I love my TC Electronic’s Powercore. The hardware software solution has a sound quality clearly above most of my native plug-ins. A few of the Powercore plug-in’s such has TC Helicon’s VoiceModler I think are unique and personally indispensable. I really hope TC Helicon makes VoiceModler available in a native or UAD format.

“As part of a larger strategic review, we have decided to cease further development of the PowerCore product range, including hardware units as well as software for the PowerCore platform.” – TC Electronic

For more info about the crossgrade: gearjunkies.com/news_info.php?news_id=6032

Modern (sample clip) -The Horrorist by thingstocome

Here’s a sample of a new song I am almost finished with called “Modern”. Clearly inspired by my day job at Energy Management Solutions. Most of the song is real analog equipment: Vermona DRM1 MKIII and Yamaha CS5. My voice is through a Shure KSM-32 and TC Powercore.

“All the modern. Super Building. Super Building. Growing into a new day.” – The Horrorist

photo credit: boliston

Here’s a clip of a new song I am working on called “We Will Get Wicked” which will end up on my next album. A man speaks to a woman letting him know his dirty plans for her. I imagine those plans take place sometime early in the morning on a weekend night.

“And it’s something we must go through.” – The Horrorist

I know this music maybe isn’t for everyone but we can all appreciate the drums of from the Vermona DRM1 MKIII firing all full force. The snare (with analog Bucket Delay full up) and clap are panned hard left and right making a sweet stereo spread. The nice synth that plays behind the breathing section is a Korg MS20 I borrowed from a friend. The MS20′s nasal filter really shines there. My favorite part of the song is when the breathing echos every 8 or 16th time they appear. I know it’s a bit Kraftwerkesque but I think it appropriately fits in a song about sex. Part of the reason they echo so nicely is that I use a TC Electronic Powercore’s Chorus/Delay plug-in. Take a listen:

Download audio file (We_Will_Get_Wicked-The_Horrorist.mp3)

Remember that music is only the soundtrack for a real life. Now go and find yourself someone to torture.

Related post: The Horrorist – Born This Way

Here’s a screenshot and clip from a new song I am working on called “Into the Universe”. It’s not as dark as my usual stuff. If I can get it to a place I like it will be on my next album. The lyrics are from the point of view of a human who is half machine, sometime in the future. He tells how he used to be only organic and how he now runs on solar power and travels to other planets. The explanation is cheeky I know but that’s the magic of music because in song form I think it works.

The pads are Korg Legacy Wavestation. The vocoder is Prosoniq Orange Vocoder. The drums are Vermona DRM-1 MKIII. On my voice: TC Electronic VoiceModeler. Choir is my voice through a Digitech Talker Pedal. Bass is Linplug Albino 2

Keep in mind this is still in demo form…

Download audio file (Into_the_Universe-The_Horrorist.mp3)

Related post: Ray Kurzweil, the Singularity and the blind phone.

With today’s massive computer power you don’t buy a TC Powercore or Universal Audio UAD-1 because you need a boost, you buy them because the plug-ins sound fantastic. One of the early posts on Wire to the Ear was about TC Voice Modeler which is not available in any native format and is a must have in my arsenal.

Universal Audio has posted a video teaser for the upcoming UAD-2 card. Here’s the highlights:

The UAD-1 had a 7 year life.
They will break any limitations enabling any kind of audio processor on UAD-2.
They discuss the SHARC chips.
The card is capable of 2 Gigaflops per second.
Native decoding.
Years of devolopment.
More new partners.

To view the video: click here

TC Electronic was founded in 1976 in Risskov, Denmark. They are known for their ultra high end digital reverbs like the System 6000 and the Powercore platform. Back in 2000 when I was recording my album Manic Panic I was constantly running out of CPU Power on a Apple Powermac dual 500Mhz G4. Back then there were not many options. Either I use more external hardware, switch to PC or get a Powercore card.

Luckily I chose the Powercore because besides being able to work ITB (in the box) I was introduced to some amazing sounding plug-ins. In fact some of the plug-ins that came with the original Powercore PCI still hold up today. You can read a nice interview TC Electronic did with me back then by clicking here: TC Electronic interviews The Horrorist.

There is one plug-in in particular that has my heart: Voicemodeler. What’s funny is I only use 1 preset on the thing! It’s called “Male Enhancer”. I love it. I don’t use it on every song but it’s a flavor I can’t live without. I have yet to find any native plug-in that sounds the same. You can hear it on my voice on a song I did called Close to You:

Download audio file (Close_to_You.mp3)