Teaser for the soon-to-be-released interactive granular sampler for iPad
A “grain cloud” may be added to the screen under the current mouse position with the press of a key. This cloud has an internal timing system that triggers individual grain voices in sequence. The user has control over the number of grain voices in a cloud, the overlap of these grains, the duration, the pitch, the window/envelope, and the extent of random motion in the XY plane. By selecting a cloud and moving it over a rectangle, the sound contained in the rectangle will be sampled at the relative position of each grain voice as it is triggered. By moving the cloud in along the dimension of the rectangle that is orthogonal to the time dimension, the amplitude of the resulting grain bursts changes.
We will provide more details on this as soon as we have them
Enjoy for now 
Retro Joy – Serial Serendipity DIY
Some fun with an old joystick and a sampler made from an Arduino + the Adafruit Waveshield.
Curious about what the Adafruit is? Here’s a description:
Adding quality audio to an electronic project is surprisingly difficult. Here is a shield for Arduinos that solves this problem. It can play up to 22KHz, 12bit uncompressed audio files of any length. It’s low cost, available as an easy-to-make kit. It has an onboard DAC, filter and op-amp for high quality output. Audio files are read off of an SD/MMC card, which are available at nearly any store. Volume can be controlled with the onboard thumbwheel potentiometer.
This shield is a kit, and comes with all parts you need to build it. Arduino, SD card, tools, speaker and headphones are not included. It is fairly easy to construct and anyone with a successful soldering project under their belt should be able to build it.
The shield comes with an Arduino library for easy use; simply drag uncompressed wave files onto the SD card and plug it in. Then use the library to play audio when buttons are pressed, or when a sensor goes off, or when serial data is received, etc. Audio is played asynchronously as an interrupt, so the Arduino can perform tasks while the audio is playing.
http://adafruit.com/products/94
Groove Drums – New drum machine and looper from IMEA
IMEA STUDIO – GROOVE DRUMS door ImeaDan
GROOVE DRUMS
VSTi plugin compatible MAC and WINDOWS, its architecture combines a sampler and an innovative and powerful tool allows you to create easily and intuitively grooves and drums loops.
• Sequencer / sampler designed to generate percussion.
• Innovative tool for randomization.
• Ability to create loops that can be used by loops sequencer softwares.
• Drag & Drop patterns.
• 8 channels. Comes with 2 VST, one with 8 independent outputs.
• 16 patterns of 64 steps per channel.
• Equalizer, insertions and effects sends.
• Comes with Chorus, Compressor, Delay, Filter, Flanger, Limiter, Reverb and Overdrive.
Rhythmic Robot releases Boss DR55, Magnus Reed Organ and StyloDrum Kontakt Instruments
Rhythmic Robot have released three new instruments for Kontakt 4.2.3 and later:
- Doctor 55: a sampled recreation of the Boss DR55 analogue drum machine.
- Magnus: a reed organ emulating a 1950s Bakelite Magnus organ and a 1970s plastic version.
- StyloDrum: a glitchy drum machine with four kits sampling scratches, crackles, pops and squeals from vintage Stylophones which have been pitched, looped and trimmed to form electronic drum sounds.
Doctor 55 costs £4.95. Magnus and StyloDrum cost £3.95.
Doctor 55 is a Kontakt version of the Boss DR55 analogue drum machine. It samples the original with great precision at 24-bit. Each of the four original kit pieces (kick, snare, hats and rimshot) are covered, plus an additional “hidden” snare sound that only showed up on the original during programming. This additional snare has been given its own Attack and Decay parameters, hidden on the rear panel, which allow the user to create brushed snare sounds or snares with long decay tails.
Additionally, as usual with Rhythmic Robot drum machines, multiple samples have been taken through the entire travel of the DR55’s “Accent” control. These differently-accented samples can then be accessed either by tweaking the “Accent” control on the GUI panel, or by velocity from a MIDI keyboard (or by drawing velocity automation straight into a DAW lane). Accent amounts change the tonality of the kit pieces considerably, and can be dialed in on a per-kit-piece basis, which of course was not possible on the original instrument (where Accent functioned globally).
The Doctor 55 rounds things out with a Tone control, plus effects control over tube saturation, bit-crushing effects, Drive distortion and an output compressor / limiter for “gluing” and pumping effects.
Features:
- All the sounds of the DR55 captured through the entire travel of the Accent control.
- Kit pieces individually adjustable for level, pan and Accent.
- New “hidden” snare sound sampled, and adjustable for attack and decay.
- Velocity Retrofit button allows incoming velocity to vary the Accent level dynamically (for humanised beats).
- Bitcrusher, tube saturation, distortion and compression / limiting on the outputs.
