January 2011

Editorial

The virtue of thinking outside the box

Hello and welcome to the first issue of Wusik soundmagazine of 2011. Our somewhat irregularlypublished magazine is out once more with someworthwhile treats for the entire family. As usualthere are lots of reviews of new instruments, samplebanks, effects and interviews featured. All in all: awell rounded dish to last well into spring, we believe.

Worthy of note are the interviews featuring RichardHoffman of Synapse Audio and Bootsy of Variety ofSound. We’ve also reviewed the updated version ofJamstix, Magix new guitar companion Vandal and asuper-limiter by Fabfilter. And there is more too, butthat is for you to find out by flipping trough thisissue.

Wusik Sound Magazine as a project is done byvoluntary efforts. The people involved feelpassionate and want to celebrate the diversityamong both free and commercial musicalapplications. The spirit of DIY (Do It Yourself) is putto practice among so many people nowadays, fromthe SynthEdit VST creations of one basement teento the huge projects of Sonar or Cubase. It'sdownright inspiring to write about and tocommunicate with the people behind all of thiscreativity.

But we realize that the seemingly endless optionsavailable nowadays can make it hard for individualusers to find what is right for them; and with adcampaigns running for the biggest brands, we wouldlike to believe that we find some of the gems whichfalls outside the mainstream. There is virtue inthinking outside the box, making choices for yourstudio which reflect your personality, no matter ifyou are just starting out or have been doing this foryears and years.

And another bit of advice to remember while cruisingthe magazine - while on the lookout for new gear,plug-ins or samples - remember this: sometimes wecan be fooled into believing that we need a bettermicrophone, a better DAW or another guitar to beable to create music. But much more important thengear is the creative discipline which is fueled by thelove for what you do. This is true no matter which isthe era of the artist. In the art of sculpting andwriting music, the relationship between you andyour instrument is sometimes more important thenthe instrument itself!

With this in mind I'll end this withshort introductory text with aquote: “If only the best birds sangin the forest, the forest would bea quiet place.” With that in mind,who is up for sampling some birdsong, putting it trough a granularfilter while running it in reverse?!I know I am.

Robert Halvarsson

MoniKe

Wusik Sound Magazinewww.wusiksoundmagazine.com

Issue January 2011

Managing Editor: MoniKeAssistant Editors: Damion Johnston,

WilliamKProduction Manager: MoniKe

Some of the products reviewed in Wusik SoundMagazine are copies provided free of charge forreviewing purposes.

Articles by:

A. Arsovwww.arsov.net

David [email protected]

Ginno 'g.no' Legaspiwww.facebook.com/[email protected]

Johnathan Pritchett - aka Trustywww.myspace.com/[email protected]

Robert [email protected]

Proof-Reading by:Damion Johnston - aka EMDave Clark

Dave O Mahony - aka Mckenic or mCwww.mckenic.com

Robert HalvarssonPeggy

Pictures:www.dreamstime.com

EVE’s Advertising: Henry Gibson

Cover and Backcover: Pictures from www.dreamstime.com

http://www.arsov.net

mailto:[email protected]

www.facebook.com/ginnolegaspi


http://www.myspace.com/crosssoldiers


http://www.suecae.com


http://www.mckenic.com

http://www.dreamstime.com


Table of ContentsTable of Contents

Interview:

A scientist of sound - Bootsie by Robert Halvarsson

Developers’ Corner:

Review: Spice Up Your Life with Dune by Robert Halvarsson Review: Dune goes Total Recall by Robert Halvarsson Interview: Richard Hoffman by Robert Halvarsson

Review:

Digital Sound Factoryby Trusty

ElementPby Trusty

I Need Another Piano! Braunschweig Upright

by David Keenum

Alchemy: Expanding and Expanding...

by Trusty

Magix Vandal Guitar amp simulator

by A. Arsov

Synleor Harmony Improvisator and 7Aliens W2 Harmonizer

by A. Arsov

Mbira from Nine Volt Audio

by David Keenum

FabFilter Pro-Lby Robert Halvarsson

Titan - from Best Serviceby A. Arsov

Jamstix 3by A. Arsov

Mini-Review:

Mini Reviewby Ginno Legaspi

Soundware Round-Upby Ginno Legaspi

Tutorial:

Reason & Record Getting started by A. Arsov

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http://www.arsov.net


www.facebook.com/ginnolegaspi


http://www.myspace.com/crosssoldiers


http://www.suecae.com


http://www.mckenic.com



04 www.WusikSoundMagazine.com January 2011

A scientist of soundby Robert Halvarsson

Herbert Goldberg, also known asBootsie, is probably one of themost successful freeware developersout there. Wusik sound magazinedecided to ask him a couple ofquestions to find out what’s behindthe success of his project Variety ofSound.

WSM: Tell us a little bit aboutyourself and how it came that youstarted to develop audio effects?Bootsie: I am both a computerscientist and a musician. Since thetime when VST technology emerged,I've started to move towards acomplete ITB production. This tooksome years, though. During thattime, I've missed something in mostexisting software processors, and sosome of my own ideas arose. Then

in 2007, I finally started toimplement the very first ones.

WSM: Looking at the blogosphereand on forums, your work has cometo be much-appreciated. What doyou think are the reasons behindyour success?Bootsie: I guess that mostly comesfrom each plugin's unique conceptand the quality of its execution.That is much more than just theDSP and coding. Its about a focusedusage concept, appealing graphicaldesign, and also things like supportand documentation.

WSM: What do you do when you arenot developing über-great plugins?Bootsie: Well, I have a day jobwhich keeps me spinning. I love

cooking, watching movies, and tohang out with friends.

WSM: What would you consideryour greatest technical achievementthis far when it comes to yourcurrent effects?Bootsie: That is all my work aboutdigital saturation as a whole. If Iwould have to pick just one singledevelopment, then it's going to beFerricTDS, of course.

WSM: Do you have any specifichardware or software developmentwhich inspires you in your ownwork?Bootsie: Quite a lot. In general myattention is everywhere where trueinvention is. Today this is more inthe boutique or niche markets.

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WSM: In 2009 you won the prestigiousKVR Developer Challenge. What was yourreaction to the level of support youreceived?Bootsie: That was truly overwhelming andI am still very grateful for the communityto let that happen.

WSM: There is a lot of creativity amongstmany freeware developers, what wouldyou recommend someone to think of whois thinking about trying their own wings inthis field?Bootsie: Since there is so much stuffalready out there, I would recommend tonot add just another ”me too” product. Setyourself a unique and sophisticated goaland try to achieve it stepwise and not inone single step. Passion and patience iswhat you need then.

WSM: Do you plan on eventually shiftinggears into releasing commercial plugins orwork with existing software publishers?Bootsie: That could be possible.

WSM: Any plans for the future of theVariety of Sounds project that you wouldlike to indulge our readers with?Bootsie: Indeed, I do have some excitingplans for 2011. There will be somethingaimed at better supporting the recordingprocess, and later on something forelectronic music production. As of today Ican't be more specific.

WSM: Thank you for taking the timeanswering our questions and best of luck inyour future endeavours.

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Spice Up Your Life withDune

Synapse Audio is now a veterancompany in the audio business. Theirproduction platform Orion might beovershadowed by FL Studio and othersimilar players in terms of number ofusers, but it has earned a loyal fan-base through stability and well-thought-out enhancements over theyears. For most though, I think theyare recognised for their high-qualityvirtual synthesizers. When reviewingtheir offering X-Poly in an earlier issueof WSM, my verdict was that it was awell-rounded but somewhat limitedsynth.

Not so with Dune. It is anything butlimited and the two really cannot becompared feature-wise to one another.If Maxx Claster's Toxic three andOrion's internal synth WASP V wouldmeet up for some smoking hot loveand have a prodigal wild-child whichovershadowed every ounce of itsparent's abilities, they would call it

"Dune." What's so special about Dunethen? Well according to thedescription it is: ”A new subtractivesynthesizer setting new standards insound quality and flexibility.”Dune is an acronym for "DifferentialUNison Engine" and it takes theconcept of allowing the synth to playseveral voices in unison, further

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spread out over the stereo field. Whatis different than most is that it allowsfor deep programming in which theuser can modulate individual unisonvoices or voice clusters via adedicated Mod Matrix --- thus takinga tried-and-true concept andrevamping it into something moreprofound.

I have to admit that my knowledge islimited when it comes toprogramming such synths as this, butthankfully it comes with an interfacewhich for most will be recognizableand usable. It doesn't break from thetried-and-true look with ADSRcontrols and oscillators such as theusual triangle, saw, square, etceteraeither. Going through the 256patches it is clear to see that this is apowerhouse that we are talking abouthere.

The previous Synapse Audio synthshaven't lost their charm and I will notstop using either X-Poly or Junglist(the latter which I got for free in aComputer Music magazine), but Dune

is superior when it comes to creatingsounds which feature dynamic,evolving textures. Dune also comeswith a whopping number of filtereffects combinations, which are alsosome of the best I’ve heard in a synth.

There is a standard effects rack, too,with delay, distortion, reverb,chorus/phaser and an equalizer.Although they are not inventions inthe same vein as Camel Space or anyhigh level glitch effect, they do whatthey are supposed to and surprisinglyuseful. They also contribute toconserving CPU consumption byreducing the dependency on outsideFX.

The reader might wonder: "Is there isany negative thing here to be foundat all?" Well, the factory bank hassome patches which attempt to useDune's diverse capabilities in anattempt to create a more real-worldinstrument modelling of an electricpiano, a flute and things of thatnature. There are quite few to behonest, but to my mind I could have

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done without them. Though, withsome talented people who arejust about to release commercialpatch banks (as I am writing this)it is hardly a biggie.

According to the Hugo awardwinning novel Dune written byFrank Herbert, the desert planetArrakis most precious resource isits spice melange: Somethingwhich is sought after in the entireuniverse. Our Dune has notlanded in a totally unchartedworld, and the big players controlmost of the territory, but perhaps,it could be the sought-after spicethat your mix would benefit from?In the end your own answer iswhat matters most, but if you areshopping for a synth, then tryingout the Dune demo is highlyrecommended.

Company website:http://www.synapse-audio.com

Dune

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Rob Lee is a prominent synthenthusiast. He's also developedone of the first commerciallyavailable patch-banks forSynapse Audio's new synthesizer,Dune. In this issue I praisedDune and enjoyed most of its256 synth patches. But for somethat is not enough, and for thosepeople, Lee's new bank TotalRecall is a great way to extendDune's capabilities. Rob Lee isnot new to the game either; he'sdesigned patches for such synthsas Waldorf Largo, Blofeld andSylenth1.

For ₤18.00 GBP you get 128more sounds which extend Dunein the field of contemporarydance-music production.Everything from ”Old SkoolHouse and Techno to ElectroHouse and Trance” is there,according to the man behind it.Such a broad definition says verylittle. Fortunately for us thequality is very high andinspirational, especially if you,like me, prefer to use a patch asa starting point, then applychanges to take it further,because good starting points arerequired to do this.

Here you have basses which willcut through mixes like a warmknife trough butter. There arealso House stabs that sound likethey could belong to earlypioneer stuff, as well as lusciouspads. Some of this territory isalready covered in the factorybank, thanks in part to Rob'swork there as well, but here wehave so much more. Some areeven beyond good.

Leads and organs are alsofeatured here. Perhaps it isstretching itself slightly thin byattempting to be so much, butI'm not really in a position tocomplain due to the quality. Iimagine house, trance, electroand minimal lovers areparticularly well-suited for this,but some sounds can be good formore esoteric styles such ashardcore and rave.

The bank is named after the goodtimes when Lee got into DJ-ing,but by chance it also coincideswith the title ofSchwarzenegger's little-knownsci-fi movie with the same name.This winter, the best way toextend a sci-fi synth could be tolikewise get a sci-fi sound-bank.

Dune goes Total Recallby Robert Halvarsson

http://www.synapse-audio.com

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Aiming for the unique with

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Richard Hoffman has, over theyears, become a seasonedsoftware developer. In parallelwith reviewing his newsynthesizer Dune in this issue, wecaught up with him for a quickdiscussion about his and SynapseAudio’s past, present and future.

WSM: Tell us a bit about yourself.Why did you start developingmusical software?Richard Hoffman: I was simplyamazed by the release ofPropellerheads Rebirth RB-338 in thelate 90s. It was way ahead of its time,but it was too limited with just twosynths and a drum machine. Sonaturally I wanted to extend that intoa full, flexible virtual studio solution;hence Orion was born.

WSM: Why did you choose to formSynapse Audio?Richard Hoffman: It was simply

necessary in order to publish Orion.There was no business plan oranything like that.

WSM: What do you think are themajor differences today fromwhen you started out makingsoftware?Richard Hoffman: When I startedmaking music software, almost allprofessional producers were still usinghardware. Music Software was largelyrestricted to MIDI sequencers. Therewere only few solutions based onnative audio synthesis, such as soundtrackers. Typically, the quality was notgood enough for professional use.Now it is almost the opposite: Mostpeople work with software, and thequality of plugins is catching up to, ifit does not already surpass, traditionalhardware.

WSM: You just released the virtualinstrument Dune. How does itcompare to your othersynthesizers and what do youthink sets it apart from othercompanies' instruments?Richard Hoffman: Dune is a milestonefor Synapse Audio. It is the highestquality and most versatile SynapseAudio plugin made so far. What sets itapart from other instruments is theability to achieve great complexity bywhat is essentially a single-layered,subtractive synthesizer.

WSM: How does it make you feelto see the reception by differentsound-designers and to seedifferent bank-contributionsappear for Dune?Richard Hoffman: It is amazing! Noother Synapse synth attracted somany sound-designers that quickly.On top of that, what they get out of it


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is mind-blowing. It has morepotential from a sound designperspective than any otherSynapse synth to date, and ofcourse future updates will pushthe possibilities even further!

