World’s First Review of Fxpansion Tremor
Take a look at the cool new Tremor synth based drum machine from Fxpansion.
Tremor: a software drum machine with powerful synthesis, effects, modulation and step-sequencing. DCAM circuit-modelled sound generation is fused with new ideas to produce original sounds with the punch and extreme sound pressure of old-school analogue. Tremor’s dance drums, funky beatscapes, abstract machines and undiscovered sonic terrain are suited to all kinds of electronic, urban and experimental music.
Moog Minitaur Bass Synth Review
“Moog latest synthesizer has people frotthing at the mouth. Is it foot and mouth, or foot in mouth? (terrible pun). This monophonic bass synthesizer is Moog’s most affordable yet.
Thanks to those who left questions and comments, I’ve tried to answer them all.”
Review of the Ensoniq ESQ-1 Synthesizer
Ensoniq ESQ-1 is a hybrid digital-analog synthesizer released by Ensoniq in 1986. The ESQ-1 featured 8 voices with 3 digital oscillators per voice. Each oscillator could be set to one of 32 different waveforms. Some of these were standard simple waveforms such as sawtooth and pulse, while others were samples such as piano and voice. Each oscillator also had an associated DCA (not VCA) to control its volume in 256 steps. In addition to that, an ESQ1’s voice featured 3 LFOs, 4 envelope generators, a 4-pole resonant analog lowpass filter (VCF), and a final VCA with left/right panning. It also sported a 61-key velocity-sensitive keyboard, full MIDI implementation, memory for 40 patches, a memory cartridge slot, and an 8-track sequencer. A rackmount version called the ESQ-M was also released circa 1987, with exactly the same specification minus the sequencer. The ESQ-1 was produced until 1988.
Review: Massive beats from Nuclues SoundLab – Celluloide Beats
Time again for a review here at Steelberry Clones – this time we have taken a closer look at Nucleus SoundLabs’ new Reason Refill called Celluloide Beats.
To begin with Celluloide Beats consists of around 50 (x8) or so Combinator patches and associated sounds recreated as REX-files. Due to the way they are built they may easily be run in anything from 60/70 BPMs up to 270 > or so BPMs – it will still sound great. To get an overview of what you are getting I would loosely categorize it as multi-sampled drums, beats and percussions into a massively unique and powerful mix of rhythms and sounds that would easily fit into dubstep, electro, house, techno type music, but I would not limit it to that since there are several intriguing ambient type sounds with a real sci-fi / cinematic approach to them.
A good thing with the CMBs are that they are very easy to work with, partly because each CMB is more or less a full mix in itself with limited need for further mixing and mastering, and partly because they are using fairly common rhythms meaning that the tempo and the sequenced beats are not overly experimental. Each Combinator patch in a Celluloid Beats contains 8 loops – 1 original loop and 7 creative loop remixes. This is achieved, according to Nucleus, by using the Slice Edit Mode on Dr. OctoRex to change filtering, decay, volume and more on a per-step basis for each loop. Going farther than that, unique FX are added to each patch which are used to effect specific loop slices – so each slice in a loop can have a different distortion, filtering or delay. The resulting loop remixes sound incredibly complex, but they certainly aren’t complicated to use.
To purchase the product use the link below:
Click here to view more details
Review of UVI Emulation & Drumulation Sound Library
Get ready for some real old school sample nostalgia as Russ takes a look at the UVI Emulator and Drumulator sound libraries.
This is an extended review which should hopefully help those considering making the investment/
Teenage Engineering OP-1 Synth Review and Beatmaking
http://ohdratdigital.com The Teenage Engineering OP-1 is a synth, sampler, and virtual four track tape recorder all in a chassis that looks akin to a classic home synth instrument – the Casio VL Tone looks like it might have been a big design inspiration. In our epic review we go through our likes and dislikes about the instrument, show you some sounds, and show off a beat we made by performing it live.
McDSP 6030 Ultimate Compressor Review
Russ checks out the McDSP 6030 Ulitmate Compressor and reviews it.
Using the popular module format, the 6030 Ultimate Compressor offers ten different compressors. All of these designs are by McDSP – some completely from the ground up, while others are emulations of existing gear with unique variations created by McDSP. Each 6030 Ultimate Compressor module is easy to operate, and yet has enough sophistication for the most discerning professional.
