audioMIDI.com Blogspace

audioMIDI.com Film & TV Composition Clinic Panel Speakers... check out the videos on YouTube!

MitchellS — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:09:00 GMT

This one took a while, but on July 26th we had our Film & TV Composition Clinic here at audioMIDI HQ in Chatsworth, CA. Besides having lots of sound libraries, DAW software manufacturers and high-end audio stuff, we hosted a really informative and frequently humorous live panel featuring Chris Stone (ASCAP award winner and founder of Audio Impressions), Joel Goldsmith (Stargate SG-1), Kevin Kiner (CSI:Miami) and Walter New (re-recording engineer and producer).

It took a while to get all the video edited and posted- since YouTube limits videos to ten minutes, it's spread out over nine videos. But our speakers had a lot of really interesting stuff to say, so if you're into any type of film or TV scoring, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. All the videos are on the audioMIDI.com YouTube page which is HERE. There's lots of other cool music gear-related vids there too and we're adding new content all the time, so check back often!

Gimme Ten Steps... Old-School Sequencers, DIY-Style

MitchellS — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:04:00 GMT

I've come to the conclusion that if you spend enough time reading blogs and forums that are peripheral to your scope of interest, it's likely you'll get sucked in. I guess this means that you outta read forums where stuff is cheap, lest you develop a penchant for $800 bottle of wine. Lucky for me (?), my poison of choice leans to that of analog synthesizers, a hobby which is relatively easy on the wallet. Because I've been bitten by the DIY synthesizer bug, which has led to my current obsession to build my own analog sequencer.

These days, the word "sequencer" usually connotates computer software that, among other things, allows the user to record and play back an unlimited amount of MIDI notes... polyphonically and distributed over endless numbers of individual instrument tracks. But rewind the clock about thirty years, and "sequencer" typically implied a crude analog electronic device with a couple of rows of eight or so knobs, such as the legendary Moog 960 and the ARP Sequencer. Each knob set a pitch (or other parameter), and when the sequencer started playing, it would endlessly repeat an eight-note pattern, and monophonically at that. Doesn't sound like much fun, huh? Actually, "old-school" sequencers can do a number of neat (and musical) things if employed cleverly. You candial up a pattern, then control the transposition of the entire thing with a keyboard controller, bypass steps to create more rhythmic patterns or use the voltages to control other parameters like filter cutoff, or volume... the possibilities are pretty vast, especially when used in a modular analog synth setup.

Being an amateur electronic tinkerer and modular synth owner, I've become more and more interested in the analog sequencer idea. I should make clear that, besides the lack of computer and tiny "note-capacity", the other big difference with an analog sequencer is that it doesn't output MIDI at all. Instead, they output control voltages and gate signals... that's what folks used to control analog synthesizers before the digital dawn of MIDI. Almost all older analog synths have this kind of interfacing on the back panel, as well as most newer analog synths (like current Moogs, and any modular synth, for example).

The key to most pre-computer analog sequencers were 70's era 4000-series logic chips. These are a well established series of standard "building block" computer logic chips. These chips are to modern computer CPU chips as Ford Model T's are to a rocket ship, but they're still readily available, under a buck, and easy-to-understand. And you don't need to program 'em! (Google "4000 series" or "4000 logic" for lots of info on them). With a little online research, you can quickly find DIY electronics freaks who have built themselves analog sequencers that proverbially slice, dice and julienne with esoteric features such as skipping steps, forward and reverse modes, pattern randomization and other craziness. But I'm a simple guy who just wants to rock some Kraftwerk, y'know? As a result, I've settled on the net-popular "Baby 10" sequencer, originally conceived in THIS article. The Baby 10 (named because it's a basic 10-step sequencer) uses a 4017 logic chip with ten stages. In other words, each time you send a quick voltage pulse to the "clock" pin, it sends a voltage to the next "output" pin. You can use an LFO or a dedicated "clock" chip (the 555 timer chip is the standard for making simple clocking circuits) to send a steady stream of voltage pulses. If you take the all those outputs and hook each one up to its own potentiometer (aka "pot") so you can set the voltage level at each stage, then sum all the pot outputs, you now have a basic sequencer. Since analog synths typically have a CV input for pitch, and a gate input for triggering envelopes, it makes sense to split the output of each stage and bus that to a jack for a gate out and send the other half of the split to the pot for a variable voltage for pitch setting (it's a good idea to use diodes on all outs as well; these let the voltage travel one way only, preventing all these mixed outs from fighting each other). Expanding on the idea little more, adding on/off toggle switches before each of the gate outputs makes sense, because this lets you turn steps off. Now instead of a never-ending stream of 16th notes, you can make far more musical patterns (well, an endlessly repeating musical pattern, that is).