WSM: You've developed thevirtual studio Orion for quitea few years now. What areyour priorities for its eighthinstallment?Richard Hoffman: The focus ison its native sound quality, i.e.what you can achieve without3rd party plugins. The new gearwill not only sound much better,but some of it is also completelyunique. Most software pluginstoday sound very similar toeach other (or even identical)and the amount of them keepsgrowing, so I think it isimportant to offer somethingdistinct. Perhaps some dayOrion mixes will sound uniqueenough so that professionalproducers can tell them apartfrom the sound of other DAWs.Another objective, parallel tothat is to improve Orion'sworkflow.

WSM: From idea to finishedproject or instrument: howdo you go about structuringyour work?

Richard Hoffman: It is a teameffort. I work out new ideastogether with a team of betatesters, who give great input.They keep giving feedback fromthe first experimental version tothe final product. There is noother structure except for thisiterative process. In particular,there’s rarely any deadline as Ibelieve they simply lead tocompromises.

WSM: Do you have anyrecommendations of what tothink of, for someone whowants to start creating theirown effects or instruments?Richard Hoffman: I wouldrecommend learning theexisting instruments first. Someinstruments have become verycomplex, and it is a good ideato be familiar with all themodern techniques used beforestarting something new.

WSM: What are your wishesfor 2011, personal,professional and otherwise?Richard Hoffman: A Personalwish is to find more time formyself and relax more. Iworked very hard in 2010. Aprofessional wish is that I'd liketo finish Orion 8 in 2011. :)


by Trusty

It has been no secret that not only doI think Digital Sound Factory broughtthe goods for Dimension Pro, but thatthey are also some of the top sounddesigners out there. This is truewhether or not they breathe new lifeinto older sounds in newerinstruments, or if they are samplingand dialling up all new ones for theseinstruments. Now, Digital SoundFactory has brought their considerabletalent to bear on Cakewalk's Rapture.There are some 1200 new patchesspread out over three packages, allcategorized for easy access.

Every sound is top notch, and I meanit. If one bothers to take the time tolook at what is going on in theprogramming in a good deal of them,the genius in these sounds becomeseven more apparent than just hearingthem, especially in the "Sequenced"category of sounds. Rapture is a deepsynthesizer, and the vast majority ofthe programs in these collectionsdemonstrate this.

Synthesizer Rage:

It would be too easy to simply say"the name speaks for itself." It does,but knowing why it does helps. Thispackage is the one that carries thelargest sample package of the three.The reason behind this is because I

think that the idea here was to takestaple sounds from vintagesynthesizers, and the old Roland getplenty of play here, and have them

"rage" though Rapture's engine. Onething that is always striking about allDigital Sound Factory products is thesample quality, and here that highstandard remains. Because ofRapture's expressiveness as an engine,samples are not stale and stuck wherethey are. In the right hands, such asDSF, the result of these sampledstaples of vintage synthesizers is thatthey do, in fact, rage inside Rapture inways that the original synthesizerscouldn't.

The success here lies in theprogramming, probably on theoriginals, and then once again insideRapture. The concept is not to beconfused with Craig Anderton'sMinimoog Tribute collection forRapture. There, the idea was to takeraw Minimoog waveforms and workfrom there inside Rapture. While greatin its own right, there is a wholearsenal of vintage synth goodnesspacked into this offering by DigitalSound Factory, and not just from oldanalogs either, digital gets its duehere as well.

The most impressive thing about thisset is how BIG the sounds are even

with only one or two elements(Rapture's oscillator slots) in use.Even the mellower sounds are big.The pads are shimmery, but yet "rage"in their own right, in the sense thatthey break out of the mold of theirformer home synthesizer. I especiallyenjoyed the leads and basses on thisone, as they are as compelling as theyare useful. If one is finding that theircurrent arsenal still lacks in the sawleads or saw sequences department,this one is a winner for sure. Get thisexpansion!

Analog Digital Synth Resource:

If the Synthesizer Rage packageapproached Rapture with the conceptof using the old in new ways, this onetakes the concept to the next level,and provides a bit more balancedapproach in the sense that it isn'tdesigned to "rage" so much as it isdesigned to "excel", if you will. It ismore rounded in its offerings, and FMsounds show up a bit more here. Aninteresting, though small batch of

"synthesized" percussion sounds showup as well, and they are loads of funinside Rapture.

The synth keyboard-sounds and othersynth sounds are the stars of thiscollection. The impression from theprogramming here is that it is

Still on a winning streak!Digital Sound Factory

comes out withHUGE Rapture expansions!

http://www.digitalsoundfactory.com/cakewalk-rapture-electronica-ignited/product_info.php/products_id/366


designed to fit well with others. Thismakes for an easier mixing processand allows for more parts and layersin songs without the sounds fightinginternally for space. The sounds rangefrom thin to thick, from warm to cold,and the good news is that the warmand thick is just right, and the thinand cold is just right (yes, cold, thin,harsh, and digital is sometimesexactly what some of us want).

This collection is a go to collection thatexpands the Rapture factory contentin all the right places. It is more onthe bread and butter end of things,but Rapture definitely needed that inorder to be the go to workhorsesynthesizer in one's arsenal it wasdesigned to be. Once again, DigitalSound Factory fills the gap forCakewalk's instruments, and it isgreatly appreciated by those of uswho love using instruments likeRapture.

Dance Tools:

This collection is great. It definitelyhas all the latest sounds for danceproductions, but without being cliché.There are plenty of usable basses inthis set, and I was impressed with thevariety of bass sounds presented here.There is a greater emphasis here onpads, synth sounds, and synthkeyboard sounds here as well. Thepads here aren't of the one finger epicvariety, which is a good thing, as

those are turning up a lot lately.Here the pad sounds are interestingand playable to allow the musicianto bring the movement to the padsounds. I really enjoyed thesequences here too. Many of them,like the pads, were rather

"controlled" or "tame", which also, is agood thing. There are some outlandishepic, "one-finger-song" ones as well,but the more restrained sequencedsounds in this set make for perfectaccenting of music, and can fitalongside melodies as well as carryone when you want the music tomove into a breakdown.

TheSynth FX in this set is great andlacks the "heard it all before" feel tothem. Quite the contrary, they canspice up any track with somethingnew (until they get mimicked andplayed out as well...hehe). The leadsare good, but not as many as Iexpected. This is not a bad thing, asthe synthesizer and synthesizerkeyboard programs are plentiful andmake up for it. In any case, there is afolder of Synth Hits that, like theSynth FX ones, which stand out aswell. I really enjoyed the majority ofthem, and some of the samples usedin them were very surprising andunexpected.

To Sum Up:

These expansions deliver on all counts,and they are each worth adding toRapture's programs and samplesfolder. The sample content by itself isgreat as well, and for the price ($50 apiece, or $100 for all three), thispackage can't be beat for Rapturefans, or those who need an excuse tobuy Rapture. The programs are great,the samples are great, and once again,it can not be stressed enough that bybuying Digital Sound Factory soundsfor your instruments, the sounds willalso function as good instruction onhow to program the instrument. It’s afirst class product.

Link:http://www.digitalsoundfactory.com/cakewalk-rapture-electronica-ignited/product_info.php/products_id/366

http://www.digitalsoundfactory.com/cakewalk-rapture-electronica-ignited/product_info.php/products_id/366


by Trusty

Charming:

It is very rare that a discontinuedplug-in receives new life. When it doeshappen, and even if it is not yourpersonal want and desire for thatgolden oldie that you simply can notbring yourself to delete from your VSTfolder, you should still support thedeveloper and the plug-in that doesrise from the VST graveyard. Itstarted as a simple feature request onthe LinPlug forum for a synthesizervery few people still talked about, andthe end result was an update that

went further than the request, and itled to a re-release. I guess we shouldthank Kriminal over at the KVR forumsfor making an inquiry that started itall, and more importantly, thank youPeter Linsener for having the followingattitude: "These commercially uselessadventures are fun". I've interviewedhim in the past, and he is simply anoutstanding human being to boot.

Admittedly, I never bothered with ityears ago, when it all came out. Thiswas around the time my set-up hadnot moved completely to software, so

I just ignored it, and then forgotabout it completely over the years.However, when I read that thread (at:http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=279250), I simply had tohave it. I don't know why, but I amdrawn into these sorts of things. Itreally was the most charming thing Ihad ever seen at KVR. As I readthrough the thread, I thought that thiswas the one thing I did not havecovered in my musical arsenal: Aunique percussion synthesizer.

My Missing Element:

ElementP


I mostly make rap beats, though Ihave branched into other genres as oflate as I am aging, but things like this,odd men out, as it were, are whatbreathe new life into stagnate genres(or at the very least, stagnate beatmakers like myself who long ago gotbored with cookie-cutter beats). Sowhat the hell...I am a LinPlug fan,RMV, Octopus, and Organ 3 (which Iloved under the name daOrgan...itwas the "da" that made it have

"streetcred" for me...just kidding).They provide all kinds of goodness onmy tracks. Not to mention the freshslew of updates that come out forthem keep them consistent in myusage. In any case, ElementP hasadded spark to my percussion. I likedrum synths as much as the nextperson, but this was something Icould really use to set my tracks apartfrom either other people, or on thetracks I have made in times past.

First, it’s the unsung bass synth...

I use this thing in a variety of ways. Ieven actually use it for basslines inthose hard drum-focused tracks thatother producers would not bother withadding a bassline. You know the ones.They are drum-laden with multiplelayers, sparse synths, and decoratedwith brass and string hits and maybesome wah-guitar, ending up sounding

somewhat more minimal because ofthe thickness of the drum. Theseusually let the 808's handle all the lowend duties. However, I bother withElementP because its basses are noteither the typical acoustic bass soundsthat usually go with deep trunk-rattling kicks in these types of beats,nor does the synth bass soundscoming from ElementP conflict withthem either.

When presented with the options ofeither going without a bassline, goingwith an acoustic sounding bass patch,fighting with a standard VA (or evenFM) synth bass with this style of beatto get a good mix, or coming up withsomething new from the tones ofElementP, I now have my standby. I'llgo with ElementP every time, andstand apart from everyone else. Thebass sounds can be smooth, plucky,or harsh, but never out of place.

By the way, aside from it having agood "sound" to it, the added benefitwhen using ElementP as a source forbasses is that for tracks that normallywould not be bothered with basslines,its limited parameters keep the

"bothering with a bassline" to aminimum. It is easy to dial insomething that simply works withoutspending a lot of time on it.

Second, it is the "layers"...

Of course, this is mainly a percussionsynthesizer, and it is a darn good oneat that. It uses an FM-ish method ofsynthesis. I add the "ish" because FMsynthesis screams "complicated toprogram" to many people like me thataren't big into patch programming.However, one look at the interfaceshould be all it takes to know that thisone is dead simple to program.Anyway, you get some fantasticresults. It can do the kick, snares, andsuch, but many times you have thatelsewhere. The problem, especially forhip-hop producers, is that sometimesyou want to make sparse beats, butwant lots of interspersed percussion,and adding a bunch of bongos doesn'treally fit the beat you want to make.Thus, ElementP becomes your bestfriend. It makes synthesizedpercussion sounds (even synthesizedbongos), so you can add cool layers ofrhythmic syncopation on top of themain beat. ElementP excels at thesesounds, and dialing in your own is abreeze, but it also ships with morethan enough useful presets to getgoing right away.

One use I have found by adding thisbit of percussive flavour to my beatsis that I get to dial back on using theoverdone, fly away from break speedhigh hats that have populated beat


after beat after beat (...after beat).Replacing the "ticks" with someElementP action yields somethinggood, something new, and somethingdifferent. You can get tinny with it ifyou like, and yet still will have movedfar enough away from that same oldhi-hat sound that should have wentout of style five years ago.As is true with most FM drums, theymake a great alternative to layeringwith acoustic drum samples thanregular drum synthesizers. Moreover,they also make a great alternative tojust trying to layer your drumsynthesizers or synthesizer samples toget a full thump or crack from thekicks and snares. ElementP fits rightin well here and by going to it ratherthan endlessly searching through yoursamples or drum synth presets forgood sounds to stack on each other,simply load this thing up and dial insomething that fits.

Finally, yes...it can carry its ownweight.

While it must be confessed the aboveuses see play more often than usingElementP as my main source forlaying my drum foundation, it still cando this job adequately enough. Moreto the point, in some cases where Imade a beat using sparseinstrumentation or cut up hits lifting

bits off vinyl, using ElementP as my"drums" has yielded some off the wallcreativity in my hip-hop tracks thatwould not have happened at allwithout it. It does great kicks andsnares, and the presets reflect this...

...but when you use those as startingpoints, and move away from "trying"to make it sound like standard kicksand snares (which is easy to do withthis instrument given its structure),you begin to also move away from

"normal" beat patterns, and then aftersome fun with the pad controller orstep sequencer, find a new way tomake patterns using a different kindof drum, resulting in a new style oftrack altogether (shutter the thoughtof something new sounding in rapmusic). The next best thing to makingsome track that moves everyone elsein the cookie-cutter, crunk-by-the-numbers beat production game, ismaking something unique that moveyourself, even if no one else likes it.

All told:

It really is the case that a newinstrument, even an old newinstrument, can be a source ofinspiration and creativity to get out ofa production funk. This is especiallytrue of instruments like ElementPthat’s not just another drum

synthesizer, or another VA synthesizer,or even just another uber-powerfuldo-it-all synthesizer. Those are greattoo, but it is the ElementP's (or theSynplant's, or whatever) of thesoftware market that seem likenovelty to many, but to some of us,they may be the "secret weapon" thatdefines a new era in your production.It may never be remotely close toLinPlug's bestseller, or even worthbothering with at all...but Peterbothered anyway, and I thank him forit. So many thanks go out to PeterLinsener for bringing this out to thepublic again.

