Review of UVI String Machines – Extended Video
“Russ takes a look at UVI String Machines with a full show and tell and gives his opinion on it. Don’t forget to check out all our news at http://www.pro-tools-expert.com”
String Machines, a new UVI product that brings back vintage analog string synthesizers. String Machines is a digital hybrid instrument, forged with the analog imprint of the 11 most musical string synths ever built.
• Instant access to tons of presets and preset layers; find sounds you love and get inspired quickly!
• Authentic sound and character reproduces the analog grunge and warmth of yesteryear
• No loading time when switching machines and sounds.
• Dual layers. Select the machine and the associated sounds.
• Experiment with the step modulator and take your sound out of this world!
• Shape your sounds using authentic analog-modeled filters, envelopes, and LFOs
iYM2151 synth for iPad – first impressions
Here are the background details:
“I bought iYM2151, the FM synth for iPad. this is my first music with iYM2151, sequencing w/o reading manual, w/ only preset sounds. Its SEQ is very easy for KORG M01 users.
http://www.detune.co.jp/detune/iym2151”
The world’s first FM synthesis music workstation app,iYM2151.
80’s game and computer sound is back!
YM2151, aka OPM is a single-chip FM synthesis implementation, an eight-channel four-operator sound chip. it was used in many 80’s arcade games and home computers.iYM2151 is the The world’s first FM synthesis music workstation app using YM2151 simulator engine for iApp.
[iYM2151 for iPad]
-uses YM2151 simulator engine for iApp
-4 operators per 8 Algorithms
-8 voices
-3 software LFOs
-max 99scenes (1scene with 64 steps)
-easy FM edit mode
-MML mode : programable huge FM parameters in every steps
-DUMP mode : realtime all FM operator parameters viewer
-song data file sharing and mail attachment
-good old days 80’s design user interface
Steinberg Dark Planet review
Nice review of Steinberg’s Dark Planet:
http://soundsandgear.com/steinberg-dark-planet-review checking out a new vst instrument expansion set from Steinberg called Dark Planet for Halion, Halion Sonic, and Halion Sonic Se. It is a cinematic sound design type library with some really great sounds at a crazy good price
Specifications:
The Dark Planet VST Sound Instrument Set is loaded with hundreds of creepy sounds, shattering loops and eerie instruments, including leads, basses, drums and effects that will inspire and give you the shivers at the same time.
Dark Planet’s earth-shattering sounds are equally suitable for impactful cinematic scores, massive industrial tracks and spacious dark ambient productions.
The integrated MorphFilter and the onboard effects provide everything needed to add spine-tingling ingredients to your productions and fuel your fantasies with the gloom of the Dark Planet.
Touch down on the Dark Planet and be prepared!
Roland Jupiter-50 review
Check our exclusive video to see the first, full, in-depth review of the new Roland Jupiter-50. Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman shows off the Jupiter-50’s sounds and digs deep into the synth engine, before revealing his final verdict on the performance keyboard.
Rolands pitch:
With its unprecedented fusion of synthesis and acoustic instruments, the new-generation Roland JUPITER has changed the way we play, react to, and feel a keyboard. By combining the supreme expression of the JUPITER-80 with the travel friendliness of the JUNO series, the new JUPITER-50 brings SuperNATURAL sound and pro performance to every stage and studio.
- – Stunning SuperNATURAL sounds powered by our most advanced sound engine
- – Travel-friendly design; 76-note weighted keyboard
- – Fast, friendly user interface with intuitive color-coded buttons and sliders
- – Registration function for saving and selecting sounds instantly
- – Pro-quality multi-effects and reverb
- – Expressive performance controllers, including D-BEAM, pitch/mod lever, and control input jacks
- – USB Song Player/Recorder
- – USB audio/MIDI functionality; bundled with SONAR LE and JUPITER-50 Control Surface plug-in for SONAR
Arturia Wurlitzer V Piano Review Extended
As we reported on a couple of days ago – Arturia released their emulated version of the classic Wurlitzer electric piano, here’s a nice review of it via AUB:
“Russ gives a first look and show and tell, plus his opinion on the new Arturia Wurlitzer V Piano.
Check it out for yourself.”
Review of the Nord Drum Virtual Analog Drum Synth
The four channel virtual analog drum synthesizer from Nord gets a good seeing to.
