Ableton Live 7
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5F4XPGsvm8]
Live 7—What’s New
Ableton Live 7 renews the core of Live, with enhancements to the audio engine including 64-bit mix summing, new and improved devices with side-chaining capability, better MIDI timing and hardware integration. We have also included the most-requested features, such as time signature changes, video export, multiple automation lanes and much more. Version 7 marks the arrival of the new “Drum Rack” which streamlines beat production via an easy drag-and-drop interface and offers native sliced audio and REX file support, bringing endless creative possibilities to beat lovers.
New Ableton Instruments
The new add-on instruments are the result of Ableton’s collaboration with leading industry partners. The palette covers physically modeled electric pianos, analog synthesizers and string instruments as well as multi-mic/multi-layer sampled acoustic drums, drum machines, orchestral strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion. The instruments integrate tightly with Live, both in terms of workflow and resource management.
Tension is a physical modeling string synthesizer that allows you to create incredibly accurate reproductions of real instruments or design otherworldly hybrids.
Electric offers the sounds of classic electric pianos through physical modeling synthesis, allowing you to dive inside and play with the guts of the instrument.
Analog emulates the unique circuitry and irresistible tweakability of vintage analog synthesizers. Able to produce everything from silky pad sweeps to earth-shaking bass.
Session Drums is a meticulously multisampled library of acoustic drums that reproduces the nuances of a recording session and puts you in the engineer’s seat.
Drum Machines offers a choice selection of classic drum machines, meticulously sampled to faithfully reproduce the original sounds.
Essential Instrument Collection 2—a choice selection of acoustic and electric pianos, guitars, bass, drums, orchestral instruments and more. Version 2 adds acoustic and electronic drums as well as presets optimized for better sound quality and faster loading.
Orchestral Strings-a comprehensive selection of naturally rich and dynamic stringed instruments. Features solo and ensemble violin, viola, cello and double bass, all recorded in their natural positions within the orchestra, complete with a number of articulations.
Orchestral Brass is a thorough set of vivid and colorful brass instruments. Features solo and ensemble French horn, trombone, trumpet and tuba, with a unique set of articulations in multiple section sizes.
Orchestral Woodwinds delivers a variety of clear and vibrant wind instruments. Features solo and ensemble flute, clarinet, bassoon, oboe and English horn with a broad selection of articulations.
Orchestral Percussion captures the true essence of symphonic percussion instruments in pristine quality. Features vibraphone, marimba, xylophone, crotales, glockenspiel, tubular bells, cymbals and timpani with a variety of articulations.
Analogue Synthesizers
AudioWarrior has released Analogue Synthesizers For Kontakt, a collection of gurgling analog sounds from some of the of the most famous analog synthesizers of the 60’s & 70’s. This collection includes searing synth leads, deep shaking bass patches, FX, trippy pads based on classics like Juno, Oberheim, Moog, Prophet, Oscar, and more.
What the manufacturer says:
The Holy Grail of Analogue Sythesizer Leads, Bass’, FX, Pads.
The best sounds of 7 Famous Analogue and Digital Synthesizers from the 60’s & 70’s
that have shaped our civilization are now yours to do with what you will by land, by air, or sea.
Evolving Alien Environments and Soundscapes including Rain & Thunder, The Grays,
BladeRunner, RAIN, Deep Sea, Alien Locust, Ethereal Bog, Frogs of Plague
Every famous sound is included that put synths on the map. Digitized for maximum flexibility for use in Native-Instruments Kontakt.
Once you have them activated and on screen, further twist them into pulsating textures and pitch wheel them into pandemonium.
Download the whole retro-classic collection to your desktop in minutes.
If anyone has tried it already, feel free to leave a review
Nostalgia – Casio SK1 Sampler Keyboard
The Casio SK1 was once the cheapest sampler in the world. Now that some software samplers are available for free off the internet and magazine cover CDs, the SK1 probably doesn’t qualify for that title anymore.
The sampling was 8-bit and with a bandwidth of around 4kHz (compared with CDs’ 16-bit, 20kHz bandwidth), it’s fair to assume that you know what to expect of the sound quality – distinctly low lo-fi !
It offered a handful of sampled instrumental sounds stored in ROM but its main appeal was its ability to sample. Of course, with such poor sample quality, it was another of those novelty ‘toys’ like the Stylophone and Casio’s own VL-Tone.
There was little you could do with the sound once you’d sampled it but there were thirteen preset envelope shapes you could apply to the sample along with portamento and vibrato. Interpolation was also poor and so sounds (preset or sampled) didn’t transpose well but that only added to their ‘character’. There was no way to store your sample which was lost when you switched the SK1 off!
Naturally, the keyboard was not velocity sensitive but neither was there was any MIDI to play the sounds with velocity from an external keyboard to overcome that limitation.
The SK1 also came with ‘drum’ sounds in ROM which were required for the auto-accompaniment function.
The SK1 is used by Fatboy Slim, Beck, Autechre, Portishead and Blur (amongst other lo-fi enthusiasts) who favour it even today, presumably for its lo-fi, crusty sound quality.
Louis van Dompselaar has kindly donated the entire soundset from his own SK1. The samples were taken from the line out and Louis deliberately powered the thing off batteries to eliminate mains hum. There is a distinct DC ‘thump’ at the start of each of the preset instruments but this is apparently a ‘feature’ of the real thing! There are eight presets and all but one are presented ‘authentically’. However, the ‘Voice’ preset has been run through Antares Infinity looping software to create quite a beautiful and ethereal pad sound which, despite its humble origins, sounds quite classy and ‘expensive’.