And you should be thankful too, so gobuy something like CronoX, Saxlab,Octopus, RMV, or Albino 3, orMorphoX, (even ElementP) so he canafford to keep bothering with thingslike this. This time of the year, thereare a slew of new releases on themarket, but sometimes you can notgo by wrong looking back a bit,getting something you missed the firsttime around.

ElementP is $39 and available for PCand Mac. VST, RTAS, and AU (<-- yes,Peter even bothered with that too)

ElementP


by David Keenum

I like pianos! From an early ageI’ve enjoyed banging on them!And I like pianos in all its forms.From a lowly spinet to a mightygrand, they’re all good! And Iguess I have to say that sampledpianos are a weakness for me.They are a lot cheaper than the“real thing,” and they don’t takeup as much room. Okay, theytake up a lot of hard drive space,but what’s a new hard drivewhen you “need” a new piano?And each new piano brings anentirely new sound. Each onehas its own character, sound,attitude, and applications. Theyare all beautiful! So you “need”them all!

Which brings us to ImperfectSamples’ SchimmelBraunschweig Upright Piano.I can hear my wife say, “Don’tyou already have an uprightpiano?” Well, yes, but that’s notthe point. This upright soundsdifferent from the other uprights.Then she says, “Other uprights?How many do you have?” Yousee, she doesn’t understand.The Braunschweig Upright Pianohas some great things going forit, and besides that it soundsdifferent from any other pianoI’ve heard. But before I getahead of myself, let me cover thedetails.

Wait a second. Let me say onething, and then I’ll get to thedetails: If you’re looking for a

dark, rich upright piano, don’tmiss checking this instrument!

Imperfect?

Why pick a name like “Imperfect”for your company name. Don’tyou want your samples recordedwith perfection in mind? Ormaybe you might want toprogram your sample libraries fora more realistic performance.And that’s just what the owner ofImperfect Samples, MattStedeford, set out to do. Hisphilosophy is that slightimperfections help the tracksound live. To quote Matt:

“Geared for the professionalproducer, imperfect samplelibraries are useful for conveyinga feeling of reality into a track.”You’ll see this better when wediscuss the specific patches.

Details

The Braunschweig Upright comesin two versions: BraunschweigUpright and BraunschweigUpright Pro. There is also a pathto upgrade Braunschweig Uprightto the pro version. TheBraunschweig Upright has 8layers and one microphoneperspective. The BraunschweigUpright Pro has 14 layers andtwo microphone perspectives.For this review I used theBraunschweig Upright Pro.

I Need Another Piano!

Braunschweig Upright

Creator and Distributor:Imperfect Samples

http://www.imperfectsamples.com

http://www.imperfectsamples.com/website/samples/braunschweig/braunschweiguprightpiano.php

19 www.WusikSoundMagazine.com

There are 4 groupings ofpatches: Main Instruments,Quiet Release, No Release, andHuman Fingers. The MainInstruments patches areprobably the ones that themajority of users will prefer. Thepatches come in 3, 6, 8, 12, and14 layer versions. There is alsoa P2 (as in perspective 2)version in 3, 6, 8, and 11 layerversions. The P2 refers to anadditional microphoneperspective near the hammers.It has a percussive but softer,more intimate sound.

An interesting patch is theHuman Fingers, and I think itgives a clear insight into why thecompany is named “Imperfect.”This patch has the full sample ofeach note, including the subtlesounds that happen just beforeand during the finger taps on theivory keys. This is to give a morerealistic performance, but itmight not be as easy to play dueto the slight delay when playingthe patch.While it didn’t bother me to playthe Human Fingers patch, I stillthink it would be best used forplaying previously sequencedfiles.

I must say that I like thisapproach. Many times it’s aninstrument’s little inconsistenciesand extraneous noises that givea track a live feel. This is a greatway to simply incorporate theseinto a track. Good job!

There are 5 additional patches toround out the collection. TheSchimmel Fantasy Piano containsonly low-velocity samples to give

an especially dark performance.The Schimmel Piano fx offerspiano performance effects, pedalsounds, wood knocking, lid openand close, and direct stringglissandos. The SchimmelSpace Piano contains glidingpiano sounds. The SchimmelSplit Piano is a three-layerupright piano in the right hand,and true staccato in the left hand.And finally, the SchimmelStaccato contains true staccatomulti-samples.

Impressions

From the opening paragraph youknow that I like sampled pianos,and I like pianos with character.This one has plenty of character,and as advertised, it is dark. Itisn’t muddy or dense, but it isdark and rich. It reminds me ofa Mike Post piano called The OldLady (now sold by SampleTek),but of course, it’s an upright, nota grand piano.

My favorite version was the 14layer of microphone perspective1. Of course it would be! It’sthe largest patch, memory-wise.It’s just that the detail isimpressive, and it was fun toplay! But the Schimmel FantasyPiano came in a close second.To me, it is moody andretrospective.

And to finish the story the way Istarted it, my wife read thisreview and said, “Okay, I’mconvinced. Get this piano!” Ihad to tell her that I already hadit… but there is another pianoI’ve been looking at…

A review of Imperfect Samples’ Braunschweig Upright

Web-Site:http://www.imperfectsamples.com(home page)


http://www.imperfectsamples.com



by Trusty

Nope. I will not stop hyping Alchemy.It is still my favorite instrument ever.EVER! People who read my articlesknow that I never tout myself assome sort of programming genius. Idon't even claim to be a novice, asthat would be too generous. ButAlchemy has met me in the middle,and that is why it is my gotoinstrument. I get better and better atit. Surely, for a less-than-novicesound designer like me, Alchemyshould still be intimidating. But it isn't.Once I "got" Alchemy, I realized thatit "got" me at the same time. Alchemymay not be your favorite instrument,but you know when your favoriteinstrument becomes that and why. Itis because you find that it "thinks" thesame way you think, and when youget it, it has you. Its that simple.

Of course, when I get expansions Iget knocked back to earth. Which isfine, because the guys Camel Audiotaps for their expansions are tops.Furthermore, they are good teachers.When you study what they have doneto deliver their sounds, you will enjoyusing them in your music. Theadditional benefit is that they continueto instruct me in ways that I don'thave to use Alchemy in my own soundprogramming. What I do well withAlchemy is F('ing)S(amples)U(p) in avariety of ways. What these sounddesigners do, is program incrediblepatches for me to put on top of myown (and hopefully drown my ownout...hehe).

Once again, there are two expansionshere under consideration, one is asolo effort, and one a group effort,both are outstanding. One has to

wonder what "quality control pill"those good people at Camel Audio aretaking, because I have yet to bedisappointed, now having reviewedseven expansions thus far.

Biolabs: Alchemy Labs

You can ask biomechanoid (aka ColinFraser) yourself to verify, but I am hisbiggest fan. When I first heard hisdemo track Alchemical Journey beforeAlchemy was released, I sent him ane-mail begging him for a .mp3 of it.Yes, I am that bad of a fanboy. I mustsay, after hearing all that was goingon in the track, I knew Alchemy wasgoing to be my kind of instrument. SoI guess I can thank him for Alchemyas much as Camel Audio, because ona personal level, it was what I knewhe could do with it that could tie meover until I got my own head around

Expanding and

Expanding...

Alchemy:


the instrument. And yes...his presetspermeate my music. Hell, I blew overthree hours pounding away on mypadKontrol with the "Breakbeat KitGranular" preset from the originalfactory bank of sounds the first night Igot Alchemy.Ahem, anyway, as you can imagine,his expansion gets the most usage ofall of them...and I intend to milk it forall its worth. Unlike Alchemy, which asan instrument thinks the way I do, asa sound designer, biomemechanoiddoesn't think like me. He thinks wellbeyond my imagination, and I amgrateful for it. He thinks up what Iwish I had or could, and thinks upwhat I want without me knowing it.This package is darn near perfect. Ienjoyed the bulk of it. UnlikeBigtone's set I reviewed in a previousissue, this collection of sounds isn'tquite as cohesive. These sounds don'thave that: "there is a full album'sworth of material to cover all bases inhere", feel to them. That isn't a knockagainst it. Rather, the sounds herehave that: "there are sounds here thatwill make every track you put on analbum have one or two sounds that

will tear your head off and take it tothe next level" feel to them.

The Arpeggiated sounds here aregreat. They wake you up and floodyour imagination with what you wantto do to make a song, whether or notthe sound itself ends up there is adifferent story. For me, they are intros,interludes, jumping off points, or justplain inspiration and by the end of thetrack the sound is nowhere. All thoseoptions suit me just fine as a songwriter. With patch names like "CrazyRedneck Banjo Arse", there is noroom for hate. Other than a fewexceptions in this category, thesounds here are not melody-making,song sucking one-finger wondersounds that drown everything out.Quite the contrary, they are sparseand sit on that razor's edge of makingas much good use of the tiny bits ofstuttered silence interspersed in thearpeggios as they do of the sound ofthe arpeggios themselves. Not toosure, but that may even by why theywork so well for starting off, becausethey give you room to fill and build.

The basses range from rip-roaring tominimal, and yet they all do one oftwo things. They either cry out toprovide the bottom end of your tracks,or plead with you by saying "trust me,I really am the bass sound youwant"...even if you think to yourself

"why is this in the bass folder?" Well,they also speak to you saying "yeah, Ido actually do double duty as a leador oddball sound effect." Okay, so Iget make-believe quote happy onoccasion, but some things can only bedescribed in certain ways. This is oneof those soundsets. I certainly thinkeverything from hip-hop heads to

“insert-whatever-electronica-sub-genre-here” to death metal folks canget some usable thump from thesebass sounds... Or to use them forsomething else entirely in the upperoctaves. If this description sounds likea wide-ranging set, one is surprisedthat there are only 16 bassesaltogether, but yet they add all thatneeds to be added.

Once again, biomechanoid says "no"to stale drum and percussion sounds.What is provided is an interesting mixof drum and percussion sounds that atfirst glance give off the "cool, but I'dnever use it" impression, but whichultimately ends up being used in somecapacity for rhythmic purposes whenyou find your usual drumprogramming boring. You think, "Ineed to layer this beat withsomething", and then think

"hmm...biomechanoid knew this wouldhappen...so that's why they are there"and once again, you are drawn in tothat crazy genius brain of his. And itworks. In the set is also a goodreminder why we should all makesamples from µTonic and muck them


about with Alchemy. "Future NinjaRobot Kit" and "Troll Drums" see a lotof action in my music for a variety ofdifferent tasks.

There are three patches in the"Guitar"-folder that are awesome. Theysound good, and they sound likeguitars, but still not. I used them,thinking I wouldn't, which sayssomething. The Keys folder has fourpatches, and sadly, I only liked one ofthem, and not just for the name(Frakkur), but that is not to say thatthey don't have high quality, becausethey do, they just aren't my cup of tea.Of the five Leads, they are all tops.You may have something elsewherethat sounds similar, but you don'thave these, and they have that extrabit (made even more "extra" workingthe Remix Pads) that your similarsounds will never deliver. There isonly one lead sounds that reallyscreams out at you, but all five aredistinct enough to provide lead dutiesin several tracks.

The Loops sounds are purebiomechanoid. They really inform youwhere he has his head in Alchemy.Whether drum loops, synth loops, oreffect loops, he gives you a good mixof who he is and how he thinks aboutmusic. Not saying these define him,as no one can do that, but that forhim, Alchemy is not gonna be averagesounding, or even usual sounding. Theconstuction kits, like his

aforementioned drum kit for thefactory bank, will cost you hours ofyour life (especially with Artillery 2running) but will be fun enough soyou won’t care. The others in thisfolder will begin, end, or be abreakdown backdrop in more than halfyour songs...this I guarantee.

The Pads are great, they areeverything from harsh to shimmery,elegant to ornery. They are pads formusic that normally avoids using pads.This I like. The Soundscapes andSound Effects are plentiful, and areuseful to boot. In many cases, there isno mere "transition" sounds, there aresounds you would even wantunderneath your melodies. TheSynths folders provide some useful

"filler" stuff that add just the rightflavor to sounds. In certain contexts,they make good leads when you wantthe beat to continue on for a few barsafter you drop out the lead propersound. Finally, you get some unusualVocal sounds as well to round out theset. They are very interesting, andeven if you don't want Sarah singingAlchemy in a song, the rest are fun toplay around with.

Okay, so I don't know biomechanoid,and I don't know if I have capturedwhat he is trying to do or what hepersonally would say about his work,but this is what the sounds are sayingto me, and what I get from usingthem. This is my personal favorite of

all the expansions I have tried so far,and a soundset review this longcertainly reads like a fanboy loveletter, and I wouldn’t deny this. Thesesounds are defining for what I do andwould like to do with Alchemy. I amgrateful that biomechanoid hascreated this for me. The sounds hereforce on you to not make the samestuff you always make. They insistupon it.

Cinematic:

I don't make soundtracks for film orvideo games, nor do I make ambientmusic. I do, however, like tooccasionally add that kind of flavor tothe kinds of music I do make. Thiscollaborative effort provides enoughfresh content for people like me to getloads of use out of it without evenbeing the intended target audience. Inshort, if you are into film, video game,and/or ambient music, this collectionwould be right up your alley, and it’sof very high quality. If you are notinto film, video game, and/or ambientmusic, this collection is still right upyour alley because it is very highquality, and it takes you somewherenew with the music you are alreadymaking...at least if you are creativeanyway.