One more thing; you may have noticed that our ten-stage chip implies ten steps, and ten steps doesn't work too well when the music is in 4/4 time signature (or 3/4 for you waltzing and swingin' types). Obviously, four or eight steps would be more suitable for "common" time music. All you need to do is wire the pin after the last step (step 8, for example) to the "reset" pin on the 4017 chip and you can use as many steps as you like. If you build your sequencer with independent output jacks for each stage and an input jack for the reset pin, you can use a patch cable on any step's gate out running back to the reset jack. Otherwise, you could install a rotary selector switch pre-wired to send various steps back to the reset pin. If you wanted to really keep it simple, you could build the sequencer for 8-steps only and hardwire the ninth stage to the reset pin (or really weird out your friends and hardwire it for an odd number of stages and claim it was designed for esoteric odd-time signatures only).

Finally, since the CV out pots generate a continuously-variable voltage, this can make it tough to set pitches accurately if you want the notes to conform to standard half-step temperament (i.e. diatonic scales). This can be remedied by sending the summer CV out to a "voltage quantizer" that will automatically adjust the the voltages correctly to discrete steps for even-tempered intervals on the fly. These are a little tricky to build from scratch, but the coolest solution I've found is a DIY printed-circuit board with build instructions from Ray Wilson's www.musicfromouterspace.com website. The board is affordable, and you could build it right into your sequencer circuit, and the site gives full instructions and a parts list. Thanks Ray!

I could go on and on with possibilities... this is the the beauty of DIY. And also the downfall, as you can easily get carried away. You can build this kind of thing on simple "experimenter board" generic circuit boards by hand wiring them, but I recommend getting a "breadboard" and trying it all out before you crank up the soldering iron. The neat part is that parts are pretty cheap... 4017 chips are 30 cents from futurlec.com! Oddly enough, the circuitry is dirt cheap, but it's the knobs, pots, switches and enclosures that'll add up real quick. It all depends on how crazy you want to go making it look snazzy. In the meantime, have fun... your friend the internet will tell you much much more about DIY sequencer fun (www.electro-music.com is a great DIY synth resource).

Post by Mitchell Sigman

Engage In The MainStage Rage

MitchellS — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:09:00 GMT

Sometimes I think Apple outta put me on the payroll for telling everyone about MainStage, their virtual instrument hosting app for Mac. In a nutshell, MainStage is a standalone application included with Logic Studio that lets you use Logic's virtual instruments and effects plugs in a live environment... imagine having a whole bunch of Logic mixer windows, each quickly switchable as a preset "performance", with its own layers, splits and effects and you're in the ballpark. Additionally, MainStage lets you add as many physical keyboards and controllers as you like, so it's easy to spread sounds over a lot of "real estate".

For me, the best thing about MainStage is how it simplifies setting up patches and chains. My live rig used to consist of Korg Triton Extreme (I like saying the "EXTREEEEMMEEEE!!!!" part like one of those cheesy extreme sports announcer guys) and an Alesis Ion analog-modeling synth. The Triton was quite a capable beast, but setting up samples, splits and effects was always a very time consuming task. The Ion wasn't too bad as synths go, but just naming all the patches and layers on both keyboards took forever compared to typing on a QWERTY keyboard. MainStage also makes light work of creating sets and rearranging the order of patches; simply grab them and move them into the desired order. Doing this kind of thing on a hardware synth can be a time-consuming nightmare of repeatedly saving patches to new locations in an effort to shuffle things around. And as soon as Mr./Mrs. singer-type-human shows and up and decides the set order needs to change for the thirty-seventh time because they're "just not connecting with the audience", you're back to square one (for the record, I eventually gave up on keeping patches in the same order as the set and just attempted to locate the correct patches as fast as I could between songs. I can't tell you how many times I nearly missed the two-count intro of "Take My Breath Away". Not to mention that the drummer actually took some sort of sick pleasure in intentionally TRYING to make me miss it).

