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Vintage Machine Drums

Prime Loops releases a new one-shots sample collection


Prime Loops has released a new sample collection, Vintage machine Drums.

A spokesperson told us, "Bouncing off the walls trying to find a fresh new drum sound? The search is over - Vintage machine Drums brings you one-shots from some of the sickest machines in history, as well as claps, taps and traps from today's hottest digital machines! Packing a mammoth, 3,700+ drum hits, lovingly sampled from such coveted machines as the Airbase, Microkorg, Nord Modular, Polyvox, EMX, Wavestation and many, many more. It comes to you with dedicated folders of both analog drums and digital drum samples delivered in future-proof 24-bit. This collection offers an entire ocean of high-quality drum sounds to choose from, including all the clap samples, kick one-shots, snare samples, rim shots, open and closed hi-hat sounds, crash samples, ride sounds, tom one-shots, FX samples and percussion sounds."

Pricing and Availability:
£39.95

More information:
Prime Loops

Dark DnB Sample Pack

Producer Loops releases Supalife Drum & Bass: Dark Edition


Producer Loops tells us that Supalife Drum & Bass: Dark Edition features five Construction Kits packed full of aggressive Reese basslines, relentless drums, intricate synths and mind expanding FX. They say that, at over 1.5GB per format, this is simply a must-have collection for Drum & Bass producers.

A spokesperson told us, "Producer Eddy Beneteau steps up the game once again with five astoundingly well-crafted Construction Kits covering all the essentials of dark Drum & Bass. But this isn't just standard, conventional DnB. You'll find fresh new sounds, cranked up to all new levels of insanity and complexity. Synthetic voices spit glitched, stuttered vowels. Deep distorted basslines seem to rip apart the very air molecules before them. And frantic drums drive each mix forward relentlessly. This pack never lets up or drops a beat - all you need to worry about is whether or not the crowd can keep up with you. With professional features such as dry and wet samples, effect tails, MIDI loops and one-shots for creating your own drum beats, Supalife Drum & Bass: Dark Edition is a truly comprehensive product that will suit even the most demanding producer right down to the ground."

Product Specifications:

  • 5 Construction Kits
  • ACIDized WAV Files
  • Apple Loops/AIFF Files
  • REX2 Loops
  • Reason ReFill
  • Loops sync to BPM
  • 44.1 kHz/24-Bit
  • PC/Mac Compatible
  • Royalty-Free (No Exceptions)

Pricing and Availability:
Supalife Drum & Bass: Dark Edition is available for instant download for £29.95 / 34,60 EUR / $38.87 USD.

More information:
www.producerloops.com

BOSS Loop Station World Championship 3 Results

Spain's Grison Beatbox wins


Loop artists from 12 different countries gathered at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney during the 2013 NAMM show to compete in the international finals for the BOSS Loop Station World Championship 3.

BOSS tells us that Grison Beatbox of Spain claimed the looping title with a mesmerizing beatboxing performance that featured impressive technical skill with his RC-300 Loop Station and VE-20 Vocal Performer effects. For his efforts, he earned $3,000 in BOSS gear. Second Place and $2,000 in BOSS gear went to Super Tall Paul Newman from the United States. Thiago Ramalho from Brazil received Third Place recognition and $1,000 in BOSS gear. The finals event was an exciting conclusion to the BOSS global competition that began in the summer of 2012. Over 500 looping fans were in attendance, with another 8,000-plus viewing live on the web as the event was streamed online.

BOSS selected a talented roster of celebrity judges and BOSS endorsers to crown the world's best looper, including Steve Stevens, guitarist for Billy Idol; Billy Duffy, guitarist for The Cult; John 5, guitarist for Rob Zombie; Herman Li, guitarist for DragonForce; Darryl Jones, bassist for The Rolling Stones; and Gary Lenaire, Group Strategy Manager for BOSS. Judges provided live feedback after each performance, and all artists received high marks for their creativity and command of the looping technology. Music journalist and Jefferson Starship Guitarist Jude Gold also performed while the judges tabulated their votes to select the winner.

The finalists performed four-minute original compositions using the BOSS Loop Station of their choice, and each created their own ensemble of sounds in diverse ways. A wide range of BOSS effects--including the built-in effects in the RC-300 and RC-30 Loop Stations--were used to create distinctive sounds for loops. Electric and acoustic guitar, bass, piano, organ, synth, V-Drums, cello, ukulele, sax, flute, nose whistle, an electric drill, and even a pig squeeze toy were all used at various times to create sounds that were incorporated into loops. Most contestants also employed vocals, both with traditional singing and beatboxing techniques.

