wire to the ear

One of the best makers of software audio plug-ins is having a contest. If your good at making video tutorials you could win some nice tools. I may have to take a stab at it myself!

We’ve just launched a video tutorial contest. It will happen at our new blog and the direct link for the “cohmpetition” is:

http://blog.ohmforce.com/video-tutorial-cohmpetition/

There is a first prize: 2 free Ohm Force plug-ins for each one who sends us a video tutorial concerning one or more of our products. No limits: if we have 50 attempts, each one will win the 2 free plug-ins.

There are 4 special prizes: four ALL-ALL Bundles with our whole collection, for the “audience choice” and the “Ohm Force choice” in both two contest categories.

Videos can be submitted until July 31th 2008. Each participant should host his own video (Youtube or Dailymotion) and send us its link to tutorialcohmpetition@ohmforce.com in order to submit it.

What’s your favorite Ohm Force plug-in?

Vermona DRM1 MKIII - Drum Machine from wiretotheear on Vimeo.

About two weeks ago I purchased a brand new Vermona DRM1 MKIII from Schnieders Buero in Berlin. I’ve had some time to play with it and am ready to report to you. These things are in demand and back ordered. It took almost three weeks for Vermona to deliver my DRM1 to Herr Schnieder. There is a good reason why: these sound smashing!

There is nothing like the Vermona DRM1. It is a fully analog drum machine done right. The super fast attack time on the kick and snare make them snap and crack in a way that will make you say “YES THIS IS IT!”. The hi hats are so smooth, bright and shimmer without any EQ needed. The DRM1 has a real spring reverb built into it and when turned up on the clap and snare channels the clock turns back to 1980. There’s are also multiple extra drum channels for lazer zaps or toms which can be manipulated to the extreme with FM. If I had to describe it’s overall tone in one word I would say: chrome!

It uses standard midi but you can not record knob changes into your DAW. You will need to put your hands on the controls, start recording it as audio and capture your movements in real time. You can’t save presets. Thank god for that. The main point of all those knobs is to focus in on each song your doing and tune each sound, the hi hat decay level, the snap of the kick. There is a pan control for each sound and individual outputs for each channel.

Vermona DRM1 MKIII. No effects or other sounds. Pure DRM1 (320kbps mp3):

The unit is metal and feels very well built. Vermona is from East Germany. The reason you buy something like this is the sound.

The Covert Operators are Ableton freaks like myself. Their website is full of tips, tricks, videos and free stuff to download. They also offer a few things for sale. Tonight I bought one of their products called Traces 1. Traces 1 is simply 50 Arpeggiator Racks created with different live Midi Devices. I’m constantly looking for ways to break out of my own mind’s repetitive mode especially when it comes to melodies. You know the deal; you sit down to create a new song and all you end up playing is the same four notes you always play!

The first edition of Traces focuses on arps, with 50 Arpeggiator Racks, ranging from simple beat sequences to complex melodies that can be altered in real-time. Combining the Racks with each other delivers even more sequences with literally thousands of combinations to try out. From instant glitch to subtle backgrounds. And how about using several Arpeggiator Racks at once? - www.covops.org

Here an audio sample I put together using Fabfilter’s Twin as the synth, Impulse loaded with GoldBaby’s free Cassette 808 drums and a few Traces 1 arp presets:

Here’s an audio sample of Impulse loaded with GoldBaby’s free Cassette 808 drums and a few Traces 1 arp presets controlling the actual drum beat (nice!):

With both the above demos I only have 1 note, 4 bars long laid into a clip. The Traces 1 presets are creating all the movement. It’s true you can make these yourself with some time but even I learned a few things by looking how they put these together. By the way here is a related post I did about using an arp on drums: click here

Traces 1 is 7:50€. link

I personally don’t use any cracked software. I like a really stable system and if I buy something I know I will learn all it’s features and get the most out of it. I also like having new updates available to me. There’s no doubt I have been tempted especially when it comes to things like Adobe CS which costs as much as my laptop.

Another good reason not to use warez is if you get caught by the public it’s totally embarrassing! In the February 2006 issue of German Keyboards magazine they printed an article on producing William Orbit style Filter Delays. They used Ohm Force’s amazing OhmBoyZ plug-in and as you can see in the screenshot it clearly shows a hacker groups name “Team ArCTIC” displayed on the interface.

To read Keyboards official response and some comments head over to the Digital Music Mag blog’s post: click here

A more recent case was outed over at the KVR Forums. A jungle/breaks act named Aquasky did a video interview for the DVD that comes with Future Music Magazine (Issue 201). In the video it shows they are also using an Ohm Force’s crack, this time for distortion plug-in Predatohm. Remember I mentioned how you can use Predatohm as a widener in: this post?

For more info on warez and cracks and a list of alternative freeware stuff you can download check out dontcrack.com

photo credit: Kaptain Krispy Kreme