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music production news, reviews and interviews for the middle east

[producertechme]

Image-Line FL Studio 12 is now Compatible with Waves Plugins

Waves Audio, a leading provider of digital signal processing solutions, announces that Image-Line’s digital audio workstation FL Studio 12 is now compatible with Waves plugins.

To celebrate, Waves and Image-Line are offering exclusive specials throughout the month of September.

Waves is offering FL Studio subscribers a free OneKnob Louder plugin.

In addition, FL Studio users can enjoy a discount of up to 60% on ten select Waves plugins: OneKnob Driver, OneKnob Pressure, CLA Drums, C1 Compressor, H-Comp Hybrid Compressor, H-Delay Hybrid Delay, MaxxBass, PAZ Analyzer, L3 Multimaximizer and L1 Ultramaximizer.

Throughout the month of September, Image-Line is offering Waves users 50% off select Image-Line synth and sequencer plugins: Drumaxx, Groove Machine, Morphine, Poizone, Sakura, Sawer and Toxic Biohazard.

Mick Olesh, Waves EVP of Sales & Marketing, comments, “Waves is excited to join forces with Image-Line, enabling FL Studio 12 users to augment their processing capabilities. This is an additional step in Waves’ continuing strategy of supporting the creative process of recording and mixing by providing all DAW users the freedom to use our plugins everywhere and anywhere.”

Scott Fisher, Image-Line Communications Manager, comments, “Image-Line is excited to announce that FL Studio 12.1 is now compatible with Waves plugins. We are pleased to be Waves-enabled, giving our users the opportunity for enhanced processing capabilities.”

To learn more, please visit http://www.waves.com/ and https://www.image-line.com/.

Image-Line FL Studio 12 is now Compatible with Waves Plugins was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

Mix Engineer Chris Shepard Gets Dangerous at Lollapalooza

During the 2015 Lollapalooza festival, mix engineer Chris Shepard test drove one of the first Dangerous Music 2-Bus+ summing amps with Paul McCartney and Metallica in the American Mobile studio truck. Shepard was anxious to hear the new integrated processing capabilities, especially the unique Paralimit, as well as the custom transformer control called ‘X-Former.’ “The 2-Bus+ is my new secret weapon,” says Shepard, owner of American Mobile, his company for over 20 years specializing in mobile music recording and live mixing for video streaming. Shepard and his American Mobile team mixed the live web stream of Lollapalooza for Springboard Productions andRed Bull TV.

The day before sound check for Lollapalooza, Shepard set up the 2-Bus+ in his audio truck and ran his 10 favorite songs through it to get some ideas of what might work for sweetening the live audio mixes ‘on the fly’. By the end of the day he was confident with the unit in line and comfortable with the sonic imprint of the Paralimit and X-Former as the last thing in his audio chain. Scheduled to mix 5 bands a day for the live webcast, “I created a basic ‘starter setting’ for each band,” explains Shepard. “Controls felt very predictable and easy to use. I immediately felt like the 2-Bus+ was my safety net I could lean on a bit.”

“Opening night at Lollapalooza featured Paul McCartney and Saturday night featured Metallica. Both sounded great through the Dangerous 2-Bus+!” he exclaimed. “I really hit the Paralimit good on each set helping me hold the mixes together and pump up the volume. Even more than that, it feels good mixing ‘into’ the Para-limit, helping me dig up little nuances and subtle tones in the mix that give it color.”

Shepard also utilized the ‘X-Former‘ processing feature on the 2-Bus+, “The transformer control really glues the mix together. It can be subtle or saturated like the output stage of a classic analog mixing console. Definitely giving me width to the mix,” he says. “I plan on adding a Dangerous 2-Bus+ to three of the American Mobile rigs right away!”

After wrapping up Lollapalooza, Shepard is scheduled to mix the ‘Best Of Firefly’ with mixer Steve Weeder for Springboard Productions, then heading to Washington D.C with the American Mobile crew for the Landmark Festival, and after that two weeks in Texas mixing Austin City Limits, a festival American Mobile has mixed the live music broadcast for since 2005.

For more information on Chris Shepard and American Mobile please visit: http://www.americanmobilestudio.com

The new Dangerous 2-BUS+ is a 2-space rack-unit, 16-channel, analog-summing mixer, with both XLR and D-sub inputs. New innovative features include 3 separate custom audio processors to add tone and color to mixes. The ‘Harmonics‘ processor is a tuned harmonic distortion generator executed in parallel-processing mode with a blend control, ‘Paralimit‘ is a FET limiter on stun, also in parallel mode. Both of these processors can be applied across the stereo mix, or on a pair of stems. ‘X-Former‘ inserts a pair of custom transformers on the stereo mix and has a control for core saturation. All three tone controls can be active at once, and the order of signal flow through distortion and limiting can be flipped.

Dangerous Music pioneered the dedicated rack-mounted analog summing device for the back-end of any digital audio workstation in the late 1990s, and the Dangerous 2-Bus proceeded to take its place as the industry standard solution for the analog/digital mixing workflow. The new Dangerous 2-Bus+ (…pronounced “Two Bus Plus”) is set for release through dealers worldwide in Q4 2015; the street price is $2,999. US.