Magnus is a reed organ instrument sampled from two vintage Magnus reed organs: a Bakelite model from the 1950s, and a red plastic model from the 1970s. The Bakelite model was Magnus Organs’ first ever model and is extremely rare.
Magnus allows the user to blend the “Bakelite” and “Plastic” samples to taste via the front panel controls, and adds Tone and “Electrify” — which brings in tube harmonic distortion to the sound. Attack and Release controls are available for the amplitude envelope, and longer release times invoke a slight pitch drop-off as the sound decays, which mimics the behaviour of a real reed organ having its keys very slowly let up (air pressure through the reeds drops, and the pitch falls as a result). Stereo spread, chorus and phaser effects are available on the rear panel.
Magnus is designed for unusual organ sounds and breathy pad textures.
Features:
- Bakelite 1950s and Plastic 1970s samples can be blended to taste.
- “Electrify” control for adding harmonic distortion; Tone control for high-end roll-off.
- Attack and Decay parameters.
- Original pitch drop-off emulated on long ADSR release settings.
- Stereo spread, chorus and phaser controls on rear panel.
StyloDrum is an analogue drum machine built from sampled scratches, bleeps, bloops, fizzes, noises, crackles, thumps and glitches — all taken from vintage Stylophones. These have been pitch-shifted, looped, trimmed and fiddled with as necessary to turn them into old-school-style analogue hits. StyloDrum incorporates four kits spread over four octaves, each with at least two kicks and two snares. Most have hats, some have crashes, toms, claps or other “classic” sounds. Interspersed are a lot of random scratches, glitches and other Stylophone-based weirdnesses.
Kit pieces can be adjusted in level and pan position, and there’s a comprehensive effects section with Saturation, Drive and “Pump” compression to really kick things into gear. StyloDrum is a unique source of left-field electronic sounds for any genre, with a glitchy, grainy edge.
Features:
- Four kits built entirely of Stylophone scratches, glitches, squeaks and squeals.
- Pan and level controls.
- Tube saturation, Drive distortion and “Pump” compression.
- Unique and unusual electronic elements for any genre.
UVI Announces Emulation II
UVI has announced Emulation II, it’s simulation of the fabled E-mu Emulator II sampler. Here’s what they have to say:
“Emulation II features a set of unique instruments to reproduce that typical music from the 80s: from warm digital sounds to the most analog-ish textures.
UVI adopted a hybrid approach to create these sounds, combining deep multi-sampling and powerful modeling tools (analog filters, LFO, envelopes, etc.), inspired by the original machine and enhanced with today most modern audio processing and script technology.
Sounds were recorded and carefully selected from the authentic restored instrument, with the very best analog and digital gear, suiting UVI quality standard. This process allows preserving the original sounds’ lo-fi charm.
Besides, hundreds of sounds and instruments among the best are included: drums, bass, bells, choir-voices, fretted instruments, FXs, keyboards, mallets, percussion, synths, strings, orchestral hits and a lot more.
A simple, yet complete, user interface reproduces the looks and feeling of the most famous and essential machine from the eighties. With 250+ best sounds and primary editing tools, Emulation II enables you to create authentic spin-offs with infinite options of sounds and tones.
This is definitely the ultimate digital version of the long standing professional sampler of the mid-80s, that has been used by Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel, Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Jean-Michel Jarre, Stevie Wonder, Genesis, Paul McCartney, Enya, Vangelis, in John Carpenter’s soundtracks, etc.
Discover also Drumulation: an utter beatbox with step sequencer from the eighties, loaded with 500+ drums and percussion sounds. Make your beats sound 12 bits!”
Emulation II is available for Mac and PC in Standalone, VST, AU, RTAS, and MAS formats. Requires an iLok dongle.
Price is $199
Borderlands Demo/Improvisation
http://vimeo.com/34382992
Borderlands is an interactive granular sampling instrument that was built for a course at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA).
Please view the video in fullscreen, HD (so the text is visible).
For source code, usage information, and other details, please visit ccrma.stanford.edu/~carlsonc/256a/Borderlands/index.html
Borderlands originated as a final project for the class “Software Paradigms for Computer Music” at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). Given the time constraints of the academic quarter and the short period over which Borderlands was developed, the software is by no means fully realized – there are a lot of features left to be added (see the list here). I hope to continue expanding the capabilities in the coming weeks. A multitouch/mobile version is planned, but probably won’t be available for another few months. I have also been talking with a few people about an interactive sound installation, which will hopefully begin to take shape in the near future.
IK Multimedia has announced that SampleTank® 1.1 for iOShas been released
IK Multimedia has announced that SampleTank® 1.1 for iOS is now available as a universal app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
The SampleTank 1.1 update adds a 4-track MIDI recorder that enables the mobile musician to record beats, grooves or complete songs anytime and everywhere. The new recorder features quantize and loop functions, export to audio and integration with the built-in pattern player making SampleTank a full-featured mobile sound and groove workstation. Plus the new beat-making interface with assignable pads makes groove creation a breeze.