Oddly enough, the categories ofsounds are more diverse than Iexpected. I expected soundscapes,effects, pads, and loops of

Alchemy:


soundscapes, effects, and pads. "Notso", says Camel Audio. Don't thinkyou know better. I didn't know better.I do know Camel Audio, so I shouldhave known better. I should haveknown there was something in this forthe rest of us, that had we not hadthis Cinematic set, we would havewent without exactly what we havebeen wanting, especially when itcomes to sounds like the "SnapDivision" string patch, or the "StabatMater" loop patch. There are somecool stuff in here. Of course, whoeverthis Martin Walker guy is (thedesigner of the above mentionedpatches), he sure makes some coolsounds.

The rest of the people here do as well,and I don't want to leave them out.Artvera does some heavy lifting here,especially in the Soundscapesdepartment. She expertly takes thelistener to another world, that is oddlyenough, right alongside our own. Thesoundscapes she crafts have that

"there but here" feel to them. JunkieXL and Luftrum do some seriousbusiness here too. The former wantingthe claustrophobia feel of beingcrushed by the oncoming onslaught ofthe ...er...something or other, and thelatter wanting your spine to tinglefrom the touch of a feather (okay, anoccasionally heavy feather). As this iswhere the bulk of the soundset lies,the non-film/video game/ambient guyor gal like myself need not worry.

There is some killer sounding stuff inhere.

Furthermore, the tweakingpossibilities with Alchemy open thesereally cool sounds for other uses. Ifound myself tweaking the remix padsand came up with some great stuff forputting underneath my music tracks.It goes without saying that thesetypes of sounds do in fact make greattransitions between songs for anygenre of music if put to creative uses,and might even make the idea of

"albums" interesting and viable again.Why? Because these types of soundshelp one visualize music, and perhapspeople (aside from film/videogame/ambient people) will startlistening to this kind of stuff and "see"all the musical tracks they want for analbum in a different way and buildbridges from one song to the next is amore compelling way. And there is nogenre specifically I am talking abouthere.

There are a bunch of othercollaborators that share some finecontributions here and there, but theobvious stars are the ones mentionedabove who appear again and again onthe sounds you'll probably like themost, or at least the ones I like themost. The contributions of the rest arestill top notch to be sure, but one cansee why the aforementioned namesshow up so often.

I really enjoyed the mallets andorgans, despite the few in number inthese categories. The two Keyssounds are great, and interesting aswell. Artvera and Martin Walker outdothemselves on the vocal sounds. Theyare great, and sound like what youwould expect when you pass from onelife to the next or when you passthrough somewhere in the middle of aforest and stumble upon somethingthat could very well change the courseof history...or something like that.

Anyway, I really did enjoy thiscollection of sounds.Atmospheric/Cinematic sound packsfor various products are popping upall over the place these days (not tomention a huge synth that came outwhile back more or less packed withthis kind of stuff), and I am listening,but so far none of them are touchingAlchemy's contribution here. CamelAudio have two new ones out rightnow along with this one that areprobably top notch as well. They arebegging for all of us non-film/videogame/ambient people to jump onthem as well to do something coolwith them in our own music.

Expanding and

Expanding...


by A. Arsov

Magix

Love at second sight

Sometimes it just so happens that weget the wrong impression first timearound. When I first tried Vandal Ihave to admit that it left me a bitdisappointed. The default openingpreset came with a clean sound whichwas not as impressive as the newAmplitube 3, and there was not such alarge quantity of included amps andeffects either. I glanced rapidlythrough the few presets, then putVandal aside for a while and thought"Why the hell did I order this in thefirst place?" and "What should I writeabout it when the time comes?"Nearly one month later I decided togive it a second chance, this timespending the whole afternoontweaking and banging it.

Second sight

Sometimes it just so happens.... Iknow, it sounds like deja vu, but eversince that afternoon, Vandal proudlystands in my default project set up,being there whenever I start workingon a new song. Yes, it could be that aclean sound is still not Vandal'sstrongest point and, yes, there couldbe a few more effects implemented.On the other hand, it is the most CPUuser-friendly amp simulator on themarket, and what's more it is anabsolute dream for Metal lovers.

Vandal is living proof that "Nomen estomen" --- that is, Vandal is "true to itsname": It has the best-soundingdistortion I have ever heard on anyamp simulator. Somehow, whenever itgoes dirty it sounds and reacts like areal guitar amp, much more so thanother amps on the market. With somegain and a touch of internal distortion,it becomes a real killer. I've spent thewhole afternoon mumbling indistinctwords, playing dirty riffs over andover. Pantera and Metallica - here Icome! If you are a metal-oriented,guitar player then you shoulddefinitely try this one out.

When a man falls in low

At the time being I also found that itsounds good with my old bass guitar,so after a long time I've switchedfrom my old crowded bass effect rackto a new one containing only Vandaland an equalizer. I need the last onefor drilling some extra tight frequencyholes to make a place for the kickdrum. All in all, far better results forless, with the added benefit of modestCPU-consumption.

So far so good

The graphical interface is prettystraightforward. At the top is a presetbrowser along with few things likegain, input and output --- essentialstuff. Right under that first row is fourwindows for inserting what Magix calls

“Countless effects and stomp boxes.”Hmm.... They are far from beingcountless, but as they sound good, wecould forgive them that they give ussuch a limited number of “Countlesseffects and stomp boxes.” I’ve triedthem all, and liked them too. They areuseful and sound good, covering mostof the standard guitar effects youexpect to see in a typical guitar rackspiced with a few exotic ones.

Vandal is not a classic collection ofamp simulations of particular models,because Magix decided to use a bitdifferent approach and built the wholething on another foundation. There isa technical tra-la-la on their siteexplaining the whole thing. Let's skipthat and just state the obvious: itsounds good. So, there we've got twogeneral amplifier models, one for bassand another for guitar. The last onehas three preamp channels: clean,crunch and lead. In times wheneveryone appraises a pizza only by itssize and not by the taste, it may seempretty limited, but browsing throughthe presets proves that we don't needmore than those two amps for gettingthe whole palette of well-known guitaramps.

It covers everything from GullienKriger-attacked aggressive dirtiness tothe strong “falling apart” Marshall-dirt.Being spoiled with endless presets onvarious VST-animals, I somehowforgot that you had to turn a few


Magix(Guitar amp simulator)

knobs on any real amp to get the sound you wantinstead of just changing the preset. So we don'tget the usual photo album of various guitar ampsas is the habit there, and therefore we can'texchange amp stickers – but thankfully I'm oldenough to still remember how those knobs shouldbe tweaked.

These are no strict simulations ---just an ordinary set of amp

controls along with dualmicrophone setups forsetting the angle anddistance of the sound andtwo additional effectswindows for all the

essential reverb and delayactivities. That's it for the

interface and the features. Notmuch to write about, but pretty much

to hear. I love Vandal because it sounds like areal guitar amp and it is ultra-light on processorpower. It is simple to use, and it works well alsowith synths.

I wouldn't complain if there were a few moreeffects in this endless collection, especially thosefor spicing the clean sound, but despite this – thisis still an essential tool, even if you already ownAmplitube or Guitar Rig. Competitors may offerwider selection sound-wise, but Magix getsstraight to the point, offering an authenticdistorted sound. If you combine that with reallylow processor usage, you’ve pretty much foundyour winner.

I found that presets on Amplitube and Guitar Rigsound somewhat wider, but the truth is that realguitar amps are mono, and they become stereoonly if we put them through stereo effects. Andthat's exactly how Vandal works. In other words:objection denied!

The price is 169 Euros, so it’s neither cheap norexpensive. The sound is right and life is bright.

Enjoy!

By: Heavy Mental musician Arsov


by Ginno Legaspi

XLN AudioModern Jazz Brushes and SticksADPak

Addictive Drums has always been mygo-to plug-in instrument when itcomes to acoustic and vintage drumskits. The AD Retro pack was such agood release, and now jazz, improvand fusion producers are served withthis ADPak from XLN Audio. This twinpack is simply called "Modern Jazz -Sticks and Brush ADPak." SticksADPak features a beautifully red-colored, premier Gen-X drum kit, witha mint condition Ludwig Acrollitesnare to match its sound. The cymbalsused are Sabian and Paiste, whichcomplete the setup. It comes with 30starter presets.

The Brushes ADPak features the same12-piece jazz-kit drum setup as SticksADPak, but played with brushes. Asfar as sampling the whole kit, XLNAudio did an excellent job – I can findno shortcuts or compromises at all.The individual drum hits sound naturaland are well-recorded, too. They wentto great lengths in recording the mostpristine drum samples with carefuldetail and precision. Of course, itdoesn't hurt to use high-quality gearsuch as AKG, Neumann and AEA micsthrough Universal Audio preamp's,either. The Brushes ADPak alsoincorporates what XLN Audio calls

"RealSweep Technology." According totheir website, "RealSweep allows youto make accents in the sweepswithout interrupting the sweep motion.

You can also stop thesweep at any time forpauses. This gives youextremely realistic circlemotions and an irresistiblegroove". Both ADPak'scome with 350 live-recorded grooves(rhythms and fills indifferent tempo ranges)for inspiration or forcomplete backup drumtracks for your nextmasterpiece. Given thearticulations, expressionand the feel of ModernJazz ADPak, this is a mustif you have AddictiveDrums. You'd be silly tolet it pass you by.

Format: PC/MAC, Addictive Drumsexpansion packsWeb: www.xlnaudio.com,www.bigfishaudio.comPrice: $69.95 (digital download)

http://www.xlnaudio.com

http://www.bigfishaudio.com




UeberschallElectro Producer Pack

Electro Producer Pack is a 1.3 GBmonster library of electro and danceloops for electronic music production,designed and produced by MarcSteinmeier. All the loops andsamples have been labeledaccording to root key and tempo aswell as time signature for easyintegration into your mixes. Thispack comes with 2969 loops andsamples, and is shipped withUeberschall's own Elastik Player. AsI've explained in my previousUeberschall library reviews, ElastikPlayer allow users to directlymanipulate the samples' pitch andtiming without noticeable artifacts.The loops loaded within the playerwill always real-time sync with anyDAW, too, making it easy to

augment in your tracks.Sonically, this library withlots of ballsy, in-your-facesound. I love the analoguesequences, courtesy of Juno106, SH-101, Moog Voyager,Studio Electronic SE-1 andMonoPoly, to name a few.

Format: AU, VST, RTASand StandAlone (Mac/PC),Elastik InstrumentSoundbankWeb:www.bigfishaudio.comPrice: $99.95 each (DVD)

UeberschallPop Music

Crafting modern mainstream musichas always been difficult. This is notnecessarily because of the intricaciesof the arrangement, but because youhave to make the music as engagingto your listeners as possible, in myopinion, not to mention that you alsohave to have the right 'hook' for thesong. Well, if you're running out ofideas and you can't find that exact'hummable melody,' maybe Pop Musicfrom Ueberschall can help. Thismassive 3.6 GB sample library has1000 samples that focus on ballads,electro-pop, pop rock, classic andmodern pop genres. Provided are 13construction-type kits each with

component stems. Each song-typekit (intros, verses, chorus,endings) are completely full ofingredients to make a full-trackproduction, including full drumkits, acoustic guitars, ampedguitars, strings/pads, acousticpianos, e-pianos, percussion,smooth bass-lines, flutes, Rhodesand various synthesizers. Thesounds themselves are verypolished and well-recorded. It'svery musical, and the loops canbe dropped on any production.This is another Marc Steinmeierproduction (along with PeterJordan), and is powered byUeberschall's Elastik Player.

Format: AU, VST, RTAS andStandAlone (Mac/PC), ElasticPlayer SoundbankWeb: www.bigfishaudio.comPrice: $99.95 each (DVD)

http://www.xlnaudio.com





Propellerhead SoftwareReason Electric Bass

Although Reason is primarily aimedat producing electronic/dance andhip-hop compositions,Propellerhead is constantlypushing it to be a production toolfor all kinds of music. Theirprevious releases such as the well-recorded Reason Pianos, theacoustic Reason Drum Kit, andReason Strings are designed tocapture the hearts of every type ofproducer. And now with ReasonElectric Bass, the family ofPropellerhead-released ReFillskeeps growing. Reason ElectricBass is a collection of'Hypersampled' electric basses foryour Reason Rack. Simply put,'Hypersampling' means: 1)Sampling in multiple velocitylevels; 2) Using multiplemicrophones and signal chains tocapture the characteristic of variousamps and mics used, and 3) Applyingthe multiple-variation samplingtechnique to capture the instruments'attributes (ghost notes, slides) andnoises (fret noise) to make themcome alive.

Reason Electric Bass or REB for short,features 8 iconic bass guitars (mostlyvintage), namely, 1968 Fender JazzBass, 1965 Fender Precision, 1972Gibson EB-0, 1969 Gibson Les Paul,2001 Music Man Stingray 5-stringfretless, 1978 Fender Precision, 1963Kay Hollowbody and 1974

Rickenbacker 4001. All basses wereplayed either picked or fingered byrenowned Scandinavian bass playerSven Lindvall. The recording sessiontook place at Mandarine Studios inStockholm, using state-of-the artrecording gear such as SSL 9000mixer console and Pro Tools HDsystem. The basses were amplifiedusing a '64 Fender Showman 'BlackFace' (for that warm "all-round"character) and an Ampeg B-15 SPotaflex Bass Combo (for thatpowerful, vintage sound). Quality micsused in capturing the low-ends wereAKG D12, Coles 4038, Didrik De GeerM49, Neumann U47 FET, Shure SM57

and a Yamaha SKRM-100Subkick. Also, variouspreamps and DI were used inthe recordings. So how doesREB sound? To sum it up inone word only, realistic.

