MOTU gives us VOLTA
Volta is the ground-breaking virtual instrument plug-in that lets you control modular synths and other CV-equipped gear from Digital Performer and other popular audio workstation software packages, such as Apple Logic Pro and Ableton Live.
The very first product of its kind, Volta has created quite a stir among analog synth enthusiasts since it was first announced a few months ago. Even if you’ve never used analog gear before, but coveted that analog sound, Volta could be just what you’ve been looking for.
Here are just a few examples of what you can do with Volta:
- Perform MIDI sequencing with external modular synths with sample-accurate precision (if your host sequencer supports sample-accurate MIDI).
- Automatically calibrate and tune oscillators with the click of a button.
- Use ramp automation in your host audio software to control filters, envelope generators, effects processors and other voltage-controlled external gear.
- Apply LFOs, step sequencers and pattern sequencers to CV inputs and tempo-sync them to your host software timeline.
100 free loops from Loopcache
Loopcache are giving away 100+ free minimal, tech house and electro loops to anyone who joins their mailing list. The location of the free pack is http://www.loopcache.com/looppacks/100-minimal-tech-and-electro-house-loops.html
Reggae goes electronic
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7Uc0wXFqQU&feature=player_embedded]
Going to the website lets you download a free cut down demo version. The demo is standalone, a single track can be loaded and no reverb or semi parametric E.Q.. It has the delay, the dub siren, the graphic EQ and the kills.
Download the free demo here >>
First album I could consider buy this year
Mobile Homes are back with a very strong album after 25 years!!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsTngq_2QkY&feature=player_embedded]
And as I said I don´t buy very many albums these days, but this one is definately worth checking out if you are into synth pop, electro or similar sounds. Below I have included a review posted in Release Music Magazine, which give you a bit of an overview.
Cheers
I take my hat off for 25 years of providing me with a soundtrack. The Mobile Homes have been by my side since “Hurt” (I had to re-discover their early vinyls later on) and even though later efforts have faltered on the verge of collapse, I never gave up hope completely. The quartet is now a trio, but their gloomy electronic trademark sound has been resurrected on “Today Is Your Lucky Day”.
All it takes is a few seconds. Right then and there long time fans will be nodding and smiling uncontrollably. “I Give You”, a gritty cousin to almost any song off “Nothing But Something, introduces their new, old sound and a lively production helmed by Sami Sirviö (of Kent fame). The second track on this nine-piece journey of personal darkness is called “Ill”. It is also one of The Mobile Homes best tracks ever. Musically melodic and superbly crafted with a stunning chorus. It all continues like this, simmering on a ridiculously high level all the way through to the reconstructed version of first single “Close” (I do like the “Speak & Spell”-esque original better, though). “How People Talk”, another buzzing midtempo highlight, follows a similarly breathtaking path of energetic synths nursing Hans Erkendal’s new and improved vocal work.
It should be mentioned that even though Andreas Brun is officially no longer a member, he has written or co-written all of the songs on the album. I would have loved to hear him sing a ballad as well (like the glorious “The More I Think, The Deeper I Sink”), but the album is so strong that I keep forgetting that craving.
“Today Is Your Lucky Day” almost makes me forget that the Swedish Spring is in full bloom, transporting me to dark, rainy Autumn streets, intensively pondering life and love. The Mobile Homes are simply masters of melancholic synthpop, maybe now more than ever.
For all virtual Moog-fans out there
Arturia has released version 2.0 of Minimoog V, a virtual Minimoog synthesizer instrument for Windows and Mac.