Separate from the in-house judging, online viewers had the opportunity to vote for their favorite performer of the evening, with the top vote-getter receiving a special Social Loop Award. Koukun from Japan got the most votes, impressing the web audience with a powerful beatboxing and singing performance that included a very unique stage presentation using light sabers. As part of the award, he received a BOSS GT-10B Bass Effects Processor.

More information:
www.boss.info/bossloop

Dirty And Distorted

Ueberschall releases Grunge Sound Library 15/02/13


Ueberschall has released the newest part of the Elastik Inspire series: Grunge. They say that it's the perfect library to use dirty and distorted sounds real fast. Here's the details in Ueberschall's own words...

This soundbank gives you access to various authentic grunge tracks. Using the unique Inspire concept, Grunge becomes the ultimate toolkit for fast rock productions and inspiring songs for every project, be it music, web-design, scoring or any other multimedia project. This library can be used for multiple applications and ideally fits into existing projects.

To create the real sound of Grunge, all instruments have been performed live and authentically edited. The soundbank contains 522 drum-, bass- and guitar-loops, which are further divided into 'crunch' and 'distorted' sections. The Elastik Inspire format allows free instrument combinations leading to infinite possible results. In addition, the content has been prepared in a way that it can ideally be combined with other 'Elastik Inspire' products such as 'Rock'.

How does the Elastik Inspire series work?
The Elastik Inspire Series pushes all previous boundaries found in sample libraries. All loops and pitched phrases will immediately match perfectly, even across multiple genres. Each sample is automatically detected and being stretched to the current song tempo.

Ueberschall's Elastik 2 player and its elaborated tagging system allow spontaneous track creations - fast, simple and clear.
And by using the intelligent random-replacement-function, any instrument can randomly be replaced by samples of the same instrument group with faultless results - because all samples being part of the Elastik Inspire Series are perfectly adjusted to each other. The resulting options are countless and a source for millions of new inspiring tracks.

Elastik-Features
Ueberschall's Elastik player is the perfect tool, where fast and efficient work is needed - be it for work under time pressure or simply to avoid interruptions of the creative workflow. By using its high quality and fast zplane algorithms, the loops of Grunge can be adapted in tempo and pitch to every track. In addition, all loops of all installed Elastik libraries can be easily searched for, using a shared attribute-based browser. This allows easy combining of any loop with the loops being offered by Grunge. Moreover, the loops can efficiently be modified using functions such as Resample, Formant, Reverse or a multi mode filter - from discreet or heavily alienated.

Credits
Guitars: Kai Reuter, Uwe Kinast, Bass: Christian Flohr, Kai Reuter, Drums: Phillipe Candas, RNA editing & rearrangement: Julian Liedtke, Production: Uwe Kinast

  • 500 MB, 522 loops
  • Genres: Grunge, Rock
  • Elastik soundbank for Mac/PC/AU/VST/RTAS/standalone
  • Elastik player included - no sampler required

Pricing and Availability:
39.00 €

More information:
Grunge

Interactive Headphones

Beyerdynamic CUSTOM ONE PRO offers 4 unique mix profiles


Beyerdynamic tells us that the new CUSTOM ONE PRO, a professional quality headphone concept for studio or home, allows the user to experience a completely interactive listening session.

Dave Hetrick, National Sales Manager for Beyerdynamic's US distributor American Music & Sound, told us,"Beyerdynamic invented the dynamic headphone 88 years ago, and now they have created the world's most versatile headphone. The CUSTOM One Pro is custom in every way...you can adjust the acoustic mix to your taste, change the look and color to match your style, change the cable for your preferred application...whatever you want. It's a truly unique product."

Here's the details in Beyerdynamic's own words...

An all-in-one solution for any desired acoustic scenario, the versatile new headphones feature Beyerdynamic's specially designed CUSTOM Sound Slider, which allows the user to switch the audio mix of their music between 4 completely unique mix profiles. The mix profiles range from a more analytical sound to the contemporary "heavy bass" sound, and can be quickly adjusted according to the listener's taste or to the music style. The headphone is expertly engineered with a closed, variable noise reduction design that creates isolated sound and cuts out ambient noise without the need for batteries.