The sound quality of thesamples are of such highquality that even the 16-bitDVD version is convincing.The 'Style Basses' folderoffers usable presets in thiscollection, in my opinion.There are 66 of them utilizingthe Combinator unit. Iespecially liked theRickenbacker patch called

"Fascinating Street" - for thatundeniable 80's vibe - andthe nicely programmed style

"Elektrik" and "Metal Cloud"patches for electronic style.Great programming on thosetwo patches. Overall, this is

an excellent addition to your ReFilllibrary if you already have some ofthe ones I mentioned above.

Format: ReFill for Reason (Mac/PC)Web: www.propellerhead.sePRICE: $129

http://www.propellerhead.se


by A. Arsov

Synleor Harmony Improvisatorand

7Aliens W2 Harmonizer

Harmony tools

These days you don't need to be amusician to be the musician. No, Idon't complain. Music is a not allabout the finger skills, and secondly,knowing the harmony rules can't hurt,but it is not essential for some of themodern genres. In pop culture,imagination counts much more thanthe pure skill, but as soon you want touse more than three chords, you willneed to know a few basic things aboutmusic theory. As you already know,the only problem with music theory isthat it has something in common withthe mathematical sciences. Somepeople get it, and some simply can't.There is also a third kind of people,those who don't care, neither formathematics nor for music theory.

10 + 5 = 14

Synleor Harmony improvisator and 7Alien W2 Harmonizer are handy toolsfor all one-finger keyboard playersaround the globe, helping them to getthrough basic harmony problems.Synleor Harmony Improvisator willhelp you to find appropriate chords ina scale, giving you all the possibledegree combinations, while 7 Alien'sW2 Harmonizer will lead you onlythrough the basic major and minorchords inside the desired scale. But onthe other hand, W2 Harmonizer offers

a large number of alternative scalesfrom basic derivatives, like Aeolian,Dorian, and various pentatonicvariations, to exotic ones from aroundthe globe like Japanese, Jewish, andall other western, eastern, northernand southern sorts of scales. If we goback to Synleor Harmony Improvisatorfor a moment, we should mention thatit has one really nice addition - if youlose yourself in the middle of aharmony progression, it offers you fewusable suggestions, helping you tofind your way out. But you shouldconsider that Synleor HarmonyImprovisator is not aimed for harmonydummies; you should have at leastsome essential knowledge of howthings are going. That shouldn't be aproblem as most musicians nowadayshave at least some essential harmonyknowledge. So Harmony Improvisatoris definitively a no-no for one-fingerartists, but it could be really helpful ifyou have all fingers but are having aproblem with advanced harmonyknowledge anyway.

On the other hand, 7 Alien's W2Harmonizer could be a life-saver for allthose natural one-finger virtuosos, butthe main problem is that most up-to-date genres, like dance or trance,electro and such, use chordsinversions. At some points this couldbe arranged, separated for peculiarchords in 7 Alien's W2 Harmonizer,

http://www.synleor.com/

http://www.7aliens.com/vst-midi-w2-harmonizer.php


but I really miss some basic optionsfor inverting all chords lying close tothe root note of the chosen scale.Even though I'm not a one-fingervirtuoso, I find this program usefulanyway because from time to time Ilike to mess with some exotic scales,and 7 Alien W2 Harmonizer is agolden box full of those goodies. Andhaving a basic chord progressionalong with those scales is a bonus.

Synleor Harmony Improvizator alsocomes with internal synthesizer,containing a good measure ofadditional harmony degrees alongwith an integrated harmonic time linefor constructing, editing and storingnewly created progressions. With thatprogram it is not so hard to become anew Wagner, but a problem ariseswhen you just want to be a newLennon /McCartney, Springsteen, orany other rock or pop composer. Themain problem is that I really misssome sort of integrated, ready-to-go,basic chord progression library forvarious contemporary genres, withadditional harmony suggestions, andas I mentioned in writing about the 7Aliens W2 Harmonizer, someadditional option for sorting theinversions around the root note. Bothprograms are on a good path, and ifthere was a way to compile thingsfrom both programs... eh, you can'thave it all.

In the past, we from the old continenthad a habit to solve such problemswith marriages. So if a prince ofSynleor would take a 7Aliens princess,and if their children could implementsome additional harmony solutionsthat added some basic progressionlibraries, then all one-fingerinhabitants along with the all-finger,self-made geniuses could live happilyforever after.

Till then....

Visit the http://www.synleor.com/ fordownloading the HarmonyImprovisator orhttp://www.7aliens.com/vst-midi-w2-harmonizer.php for getting the W2Harmonizer.

http://www.synleor.com/

http://www.7aliens.com/vst-midi-w2-harmonizer.php

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by David Keenum

Review of Nine Volt Audio’s Duo:

Mbira

Nine Volt Audio made a name for itselfwith its innovative loop releases.They did REX when REX wasn’t all thatcool, and they made it cool. Theymade guitar loops cool. They figuredout how to edit loops so they could bestretched to wider tempos. Theycalled it BPM Flex Series. But haveyou noticed that they have graduallybeen issuing Kontakt instruments?And they have some interestingofferings. It started with Taiko. Thencame Stickbreakers Vol 1: TomEdition and Stickbreakers Vol 2: TenMan Taiko. Next came Duo: Tingklik,and now Duo: Mbira. The Duo:Tingklik features two TingKliks, thebamboo marimba-like instrumentsfrom Bali. The Duo: Mbira does thesame for one of Africa’s most famousmusical instruments.

What is a Mbria?

The Mbira is one of a number ofLamellophones (“lamella”= plate and

“phonos”= sound) including the Africaninstruments: mbira, sanza, kisanji,likembe, and kalimba. They have alsobeen classified as plucked idiophones,the same classification as the JawHarp and the Music Box. That cameas a surprise to me, but it makessense. All of these instruments use ametal tongue and a resonating board.With the African instruments theresonating box is wooden, and someof the instruments have pieces of

metal, even bottle caps, to act as“buzzers.” To my ear, the Mbriasounds similar to the Kalimba (theinstrument we are probably mostfamiliar), but with more “thud” or

“thump” to it. You hear more woodand less metal.

The Details

Nine Volt Audio sampled two Mbirasfor this release. The larger model isfrom Zimbabwe and is referred to as

“Mbira Dzavadzimu,” where the smallermodel originates from Mozambiqueand is referred to as “Mbira Nyunga.”It has fewer keys but includes

“buzzers.” These “buzzers,” referred toabove, are bottle cap-sized pieces ofmetal that vibrate and buzz on a plateas the keys are played. There is aknob on the Kontakt interface thatallows you to adjust the amount of

“buzz.”

Which brings me to the interface… Ilove it! Kontakt has matured to anamazing instrument, and I reallyappreciate it when developers use itto its fullest potential. The patchesfor Duo: Mbria are a fine example ofthis. Each patch contains three pagesof “User Interface Controls.” Theyare: Effects, AHDSR-EQ-Scale, andHumanizer. And each page contains anumber of adjustments. For me, thisgreatly enhances the usability of thesesamples. There are more details, and

an audio and a video demo, on theproduct page(http://www.ninevoltaudio.com/products/duo_mbira.html), and you candownload the user manual to get adetailed explanation of the “UserInterface Controls.”

There are a number of patches. Thefirst 6 are “Lite,” “Medium,” and

“Large” versions of the MbiraDzavadzimu and Mbira Nyunga. Thenthere are 8 patches of both Mbriasprogrammed as if two players areplaying at the same time. Finallythere are 18 patches of arpeggiatorpatterns. Each of the arpeggiatorpatches has a separate page of “UserInterface Controls.” Again, this givesyou lots of options to customize yourpatch.

Impressions

Within a few minutes of opening Duo:Mbira, I had started a song. Enoughsaid? Well, maybe I could add a littlemore. I found the single instrumentspatches accurate and expressive.Obviously the “Lg” versions soundedmore detailed, and they played fine onmy old single core Athlon 64 computer.The “duo” patches add a nice depthand detail. You can control the stereospread, EQ, humanize theperformance, and a number of otheruser controls and still work quickly.

http://www.ninevoltaudio.com/products/duo_mbira.html

http://www.ninevoltaudio.com/



But when I started listening to thearpeggiator patches, I wasimmediately interested! I’ll admitit is my favorite part of the entirecollection. That’s not takinganything away from the otherpatches, and it may havesomething to do with my currentproject. But the arpeggiatorpatches gave me just the “spice” Iwas looking for!

Spice might be a good word fordescribing Duo: Mbira. The

sound of the two instruments, theUser Interface Controls, and thewide variety of arpeggiatorpatches makes this a greatcollection for adding some spice toa track. If you are interested, golisten to the audio demo andwatch the video. See if you needsome Duo: Mbira “spice.”

Duo Mbira

Creator and Distributor: Nine VoltAudio

Web-Site:http://www.ninevoltaudio.com/http://www.ninevoltaudio.com/products/duo_mbira.html

Price: $59.99

Details (from the webpage):- Over 1.5 GB of 44.1kHz/24bitsamples and 32 Kontakt 3.5/4instrument patches and multis.Download is 950 MB.- Core natural patches are offered in“Lite”, “Medium” and “Large” sizes toaccommodate different levels of RAMand CPU usage. “Large” patcheshave 80-100 samples per notesampled on both instruments. Userinterface controls are available to

control the depth of automaticsample rotation and otherhumanization features.Humanization can approximate 8-10x10 round robin and beyond.

- Duo” patches are available allowingfor the simulation of two peopleplaying simultaneously. Thesepatches have additional “Spread”interface controls.- Arpeggiator patches and multisinclude 12 patterns per patch.Patterns 1-6 are duple meter (2/4,4/4), patterns 7-10 triple meter (3/4,6/8), and patterns 11 and 12 are 5/4and 7/8, respectively.- User interface controls are availableto alter chromatic playing modes to

the instruments’ original keysand scales – along withnumerous other keys and scales.- Additional user interfacecontrols include: convolutionreverb (with 14 custom IR

.wavs), saturation, stereo width,velocity curve, low and high passfilters, delay, low, mid and highEQ gain, AHDSR, remap knoband humanization.- Duo Mbira is compatible withfull retail versions of Kontakt 3.5and up. The free Kontakt Playerwill only allow for 30 minutes ofunrestricted use.

Sample Resolution: 24-bit/44.1 kHz resolution

Formats: Native InstrumentsKontakt 3.5 and 4

Test Computer: AMD Athlon 643200+ 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM, WindowsXP Pro SP 3, Echo MiaMIDI AudioCard


http://www.ninevoltaudio.com/




Fabtastic to the LimitFabFilter Pro-L

Limiting is usually done last in themastering chain, to bring up the songto commercially viable loudness levels.First off, let me state the following: Iam not a professional masteringengineer. Like most producers in thespirit of do-it-yourself (DIY), I quicklyrealised that my music was perceivedto have less loudness than songsplaying on the radio, so I askedmyself what I could do to get them tothat same level.

Fabfilter's Pro-L Limiter is a brickwalllimiter which purpose is exactly this.Following the mixing stage, where youmake sure that all instruments andeffects are balanced against oneanother, a proper master process isundertaken to make the “finalproduct,” so to speak.

Wusik Sound Magazine has reviewedFabfilter's products before. In theDecember issue of 2009, we calledtheir filter effect Volcano 2: “anincredible piece of software thateveryone should have in their folder.”Well, Pro-L could be considered themissing piece in a trilogy, consistingof: 1) Pro-L limiter; 2) Pro-Q equalizerand 3) Pro-C compressor -- which aresold as a bundle by Fabfilter.

Fabfilter Mastering Bundle

After a painlessly installing and firingit up, I was struck by the very elegantaesthetic of Pro-L. It is visuallybeautiful and gives a clear graphicaloutlook on how the limiter works byshowing the user a real time leveldisplay as well as a level meter. Byadjusting the gain slider you will seein real time how your audio is affected,showing gain reduction in red.Depending on how detailed you wantto see the limiting process there arethree normal metering scales as wellas industry-standard scales based onBob Katz's K-System.

Aside from the visual side there arefour limiter algorithms ranging fromthe subtle, to giving your final mastera punchy and pumping character.There are a lot of presets perfectlyarranged according to style, rangingfrom house and electronica to hip hop,to acoustic pop music as well as rock.This gives Pro-L a broad appeal and aneasy way to understanding itsdifferent uses. It is all very sleek andalso pedagogical due to the fact thatFabfilter has implemented aninteractive help section whichcomplements their offline manualnicely.

But, in the end everything comesdown to actual performance. Is Pro-Lable to deliver the result to beexpected? I put it up against mycurrent “go to” limiter; which we maycall “brand X”, to see how it compares.What seemed to be a general themewas that Pro-L seemed to not onlypreserve dynamics better, but alsomanaged to bring forward a sense ofvividness in the audio material. Thesethings can be somewhat hard todefine, but the material sounded lessstale, more alive, and the stereo widthwas preserved to great effect.Switching through the presetsresulted in really different results, andas my skill hopefully improves I hopeto be able to tweak these with moreprecision.

You can push your materialridiculously loud if you want to, butphysics will remain an obstacle nomatter which limiter you use. If youchoose to go a little more

conservative and avoid the moreextreme side of what has beendubbed “the loudness wars”, you willalways have the option of squashingthe material to great effect with Pro-L.

http://www.fabfilter.com/


Taking into the fact that I am not a mastering engineer, Imust say nevertheless that I am very impressed by whatFabfilter Pro-L has to offer. It can go further than what Ihave experienced with other limiters, and it offers a greatvariety of options in terms of actual limiting, and it sounds

just plain great! At the end of the day, that’s what it’s allabout isn’t it?