- Virtual Analog Drum Synthesizer
- 4 inputs for Electronic Drum Pads / Acoustic Drum Triggers
- MIDI In/Out
The Nord Drum is designed with the performing musician in mind and its extreme dynamic range and super-fast triggering add to the feeling of playing a real instrument. 4 high-sensitivity inputs and MIDI lets you play the Nord Drum with a wide range of Electronic Drum Pads, Acoustic Drum Triggers and MIDI-pads/Sequencers for easy integration into any existing drum-kit or the starting point for something completely new…
Create classic retro-futuristic percussion with analog waveforms or use the harmonically complex waveforms together with different colors of noise for results that both sound and respond stunningly organic.
Reason Refill Review: eXode Dubstep Bass & Synth
A new Steelberry Clones review featuring eXode’s latest Reason Refill “Dubstep Bass & Synth” for the Propellerhead Reason DAW. The Refill consists of 64 carefully crafted Combinator patches, in about a 50/50 split between bass sounds and synth lead sounds. Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated inthe UK. Its overall characteristics sound has been described as “tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals”. I believe this definition is quite critical when reviewing eXode’s Refill since it is very much tailored to work smoothly and be easily incorporated into Dubstep productions.
When we walk through the different Combinator presets the first thing that strikes us is the crispness of the sound; all CMBs uses all the right effects, including several of the new additions in the latest R6 release, such as the Echo; and the tight feeling you get when listening both in headphones and speakers. The Dubstep bass synth sounds stand out us the most creative part of eXode’s Refill, several of the bass sounds – often coupled with arpeggio effects – gnerate their own little sound universe. Robotic sounds, synthetic noise, paired with that characteristic and often evil sounding bass commonly heard in Dubstep productions. The Dubstep bass sounds are truly a treat for anyone doing Dubstep and as we mentioned in the beginning these hard, noisy bass sounds do incorporate that tight level of intensity that we would look for if we would make a track in this genre, not saying that you cannot use them elsewhere.
The Synth section is overall good and will fit many electronic tracks, however they do somewhat lack that creativity that eXode has become renown for. They are all high quality tailored and easy to configure and adapt to suit your needs, whether it be lead sounds or simply flavoring the overall mix. Something that would be a good complement to this section of the Refill would be if eXode actually also could include some of his effect settings in a separate folder, like an mixing and mastering effects folder. Since a good portion of the strength in eXode’s Refills is his work on the overall sound quality and tight use of dynamics.
Below are a couple of sound examples from the Refill, both from the bass section and the synth section.
Overall verdict then: Definitely a very tight and powerful Dubstep Refill and as eXode puts it himself:
“These sounds are sick, brutal, raw and in your face!”
Inside Synthesis – Korg Monotribe Review (with Mods)
“Here’s my review of the Korg Monotribe. My version has some very useful mods, but the first half of the video focuses on the basic features.”
The Monotribe recently got updated to version 2, here are the details:
System Version 2
Announcing a major update for the monotribe!
Version 2 provides many new features to take your playing to a new dimension!
Announcing a major update to the monotribe analog ribbon station — the full-fledged analog synth and rhythm unit with a step sequencer inherited from the Electribe! The monotribe Version 2 adds a plethora of new features, allowing you to create sequences that are even more elaborate, or to layer complex musical developments for extended performances.
Surely one of the most exciting additions is a new synchronized performance mode that allows for new type of performance using multiple monotribe units. Whether you’ve never touched a monotribe or whether you’re an expert who is thoroughly familiar with all of the current features, this new update guarantees that your analog groove-making will be more intense than ever before!
Highlights
Sequencer:
- Synth part resolution has been doubled to 16 Steps
- Volume Automation has been added to the synth part.
- Active Step can be specified for each part.
- Drum Roll capability has been added.
- Gate Time Hold function has been added.
Synthesizer:
- Sample and Hold (S&H) function added to LFO.
Sync:
- Connected sequences allow multiple monotribe units to play in rotation.
- Half Tempo function has been added.
Short Cut Keys:
- Four convenient shortcuts for creating patterns quickly
16-Step Synth parts
As with drum parts, the synth part now provides timing information in between the steps in a sequence, allowing a pattern to achieve a total of 16 steps.
Synth Part Volume Automation
Volume Automation allows the synth volume to be recorded during playback to create more detailed sequences. The left side of the ribbon controller keyboard decreases the volume, and the right side increases it. This Volume Automation can even be controlled when if Flux mode is on.
