http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxbx-fvvsGI
There are similar products to Xfer’s Nerve yet I am still interested. Mac/PC VST/AU. $199. What do you think? Is there something unique to Nerve that should be mentioned?
“Nerve is a software drum machine which brings powerful beat creation and manipulation to your Host Sequencer. Nerve runs as a VSTi or AudioUnit plugin. Nerve was designed and coded by veteran dance music producers, with a diverse sample library included from many of todays top sound designers. Create your own beats entirely from scratch using sounds you already have (AIF/WAV/REX/RX2/AKAI .SND), or utilize the factory-included Drum Kits, Presets, Patterns, and Sounds.” – xferrecords.com
For more info: xferrecords.com
This entry was written by , posted on February 27, 2010 at 10:33 am, filed under plug-ins and tagged audio unit, drum machine, Nerve, plug-in, vst, Xfer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
My all time top tip for getting a nice sound from Ableton Live (or any DAW) is to keep your channel faders low and the Master at 0db. I explain my reasoning in an older post from January 2008. You can read it and the great comments by: clicking here. A safety net or let’s say helper in keeping your Master at 0db is a Limiter. Luckily (finally!) they added a native Limiter to Ableton Live 8. I recommend saving your startup Template with the Limiter in place. How much headroom below 0db you should leave is questionable but mostly I just leave it at it’s default setting of -0.30 dB. I’m guessing Ableton set it there for a reason. Of course you can use Limiters to shape and pump your sound and for something like that I turn to other plug-ins like Wavearts FinalPlug ($199) or a hardware unit such as a Universal Audio 1176.
“The Limiter effect is a mastering-quality dynamic range processor that ensures that the output does not exceed a speci ed level. Limiter is ideal for use in the Master track, to prevent clipping. A limiter is essentially a compressor with an in nite ratio. To ensure that your nal output will never clip, place Limiter as the last device in the Master track’s device chain and keep your Master fader below 0 dB.” – Ableton Live 8 User Manual
For more Ableton tips and info: wiretotheear.com/category/ableton-live/
This entry was written by , posted on January 21, 2010 at 7:12 am, filed under Ableton Live, plug-ins and tagged ableton, Ableton Live, dB, limiter, Universal Audio, Wavearts. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Mr. Alias Pro is a broken screwed up synthesizer. Mr. Alias was designed that way and it’s a perfect soft synth for anyone into ciruit bending, noise or headaches. I actually think this synth is very useful when it comes to creating easy interesting intros or breaks. It has an Auto Randomizer so I am happy. Mac/PC, AU/VST plug-in or Standalone. It’s Donationware so any amount gets you the pro version.
Audio samples:
http://www.thepiz.org/mralias2/ProRandom.mp3
http://www.thepiz.org/mralias2/pro.mp3
http://www.thepiz.org/mralias2/1.mp3
“Mr. Alias Pro is a fully professional software synthesizer which exploits the properties of digital audio to achieve extremely bad sounds.” – thepiz.org
For more info: thepiz.org
This entry was written by , posted on December 29, 2009 at 5:43 am, filed under plug-ins, synthesizer and tagged Mr. Alias Pro, noise, random, software, synthesizer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I believe melody is hardwired into human’s brains in a way different than hearing just sounds. We remember notes as they hum up and down scales. Every time I leave The Gap I end up singing whatever song was playing over and over in my head for hours. So I always say piano lessons beat a new Apogee interface for making your tunes better. I really like helper applications like Harmony Navigator or even something like Microsoft SongSmith. Harmony Improvisator is a new plug-in from Germany in the same vain. The cochleor website says videos and a demo download are coming soon. It’s Mac/PC VST for 99 EUR.
Improvisator is a programmable chorder and sequencer VST plugin which outputs chords as MIDI data or sound from an internal synthesizer. It can be controlled via MIDI input or by clicking the harmonic functions of the graphical user interface. The first thing in the process of working with Improvisator is to click chords with the mouse which you hear immediately. – www.cochleor.de
For more info: www.cochleor.de
This entry was written by , posted on December 9, 2009 at 6:30 am, filed under plug-ins, song writing and tagged chords, generator, harmonies, Improvisator, plug-in, vst. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
http://www.youtube.com/v/_sJrZ1nHBOo?hl=en_US&fs=1
I like almost all the plug-ins from Berlin based Sugar Bytes. I can see thier new plug-in Consequence being really useful. Sometimes it’s good to have a virtual helper in the room. You know the scenario: You’re in the studio and you hit middle C, next it’s D# and up to G. You can’t seem to hit any new keys. Your melodies are your melodies and you can’t seem to go anywhere else. Consequence can help by having it’s “Sound Generators” spit out sequences, chorus, envelope curves, etc… It can’t hurt right?
http://www.youtube.com/v/0bO_8-G6stQ?hl=en_US&fs=1
“The word Synquencer describes the combination of a powerful synthesizer and complex step sequencer which creates pitch-, modulation-, and trigger data. Consequence uses 16 chords to play them in sequence, extract melodies to trigger a unique sound section with lots of available instrument sounds and intelligent trigger interpretation. The Consequence VST plugin sends MIDI data, so all kinds of MIDI-compatible gear can be controlled by Consequence.” – Sugar Bytes
There is a demo version available. Consequence is $199.
