Waveforms – Synths Explained
Discover the basics of synthesis and get a guided tour of the synth and the waveforms used to create sounds.
This awesome series by synth master Russ Hughes covers everything from the basics right though to complex sound design including subtractive, FM, wavetable, granular and sampled based synthesis. The series is aimed at anyone who lacks the confidence to start taking control of their synths.
This collection is useful to anyone using synthesisers in their productions and is not limited to any one product. Even better, much of the training is done using the Fxpansion DCAM: Synth Squad synths, specifically so that users can download a fully working 30 day trial and use them to follow along with the video examples.
Check out the Moonwind Analog Filter Tracker
Boutique synthmaker Jomox introduced the Moonwind Analog Filter Tracker.
The Moonwind Analog Filter Tracker is a true analog stereo filter, with built-in step sequencer, an FX chip, 2 LFOs and envelope modulation. Everything is storable and controllable via MIDI.
MoonWind AcidMoon by Sonicyogi
ScoreCleaner – Plug-and-play notation
ScoreCleaner is a live scoring tool that notates your music automatically. Just plug in your MIDI instrument/keyboard, play and let ScoreCleaner render.
ScoreCleaner changes the paradigm of notation softwares. Where earlier formats forced users to have a large pre knowledge of a piece of music to be able to notate properly ScoreCleaner allows the user so simply plug a MIDI based keyboard into their computer and play to render a notation. ScoreCleaner will automatically detect time signature, key, clef, tempo, note values etc. and simply notate the playing it receives. Virtually live. The user doesn’t have to rely on click tracks or other guiding tools in order for the software to understand the music and interpret it for notation.
“ScoreCleaner is unique in that will allow a user to play freely and end up seconds later with a useful score for a wide variety of musical styles” says Sven Ahlback. “ScoreCleaner will even notate non-metrical music, composite time signatures, rubato, something that has been quite unthinkable in decades past”.
Because ScoreCleaner notates on the fly rather than being designed for manually feeding the software with note values it becomes open to a number of uses.
ScoreCleaner can offer scoring and editing possibilities to become the main notation format for a user or it can work as a complement to other notation and sequencer formats. ScoreCleaner exports its notations and its interpretations to MIDI as well as MusicXML.
In Sven Ahlbacks words,
“ScoreCleaner is a wonderful teaching tool for students and teachers alike. It saves huge amounts of time and offers high accuracy compared to what has been available so far. But we also want to underline that ScoreCleaner is a great tool for any musician or composer who needs to quickly convey a piece of music to other musicians in the universal musical language of notes.”
For access to a time limited trial version of ScoreCleaner please visit
Holst Mars on Sound Lab Mark II and ULTIMATE
“This is multi-track MIDI driving MIDI to CV which drives the Sound Lab Mark II and the Sound Lab ULTIMATE. All MIDI was broken down to mono tracks and each played through the MIDI to CV convertor. I set each patch to what I thought sounded good in the position and I think in the end it seems to work. I tweaked and tweaked and tweaked and… I’ll stop there. ALL sounds are purely from the MIDI driven synths. Reverb was applied during mix down. I’ll stop there. I used SONAR Producer to mix down the tracks (well over 60 stereo) and I think that along with the video it’s decently cool. I forgot to mention that I designed and built the synthesizers. If you want to build one go to musicfromouterspace with a dot and then the obligatory com for plans and PC boards.”
Remember it’s only a hobby but making music with synths is what got me into it so very long ago. Gustav Holst has fired my imagination since I first heard “The Planets”. If you haven’t heard it by a symphony you don’t know what you’re missing. I really hope you think of this as true “Music From Outer Space”
Waldorf has just released Electric Body Machinery – a new Blofeld soundset
Waldorf has just released Electric Body Machinery – a new Blofeld soundset by Soundset Ari Ahrendt.
This punchy soundset that covers everything for electronic music of the darker kind. Highly energetic sounds for areas such as EBM, Synth Pop, Dark Electro, Future Pop, Electro Wave and Minimal Electro Pop. All sounds on highest level of musical playability, usability and inspiration. Suitable for records, studio and especially for clubs and live performance! 128 Sounds for technically wide EBM basses, melodically sawing chaos leads, boombastic drums, shiny pads and strings, as well as inspring polysynth sounds enable you to make the dance-mob shake and stomp .
Use modulation wheel at own risk!
Here is a demosong called “Dark Lights”. According to the soundcloud notes, all sounds are created with Waldorf Blofeld including all drums, effects, spheres and modulations.