Set individual Active Steps for each Part.
The Active Step function lets you specify which steps are played or jumped when playing back the step sequencer. Now, the Active Step can be set individually for each of the SYNTH, BD, SD, and HH parts. By specifying a different number of steps for each part, you can create complex polyrhythms.
Sample & Hold (S & H) added to the LFO
The newly added S&H function is indispensible for creating mysterious analog synth sound effects. The RATE knob adjusts the frequency of change, and the INT. knob adjusts the depth of change.
“What is Sample & Hold?”
Unlike traditional LFO waveshapes that provide a constantly changing signal, the Sample & Hold feature takes a “sample” of the LFO signal and holds that level for a specific duration of time. The results are the highly popular and slightly random stepped-filter effects so famously used in analog synthesizers. By using noise as the input signal, the monotribe version 2 lets you create effects that change in a distinctively random manner.
Drum Roll capability
A roll can now be added to the desired drum part. The speed of the roll can be controlled using the ribbon controller keyboard; moving toward the right will increase the number of strikes. You can also record the drum roll using the sequencer to intuitively create subtle and dynamic drum patterns.
Linked Sequences play multiple monotribes in rotation
The Link Sequence feature is a completely new sync method that vastly expands the scope of the monotribe, to deliver even more fun. When sequence playback reaches step 8, the sequence will automatically stop and the next monotribe unit will start playing. By loop-connecting the SYNC jacks, the playback can keep cycling through multiple units – in true modular fashion!
New Additions
The Gate Time Hold function lets you use the ribbon controller keyboard to play and record new pitch information while retaining the gate times recorded in the sequencer. Also new is the Half Tempo function, which cuts the tempo in half when synchronizing to an external input from the SYNC IN jack. In addition, there are now four shortcut keys that instantly initialize various types of sequence data or active step settings.
Extended Review of Universal Audio 1176 Classic Limiter Plug-In Collection
Russ gets his hands on the new 1176 Classic Limiter Plug-In Collection from UA and puts it through an extensive test on several types of material.
Evolved from the popular Universal Audio 175 and 176 tube limiters, the 1176 retained proven qualities of these industry leaders, and set the standard for all limiters to follow. Entries found in Putnam’s design notebook point to his extensive experimentation with the newly developed FET (Field Effect Transistor) in various configurations. Eventually, he found a way of using the FET as the gain-controlling element of a compressor/limiter. While the 1176 has seen a huge number of revisions in its history, the most significant revision was by UREI engineer, Brad Plunkett, in an effort to reduce noise — hence the birth of the 1176LN at Rev C. Numerous design changes have followed since, resulting in at least 13 revisions and variations of the 1176.
Universal Audio released its first 1176 plug-in emulation in 2001. This plug-in single-handedly launched the UAD platform, and inspired a decade of analog emulation software. Today, we’ve circled back to the 1176, and modeled its entire electronic path from stem to stern — including its transformers, FET and bipolar transistor amplifiers, for colorful input/output distortion. The resulting 1176 Classic Limiter Plug-In Collection provides unrivaled emulations of three distinct 1176 units, and is indispensable for any serious engineer or producer.
The 1176 Limiter Plug-Ins Collection provides three distinct 1176 revisions, representing over 40 years of design iterations to the original 1176 — the world’s most recognized compressor. The Rev A “Bluestripe” represents the original Putnam FET limiter design, complete with its higher distortion and unique FET gain amplifier characteristics. The Rev E “Blackface” covers the early 70’s / Brad Plunkett “LN” (Low Noise) era of the 1176 circuit lineage, with variations including a more linear compression response, transistor gain amplification, and a change to the program dependence. The 1176AE provides UA’s rare 1176 40th Anniversary Edition, complete with exclusive “hot-rod” mods — including its lower 2:1 compression ratio, a fixed “super slow” 10ms attack mode, and the program dependence of Rev A.
SpaceLab Synth Review // IOS iPad
An overview, sound examples and review of SpaceLab v1.0.1 for iPad.
SpaceLab is a monophonic synthesizer. It has four ways to play: keyboard, graph, guitar, and wind controller. Underneath those interfaces is a fully programmable subtractive synth with oscillators, filters, envelopes, effects, FM, presets, an arpeggiator, full MIDI control, and much more!
DATAMASKIN