Whatever your style, from smooth tube emulations to aggressive solid-state designs, the 6030 Ultimate Compressor has a custom-made dynamic range control module that is just right for you.
For more information, check out the Colin’s Corner article about this product.
6030 Ultimate Compressor YouTube Video
Features:
- Unique twists to classic designs in addition to several completely new designs
- Multiple compression algorithms in a single compressor
- Side chain support
- Analog Saturation modeling
- Double precision processing
- Ultra low latency
- Mono and stereo versions
Novation Impulse – Full review
Shorn’s back with a look at the new super controller from Novation. With Automap 4.2 integration and semi-weighted keys
Impulse is a range of professional USB/MIDI controllers. They each have a precision keyboard and a full control surface powered by a brand new version of Novation’s Automap control software – Automap 4 (which makes getting hands-on with your DAW/plug-ins fast and simple). Impulse also has 8 back-lit drum pads which can warp arpeggios, roll beats and launch Live clips.
Review of the Sketch Synth 3D v 1.0.4
Steelberry Clones got our hands on the newly released Sketch Synth 3D for a review (version 1.0.4). To best describe Sketch Synth 3D you can say that it is both a synth and a control interface that lets you shape and scalp your soundscapes in 3D. You can use it straight out of the box; but sketch synth also offers you the ability to extend and control your other synths in 3D using Midi output and OSC input & output. We made a short test run of the app on an iPad 2 featured in the video below:
Sketch Synth 3D has a quite different and “rough” UI that may take some time to get used to, but once you have gotten used to it, it is fairly easy to jump from different performance and editing modes. The sounds coming from the Sketch Synth 3D are quite intriguing and easy to manipulate. In one sense from a music creation perspective this app is somewhat what you could expect from an updated KORG Kaossilator. To draw sounds in 3D you can use a touchpad, accelerometers and automated envelopes. This gives you control over the shapes that your sounds take on. However, although beautiful and innovative we still feel that the app has some more steps to take before it is a viable alternative – especially seeing that the sketch pad tends to have glitches in the animation, we lack a sense of real flow in the animations. What is nice though is the ability to load samples and effectively manipulate otherwise fairly dry sounding sounds and take you music making to the next level – adding ambient feels to it. You can either use Sketch Synth’s sound engine to apply effects to samples (including wav files of your own), or you can use it to output OSC or MIDI to your existing synths.
The new iSynth iPad Synthesizer – Review
“This is my review for iSynth Version 1.0 – iSynth (not to be confused with the iPhone photo editing app) is a virtual monophonic analog-synthesizer for your iPad. iSynth is designed and optimized for live performances. So far NOT my favorite synth. This is version 1 and there is no support for CoreMidi. The key selling point to this synth is the fact that you can stream the audio from it to an AirPlay device. I do not have an AirPlay amplification system so I could not test this feature. Other than that it’s pretty much your basic monophonic dual oscillator synth for the iPad. I did not like how the knobs behaved. They were difficult to control. I also did not like the fact that this synth can not be flipped horizontally. I use an Alesis iO Dock and it is designed to be used horizontally. I also noticed clicking in one preset.”
Features At A Glance:
✔ Dual Oscillator:
– Generating square, triangle, saw tooth and reverse saw tooth waves.
– Octave selector
– Lag processor
– Cross-Fader
– Oscillator fine-tuning
– Oscillator synchronization
✔ LFO Filter:
– Supporting square, triangle, saw tooth and reverse saw tooth waves.
– Filter, vibrato and tremolo modulation
✔ ADSR Volume Envelope Generator:
– Control attack, decay, sustain and release
✔ ADSR Filter Envelope Generator:
– Control attack, decay, sustain and release
✔ Low Pass Filter:
– Frequency cutoff from 10 kHz
✔ Arpeggio Modul:
– Up to five notes
– Select between up, down, up/down and random playing
✔ Keyboard:
– Switch between 4 octaves
✔ Patches:
– Shiped with default patches
– Save unlimited user defined patches
– Share your patches with others via iTunes filesharing
✔ AirPlay:
– Stream directly from iSynth to any AirPlay compatible device
iSynth is available for $1.99 for a limited time
DATAMASKIN
