Review of Wave Alchemy Pro II Synth – Extended Video
Russ takes a look at the Wave Alchemy Pro II synth.
Inject your mix with a comprehensive collection of fully editable and beautiful sounding analogue synth sounds…
Driven by a custom scripted Kontakt 4 engine, intuitive graphical interface and over 6500 carefully recorded samples, Pro II is a limitless source of screaming bass lines, lush synth tones and powerful sequences.
Inspired by one of the most popular synths of its time, Pro II combines classic sounds with modern sound shaping tools to achieve a versatile and fully programmable hybrid synthesizer!
Pro II ships with a 3.9GB core sound library and includes 195 expertly programmed presets, all of which are editable via our extensively scripted instrument panel and stunning GUI controls.
Tech Vocals – new sample library in the Grid Machine Slice series for Kontakt
Channel Robot has released Tech Vocals, a sample library is the Grid Machine Slice series for Kontakt.
Here are Volumes 2 and 3 of the best selling Minimal Tech Vox – a fantastic collection of snipped, glitched, processed and tweaked minimal vocal samples, produced specifically for the dance music producer.
Whether you are making Tech, Electro, Deep or Mainroom Dance Music – these samples recorded by pro session singers have been mangled, chopped and edited to provide you with the building blocks for some awesome grooves.
Featuring a killer selection of one word single shot samples, glitched vox sounds, vox stabs, Fx Processed Loops, vocal hooks and re-sequenced parts which together form a formidable collection of samples for any producer looking to introduce the human element to loops and sections of their productions, and now you can further process cut, mix, slice and glitch to produce completely unique content in Grid Machine Slice.
The sound library is available to purchase from Loopmasters for £29.95 GBP.
Solina String Ensemble – new sample library for Native Instruments Kontakt 4
Binary Music announces the release of Solina String Ensemble sample library for Native Instruments Kontakt 4.
Originally manufactured in 1974, by Dutch company Eminent, and later, under licence by ARP, it was an immediate success across a wide spectrum of music, with users including David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Parliament, Air, Stevie Wonder, Elton John and The Cure.
Every note of each voice (Violin, Viola, Horn, Trumpet, Cello and Contrabass), has been sampled at 44.1 kHz, 24 bit resolution.
Two distinct versions are included – one sampled with the original modulation and three round-robins per note, and one sampled without modulation, but with modulation recreated using Kontakt’s scripting and effects.
Available as an instant download, price: £15.00 (approx. $23 U.S. or €18) + VAT in E.U.
Full details and audio demos at: http://www.binarymusic.co.uk/solina.html
80′s Retro Drummer – new collection of 80′s drum samples
Zenhiser has announced 80′s Retro Drummer, a collection of 80′s drum samples.
Fresh from the Zenhiser studio comes a 80′s drum kit that will simply blow you away. The attention to detail on these 80′s drum sounds is second to none and literally took us weeks to produce using the same concept and tricks that were used back in the 80′s by high end studios and producers. ’80′s Retro Drummer’ is a drum kit that not only sounds like it was created in the eighties but stands up against any modern drum kit.
Clocking in at just over 390 authentic 80′s drum sounds means this sample pack is an all in one pack for all producers and remixers. With styles and techniques used by some of the pioneers of the 80s including Phil Collins, Howard Jones, Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, Duran Duran, Human League, Tears For Fears, Art Of Noise, Steve Winwood and more this is a sample pack with a decade of pure 80′s drum history.
The sample pack is available to purchase for $30 USD.
Ableton Korg Monotron Delay Emulation
Ableton Live Instrument rack Emulation of the Korg Monotron Delay. Create with samples from the Korg Monotron, this Ableton Synthesizer has effects built in to model the Monotron Delay. Fun and diverse synth with great sound design potential. The Monotron Delay Rack has 8 macro controls that allow you to greatly alter its sound. It features controls for the synth’s filter and an LFO that is modulating the filter frequency. There, of course, is plenty of control over the delay. You can alter the amount of delay, the time between each delay, and a band-pass filter to change the character of the delay. I have set the delay itself to repitch mode, which emulates analog tape delays.
Free Download @ http://bit.ly/freesynth54
iZotope Iris – Intro To Iris
Introducing Iris:
Unearth a world of sounds you’ve never heard before with iZotope Iris™. Driven by iZotope’s award-winning visual selection technology, Iris is a groundbreaking sample-based synthesizer that harnesses the power of both your eyes and your ears. Fuel your creativity with Iris’s new spin on sound design, perfect for musical inspiration and sonic experimentation.
- Discover what’s inside any sound: Load audio into Iris and explore spectral details that a regular waveform locks away.
- Highlight what intrigues you: Extract and isolate the most interesting sonic components with a full suite of visual selection tools.
- Combine the unthinkable: Layer completely diverse sound sources into totally unique combinations… what do a tattoo needle and a swamp bird and a slot machine sound like together?
- Stay musical: Rely on intelligent root note detection to help shape musical material from noise, ambient textures, soundscapes… even mistakes!
- Enhance and invigorate your sound: Apply world-class iZotope reverbs, distortions and delays, then take advantage of extended synth features like amp envelopes and LFOs.
- Get amazing sounds immediately: Spark your imagination with over 500 patches by world-class sound designers, or design your own with Iris’s 4 GB library of diverse sound samples.
Download the free 10-day trial of Iris here:
In this video, get a tour of the main features in Iris!