The SK1’s drum samples are also included in Nostalgia which Louis has extracted from the patterns. Most bear little or no relationship to their acoustic counterparts but they are interesting metallic electronic percussion sounds nonetheless that could find a place in any number of musical genres.
VFX Nostalgia – Remember "Dark Ware"
DarkWare products were produced from June’05 till December’05. The first public DarkWare release was El Fuego, the last public Darkware release was Glitch Jockey (arguably The Nightmare Machine could be considered the final release). DarkWare products were featured in a variety of electronic music software magazines (Computer Music, Future Music, DTMM, etc.), and quickly amassed a cult following. However, after nearly 30 DarkWare releases, Jack got tired of producing freeware VST. Thusly in January ’06, Jack ended DarkWare permanently so he could start selling commercial VST called NOVUZEIT.
Dark Ware is freeware, download as much as you want here >>
According to themseleves:
If you think DarkWare is good you will be blown away by NOVUZEIT.
Commodore 64 – VST – a little beauty
basic64 is inspired by the 8 bit sounds of the classic Commodore 64.
It’s not a straight emulation, but is based around the SID chip with some extras for that 8-bit retro game sound, lofi gritty noises or just plain oddness
features
– 16, 8 or 6 bit sound quality
– 3 oscs, each with their own ADSR envelope
– oscillators can be sync’d and ring modulated by each other
– pitch envelope modulation
– pitch wobble option, for subtle instability
– 2 tempo-sync LFO’s to modulate pitch, cut-off and pulse width
– LFO’s have attack/release curves
– tempo-sync arpegiator
– flexible routing to state variable filter (LP, HP & BP)
– envelopes can be reset or continuous at retrigger
– monophonic or polyphonic option
– midi learn / midi CC support
– 128 presets by sinkmusic & WhiskeyPriest
TB 303 – VST
Spectralhead Audio has released SilverBox, a VST instrument plug-in for Windows based on Roland’s legendary TB-303. Finally someone who honors the old vintage legends :-). Just a pitty its only available on Windows – shape up guys.
Features :
- Authentic monophonic analog bassline emulation
- Easy-to-use interface
- Oscillator with saw/square waveforms
- 18 dB/oct. analog modeled multimode filter, lowpass/highpass/bandpass modes
- Sequencer with piano roll, accent & slide
- Variable pattern length (1-16)
- Advanced randomize functions
- 16x oversampled distortion with minimum aliasing (soft, hard clipping, soft foldback, hard foldback)
- Optimized DSP code using SIMD instructions
- Customizable MIDI CC automation
What the manufacturers claim:
At the beginning of the 80s, a new bass synth appeared on the market. Aimed at bass-guitarists, it featured an in-built sequencer with slides and accents. Only about a decade later did it become one of the most popular instruments in certain styles of acid, techno, house and trance music. Since that, numerous copies and software and hardware emulations have been born, which all try to grasp the character of this wonderful synth. We did our best to reincarnate this instrument as an authentic-sounding, convenient and easy-to-use VSTi plugin. Countless hours were spent on analysis and measurements, with the goal of making the most-authentic sounding emulation. As a result of the research, SilverBox was born, 25 years after the creation of the machine.
New super cool voice tweaking effect box
from Shuriken of course, who else 
Want to see more of this make sure to visit Matrixsynth where wacko stuff like this is published daily
Have a good weekend
Don´t miss out on Audio Damage – Good stuff
Audio Damage has a couple of really nice VSTs, especially fond of their Dr.Device unit
Dr. Device is two (two! two!) hi-octane analog-style effects in one. First in the chain is a multi-mode filter, featuring our own private reserve 4-pole lowpass, along with 5 other tasty musical modes. Then, your audio takes a trip through our true-stereo analog delay. Couple these effects with a two-node XYZ pad, motion recording, and kinetics (you have to see it to believe it) and you’ve got an effect well-suited for both live performance and studio tweaking.
Oh and by the way – this is an intriguing story…
Trust the Germans to stretch mechanical sound reproduction to the limits of sanity. Optimal Media Production’s VinylDisc features three minutes of vintage vinyl goodness on top of a standard 70 minute CD, enabling you to stage an ‘analog vs. digital’ comparison test in the comfort of your own home with only a single disc. It’s a brilliantly silly gimmick that just might entice a few members of the digital generation into dabbling with turntables. I’m OK with that.
“The VinylDisc is a combination audio CD and special record. It consists of two attached layers. The silver layer contains digital audio information, while the black upper layer can be played on every record player.
Star Trek and ADS 100 = cool stuff, LOL
The ADS system comprised a dual-manual splittable keyboard, a video display for envelopes, a ‘control cube’ the size of a filing cabinet for disk drives and computer hardware, and a rainbow-buttoned front panel for 64-oscillator additive synthesis and real-time sequencing that would have looked at home on the Starship Enterprise of the Star Trek of your choice. The analogy is apt, in fact – the ADS 100’s most notable public appearance was in the sound effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. No price was given when the ADS 100 was introduced, but it sure looked expensive.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwivz3gECus]
Cheers
Ableton Live 6
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h9sii9Vvcs]
Just for inspiration, cool guy making cool sounds
>> heading off to my karate class now >>
see you soon
DATAMASKIN