The German- handcrafted CUSTOM ONE PRO headphone also sports a number of high-end style features such as fully customizable, changeable style plates that lock into the outer part of the ear cups. Users can go online at beyerdynamic.com to choose from hundreds of style plate designs and find the perfect combination to suit their personal style. Additionally, the headband and ear cup pads are available for purchase in different colors according to taste and preference. Moveable yokes and a sturdy spring-steel adjustable headband allow for a snug fit, and high quality, durable pads create longwearing comfort without fatigue. The headphone comes with a single-sided cable featuring a gold-plated mini stereo jack plug (3.5mm) and a 1/4" (6.35mm) adaptor, and can be customized to different desired lengths and applications ranging from studio use to gaming (available for separate purchase).

FEATURES

  • CUSTOM Sound Slider- a variable bass reflex system featuring 4 distinct audio mixes
  • Closed headphone with variable noise reduction
  • Versatile design with replaceable and customizable ear plate accessories
  • High efficiency due to 16-Ohm drivers
  • Rugged headband made of spring steel
  • Single-sided, plug-in type connecting cable
  • Soft, replaceable and customizable ear and headband pads
  • Gold-plated mini stereo jack plug (3.5 mm) & 1/4" adapter (6.35 mm)
  • Compatible with smart phones and most tablet devices

Pricing and Availability:
The CUSTOM One Pro is priced at $199 and is available now at authorized Beyerdynamic retailers worldwide.

More information:
Beyerdynamic

Expand Your Kurzweil PC3 and PC3K's Sonic Potential

KORE64 ROM Expansion Sound Card is now available


Kurzweil tells us that the KORE 64 ROM option represents a complete expansion and reimagining of the PC3and PC3K's sonic potential. They say that, pushing the limits of V.A.S.T. synthesis for both realistic and experimental electronic sounds, KORE 64™ adds over 300 new programs, including stunning new Synths, Electric Guitars, Horns, Drums and Percussion. With KORE 64™ installed, the PC3/K built-in program library now totals over 1400 presets KORE 64™ ROM is user installable. Here's the details directly from Kurzweil:

New Setups:

  • 50 new setups featuring the KORE 64™ sounds.
  • Over 200 new drum grooves in multiple styles.
  • New Dance and Hip Hop setups for triggering and controlling beats in real time.

New Synths:
  • New samples modeled after the Oberheim SEM, ARP Chroma, TX802, CZ1, and dozens of legacy waveforms from the K series.
  • Over 100 new synth programs.
  • Sounds for popular electronic music styles like House, Trance, Dubstep, Drum&Bass, Glitch, Electro Hip Hop, and more.
  • More real time controls, beat-synced modulations and envelope control transform sounds without hitting the edit button.
  • Atmospheric and cycling pads voiced for performing, producing, and scoring.

New Guitars:
  • New samples modeled after the Gibson Les Paul and Fender Stratocaster.
  • Palm muted and sustained articulations playable in a picked or legato style.
  • Instant-shredder arpeggiator patterns, whammy bar effects, and realistic feedback emulations.
  • Preset sounds from Rock, Country, Rock-a-Billy, Metal, Funk, and more.

New Brass/Woodwinds:
  • New alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax, trumpet, and trombone samples.
  • New programs include solo instruments and custom sections with many combinations of the different instruments.
  • Articulate with pressure on several new programs.
  • Sections cover styles from Big Band, Soul, Funk, Latin, R&B, Hip Hop, Rock and more.

New Drums
  • Drums from Yamaha, Ludwig, Pearl, DW, Rogers, and Gretsch recorded as full kits.
  • Full cymbal arrays recorded with Zildjian, Paiste, and Sabian cymbals.
  • 72 new Drum Kits and 62 percussion instruments and templates.
  • 10 times the samples and 30 times the data of the existing PC3/PC3K Drums.
  • All drum kits have mixer functioning on the sliders to change the level the kick, snare, toms, hats, and percussion independently.
  • Unsurpassed realism and playability for sampled drums.
  • Full complement of Electronic and Processed Drum samples.
  • Scratches, hits and Industrial Sounds.
  • Wide variety of traditional and processed Percussion sounds.

Pricing and Availability:
$299.00
More information:
Kurzweil

Figure Adds Track Sharing Through SoundCloud

Propellerhead's music making app gets more social


Propellerhead tells us that Figure, their best selling music making app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, has integrated SoundCloud, enabling quick sharing of tracks with friends or the world. In addition using Audiobus, Figure users can now bus their audio to other effects and recording apps in real-time.