Dark Lights – Waldorf Blofeld EBM Demo by ARIMUSIK
visit the Shop and get the maximum of power to your next dark synth tune!
http://www.waldorfmusic-shop.de/
Boston Music Hack Day 2011 recap
Long form recap of the third Boston Music Hack Day which took place at the Microsoft New England Research & Development center in Cambridge, MA November 5th & 6th 2011.
For more information please visit:
www.musichackday.org
And follow us on twitter:
@musichackday
@soundcloud
@echonest
Creating a full song on the Teenage Engineering OP-1
Nice attempt to make an entire song just using the OP-1:
Decided to try and sit down and actually create a full song on the OP-1 for once. The result is… OK. I had fun while making it at least! I tried to listen to other music and narrow down how they are composed, for example how long an intro is and where the drum kicks in and how the sounds repeat in a certain way etc. Song is in 140 bpm. All 4 tracks are used to various degree. The pattern for the synths are really really simple but they make a nice effect together. The whole song have the Spring FX on it which I like but I really should use the effect on different sounds instead. Everything you hear is directly from the output of the OP-1.
VocaLive for iPad: the first professional vocal processor for iOS!
I guess how professional it is remains to be seen, if you have tried it feel free to leave your comments.
VocaLive for iPad now available in the iTunes App Store! VocaLive for iPad takes an already powerful vocal processing app that has become a favorite on the iPhone® and iPod touch® and makes it even more powerful. The iPad version adds a fourth effect slot to the signal processing chain, and two of those effect slots can hold the specific “vocal effects” compared to just one vocal effect per chain on the iPhone version. The preset browser is also available in the main window of the interface making loading and saving VocaLive presets even easier. The Favorites section has been expanded from 4 to 40 in the iPad version utilizing a new bank button. Favorites put presets right in the bottom panel on large, accessible buttons for immediate loading of the artist’s most-used settings.
VocaLive includes 5 Vocal Effects — Pitch Fix (for tuning correction or stylized quantization FX), Choir (a 3-part harmonizer), Morph (an X-Y pitch and formant shifter that changes the tonal quality of the voice from subtle deepening to radical gender bending) Double (Double effect gets unlocked by registering) and De-Esser — along with 7 Studio Effects — Reverb, Delay, Parametric EQ, Compressor, Chorus, Phazer and Envelope Filter — that together create the perfect vocal processing solution.
VocaLive for iPad features:
- Real time vocal processor + recording app
- 4-processor vocal effects chain
- 12 professional studio quality vocal effects
- Single track recorder expandable to a full 8-track recording studio with master effects section, available for purchase in the in-app Shop
- Import and play songs to be used as backing tracks directly from your music library or computer
- Voice Cancel feature lets you create sing-along backing tracks by removing the vocal track from existing recordings
- 50 presets included with 4 Favorites for fast recall
- Includes metronome and vocal warm-up tools
- Low-latency for real time vocal processing
More information: http://www.ikmultimedia.com/vocaliveipad and http://www.ikmultimedia.com/irigmic
StringStation | Laboratory Demo
A ‘fly on the wall’ video of a personal StringStation demonstration and talk about the 3D instrument by musician/inventor Jim Bartz.
It further introduces an intricate and truly amazing 3D resonance factor that reveals an atmospheric, dimensional soundfield never known before. Fingertips on strings instantly have a detailed nuance and dynamics allowing extreme expressiveness in music and sound creation- The StringStations 40-strings are programmed in distinct groups (bass, melody, rhythm, orchestration…) that when captured together with its innovative surround pickup matrix, pulls pure 3D tone resolution that delivers an ultra wide, exceptionally dimensional panorama. It captures in vivid 3D, a ‘fractal lattice of interpolations’. The powerful sonic force of its natural string tones layered with any sound imaginable via digital sound modeling and computer control are the beginning of an extreme level of surround music innovation…
Make music with your voice, or any sound!
Background info: Everyday Looper allows you to record 4 musical phrases – 6 on an iPad – and loop them right away. You can then mix and merge them on the fly. Your Adventures Into Sound begin here – Live Looping on any iOS device! Perhaps the easiest introduction into this DIY music style which is taking the world by storm.
New In Version 1.5
STEREO TRACKS
• Pan your tracks. Compatible devices : iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, iPad and newer.
MIDI CONTROLLERS
• Record, Play/Pause and Stop can be triggered by a MIDI controller through Core MIDI.
2 INPUT CHANNELS
• Record channel 1 or 2, both simultaneously or as a stereo source. Require an audio device that provides 2 input channels such as the Alesis iO Dock.
“Can ANYONE guess what the Mystery Object is, near the end of the video? “
DATAMASKIN