There's also the advantage of a computer full of plug-ins offering a great deal more flexibility than two hardware synths with regard to effects and processing. Presently, MainStage does have some horsepower limitations with third-party Audio Units instruments. You probably aren't going to fare too well if you attempt to load a 40GB piano and play it live, and I'm not sure how well it does with heavy horsepower plugs... I'm about to load Arturia Jupiter-8V and see how it does. Thus far, I've stuck mostly with Logic's internal instruments, and it does pretty well. Certain ES2 synth patches seem to trip it up on program changes... sometimes they don't play right away, but I've found that if I select the patch and whack a couple notes at the start of the set, it's ok when I go back to that patch later on (hello, Apple?). And it doesn't seem to like when you play a sampled piano and hold down the sustain pedal forever whilst banging away, but again, that's easily remedied (lift foot!).

My only other gripe is that MainStage seems to perform best using an external audio interface (as opposed to the Macbook's internal 1/8" audio out), which means bringing my M-Audio Firewire 410 to gigs- that's one more thing to haul around and hook up. Ick. But I believe I've found a neat solution... Novation makes a sweet all-in-one analog modeling synth/MIDI controller/2-in/2-out USB audio interface called the XioSynth, available in 25- and 49-key flavors. This way I can take my big, ancient Roland MKB-300 76-key MIDI controller to gigs, and plop my MacBook and the XioSynth on top (the MKB-300 has a neato flat top- looks like THIS.)

So that's two keyboards, one laptop, a stand, and an amp (depending if the gig has a real PA/monitors). And since the XioSynth is a standalone synth in its own right, I can always use it as a back up in case someone spills a Long Island Iced Tea into my Macbook!

(btw, Behringer, CME, Line 6 and M-Audio all make MIDI keyboard controllers with built-in USB audio interfaces)

As usual, you can call the happy audiomidi.com sales staff if you have any questions at (818) 993-0772.

Post by Mitchell Sigman

The Premiere of Omnisphere is here

Brent Hoover — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 23:20:00 GMT

Way on back in ye olde 2002, Spectrasonics made a big splash with their Atmosphere Dream Pad Module virtual instrument. Focusing on lush and breathy soundscapes, Atmosphere was a big hit with composers and producers seeking a plethora of airy, evocative pads. Renowned sound designer Eric Persing's simple "two layers of sound" interface made it easy for users to create customized layered patches.

Seems Eric's Spectrasonics crew have been burning the midnight oil creating a stellar follow up with the hot-off-the-burner (DVD burner, that is) Omnisphere, which improves on Atmosphere in every aspect imaginable. Though it includes Atmosphere's original 4GB of samples, Omnispere now includes over 40GB (!) of sample material, including some downright bizarre sources such as burning pianos, tesla coils, glass harmonicas... you get the picture.

This all gets processed, turned and twisted about inside the innovative new "STEAM" engine, offering a myriad of synthesis methods including Variable Waveshaping DSP synthesis, Granular synthesis, Timbre Shifting, FM, polyphonic Ring Modulation, high-resolution streaming Sample Playback, Harmonia^TM, Dual Multimode Filter structure, Chaos Envelopes^TM, an advanced Unison mode, and the innovative Flex-Mod^TM modulation routing system - to name a few. I must admit, I'm not 100% sure what all that means either, but I will most certainly find out (review is on the way)! The good news is that the user interface is set up to allow easy basic editing, but the tweaky stuff is in there if you're so inclined. And if you're more of a "show me the presets, 'cuz I've got music to write" type, there's tons of ready-to-go patches.

If you're in the Los Angeles area, ILIO (distributor of Spectrasonics) is presenting a live Omnisphere clinic event featuring designer Eric Persing on September 27 at their headquarters in Westlake Village. Go HERE for registration information (it's free, but filling up quickly!).