Dubstep Synths Vol.2 – Massive Presets
Loopmasters has released presents Dubstep Synths Vol.2 – Massive Presets by Re-Zone, a new title in the Patchworx series of soundsets.
Re-Zone tracks have been released on Toolroom Records, Black Hole Recordings, 1605, Baroque, Be Yourself Music, BugEyed, Unreleased Digital, Perfecto, Stereo Productions, Whoop, Kinky Vinyl and more.Re-Zone is continually supported by: Pete Tong, Carl Cox, Mark Knight, Roger Sanchez, Axwell, Tiesto, Sasha, Laurent Garnier, and Nick Warren.
The 64 Massive Dubstep Patches included in this pack are comprised of 28 Basses, 4 SFX, 21 Leads and 11 Pads. Included are Vocalised Leads, Hypnotic FX, Epic Pads, Evil Growls, and Sequenced Dubstep Basses.
The soundset is available to purchase for £14.95 GBP.
Commodore 64 Synthesizer Sessions Part 2 – free samples
Bedroom Producers Blog has released Commodore 64 Synthesizer Sessions Part 2, a collection of free samples.
Two different Commodore 64s were used for creating the sounds in this sample pack, although both have SID 8580 installed. The original plan was to record some bits from a SID 6581 this time, but my old C64 died literally 5 minutes after I plugged it in. To make that major bummer even major-er, there were no original C64s (aka C64 beige) to be found in the local ads during this three week period.
However, I did manage to get ahold of a C64G, which was sampled for one of the instruments in this sample pack (the BASIC Bass patch, pictured below). C64G also has a SID 8580 installed, but they do say that every SID chip is different, so there’s still a bit of variety in the hardware sense I guess. All other sounds were captured from a C64C which was also used in the previous pack. Hopefully, a C64 beige will pop up in the ads before I start working on part 3.
Commodore 64 Synthesizer Sessions Part 2 features
- 14 multisampled instruments and one multi patch.
- Total of 142 samples in 16-bit WAV format (download size is 79.4 MB).
- Incluides Kontakt 5 and Shortcircuit 1 patches.
The sample pack is a free download at BPB.
Skyline – Analog Keys and Rhythms for Kontakt
Rhythmic Robot has released Skyline Analog Keys and Rhythms for Kontakt.
Skyline is sampled from a rare Italian GIS Skyline keyboard. The Skyline was an early 70s analog keyboard-and-rhythms combo machine with 3 combinable keyboard tones (giving it a grand total of 7 sounds) and six preset analog rhythms. It was a strikingly designed instrument, with a contoured and beveled matte black case standing on twin columns attached to a pedestal base. The casing also housed an amp and twin speakers, which helped to take the edge off the transistor sound and gave the Skyline a surprisingly sweet, warm tone.
Rhythmic Robot’s sampled version of the instrument samples all of the tones and their combinations, ensuring that combined tones sound exactly as they do on the original Skyline (rather than recreating them in Kontakt). It also contains the Preset Rhythms, which have been sliced and are fully sync-able to host DAW tempo – and also can be combined for multi-rhythms. In addition to the Preset Rhythms there are individual kit piece hits for the rhythm tones, which have been multi sampled and are triggered randomly to avoid machine-gunning.
Skyline incorporates some carefully-chosen effects accessible from the front panel, with Compression and Level controls for the Rhythm section, and Tube saturation, Vibrato and envelope Attack and Decay for the keyboard sounds, plus a lush Chorus. Although the original Skyline was mono, the sampled version includes a subtle stereo spread from the low notes to the highs. Output can be run through an amp cab simulator for an extra “live” feel.
Features:
- All 7 possible keyboard tones sampled at 24-bit.
- All 6 analog preset rhythms sampled.
- Rhythms freely combinable and will automatically sync to host tempo.
- Compression and Level controls for rhythms.
- Tube saturation, Vibrato, envelope Attack and Decay, and amp cab simulation built in.
- Stereo spread tracks keyboard position for subtle width.
Price: £8.95.
Compatible with Kontakt version 4.2.3 and above (including Kontakt 5). Not compatible with Kontakt Player.
Drawbar 350 – homage to the original Stylophone 350S
Rhythmic Robot has released Drawbar 350, a unique analogue drawbar organ instrument created from the overheated transistors of the enormous Stylophone 350S.
Drawbar 350 is both a homage to the original Stylophone 350S and a departure from it. You can imitate the original 350 perfectly by simply treating the drawbars as on / off switches – either fully out of fully in – and leaving the envelope controls set to minimum. (And why not? It’s a classic, after all!) Or you can go to town and create washes, pads, soundscapes and textures. Or you can turn the whole thing up to 11 for a really aggressive, Punk 70s sound that all but leaps out of the speakers and strangles you.
The Drawbar 350 is without doubt a snarling, spitting, angry character at heart, full of attitude and malice. But we’ve given you the tools to tame it and bend it to your will. It’s a sound that you simply won’t find anywhere else: original and dangerous. Welcome to the world of the Drawbar 350.
Drawbar 350 features
- All eight voicings of the Stylophone 350S sampled at 24-bit.
- Drawbar control replaces the toggle-switches with 12-stage blend-able drawbars.
- Voices: Woodwind 16″, 8″, 4″, 2″; Brass 16″, 8″; Strings 4″, 2″.
- Transistor organ sound enhanced by specifically-chosen effects processors.
- Bite, Anger, Fury and Vibe settings to roughen or tame the sound.
Drawbar 350 for Kontakt (full version 4.2.3 or later required) is available to purchase for £8.95 GBP.
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