Read more and download a fully functional demo at:http://www.fabfilter.com/

http://www.fabfilter.com/


by Ginno Legaspi

Soundware Roundup

Future LoopsInfinite Sounds from a FutureCosmos

This massive collection from FutureLoops sits proudly on the atmosphere,pads, texture and FX tip of electronica.Infinite Sounds from a Future Cosmosis a well-conceived library thatincludes 8 DVD's with over 17 GB ofcontent. You get a mind-blowing totalof more than 3200 loops (in44.1kHz/16-bit WAV format) thatcould easily slot into ambient,soundtrack and experimental music.Production-wise, this library excels inmany ways. I'm particularlyimpressed with the sound design teamto come up with a universe ofselections. The pad samples arestrikingly rich and varied. They'realways "moving" and some are

"pulsating;" it is far from sterile. Thesonic textures in Volume 3 - DesertSoundscapes appeals to me especiallybecause of the clever use of reverbapplied. There are so many samples inthis volume that sound huge, itbenefited from a nice ambience wash.

So what do you get in this package?Well, lots. And here are all the titlesincluded in the box:

Vol 1 - SEA EXPLORATIONS is aprofound collection that takes us tobeautiful aquatic worlds where noman has gone before.

Vol 2 - ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCESbrings you the fascinating world ofrobotic beings and machines.

Vol 3 - DESERT SOUNDSCAPES isfilled with distant and hidden lands,sand people and wind storms.

Vol 4 - SPACE EXPLORATIONS willembark you on a journey throughgalaxies, planets and distant aliencivilizations.

Vol 5 - BIOSPHERES is a dazzlingcollection of all living organisms andsecluded habitats.

Vol 6 - MAGNETIC FIELDS is aterrifying deconstruction of the worldand laws of physics.

Vol 7 - ICE AGES has impressivesound design and showcases the

sounds from the coldest regions of thecosmos.

Vol 8 - PHENOMENONS brings us thestriking beauty of natural wonders,cosmic events and geological hazards.

Bottomline, Infinite Sound from aFuture Cosmos is a serious tool forproducers of game music, cinema/TVsoundtracks and electronic music.Many of the loops are a real gem andinstantly usable in differentapplications. For $99, it's a no-brainer.

WEB:www.futureloops.comwww.bigfishaudio.com

FORMAT:WAV files (Mac/PC)

PRICE:$99

http://www.futureloops.com



http://www.samplemagic.com

http://www.soundstosample.com


Big Fish AudioFunk Soul Horns

This collection from Big Fish Audiocontains 3 GB of horn samplespackaged into the usual collections ofAcidized WAV files, Apple Aiff loops,REX files and RMX. As the titlesuggest, Funk Soul Horns is gearedtowards producers making funk, soul,hip hop and R&B music. This DVDoffers hundreds of licks from amassive horn section comprising oftwo trumpets, trombone, alto sax,tenor sax and baritone sax. Here wehave 10 construction kits rangingfrom 65 BPM to 130 BPM, 1-8 barslong. The kits are further broken downinto different folders that containdifferent individual instrument loops,as well as a mix of the horn sectionplaying together. This type offlexibility allows the producer to havetotal control of EQ, pan, effects andmixing & matching of the loops. Theloops sound astounding and theperformance is top-notch but theinclusion of 800-plus extra solo makesthis library a sure winner. A must forproducers making funk+soul music alá James Brown.

WEB:www.bigfishaudio.com

FORMAT:ACID WAV, AppleAIFF loops, REXand RMX44.1kHz/24-Bit,4.6 GB of content

PRICE:$99.95

Sample MagicSoundtrack & Chill

Since the release of theirElectro-House library acouple of years ago,Sample Magic havebecome a force to bereckoned with when itcomes to high-qualitysample libraries on theweb.

Containing a wideselection of loops, one-shots and soft-samplerpatches, Soundtrack andChill is designed forsoundtrack, chill,ambient and new ageproducers. The content - 4.48 GB onthe DVD multipack - is divided into 10folders of Beds, Chords-Hits-FX,Elements, Guitar, Keys, Nature, Piano,Rhythm, Vibraphone and Vocals.Tempos range from 60-80 BPM, withpopular audio formats such as WAV,Apple Loops, REX2 and Stylus RMSsupported - all in 24-bit glory. Thereis also a handful of sample patches for

Kontakt, HALion, EXS24and NN-XT thrown infor good measure. Allthe samples wereperformed andprogrammed byveteran samplesmithJames Johnson - whohas other great samplelibraries under his belt.This is a very wellproduced, edited andarranged library. Themesmerizing pianosunder the 'Piano' folder

strike me as impressive, but the bestsounds for me are the atmosphere &textures as they're great forbackground beds in ambientcomposition.

WEB:www.samplemagic.comwww.soundstosample.com

FORMAT:4.8 GB DVD Multipack (2751 files)44.1kHz/24Bit WAV's (1.57GB, 612files)Stylus RMX compatible REX2 files(736MB, 559 files)Apple Loops (1.57GB, 620 files)EXS24, NNXT, Kontakt and HALionpatches

PRICE:£59.95 DVD£49.95 (Digital)

http://www.futureloops.com






Soundware Roundup

Sounds Of RevolutionMinimal Techno Revolution Vol. 1

This comes from German sounddesigner and sample developer OliverSchmitt aka "Sounds of Revolution."Another part of the Revolution series,Minimal Techno Vol. 1, is his latestsample set featuring over 3.16 GB(including 1.1GB content of 2167 WAVfiles) of loops and one-shots inpristine 24-bit quality. It is deliveredin different formats, so you'll getREX2, AIFF Apple loops and patchesfor EXS24 and Kontakt 3. The vastmajority of the loops fall into theminimal techno sub-genre but Soundsof Revolution also designed the loopsto be useful in other electronic musicproduction as well. The 1500 singlesounds of bass, synths, fragments,kick drums, claps, sound effects,electronic percussion and toms offerimmense variety that can beneficial tothose who want to construct their owncustom kits. As for the overall deliveryand programming of the loops, and asI expected from a Sounds ofRevolution product, this is a highquality sample pack worthy of praise.

WEB:www.sounds-of-revolution.com

FORMAT:3.16 GB Sample Pack, 24-bit WAV's(1.1 GB/2167 files), plus REX & AppleLoops, plus EXS24 & Kontakt 3Patches

PRICE:€67.22 (digital download)

Best ServiceCertified Hits

Wouldn't it be good if you had amegastore a few blocks away fromyour house that would offereverything you need --- from food tohousehold items and automobile tiresto pliers? I think it is a great idea tohave everything in one location. Now,Certified Hits from Best Service has asimilar idea that many producers andmusicians might want the same in aone-shot drum library. Thisconvenient package in a DVD isstuffed with 5000 hits of the mostunique, production-ready drums andFX hits ever created. Certified Hits isdivided into five sections:

"50 Drum Kits" is a custom kit folderwith combinations of samples that arefound in the Body Shop, FX Factory,Platinum Production and Synthesisfolders. The "Body Shop" folderincludes all kind of noises made from

every kind of human percussionimaginable. "FX Factory" has allkinds of FX sounds to grab thelisteners attention, from bits &bytes to broken breaks anddrum mutilations to filteredsnippets. "Platinum Production"are samples with production-ready quality that were editedand mastered carefully withgreat attention, and finally,

"Synthesis" covers all yourelectronic drum hit needs.Although there are plenty ofgreat-sounding samplesincluded in this library, the

selection can be overwhelming.Choosing what's right for yourproduction will take time when itcomes to audition and combining. Butthen again there's the '50 Drum Kits'which is already build for you.

http://www.sounds-of-revolution.com

http://www.soundsonline.com

http://www.loopmasters.com



WEB:www.soundsonline.com

FORMAT:Acid WAV, REX2, AppleLoops, Reason, Live,HALion, Battery,Kontakt, EXS24 andStylus RMX/SAGE44.1kHz/16-bit, 1.12GB WAV's

PRICE:$125.00

LoopmastersIndian Sessions Vol. 1 & 2

Loopmasters' Indian Session Vol. 1and 2 is a collection of Indian samplescomprising of 1 GB and 990 MB filesrespectively, with styles ranging fromtraditional rhythms to modernmelodies. Both volumes wereperformed by Indian percussionist KVBala Krishnan, but some of thesamples were performed by hiredlocal musicians and vocalists that KVteamed up with. All samples wereproduced and recorded in India togive that maximum authentic vibewhile mastering was done in-house atLoopmasters' studio. The samples aredelivered in 24-bit format, with temporanges from 75-170 BPM andsupported audio format includes WAVand Apple Loops. In addition, 46ready-to-play patches are included formajor soft-samplers such as Kontakt,HALion, EXS24 and Reason's NN-XT.Folders are clearly labeled, so finding

the loops you want is easy to chooseand simple to slip into your latestmasterpiece. Indian percussion loopsare the spotlight here, but the sitarharps and phrases are as equallyimpressive as the tablas. This is agreat collection that would work wellwith other genres.

WEB:www.loopmasters.com

FORMAT:1 GB (Vol.1) and 990 MB (Vol.2), 24-bit rate

WAV, Apple Loops, Kontakt, HALion,EXS24, Reason NN-XT and SFZ

PRICE:

£29.95 for each download

Best ServiceProduction Tools Vol. 3

This is the third installment of theProduction Tools series, and withevery volume it just keepsgetting better. It consists of aselection of 35 tool kits forElectro House, Tech House andProgressive House productions.Each kit folder is tempo-labeledand comes with a full track alongwith all the constituents drumloops, drum hits, instrumentloops, midi files and instrumentpatches.

Production Tools Vol. 3 isshipped in 44.1kHz/24-bit DVD

with more than 3.5 GB of content.You'll find standard audio formats suchas WAV, Apple Loops and REX files ondisc. The multitude of loops are great,and I find the synth leads especiallygreat (courtesy of V-Station) as theyare geared for modern electronicdance production. The drum loopssound fresh and up-to-date as well.To me the real winners in thiscollection are the single-shot drumsamples. This is a good library fromSoundborder.


http://www.sounds-of-revolution.com





Soundware Roundup

FORMAT:WAV files, AIFF Apple Loops, REX2,MIDI files and Kontakt44.1kHz/24bit, 3.5 GB DVD

LIST PRICE:$89.95

Zero-GDisco Gold

Disco Gold is a collection of classicand contemporary dance samples thathave been plucked straight out of the70's and early 80's. This DVD is thefollow-up from the highly successfulClassic Disco, and features soundsyou can use for styles such as funkydisco, proto-house, hi-nrg, britfunketc. It contains 34 construction kits,with full mix and stems, of beats,electric piano, rhythm guitar, electricbass, stings, synths and brass. The

construction kits' tempos ranges from100 to 123 BPM - a bit faster than theoriginal one but the samples suittoday's modern productions.Additionally, Zero-G have providedsome bonus folders of extra electricpiano, regular piano, bass, guitar,synth and bass loops.

Upon auditioning the sounds of DiscoGold in the Acid Pro looping software,I was transported back to the timeand era where bell-bottomed pants,huge round Afro's, Space Invadersand mirror balls were popular. Thesamples sound dry yet very authenticto my ears. And the electric bassessound gritty and funky, which I think,makes this library a must-buy.


FORMAT:1.7 GB DVD, 44.1kHz/24Bit, Acid WAV,AIFF Apple Loops, REX2, EXS24,Reason NNXT and Kontakt

PRICE:$143.95

Organic LoopsDisco Strings

The title says it all: A sample pack ofcreamy, organic strings loops for disco,funk, soul and house that has aunique dancefloor flavor. Think

"Donna Summer songs." Think "Late70's disco hits" that dominated theairwaves. Disco String is just that - acollection of 24-bit 196 loops thatwants to take your dance tune to thenext level. Included are soaringmelodies, stabs, chords, fills and etc.in WAV, REX and Apple Loop format.What can I say? The production andquality is great and although there areless than 200 loops, most of them arehighly usable - either to heighten yourtracks or to fill in some dead spot incertain sections. A royalty-free audiosource with reasonable price.


FORMAT:497 MBWAV, REX, Apple Loops

PRICE: £19.95 (digital download)



http://www.magix.com

http://www.discoverysound.com



MagixSoundpool Collection 16

Magix has been in the softwaremarket for as long as I can remember- catering to both consumer andprofessional crowds.They've also been active indeveloping media packagesfor producers wanting toadd samples to their homemovies and tracks.

Soundpool Collection 16 isa 6 GB sample pack idealfor any DAW's supportingthe 44.1/16-bit WAV-fileformat. The DVD is splitinto different genre foldercategories of Hip Hop/R'nB,Rock/Alternative, MovieScore, 60's Soul and mostof the electronica sub-genre. Just about any

samples you can think of, from slowto fast BPM's and soft to loud, areincluded in this package. On offer aredrums, guitars, synths, strings, bass,sound effects, brass and keys. Thereare over 700 vocal samples that areideal for dance productions.Soundpool 16 offers tremendoussampling material for its price -making it a good investment.

WEB:www.magix.com

FORMATWAV,44.1kHz/16-bit stereo

PRICE:£29.99

Discovery SoundIndonesia the Magic

Sticking purely to their ethnic worldtitles, Discovery Sounds' Indonesia -the Magic captures the exotic sounds

of Bali and Java music. This library isproduced by well known Asian artistMakoto Kubota whose long list ofcredits include Blue Asia, MakotoKubota & Sunset Gang, etc. The resultis a well-supervised, professionalsample library. The familiarIndonesian instruments are here, suchas saron, anklung (a bamboo bell) andgamelan (percussion ensembleconsisting of metalophones,xylophones, drums and gong) as wellas less-known instruments (at least tome), such as suling (a bamboo flute)and rubab (a two-stringed fiddle). Thecontent is tremendous and you getabout 645 files just for the ACID WAValone. Other formats supportedincludes REX2, Native Instrument'sKontakt sampler, Battery and MOTU'sMachFive. Auditioning the sampleswas real fun and the performance ofthe players are spot on. I couldalmost imagine myself using the saronloops as basis for a subtle IDM track.The real treat, I think, are thegendang loops as they sound sosimilar to tabla drums. There areplenty of those, and you'll besurprised that this pack not onlycaters to the Indonesian crowd butBollywood music producers will findthis useful as well.