Directly in Figure, users can easily share their tracks privately with their friends or publicly to blogs, sites and social networks using SoundCloud soundcloud.com, the world's leading social sound platform. It takes just a click to share sounds to Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Foursquare. In addition Propellerhead has created amobile listening gallery, where users can listen to any publicly available Figure SoundCloud uploads, to discover new great music -- or get inspiration for their own creations:

To celebrate the new release, Propellerhead and SoundCloud are holding a prize draw for everyone who uploads a sound through Figure. Two lucky winners will receive Beats by Dre headphones as well as a Propellerhead software suite and one year SoundCloud Pro account. The more a song is played, the greater the chance that it wins. Details of the prize draw can be found here.

Using the Audiobus app with Figure, users can interconnect Figure with other Audiobus capable apps in real-time. Audiobus works like virtual audio cables, enabling Figure audio to be "plugged" into other effects and recording apps running simultaneously. A user can now alter and record an entire Figure performance of any length using additional effects and features from apps outside of Figure itself.

Full list of improvements in Figure 1.4

  • SoundCloud integration - share your Figure tracks with access to Facebook, Twitter and more
  • Audiobus™ support
  • Background audio (in device Settings)
  • Sort song list by Name/Date

More About Figure...
Fast, streamlined and fun, Figure enables even an inexperienced musician to make amazing sounding original music in seconds. Figure is designed from the ground up for mobile environments where users want to make some music fast. Even non-musicians will quickly be playing their own beats and songs with drums, bass and lead parts. With an incredibly easy-to-use touch interface, Figure offers a huge amount of control with simple gestures. Figure is deceptively deep, facilitating many ways to tweak sounds and parameters--making it entertaining and inspiring to use for a minute or for hours. With major synth power under its hood, powered by Propellerhead's Reason, Figure sounds phenomenal too.

Pricing and Availability:
Figure pricing remains at EUR €0.79 / USD $0.99 and is available as a universal iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad App on the Apple iTunes AppStore.

More information:
Figure

How To Edit Timing With Melodyne

Not just for pitch correction


Here's a tasty little nugget of information about how to use Celemony's Melodyne software - you know the pitch editing software that changed everything.

If you can get past the insurance ad style voiceover, then you'll get to see through how to use the Melodyne editor to tweak the timing of events, not just for pitch alteration.

Listen carefully and you'll hear that this kind of thing is not uncommon.

How to make effective use of the timing tools, and -- with Melodyne editor -- even modify the timing within individual notes, are the subject of this video tutorial.

More Information
Celemony.de

Expert Sleepers ES-6 Does Very Cool CV Things

Get your computer to join the modular gang


Expert Sleepers ES-6 demo

Another great demo from Oz from Expert Sleepers - the guy behind the hardware and the software (A Slient Way). We reviewed the ES-3 ADAT/CV Eurorack module while back. Since then there's been a new version of A Silent Way - the software part of the CV control system that totally integrates your DAW with your Eurorack.

In this demo Oz records some CV into Live, and also runs some real-time CV manipulation too. Mind-blowing.

Expert Sleepers ES-6 is available now at £132 (inc VAT) and allows you to take 6 channels of CV into ADAT so you can record or manipulate the signals via software.

More Information
Expert Sleepers ES-6
ES-3 Review

GC Pro Offers Neve Genesys Console With New EQ Option

Special pricing on a fixed configuration of the console for a limited time


Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, along with AMS Neve, has announced a new EQ option, 88R-style four-band EQ, for theNeve Genesys, a custom-crafted, expandable digitally controlled analog recording console that incorporates digital workstation control. This new EQ option is an alternative to the classic 1084 EQ option currently available. Exclusively distributed in the U.S. by GC Pro, the Genesys was designed to address the new realities of the modern professional audio industry for music and postproduction, while building on Neve's 50 years of accumulated technical heritage.

A spokesperson had this to say, "Highly valued by recording professionals, Genesys consoles are the only console available boasting genuine 1073 mic pre transformers. While often imitated, there's only one true Neve console. To celebrate the console's popularity and the new EQ option, GC Pro is offering a very special price on a fixed configuration of Genesys console: $75,000 for a limited time, until the end of March 2013, that's over a 25% discount."