For more info: sugar-bytes.de
This entry was written by , posted on December 4, 2009 at 6:28 am, filed under plug-ins and tagged Berlin, Consequence, plug-in, sequencer, software, Sugar Bytes. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYzv-AVi78E
Exxon designed Autotune? Apparently so! The bit about Cher lying that she used a TalkBox to hide that fact that she used Autotune is baloney! I own a Digitech Talker and you can get it to sound exactly like what Cher did. Here’s a photo of my Talker: click here. Hey, for once Weird Al seems an appropriate cameo. If you want some meme for $2.99 grab the “I Am T-Pain” AutoTune iPhone: click here
Most of the time I like to leave my vocal mistakes as is. Anyone who follows my music knows that! When I do need some pitch correcting I grab Melodyne. By the way that Direct Note Access thing was released this week.
For more info: antarestech.com
This entry was written by , posted on November 18, 2009 at 6:15 am, filed under plug-ins and tagged AutoTune, Cher, Digitech Talker, Meme, Weird Al. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Bored with regular GUIs? Recording a music video and need a studio shot with a computer in it? If you want something unique check out Kammerl Audio’s new VST plug-ins for Mac or PC. Pitch, Distortion, Scratcher, Slicer and Looper are ready to be installed. These are free from Germany. Go get em: www.kammerl.de/audio/
“I just discovered these frunny and usefull plugins I needed to share… Playing with it for a moment proves me that there’s some really usefull tools here!” – Miro Pajic
via Miro Pajic
This entry was written by , posted on November 1, 2009 at 12:22 pm, filed under plug-ins and tagged Kammerl, plug-ins. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiEBN17ZnNI
Here’s something you could blast out your window this Halloween. Akihiko Matsumoto plays with Max/MSP and creates an Audio to Midi set up. Ever since I owned a copy of the now discontinued Antares Kantos (Sound on Sound link) I’ve been playing with Audio to Midi stuff. Lately I have been using Melodyne to do the job. I’ve heard great things about zplane’s vielklang Audio to Midi function but haven’t personally tried it out yet.
Have you tried any Audio to Midi software?
For more info: http://homepage.mac.com/sinx_music/
This entry was written by , posted on October 27, 2009 at 4:24 am, filed under plug-ins and tagged Audio to Midi, Kantos, Max/MSP, Melodyne, vielklang. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8h-vGG7Xlk
Here’s an interesting plug-in announced at the recent AES show in New York from Waves. The Vocal Rider is like a virtual hand that rides a volume knob making sure a vocal is always level. It works differently than a compressor or limited. The killer feature of the plug-in is that it writes automation as it rides the track. For a more low-tech non-real time solution check out The Levelator from The Conversations Network.
Vocal Rider will be released early November and cost $800 (TDM), $400 (Native).
For more info: Waves.com
This entry was written by , posted on October 18, 2009 at 5:53 am, filed under plug-ins and tagged The Levelator, Vocal Rider, vocals, Waves. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Disclosure: The service I am about to recommend is owned by a good friend of mine. Please note that he is a good friend of mine largely because he’s a killer audiologist. He’s recorded music for my own label, remixed my songs and mastered my most important release. Miro Pajic is well known in the electronic music scene. He’s a good genre jumper who once made the most dark hardcore music and today is deep in the Berlin minimal scene. His new online ITB mixing service Manic Mixing just launched. If a release is really important to you don’t master it yourself. It’s ok to bump up the volume on crap heading soley to MySpace but for anything that you want a DJ to spin send it to someone qualified. Miro is easy going and will make sure your happy. For details on his mixing process click here: Manic Mixing Details
The important thing to remember is even if you can follow what Miro does in his examples your missing the key ingredient: A fresh talented ear listening to your music!
“First of all, it is necessary to communicate, to find out what your concept and goal is and which final format it will be for. It will help to receive a reference track or demo/sketch version of the music you want to have mixed in the beginning, so i have an idea of what you mean and what we are talking about. I will then do a first rough mix of the material and send you the results, to see if you are satisfied and to make sure that things are going in the right direction. If you agree I will continue and try my best in completing the mix.” – Miro Pajc, Manic Mixing
For more info: Manic Mixing
This entry was written by , posted on October 14, 2009 at 4:56 am, filed under plug-ins and tagged Berlin, ITB, Manic Mixing, mastering, Miro Pajic. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
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