WEB:www.discoverysound.comwww.loopmasters.com

FORMAT:WAV, Acid WAV, REX2, NI Kontakt &Battery and MOTU MachFive44.1kHz/16-bit Stereo

PRICE:$55.00, £ 34.95



http://www.magix.com

http://www.discoverysound.com



Soundware Roundup

XFER and LoopmastersDeadmau5 Sample Pack

Grammy-nominated and Toronto-based deadmau5 (aka Joel ThomasZimmerman) is all over the place -whether his music is played on XMradio, his name is mentioned onInternet forums or on DJ magazines.His music has also been featured inmany shows and different compilationalbums. However, Deadmau5 XFER isnot typical deadmau5 release. It is asample library (along with long-timecollaborator Steve Duda) forproducers of electronic dance music(EDM). Deadmau5 XFER comprises ahuge library of loops and one-shotswith over 500 MB of sample data. Thepercussive sounds alone are awhopping 1500-plus files. You'll getloops with analogue richness madewith Arp, Moog, classicdrum machines andeven circuit-bent units.This is a real treat ifyou're looking toexpand your electronicsample library.


FORMAT:500 MBWAV, REX

PRICE:

£59.95 CD/DVD,download available

Sony Creative SoftwareX-Core: Hardcore TechnoConstruction Kit

Sony Creative Software's latestsample pack X-Core: HardcoreTechno Construction Kit is aStandard collection library aimed atthe hard side of techno. It iscreated by Jason Donnely (DJPuzzle) who has several SonySound Series titles under his belt.This time, though, Jason went full-throttle and what you get is acollection of loops and single hitsthat are fast, heavy, brutal and loud.Inside the disc are up-to-date 429WAV files (555 MB) for use in Acid Proor any DAW that supports the AcidWAV format. You'll find 25construction kit folders (not completesong-type kits) that will cover your

needs for beats, basses, textures, FX,synthesizer melodies and riffs. Thislibrary also includes a bunch of well-processed vocal samples courtesy ofJohann Smit and Bob Worthington'stalents. Tempo-wise, the seamlesslylooped samples are at the 150 and160 BPM ranges and sync perfectly inAcid Pro. Sound-wise, this libraryscreams, as most of them were editedand processed heavily withcompression and distortion. If youwant raw and aggressive techno andindustrial samples then this is alibrary worth considering.

WEB:www.sonycreativesoftware.com

FORMAT:WAV,44.1kHz/16-bit stereo

PRICE:$39.95


http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com




Push Button BangTwist

Hot from the heels of their "Rise"sample pack collection, Push ButtonBangs continue their FX offering withTwist - a library with 900-plus digitalFX elements. Twist is a 500 MB all-original, 24-bit/44.1 kHz samplesdelivered WAV and Ableton's Live 8pack version. Many of the soundshave been made as quick 'add-ons' or'filling' to any electronic composition -whether you're producing techno,house, electro or ambient - thematerials will fit just nicely in anymodern tracks. Included are chord FX,thunderous thuds, fast motions,transitions, impacts, twistedmodulation, clip FX and a bunch more.This is truly an inspirational libraryand the quality is superb. A nicecompliment to RISE sample library. Amust buy.


FORMAT:930 MBWAV, Live pack available

PRICE:

£19.95 (download)

Big Fish AudioNashville Sessions

It is one of the places that haveproduced some of the biggest hits incountry and western music. A placewhere many country albums wererecorded. Not to mention a lot ofinfluential talents have come fromhere. Yes, I am talking aboutNashville. The city that's recognizedas the music city capital of the U.S.A.

Luckily for us producers,Big Fish Audio here serveus a library that capturesthe essence of Nashville in

"Nashville Sessions". ThisDVD is packed with 3 GB of24-bit loops and samplesdelivered in multi-format.You'll get 22 construction-style kits with each folderfeaturing loops in differentkeys and tempos rangingfrom 80 BPM to 150 BPM.The material in this libraryfeatures live acoustic andelectric guitars, bass,drums pedal steel, fiddleand mandolin, that areperformed well by talented

musicians. Nashville Session alsoincludes a bonus "Extras" folder. Thefolder has an additional 67 fiddles, 23guitar and 58 mandolin loops whichmakes this library very attractive.When you're talking about country andwestern with a Nashville vibe stampedinto the loops, this is a great library.

WEB:www.bigfishaudio.com

FORMAT:Royalty-free ACID, WAV, AIFF Appleloops, REX and RMX3 GB, 44.1kHz/24-bit1021 WAV loops on disc

PRICE:$99.95






Soundware Roundup

LoopmastersDark Matter

There's been anexplosion of dubstepsamples of late andDark Matter fromLoopmasters andMultiverse Studiowants producers andmusicians to knowthat they have asignificant offering aswell. This pack contains 20 fullconstruction kits of dubstep samplesthat are gritty, strong and, of course,dub-like. The 24-bit 450 samplesprovide good foundation if you'restarting a dub-based composition. Thematerials include drum loops, FX,synth lines, basses and one-shots.Although there are only 200+ loopsincluded, there are some that areinspiring - especially the dubby,rhythmic beats. They sounds fat andwould nicely compliment any mix.


FORMAT:500 MB/24-bit/450 files20 Full Construction Kits220 One-shots200+ loopsPatches for Kontakt, HALion, EXS24,SFZ and NNXT

PRICE:

£24.95 (digital download)

Discovery SoundOkinawan Tradition

From DiscoverySound comes thiscollection oftraditional soundsfrom the RyukyuIslands. It's all here;the instruments ofOkinawa, such as fue(a type of flute),sanshin (three-

stringed lute with a python skin-covered body), sanba (a percussioninstrument), yubi fue (flute) and taiko(drum), which are all carefullyrecorded to bring producers samplesthat would inspire them. It might notappeal to everyone, but those whowrite world music or ethnic tracks canreap the benefits of this superblycrafted library. The vocal samples(male and female) are greatfor augmenting any "ethno-tronica" track. If you havepurchased the Japan libraryfrom Discovery Sounds,Okinawan Tradition is agood compliment.

WEB:www.discoversound.comwww.loopmasters.com

FORMAT:1.5 GBAcidized WAV, REX2, WAVand Battery

PRICE:$55, £ 34.95

Cycling '74Cycles Vol. 1-4 (Audio SourceLibraries)

There is something instantly likableabout these libraries, and it definitelyhas to do with the expertlyprogrammed sounds and the massivequantity of samples. With that beingsaid, wow these libraries are great!Cycles Vol. 1-4 contains 4 DVD's ofaudio source libraries produced andsound-designed by Ron MacLeod.Sustained Encounters, UnnaturalRhythm, Incidental Gesture andMomentary Incursions are audiosource libraries perfectly suited forTV/film composers, game soundtrackcomposers, ambient and experimentalartists and musicians who wants a bitof 'off-center' samples into theircompositions. No, these are not yourtypical construction kits nor four-on-


http://www.discoversound.com


http://www.cycling74.com

http://www.cycling74.com/products/cycles


the-floor-type banger libraries, but acomprehensive solution for producerslooking for an assortment of sonictextures, music beds, odd melodies,elements, esoteric drum loops,evolving pads, otherworldly drones,events, reverbed hits and FX's. Eachlibrary comes with a DVD thatcontains samples which are recordedin 44.1kHz and 48kHz/24-bit. BothWAV and REX file formats aresupported. As a bonus, an audio CD isincluded for auditioning purposes.

Here's what the website described asto what each volume has to offer:

Cycles Vol.1: Sustained EncountersSustained Encounters is comprised oflong evolving aural environments andunfolding atmospheres. Culled from

MacLeod’sprivate reserve,an accumulationof years of filmsound designand sonicexploration,these textureswereindividually‘composed’

utilizing bleeding edge psycho-acoustic processing, designedspecifically to be intricately interestingand immersive without beingobtrusive to additional content.

Cycles Vol.2: Unnatural RhythmUnnatural Rhythm features extendedform (4 to 32+ bar) non-drumalternative groove loops of mechanical,electronic, found sound andalgorithmic origins. The loops titlesinclude sample accurate BPM notationwith longer loops Bar Count noted aswell. This volume also includes 24-bitREX formatted versions of allapplicable files for use in Reason orany 24-bit REX compatible audiosequencer. Also included is a hugecollection of hard-syncopatedelectronic source culled from acollection of 70's-era Buchla andSerge Modular systems.

Cycles Vol.3: Incidental GestureIncidental Gesture gives you activesonic textures and melodicmeanderings that provide movement,emotion and narrative expression toyour compositions or media projects.Composed to integrate easily intoexisting pieces yet intricate enough tostand on their own as incidental beds.

These long (30 sec. to 3 minute) fileswere designed around direct use indigital workstations yet are allseamlessly looped end to end forextended play as well.

Cycles Vol.4: Momentary IncursionsMomentary Incursions are hits, events,effects and transitions… for use whena more finite punctuation is in order.Aggressively percussive to hypnoticand transient, this collection of 900+non-looped samples range from afraction of a second to over a minutein length.

Bottom line: Ron MacLeod's sounddesign skills are very impressive andthere are plenty of inspiring sounds tochoose from. My favorites are the

"Rhythmic Beds" folder in IncidentalGesture DVD. The MomentaryExcursions library has a "Metalplay"sub-folder (under 'Events') thatfeatures junkyard percussion loopssuitable for glitch music. The longtexture samples (2-3 minutes inlength) are also great for music bedsin ambient compositions. If yourcompositions are in need of a dash ofatmospheric+ambience flavor thenlook no further than these libraries.

WEB:www.cycling74.comwww.cycling74.com/products/cycles

FORMAT:24-bit WAV (44.1kHz and 48kHz),Audio CD (Mac/PC)

PRICE:$99.99 each or $214 for all volumes


http://www.discoversound.com


http://www.cycling74.com

http://www.cycling74.com/products/cycles


Soundware Roundup

Sample MagicUltimate FX

Expanding their samplelibrary collection,Ultimate FX is not yourtypical Sample Magicrelease as they veeredoff from their normal

"loop-oriented"electronic/dance packs.But it's good to seethem spicing up theircatalog a bit, though.This library has 1.1 GBof special effects thatwill help transform yourtracks from ordinary to extraordinary.Ultimate FX includes tension-builders(great for transition between songsection), crashes and FX hits,falls/risers, huge impacts, mangleddrum fills and just about any FX noiseyou can think of - all tempo matchedso it can be perfectly augmented intoany production or genre. Those whoare into soundtracks and game musicwill find this library useful as theweird/odd sounding effects are topnotch and are up-to-date. With thesamples superbly programmed, this isanother winner from Sample Magic.

WEB:www.samplemagic.comwww.soundstosample.com

FORMAT:

Digital download includes: 661 24-bitWAV loops and one-shots, 211 Rex2Loops, 211 Stylus-RMX Rex2 Loops,454 Apple Loops plus EXS24, HALion,Kontakt 3 and NN-XT sampler patchesand 12-page digital booklet (includinghints and tips, kit list and more).

LIST PRICE:£46.90

d16 groupPlasticlicks

It's a bit surprising to see D16 Grouprelease a sample library as their nextproduct, given their strong repertoirein the VST and VSTi arena. Yes, I wassurprised. But nowadays, in order forbusinesses to survive you have to beflexible and constantly offering avariety of diverse products to your

loyal customer/user-base. EnterPlasticlicks - a sample librarycomprising 1600-plus different drumsounds. It's pretty much geared forelectronic enthusiasts and the like,but also has a broad spectrum ofsamples even pop music producerscan benefit from. In this pack, you'llwill not find loops but rather drumhit samples (d16 calls them

"patches") that were carefullydesigned and made from scratch.Plasticlicks is offered in 44.1kHz/24-bit WAV, the Akai format (forhardware samplers that read andwrite Akai) as well as SF2 for soft-samplers such as Reason's NN-XT.

The samples themselves are well-recorded and sound "up-to-date". Thebasses are warm but fat, the snares

"will cut though a mix" and the hi-hatssizzle with highs. There are two thingsI like about Plasticlicks: It's got adistinct analog flavor, and it has oneof the widest range of samplesavailable at your disposal. With thatbeing said, Plasticlicks is a great buy.It is ready to be a solid addition toany electronic music productions.

WEB:www.d16.pl

FORMAT:1600+ filesWave files (sampled at 44100 kHz, 24bits of resolution) + .akp files (AkaiS5000/S6000 programs). Each .akp



http://www.d16.pl



covers four different wave filessampled at one of four differentvelocity levels. 1130 MBSound Font 2 (sampled at 44100 kHz,24 bits of resolution). Each sound fontcontains sampled sounds at fourdifferent velocity levels. 754 MB

PRICE:€69

Sony Creative SoftwareContinental Drift: World MusicLoops & Samples

The title says it all: Sony CreativeSoftware wants to take you on asound journey from around the world.This 24-bit, 2-Data CD collectionfeatures African, Asian, Arabic, Celtic,East Indian, Gypsy, and NativeAmerican sounds that are well-

designed for sheerinspiration to producerscrafting traditional, world,new age or ethnic musicgenres. Produced by PaulVnuk Jr. and assembled byJames Johnson and LeoCavallo, Continental Drifthave all variety ofinstruments, performancesand styles imaginable.You'll find meticulouslytracked tongue drum, kora,doumbek, oud, bohdran,Celtic cello, tabla, sitar,guzheng,native flute,Gypsy violinand mandolin.Auditioningthe loops was

fun, and what impressedme was how well theyare processed andrecorded (The rawsounds were recordedusing high-end studiogear). The Asian SmallTaiko loops are perfect toaugment in differentelectronic genre but thehighlight of this library,for me, has got to be allthe instrument loops inthe 'Ukraine Gypsy'folder. Overall, thequality and usability ofthis loop library is topnotch. Continental Driftwill help cover you withdifferent world musicstyles in your productions.