Post by Mitchell Sigman

Universal Audio UAD-2 For You and Me

Brent Hoover — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:47:00 GMT

In case you live under a rock (or haven't seen the audioMIDI homepage in the last week), the BIG DEAL news is Universal Audio's release of the UAD-2 DSP card, successor to the wildly popular UAD-1 card. Traditionally Universal Audio have remained tight-lipped regarding the specs of the UAD-1's DSP chip, but the UAD-2 proudly flaunts one, two or four Analog Devices SHARC processors; these are generally regarded as the 800-pound-gorilla of DSP chips. The UAD-1 card was only available with one DSP chip- if you wanted more horsepower, you bought more cards. Besides generally being a pain, this quickly filled up PCI card slots, causing some serious users to obtain pricey Magma PCI expansion chassis' and fill 'em up (I can't help but think of Dr. Evil... "Even after they pay me the money I'm still going to melt every city on the planet with liquid hot mag-ma!"). But check out these specs:

UAD-2 Solo (one SHARC chip) = 2.5X the power of a standard UAD-1 card
UAD-2 Duo (two SHARC chips) = 5X the power of a standard UAD-1 card
UAD-2 Quad (four SHARC chips) = 10X the power of a standard UAD-1 card

As a UAD-1 owner, I can say that once you become accustomed to throwing Universal 1176 compressors and Neve 1073 EQ's on everything in sight (and getting the "no more horsepower available" message!), it's easy to imagine having lots more juice available. I suspect the Duo card would have one well covered, but the idea of ten times the firepower of my UAD-1 card makes me salivate like a Pavlovian dog!

Post by Mitchell Sigman

Eight freaking cores.

Brent Hoover — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:26:00 GMT

Now every Mac Pro comes with 8 cores standard. Sets a new standard is a cliché, but in this case it's literally true, the new standard gives you basically double the performance. What can fast do for you? Check out the Performance benchmark breakdown for Logic 8 (scroll down past Final Cut and Photoshop) and see that you getting just about exactly twice as much performance in real terms in Sculpture and Platinum Reverb, two of Logic CPU-hungry plugs..

New Arrivals: Digidesign RM1 Monitors

Brent Hoover — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:21:00 GMT

The Digidesign® Reference Monitor Series RM1, is a professional, bi-amplified, near-field monitor co-developed with PMC, a world-leading professional monitor manufacturer. Check them out here.

New Addition - Best Service String Essentials by Peter Siedlaczek - 2nd Edition ($355.00)

Brent Hoover — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:05:00 GMT

The second edition of Peter Siedlaczek´s legendary String Essentials, now with Kontakt 2 Player engine and extended programming.

This weeks best sellers 1/4/2008

Brent Hoover — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:05:00 GMT

G-Force String Machine ($129.00)

Toontrack Nashville EZX Expansion Kit for EZ Drummer ($79.00)

PSP Vintage Warmer 2 ($135.00)

Apogee Duet ($495.00)

Logic Studio Update from Logic Pro / Logic 5,6 - B STOCK ($160.42)

New Addition - Korg Kaossilator - Pre Order Now ($199.00)

Brent Hoover — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:04:00 GMT

A pocket sized instrument that packs Korg's world renowned synth sound along with innovative performance features into an ultra-compact unit.

New Addition - Propellerhead Reason 4 Adapted Upgrade ($239.00)

Brent Hoover — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:03:00 GMT

For owners of Reason Adapted who wish to upgrade to the full version of Reason version 4. This upgrade works with any version of Reason Adapted, including Reason Adapted Express.

iZotope RX Product Spotlight By Tej Gill

Brent Hoover — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:02:00 GMT

iZotope RX is a sound restoration program designed to repair clipped waveforms, intelligently re-synthesize corrupted or missing audio, remove electrical hum, remove broadband noise and more. The program is arranged as five modules that are accessed within the main screen: Declipper, Diclicker, Hum Removal, Denoiser and Spectral Repair. RX can help salvage old or damaged recordings, remove annoying background noise, repair a clipped audio file and more. It is available now for $279.00.

Read Tej's Product Spotlight of RX Here

Pro Tools Corner By Brian White 1/4/2008

Brent Hoover — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:00:00 GMT

No matter how much you spend on expensive reference monitors or fancy new mix plug-ins, if you can�??t trust your room you can�??t trust your mix. In the past, the solution to an uneven room almost always came in the form of cumbersome, and often costly acoustic treatments. While great acoustics don�??t come easy (or cheap), IK Multimedia�??s simple to use ARC system promises to fix up your room�??s trouble spots in a snap, no contractor necessary.