Specially-priced Genesys configuration:

  • 24-fader/48 input console (in a sub-fitted 32-fader frame)
  • 24 channels fitted with 1073 mic preamps
  • 24 channels fitted with the new EQ option
  • 8 channels of Dynamics
  • Motorized faders, with Encore automation software.
  • Total Recall software

Additionally, during this promotion, GC Pro will be offering console trade-ins towards the purchase of any Neve Genesys.

About the Neve Genesys
With its unmistakable Neve qualities of exquisite design, peerless craftsmanship and legendary Neve sound, the Genesys is a comprehensive, cost-effective solution to the challenges of audio in the digital age. The base configuration offers 16 channels of mic/line preamps, 16-channel DAW monitoring, 32-channel analog summing at mixdown, Total Reset, DAW control for Pro Tools, Logic, Nuendo and more, 8 auxiliary buses, 8 group buses, 2 main outputs, 4 effects returns, comprehensive metering, 5.1 mixing on each channel strip, 5.1 monitoring, 2 cue mixes, talkback services and an internal power supply. What sets the Genesys apart is its remarkable combination of features and affordability -- an affordable Neve analog console with Neve's legendary sound and digital control at a cost of less than $50,000 enables the widest possible range of professionals to make a genuine Neve console the heart of their studios. Furthermore, the Genesys has the ability to upgrade as studio owners' requirements change -- it can be expanded to over 60 channels in a straight or articulated frame, with options including motorized fader automation, recall, mastering-grade A/D and D/A converters, digitally controlled EQ and dynamics, remote mic amp control and much more.

Pricing and Availability:
See website.

More information:
www.gcpro.com

Mangling Delay Plug-In Updated

XILS-lab Le Masque is now in version 1.5



XILS-lab has announced availability of Le Masque: Delay 1.5, a major update to its 'ultimate mangling' timeline-driven delay effects plug-in. Here's their press release with all the details:

Besides being on the receiving end of a graceful graphical makeover that is intuitive as it is easy on the eye, Le Masque: Delay 1.5 obviously offers several new innovative features that further increase its functionality and musicality, benefitting both existing and new users alike:

FREEZE/DUB
The all-new FREEZE/DUB button repeatedly reads the delay 'loop' until disengaged -- perfect for creating dub-type delays, as well as generating all kinds of interesting loops and textures, while users can continue performing or improvising over the loop itself.

WET/DRY LOCK
The lockable WET/DRY button enables preset browsing while preserving whatever wet/dry ratio has been set -- handy for experimenting with the varied 120-plus presets now readily available in the latest Le Masque: Delay 1.5 factory library.

16 MASKS
Le Masque: Delay 1.5 increases the number of masks (or grid zones that are processed by the delay) from the original plug-in release's eight to 16 -- meaning more possibilities for flexible delay creation, especially when combined with the new MultiSelect and MultiEdit features of the masks themselves.

MULTI-MASKS
Several masks can now be simultaneously selected to move their locations or change their locators with a single mouse drag using a combination of different techniques -- namely, dedicated ALL MASKS, ODD MASKS, and EVEN MASKS buttons, or a CTRL + CLICK keyboard combination to select continuous or discontinuous masks, with background colour and shape changes reflecting the (selected, unselected) status of each mask.

INCOMING AUDIO SIGNAL DISPLAY
The incoming audio signal is now displayed within the grid area of Le Masque: Delay 1.5, drastically improving workflow and both speed and ease of use since its instant visual feedback greatly helps positioning masks while playing a musical part. And it looks great, too!

IMPROVED MASK LOCATOR MANAGEMENT
When approaching the right locator of a mask it now gradually turns red so it can be safely moved without changing its length (as could occasionally prove problematic in the original version of Le Masque: Delay); to further avoid any confusion, the right locator is now colour coded green.

MASK LEVEL TOGGLE
Engaging the new level toggle switch for the mask's LEVEL parameter acts as a threshold level, resulting in the delay signal only being audible if the incoming signal level is above the mask level -- helpful for finding the best mask configurations while moving them on the grid.

ZOOM FUNCTION
The 4x zoom function makes accurate editing of mask positioning and length easier than ever -- time to throw away those 'rose-tinted glasses'!

Pricing and Availability:
Le Masque: Delay 1.5 is available to purchase from the dedicated XILS-lab online Store for the time limited, 25% discounted introductory price of €44.00 EURO/$58.00 USD until February 20 (rising to €59.00 EURO/$77.00 USD thereafter).

More information:
www.xils-lab.com