| Retromatic
by Larry Hopkins |
Track made using the Minimoog V and the ARP 2600 V. |
| 5 blips house
by Fabrice Gabriel |
11 Minimoog V instances were used in this demo song. Many thanks to the author, Fabrice Gabriel. |
| Elektro side of the minimoog V
by Jean-Michel Blanchet |
12 minimoog V tracks in Cubase SX. No additional samples were used. All the sounds used in this piece are available in a preset bank of the minimoog V plug-in. Many thanks to the author, Jean-Michel Blanchet. |
MAIN FEATURES
- All the parameters of the original minimoog V
- Advanced automation mode ( Minimoog V 2.0 Only )
- Revolutionary preset navigation system called the SoundMap (Minimoog V 2.0 Only )
- New formant-analysis-based FX called the Vocal Filter (Minimoog V 2.0 Only )
- New modulation matrix with up to 6 connections (12 sources and 32 destinations)
- New arpeggiator
- New LFO
- New Chorus and Stereo Delay Effect section
- More than 500 presets created by talented artists and sound designers
- Up to 32 voices of polyphony, and a Unison mode
- 3 voltage controlled oscillators with 5 waveforms
- 1 amazingly sounding 24 dB/octave filter
- 1 VCA
- 1 Mixer
- 1 Noise Generator
- 2 ADSR envelopes
- 1 external audio input and 1 external oscillator and filter modulation input
- Soft clipping function
- No aliasing from 0.1 Hz to 20 kHz
- 64-bit floating point precision
- Sampling rate: up to 96 kHz
Tune in your favorite robo-sounds
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnj2oU8MYCI]
The Voice Box packs a multi-functional vocal synth processor into a tough and compact chassis. Sing, and you’ll have a troupe of backup singers following you in perfect harmony. Or use the built-in vocoder to unleash classic synth-robot sounds.
About:
The Voice Box packs a multi-functional vocal synth processor into a tough and compact chassis. Sing, and you’ll have a troupe of backup singers following you in perfect harmony. Or use the built-in vocoder to unleash classic synth-robot sounds.
Diana Ross had the Supremes, Brian Wilson had the Beach Boys, Kraftwerk had The Robots. You have the Voice Box.
The harmony processor creates 2- to 4-part harmonies directly from your vocals, in the same key as your accompanying instrument. Studio-quality reverb lets you independently add depth to your dry and harmony vocals.
The focused 256-band articulate vocoder, designed by the same EMS genius who made vocoding famous, features adjustable harmonic enhancement and controllable formant shift.
Plug in your mic and your instrument, and let your new voice — or voices — be heard!
Twitter your electro beats
Let the whole tweet with ambient space pads so we are heard in a galaxy far far away 
Thanks to a new project called Tweet A Sound, it’s now possible to create a sound in a freely downloadable application and send them off to Twitter. The app was created in Max/MSP and is currently Mac-only, but a Windows version is said to be in development.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJYJGvOPQrw&feature=player_embedded]
Contemporary electro pop – vintage gear
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OG8eyvJOAU&hl=sv]
French pop-3 made this video showing off all their cool vintage gear. Please note the use of the EML 400 sequencer. Really rare.
For more details on EML 400:
http://www.vintagesynth.com/eml/eml400.php
100 greatest drum beats, hmmm
MusicRadar has made a lsiting of the 100 greatest drum beats of all time and even if I did not have the time to go through all 10 pages of them I am dissapointed to see that only one decent entry placed itself amon the top 20. On place 16 one will find New Order’s Blue Monday, shame on you. Perhaps one should do one of its own showing the true power of electronic drum beats
“With a little help from drumming legends Chad Smith, Peter Erskine, Joey Jordison and Thomas Lang, our friends at Rhythm magazine have nodded approvingly along to every drum beat in existence to bring us the top 100.
From 1930’s Gene Krupa to Pharrell Williams via John Bonham’s old-school skin bashing to an Oberheim DMX drum machine – no stone, however heavy, has been left unturned…”
The next generation personal studio
When the Nano suite from KORG came I thought this was it in terms of a portable studio, but I soon learned that this is just the beginning of things, check this out!!
Vivace is a solution that looks to be more integrated than anything I have seen before. Designed by Young-Shin Lee and Hae-Jin Jung, it looks something like a musical laptop: a slimline device that offers a touch-sensitive musical keyboard and fold-out touchscreen display. Vivace is a concept product at the moment and ‘specs’ are thin on the ground, but you can clearly see octave up/down buttons to the right of the keyboard, and we can only assume that audio I/O is built-in.
Designers: Young-Shin Lee & Hae-Jin Jung
DATAMASKIN