The impressive number of sounds and patterns has grown even further with this update. The number of included instruments has doubled in the regular version and now exceeds 500 total available instruments. SampleTank now also includes over 1,000 professionally programmed patterns so that anyone can make music regardless of prior musical ability. Instruments and patterns are organized into 16 categories including Pianos, Organs, Strings, Basses, Guitars, Drums, Synths, Woodwinds, Brass, Ethnic Instruments, Percussion and more all instantly accessible from a single app to create any style of music.
Additionally SampleTank 1.1 update also adds increased compatibility with third party iOS docks and accessories plus many more new features.
SampleTank 1.1 for iOS is available to purchase for $19.99 USD / €15.99 EUR. A free version of SampleTank is also available with 8 sounds plus their selection of patterns. An additional 22 expansion sound packs are available for in-app purchase starting from $4.99 USD / €3.99 EUR each or all together for a competitive bundle price.
Features:
- 4-part multi-timbral professional quality sound and groove workstation
- Expandable sound library with more than 500 instruments in 16 categories
- Over 1,000 melodic and rhythmic patterns for groove creation or accompaniment
- Included 4-track MIDI recorder with audio export
- Built-in insert effects and master reverb
- Easy-to-use, intuitive interface
- Sound and effects editing with multiple parameters
- Play interface with piano keyboard, scale-based keyboard and drum pads
- Compatible with iPhone 4S, 4 and 3GS, iPod touch 4th and 3rd generation, iPad 2 and iPad with iOS 4.3 and newer
- Designed in concert with iRig MIDI interface for iOS devices
- Free version also available
Building nice grooves in SampleTank
SampleTank® 1.1 is a universal app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad that gives you the power to quickly build grooves with its enhanced PADS interface and 4-track MIDI recorder with unlimited overdubbing. The familiar drum machine-style interface lets you lay down beats easily with adjustable quantize values that you can change on the fly as well loop record and a click track that you can turn on and off at will. Put a drum kit on part A, a bass on part B, a piano on part C, sound FX on part D … anything you like! You can export your recording as a stereo audio AAC file via E-Mail or iTunes File Sharing to use it in another app like AmpliTube or VocaLive or a computer DAW like Logic or Pro Tools. You can also export a .MID standard MIDI file. SampleTank 1.1 is a free update for all existing users and is available in the App Store. Check it out today!
http://ikmultimedia.com/sampletankipad/features/
Free VSTi sampler for Windows
CWI has released version 1.0 of the free TX16Wx VSTi sampler for Windows.
TX16Wx is a 100% free VSTi Sampler with professional features and an easy to use graphical interface – and – one of the few sampler instruments, free or commercial, with a fully documented file format. Not a preset-player or disk-streaming library engine, this is a plug-in for you to make your own sounds, tweak and experiment.
Features:
- Unlimited multi-timbral operation.
- 128 voice polyphony.
- Modulation matrix with 16 modulation slots per voice.
- 24dB resonant filter.
- Two syncable LFO + Two modulation envelopes per voice.
- Polyphonic glide.
- Built-in sample editor.
- Automatic Loop Slicing + slice mapping.
- Actually Samples! Record waves straight into the sampler.
- Graphical keyboard mapping editor.
- Automatic sample layout.
- Drag & drop of samples/programs/performances/banks.
- Automatic pitch detection.
- Loop crossfading.
- 4 Stereo + 8 Mono outputs.
- 16 mappable controllers for automation.
- 48 mappable VST parameters for automation.
- Per-sample loop start/end/direction modulation.
- Multiple loop definitions per wave.
- Individual outs for keyboard groups (drums).
- Multiple keyboard scales.
- Multiple trigger modes.
- Mono/Poly/Legato operation.
- 8 choke groups per program.
- Preview loaded programs and samples in a song before loading.
- Quick select of sound data via MIDI.
- WAV/AIFF/AIFC/SoundFont 2 support.
- Reads Typhoon compressed AIF files.
- Reads Original Yamaha OS Wave files.
- 100% documented XML-based sound file format. Anyone can write conversion tools.
- Saves data in DAW project directory.
- Low CPU usage.
- Fully native, optimized for SSE2.
- 64-bit support.
Visit: CWI Technology
Polyoptics: OctaTest – Octratrack, op1
“Testing out the octatrack. The loops are taken from a track I had laid out on the op1.
I am still figuring out the work flow, but in this case, after assigning the loops to tracks, I used the scenes functionality to play out the track live instead of patterns.
The octratack has freed this tune from being locked up in the op1. Next time I will get into patterns and banks more.”
DATAMASKIN