Read This Week's Pro Tools Corner Here

Prices Slashed On G-Force and iZotope - Supplies Limited!

Brent Hoover — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:59:00 GMT

Have we lost our minds? It may seem so - prices have been marked down at least 30% on several G-Force and iZotope titles. Included in this offer are: Spectron �?? sale price $69.00, Trash �?? sale price $109.00, Timewarp �?? sale price $125.00 (more than 30% off), String Machine �?? sale price $90.00, Minimonsta �?? sale price $99.00, M-Tron �?? sale price $69.00 and Oddity �?? sale price $69.00. Grab'em quick before they're gone.

Free Foot Controller With Purchase of Line 6 LD150, LD175 or LD300

Brent Hoover — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:58:00 GMT

Starting Jan. 1st, 2008 every purchase of a Line 6 LD150, LD175 or LD300 qualifies you to receive an FBV Express Foot Controller - a $140 value. The road-ready FBV Express is a top-grade foot controller that allows you to instantly recall an entire rig with four foot switches. Also beginning Jan. 1st, all purchases of a PODxt or POD 2.0 qualifies you to receive a free POD Bag. - a $40 value

20% Off New Purchases and Upgrades To Waves Gold Bundle

Brent Hoover — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:57:00 GMT

With over 20 state-of-the-art plug-ins, Gold includes Waves' most essential tools for tracking, mixing, mastering, and more. Featuring dynamics processors, equalizers, convolution reverb, and more, the Gold Bundle is a powerful introduction to the world of Waves. Waves Gold Bundle now includes Waves Tune LT pitch transformation processor, IR-L Parametric Convolution Reverb, as well as many of Waves' most sought-after tools. Let every track you touch turn to Gold!

Music Thing: Extreme hardcore synth *** in 3D - Jean Michel Jarre live

Brent Hoover — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:05:00 GMT

Extreme hardcore synth *** in 3D - Jean Michel Jarre live

12/8/2007 2:57 PM|Tom Whitwell

Here's a short 'making of' promo for Jean Michelle Jarre's new 'Oxygene Live in your Living Room' album/DVD. It's half in French and contains a great deal of blah blah blah, but you can see the phenomenal collection of vintage gear he used to recreate his 1977 album Oxygene (live, without using MIDI or sync). The DVD release also includes the whole thing in 3D, which you watch using old-fashioned red/blue paper glasses. I couldn't make much sense of the 3D, and the music is fairly ponderous but the DVD is the finest synth porn I've ever seen. I want to see it in HD, to better watch the tape loops spooling up the back of the two-manual Mellotron or read the patches on the numerous EMS Synthis scattered over the stage. There's also a wonderful seven minute film with Jean Michel talking you through the gear, strapping on his Moog Liberation, showing off his Arp 2500 modular and playing an old 1920s theremin.
UPDATE: Here's the JMJ synth walkthrough video on YouTube.

*** The Music Thing Christmas Gift Guide 2007 (send it to your loved ones!) ***

Vince Clark's Fairlight in action

Brent Hoover — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:53:47 GMT

Quoted from http://dvdborn.blogspot.com/2007/11/vince-clarks-fairlight-in-action-is.html:

dvdborn
Vince Clark's Fairlight in action

Here >> is a vintage audio recording of Vince Clark demonstrating his Fairlight.
Listening to it now in 2007 this sure sounds cheesy. But back then this was cutting edge technology.

Thanks to Chris Strellis for sharing this recording. The recording was originaly featured on the Electronic Soundmaker and Computer Music Magazine in the early 80's. More info can be found here >>

Audiofile Engineering - Rax

Brent Hoover — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:48:06 GMT

Tip from CDM at www.createdigitalmusic.com

Virtual Rack

What Is Rax?

Rax is streamlined, intuitive virtual rack software for Mac OS X. It enables performing musicians to easily organize and control their virtual rack of Audio Units.

Rax Is Back!

We acquired Rax from plasq in September of 2007. As one of the few, pure Cocoa audio applications developed at the time, Rax was a major inspiration for us in creating Audiofile Engineering. We're absolutely thrilled to now have it as part of our catalogue. (Stay tuned for future announcements about Rax 3.)

Keeping It Organized...

