demo
The Mobile Homes celebrates 25 yrs with new material
Check out their new single “Close”
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=PsTngq_2QkY]
Pretty OK I think 
Mabuse
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h2W2Lmt15U]
Mabuse V1.1 was featured as part of the Gateway School of Recording / Digital Village launch party. Herb’s presentation on Mabuse was one of the highlights, and there’s some awesome pictures of the event.
It’s worth mentioning that Herb also talked about the most exciting synthesiser in the world – the Roland system 100m. Some of you know how much I love this machine. That’s what I call Music Technology.
More pictures here. Mabuse photo’s go from photo 128 to about 155 (it was a big day).
Lowe releases new album
Although not really a personal favorite of mine (they have released one or two nice tracks :-), though), Swedish new wave act Lowe’s sophomore album, Kino International, is available now from the Megahype label. Formed in 2002, Lowe received awards for Best Newcomer and nominations for Best Album and Best Song in the 2005 Scandinavian Music Awards. The group will perform in Sweden and Germany later this summer.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=9zQ8bQWQHDM]
DATAMASKIN