WEB:www.sonycreativesoftware.com

FORMAT:WAV44.1kHz/246-bit stereo

PRICE:$69.95



http://www.d16.pl


Improving by the minute.

Wusikstation

www.wusik.com

http://www.wusik.com


by A. Arsov

Best Service

TitanWhy?

Why should you or I buy a rompler for249 Euros, one which will take up 36GB of your valuable disk space, whileyou can get most of the new softwaresynths for less money, and the newerones will occupy less than one-thousandth of the disk space thatTitan does? The number of includedsounds / patches? 5500. Yes, it isimpressive number, but as one oldSlovenian proverb goes: “You can'teat more than one steak at once” or

to tell it in a more simple way – tryingall those sounds will not leave you anyfree time for doing your music.Secondly, there are many new synthswith pretty impressive numbers ofsounds nowadays. O.K., not with 5500patches, but enough for satisfyingmost of your needs.

Is it worthy?

Should you buy it? If you ask me, theanswer will be probably yes. Why?Diversity is the name of the game.

The number of patches doesn'timpress me so much (you can't eat...etc etc.), and the amount of diskspace also doesn't amuse me toomuch, but the diversity of theincluded sounds really got me.On most of the software synths Iknow or own, there are a bunch ofmore or less predictable sorts ofsounds. Some synths sound better,some worse, but rarely do they go outof their skin offering something newor even old in a different way.


Titan contains sampled sounds frommore than 200 synths from the past.Analog, digital, workstations and evensome from software synthesizers. Soyou will not find many authenticguitars or even realistic pianos there,but on the other hand you will find notonly individual, but even whole groupsof interesting, different-soundingsounds: Those sorts of sounds thatyou are remembering from therecords you used to listen to, but youcan't find them on a modern synth;strange-sounding leads along withaggressive ones or plucked synthswith those significant attacks; digitaland analog. I've heard a lot hymnsabout analog attack, but somehow Istill adore the attack of digital synths.This way or another, I still remembersome of those included sounds fromthe days when hardware samplers(E-mu or Akai with two or three “notso cheap” synth libraries on sampleCD's) along with the “you name it”digital synths were the only softsynths we had. Poor man's heaven. Ialmost forgot all those useful, diversesounds, having used only “trance-friendly“ soft synths lately. I could bereally bitchy back when disk spacewas in question, but for such diversityI could even forget that Titan took upsuch a large amount of my belovedhard disk.

Don't get me wrong, there are also abunch of bad guitar imitations, alongwith solid number of “not the freshest”sounds on the earth, but on the otherhand, more than enough diverse pads,unusual distorted or exotic leads, allsorts of plucked synths, and animpressive number of good-soundingbasses.

As all the included sounds are derivedfrom old synths, they share the same

weakness as those instruments had –so skip the emulations of the realinstruments, and enjoy the rest, stillan impressive number of varioussounds on this Titanous workhorse.

The second good thing is theinterface. One click and you are in awell-organized browser divided intobass, lead, pad, organ, choir, andsimilar groups containing varioussubgroups with fairly explanatorynames. Talking about synths: Brutal,

Detuned, Bell, or 5th just a fewexamples of them. Nice and clear.

Another click and we arein main editing window.All main controllers arewell-sorted, even fordummies, and there willbe no problem easilyadjusting the filters,panorama, ADSRenvelope, glide time,sample start or effectparameter.

Titanhorse

Simple for use, with alarge number of soundsthat make a difference,sounding fat enough andpunchy and, consideringthe diversity of includedpatches, it is not a suchbad buy. I'm alwayshappy when I find asynthesizer soundingdifferent than most ofthe other ones. Thanksto its well-organized,straight-to-the-pointbrowser library andsimple editing window, itis extremely easy to find

the appropriate sound for thearrangement. And between those5500 patches, you can find all sorts ofsounds. This could be an offence, orcould be a compliment. Personally Ilike most of the sounds from Titan ( ifwe skip the guitar emulations), someof which bring back memories, whileothers simply add some fresh air tothe standard arsenal of sounds we areusing lately. One of the most usefulBest Service products till now.

By Arsov Alex


by A. Arsov

Jamstix 3Intro

Previous versions of Jamstix were my best musicalfriends for a long time, but as I'm a man in the touchyyears - being over forty - I've decided to findsomething younger: Jamstix 3, for example. Jamstixwas and still is the best virtual drummer in the world.Although some competitors may include better-sounding libraries, Jamstix is the only software thatfooled all my drumming friends into believing it wasthe “real deal.” It sounds like a real drummer, and theincluded kits sound like real drum kits. It’s as simpleas that.

Verse

So what is actually new in this version? The mostsignificant improvement, along with a better-soundingengine (the same kits from previous version soundbetter when they are loaded in the new version), isthat it has a much more user-friendly approach, alongwith plenty of additional options for fine-tuning yourdrum track; it’s right under your fingertips. Everythingis there, and it is likewise quickly accessible.

If the previous version asked for some sort of Ph.D. ofthe user, or at least forced one to read the includedmanual, this version brings a new wizard option whichhelps you to easily build a drum track from scratch.You just need to choose whether to program, record,or even to import some preprogrammed MIDI groovedirectly into the internal drum editor, then just typein all your wishes regarding its structure. In thisregard, there are order and length of fills, bridges,choruses, intro, outro, and middle eight that you canchoose to add and manipulate.

Making a drum track with Jamstix 3 is like dressing aBarbie doll. All you need to do now is to choose adrummer (every modeling drummer has its own style).Then you type the order and length of included parts,select a desired drum kit, and your Barbie is ready fora date with her Ken. And don't be naive – this doesn'tsound like Barbie at all.


In previousversions, a lotof people,including myself,complainedabout the one-bar limitationinside the drumgrid window.There was aworkaround forthat limitation,but still itwasn't easy toprogram moreintricate and complex rhythms. Nowthis is fixed: you can use two or morebars as building blocks.

Chorus

Changing the kit, style, or fine-tuningany other element is much easier withthe new version. By rolling a knob youcan set the dynamics of your kit.Lowering the dynamic causes thedrum playing to become gentler, andsome individual beats to skip, andsnare sounds are replaced withrimshots. Of course this is not theonly knob that radically changesplaying in Jamstix. You can go deeper,changing almost everything in theso-called “brain” section, toaccommodate the whole track to yourspecific need.

If you are not sure how to do this, orif you are having trouble finding yourway through Jamstix, take a breakand enjoy the useful video clips youcan find on the Rayzoon site,explaining all the basic programmingfunctions.OK, enough about movies and otherentertainment; let's head back to

Jamstix 3. There are enough qualitykits included, along with animpressive number of drummingmodels, a few finished tracks thrownin for good measure and plenty ofgeneral musical styles. At the Rayzoonsite, you can find some expansionswhich make Jamstix even morepowerful.

Solo

All in all: After all the time I've spentwith Jamstix, no matter which version,it is still one of my favorite toys. If Ineed realistic-sounding drums in mytrack - Jamstix is definitely where I gofirst. Jamstix even supports most VSTsamplers, so you can use them asdrum sources for the Jamstix engine.If I need some variations on othermore electro stuff, I just combineJamstix with other drum samplers.

Middle 9

You can make a drum track from ascratch using only the internal tools inJamstix 3, or you can use your MIDIdrum-loops for that purpose. You canalso preview, in real-time, third-party

drum MIDI loopssynced with yourhost and usethem as a basefor a groove. Theonly drawback isthat you can'tpreview themdirectly from theSong Builderwizard's window.You need to goto anotherwindow, choosethe desired MIDI

drum loop, then save it as a groovefirst. Then it's back to the SongBuilder, choosing the groove again.Pretty complicated. Also, it wouldn’thurt if Jamstix would appear withsome basic preloaded kit as well - anykit would do.

Outro

There are a lot of things that Jamstixcan do, but you should visit Rayzoonsite to give the demo clips a listen.Give the video clips a look, too, anddecide if Jamstix 3 fits your style.Personally I've decided in favor ofJamstix a long time ago. It was andstill is one of my best friends.

Combining Jamstix with Geist fromFXpansion has served to fulfill all mydrumming needs. As we all know,drummers are like animals, and it isfar more appropriate to hang withthem in a pub having a good timelistening to their jokes while enjoyinga good beer, than to have them in aband facing their threats every timeyou miss a beat.

By: Alex “almost human” Arsov


tutorial

by A. Arsov

Reason & Record

Getting started

Confession of an old Cubase user.

I still remember when the first versionof Reason came out, as one of mygood friends bought it. After that,when he met me, he startedimmediately to beat me about myshoulders, waving with his hands,speaking with great enthusiasm abouthis new Propellerhead toy almost as ifit was some hot chick and not just apiece of software. I downloaded thedemo, tried it, liked it, but neverbought it, always wanting it butsomehow ending up with Cubase.Generally I'm working with vocalists,and also using live instruments alongwith the programmed ones, so Reasonwasn't exactly my cup of coffee, nomatter how much I love it. Till now.

Here comes an audio recording.

The new Reason Record Duocombination brings us an option forrecording the audio clips and mydreams came true. I got them both.My dear readers, this will be peer-to-peer tutorial as I'm not aReason/Record geek and can't giveyou some “in depth” tip that Ilearned years ago, and I can'tshow you some witty tricks, but Ican give you a helping hand to find

a shortcut in this learning curve,showing you how you can startproducing with Reason and Record ina day or two. Yes, it is possible.Reason and Record are both veryintuitive programs, and their mainadvantage is that you can startproducing your music in a minutewithout losing your time on setting upa working environment. As soon asyou start to note down your idea, youare already on the right track todevelop it further till the final stage.From the sketch straight to the end.

Enough talking and let's fulfill thecondition..

Almost there...

Installation is pretty easy, so youshouldn't have any problems at thisstage. I always say to computernovices that installing a program islike having sex. Installation programswill ask you some questions, and allyou need to do is to repeat: Yes, yes,yes, and yes!, over and over. Allprogram installations are the same,they will lead you through the wholeprocess even if you don't knowanything about computers.

Hard working tip

After installing the program don't besuch a stupid prick as I was: Don'tmake an empty rack as your defaultrack because every new instrumentsin the rack will be silent, trying toreach additional audio output. Havingan audio card with only one output, Idiscovered pretty soon that I'm doingsomething stupid. At the top of therack insert the mixer first, becausethis way all additional instruments oreffects will be going into the mixerfirst, then to your main output.Sounds obvious if you are experiencedReason or Record user, but it is not.Trust the novice. And yes, making adefault project is pretty important

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGPyFFCa80

http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=reason_videos

http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=micro-tutorials

http://www.reason4tutorial.com/

http://www.propellerheads.se/products/record/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=record_videos

http://www.propellerheads.se/products/record/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=micro_tutorials

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=PropellerheadSW


tutorial

thing, no matter which audio programyou use, Cubase, Reason, Logic orany other. Go to the File menu, clickNew, and from the tool window dragthe mixer, put them at the top, dragsome other instrument you are usedto using as a starting point: a drumsampler, drum sequencer orsynthesizer. Save this project, then goto the Edit menu, clicking thePreferences. It will open a generalwindow where you could find the rowfor setting the default song. Select thecustom option, and find in a additionalbrowser your newly saved project. So,every time you open Reason orRecord you will have everything youneed for starting your work.

Finally

O.K. let's start with some “Reason andRecord in a day” tips. How can youmake your first recording, how canyou make your first song, or firstquantization? Reading the manuals oracting like a snake – lying down butstill moving?

Being a snake.

Sometimes I read the manuals, butmost of the time I prefer learningfrom the additional video clips, someofficial ones, some unofficial ones.One picture is worth more thanthousand words, and as you know,movies have a lot of pictures. So, theeasiest way to get started withReason and Record is to find theappropriate video tutorials.

Reason

One of the best tutorials about gettingstarted with Reason is a video fromJames Bernard, Beginner's Guide toExperimentation with Reason: FromStart to Art with James Bernard.


There are also a few other video clipsalong with Getting Started forprevious versions of Reason at thelink below, and I recommend you takeyour time and watch them all,especially if you are a novice in theReason world.


For learning about the essential newparts of Reason 5 and to see how canyou use or abuse them, there is abunch of so-called micro-tutorials atthis link:


If none of these clips help you, thentravel back in time and see some freeessential lessons which will guide yougently and slowly through the “gettingstarted” process.


Record

If you wonder why should you buyRecord along with Reason, then watchthose video clips from this link andyou'll get the point really soon. Prettyimpressive.


But of course you should first learnhow to start with Record. So, thosemicro-tutorials should work.


To obtain a Ph.D. (PropellerheadDoctorate) using Reason and Recordvisit Propellerhead's YouTube site:


There is plenty of useful material.Especially 52 tips from JamesBernard, a Propellerhead's productspecialist. OK. Obviously he hasn'tfinished them all yet as there are only41 video clips instead of 52, butenough to make you and me happy.

I've learned how to use Reason andRecord entirely from those clips andhope that this will work also for you.

By Arsov “ there is no Reason not toRecord something” Alex








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