An intuitive and familiar interface now allows you to organize your racks into songs, and your songs into sets. Version 2.0 of Rax adds a new model for building and organizing setlists, with Remote control via MIDI and the Apple Remote further streamlining this workflow.

This setlist feature, in combination with OnStage, allows the performer to easily step through songs remotely, at a glance. Enter the new OnStage window and you can step through the set in a performance with no squinting, and no other visual distractions from other apps.

Universally Cool...

Rax is now a Universal Binary and is designed to take advantage of the computational power in the new Core Duo based laptops. With two cores working independently on visuals and audio, you could say MacBooks were made with Rax in mind.

Liquid Instruments Series Vol. 10 Adlib

Brent Hoover — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:18:52 GMT

Ueberschall presents the release of Liquid Instruments Vol. 10 Adlibs. With this release Ueberschall completes the Liquid Player series. The Adlibs volume comes with vocal phrases and gives musicians and producers the possibility to add new color or ideas to tracks and songs.

Realistic vocal adlibs with re-synthesis capabilities are no longer just a fantasy. Maximum attitude, expression, character and more are here for your vocal arrangement objectives. Reinforce vocal ensembles on the fly with fully customizable vocal phrasing options. Sustain desired notes with processing integrity or take things to DSP extremes. With Pop, Dance, Soul and tons more dynamic surprises. Additionally beneficial for setting the vibe to help quickly visualize the whole picture for a piece.

The library contains over 2400 adlibs and phrases, both verbal and non-verbal, performed by three female and five male singers. No additional effects e.g. compression or any other processors have been used in Ueberschall's Liquid Adlibs to ensure the purest results possible, thus giving you timeless and inspiring material to work with.

The integrated Melodyne technology engine gives freedom to modify, quantize, re-groove, timestretch, pitch or change the formant of every single part of an adlib or phrase for individual expression. By combining adlibs and phrases it is possible to create own choruses and verses. Liquid Adlibs contains many different styles and lyrics (British and American vocalists) to choose from: Pop, Dance, Soul, RnB, Ragga, Rave, Electronica, screams and spoken words.

Creatives, preferring electronic and modified vocoder-like vocals, may get some amazing results through radical pitching, formant changing, quantizing and stretching in the editor mode of the liquid engine.

Liquid Features:
+ control audio material as simply as midi data
+ change notes within the phrase
+ adapt tempo and key
+ select from a wide range of musical scales
+ control all parameters in realtime
+ pre-screening with adapted pitch and tempo
+ easily generate your individual setup
+ high quality Melodyne technology
+ multiple content management
+ edit start and ending
+ quick sound browser
+ all parameters midi controllable
+ save audio of original and modified loops
+ export to midi
+ sync to host
+ great bandwidth of styles
+ highest quality recording equipment

Ueberschall’s Liquid Instruments Vol. 10 Adlibs is available for USD 199,- (�?� 174,-).

Rob Papen releases BLUE 1.7 free update

Brent Hoover — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:16:15 GMT

Quoted from http://www.gearjunkies.com/news_info.php?news_id=2491:

Rob has some great news for you today, BLUE 1.7 has been released and it is a stunning free 'update'. Rob has added some great new features and also 400 new presets! The synths are known for their 'floating' factor. Which means that they always pop-up in many tracks. But BLUE 1.7 is also proofs that this synth offers excellent value for money.

Improvements:
Overall:
- increased Audio Quality with less CPU usage!

Main envelopes (Oscillators, Filter A and B and Volume):
- Fade time shows the time in seconds.
- Highly improved envelope code, making envelopes punchier and removing occasional envelope aliasing noise.

Arpeggiator:
- Sliding in Arp Chord mode possible
- Keyboard entry mode via menu. This allows you to enter the notes in the arp by playing notes.

Sequencer:
- Keyboard entry mode via menu. This allows you to enter the notes in the sequencer by playing notes.

FX section:
- Added Ensemble and Compressor effect (NEW)
- Optimized Amp FX (50% less CPU) and to a less extent other effects
- Increase the resolution of the modulating effects (chorus , flanger etc), so to reduce aliasing
- FX commands (NEW), added this allows you to copy, paste, clear, swap, randomize, load & save fx's.

Global Menu:
- Chord memory (NEW)
This has 4 modes, off, learn, play & alt + strum timing. Allows you record chords in learn mode and then play them back by pressing one note in chord/alt mod. With strum parameter allowing you to set the time offset for each note in the chord. Alt mode alternates the order which these notes are played. Chord memory works in all modes except sequencer (this is strictly mono), though strum timing only works for poly / mono / legato and not with arp-mode. Strum works in Arp Chord mode without having to use the chord mode, just set
the strum time and it'll work. Of course this might have slightly weird effects if you have long strum times in arp chord mode, because the note might be turned off before it ever starts! However it does produce some interesting sounds
- Unison 2 / 4 / 6 with detuning (NEW), works in all modes including Arp. It only works in a special way, so you can be in 6 unison mode and still 16 voice's, and it's much less CPU then a classic unison.
- Oversampling 16x added

Back panel
- Computer keyboard up/down keys on/off
- Bank warning on/off controls
- ESC option to work in "Global mode"

Presets:
- More then 400 new presets, using of course also the new features like "chord memory", "unison" and the "EnsembleFX".

Harmony Central®: Rock'N' Roll Fantasy Camp�?� Continues 10th Anniversary Celebration In Hollywood

Brent Hoover — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:17:16 GMT

Quoted from http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2007/Rock-N-Roll-Fantasy-Camp-trade-10Th-Anniversary-Celebration-.html:

Harmony Central®: Rock'N' Roll Fantasy Camp�?� Continues 10th Anniversary Celebration In Hollywood

Rock'N' Roll Fantasy Camp�?� Continues 10th Anniversary Celebration In Hollywood
December 11, 2007

Following a very successful star-filled weekend in Las Vegas in November, Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp is proud to announce that the anniversary celebration will continue in Hollywood, CA on President's Day Weekend, February 15-18, 2008 with a new group of rock superstars. The Hollywood leg of Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp will feature special guests Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Cliff Williams of AC/DC and Micky Dolenz of The Monkees. Additional guests and counselors include Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), Bruce Kulick (KISS), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Alan White (Yes), David Ryan Harris (John Mayer), Simon Kirke (Bad Company), Jeff Foskett (Beach Boys) and many more. The four-day event offers individuals the opportunity to live out the ultimate rock 'n' roll fantasy.

The Hollywood camp will be held at a major rock and roll studio, and will culminate in a live concert at L.A.'s legendary House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. With each camper assigned to a band led by a rock star counselor, this unforgettable experience brings music lovers of any skill level together with professional rockers for the chance to share the limelight and the stage with some of rock's most influential legends.

Two indispensible utilities for Windows audio users, that we don't sell

Brent Hoover — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 19:13:00 GMT

There are two questions that I often ask myself: 1) "Where did all my disk space go?" and 2) "What the heck is using up all my disk space"

It's true, when it comes to disk space, I gorge on it. Especially on special 15k rpm recording drives where space is at a premium.

To answer question #1 I use: http://www.foldersizes.com

This gives you a big pie chart of your drive and what folders are hogging it all up. If its a directory, you can drill down and it will show you what files in that directory are the users. It makes what used to take an hour or so just a few seconds, doesn't cost much ($49.95) and it has a 15-day fully functional trial in case you don't take my word as gospel. And its SFA (Safe for Audio), doesn't install any services in the background or do anything to "help" you until you ask.

It also has a duplicate file finder, but if you needs for finding multiples go beyond what FolderSizes can do you can also purchase from the same company Duplicate File Detective, which tracks down, well I imagine you have that figured out. But it has good tools for not only finding, but handling those duplicate files and making sure they are really duplicates. Same again with cheap and the free trial.

No, we don't make any money off them, but if you're happy, we're happy, and if a lot of free drive space makes you happy, this may help.

Reminder - Ableton Live Users Group Tonight in Los Angeles

Brent Hoover — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:02:00 GMT

Live 7 will surely be a hot topic, and the usual assortment of tips, complaints, problems, and general commraderie that only users of the same DAW software can share.

at the SAE Institute (near Cherokee, about 3 blocks West of Ameoba)

6565 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Nuendo 4 In Stock and Shipping

Brent Hoover — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:09:00 GMT

The long-anticipated update to Steinberg's flagship DAW and Post-Production software is in our warehouse and ready to ship. Find out more here.