For more information on Dangerous Music visit http://www.dangerousmusic.com phone [phone] or email: [email protected]

Mix Engineer Chris Shepard Gets Dangerous at Lollapalooza was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

Sample Logic release epic Gamelan library

Sample Logic morphs and mutilates best Balinese gamelan instruments into VI fit for a new world

Award-winning sample library company Sample Logic is proud to announce (upcoming) availability of GAMELAN — the latest in a lengthening line of superlative sample-based virtual instruments powered by Native Instruments’ industry-standard KONTAKT PLAYER platform, this time morphing and mutilating 25 world-class Balinese gamelan instruments to create a stunning selection of inspirational cinematic-quality atmospheres, melodic instruments, thundering percussive impacts, and twisted loops — as of September 1…

GAMELAN is where world instruments meet hybrid synthesis. Achieving this is easier said than done, though that is exactly what the talented team at Sample Logic has achieved with relative ease… well, with a little help from their friends. Recorded on the celebrated scoring stage at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California, GAMELAN features over 1,700 world-class traditional and morphed gamelan instruments which will surely blow the creative minds of sound designers, composers, musicians, and producers alike. No fewer than 25 instrumental (Grantang, Jegogan, Jublag, Kajar, Kantilan, Kempli, Pemade, Penyacah, Reyong, Suling, Trompong, and Ugal) and percussive (Cedugan Wadon, Cedugan, Ceng Ceng, Gentorag Chime, Gong, Gupekan Wadon, Gupekan, Kempur, Klentong, Krumpungan Wadon, Krumpungan, Rebab, and Vocalese) Balinese instruments were recorded there in 24-bit/88.2kHz, then morphed and mutilated to craft the highly-creative content for GAMELAN.

GAMELAN welcomely weighs in at over 14GB as a result. As such, it features a diverse library of 1,700 KONTAKT PLAYER-compatible patches, perfectly divided into the following categories: 421 ATMOSPHERES (58 BIZARRE, 97 DARK – MYSTERIOUS, 71 ELECTRONIC – EFFECTUAL, 87 MIXED EMOTIONS, 28 STINGERS, and 79 WORLD ORGANIC); 316 INSTRUMENTALS (55 ARPEGGIATED, 104 WORLD ORGANIC, 74 SYNTH, and 82 TRADITIONAL); 332 LOOPS (84 ACTION PACKED, 120 ELECTRONIC – EFFECTUAL, 51 POP HOP, 56 WORLD ORGANIC); 368 PERCUSSIVES (31 ARPEGGIATED, 11 HIT ENSEMBLES, 266 IMPACTS, 17 TRADITIONAL, and 42 TRANSITIONS); and 260 MULTI CORES (34 ATMOSPHERES, 71 INSTRUMENTALS, 53 LOOPS, and 47 PERCUSSIVES). Explore unlimited possibilities within GAMELAN by combining those ATMOSPHERES, INSTRUMENTALS, LOOPS, and PERCUSSIVES within a single, easy-to-use interface. Moreover, mix up to eight ‘Soundsources’ while retaining nuanced control over each sound to create massive ambiences, crushing impacts, complex loops, soaring leads, or even stacked multis with all of the above triggered by a single note! Alternatively, why not simply use one of the thousands of included preset instruments for instant inspiration?

Start from the simplest seed element of a sound and work outward with GAMELAN’s intuitive interface. All such ‘Soundsources’ are loaded into a so-called SOUNDCORE — each capable of playing back two ‘Soundsources’ (Soundsource 1 and Soundsource 2) simultaneously, packed with SOUNDCORE FX, including reverb, convolution, filters, distortion, and much more.

More adventurous users can explore even headier heights of creativity by using up to four SOUNDCORES simultaneously, allowing for infinite blends of up to eight SOUNDCORES at any given time. And, as if that was not enough to be getting on with, MASTER FX can be applied to all SOUNDCORES to create truly out-of-this-world results!

Not quite ready to take the plunge into the deeper depths of GAMELAN? No need to worry. With over 880 ‘Soundsources’; 700 SOUNDCORE presets; 1,400 SINGLE CORE instrument presets; and 260 ready-to-use MULTI CORE instrument presets to its inspirational name, GAMELAN gives its users over 2,400-trillion sonic combinations to work with. More than enough to blow the most creative of musical minds, surely?

Saying that, GAMELAN gamely utilises Sample Logic’s intelligent randomisation technology to allow users to randomly generate epic- sounding presets at the speedy click of an always-available RANDOM button… couldn’t be simpler in practice! Powerful randomisation options allow anyone to specify the types of sounds and settings to be selected from during the randomisation process. Want to create an ATOMSPHERES instrument on the fly? Simply select ATMOSPHERES using the drop-down menu. Similarly, select from INSTRUMENTALS, PERCUSSIVES, and LOOPS, or, throw caution to the wind, and select All Categories at once. Whatever choice is made, the RANDOM function is great for building multi-stacked instruments and is sure to fire up creativity still further!

Finally, in keeping with Sample Logic’s long-running tradition of interminable innovation, GAMELAN includes its creators’ critically-acclaimed Step Animator sequencing engine with world-class arpeggiation and sequencing delivered right to your fingertips. For example, Link/Alt mode makes it possible to select individual SOUNDCORES to be triggered by each step of the Step Animator while unselected SOUNDCORES sustain!

Thanks to Sample Logic’s technical tenacity, world-class Balinese instruments have been truly transformed into a world-class virtual instrument fit for a new world. Why not transform your music game with GAMELAN?

GAMELAN can be preordered online and directly downloaded from Sample Logic for $299.99 before September 15 from here: http://www.samplelogic.com/products/gamelan (It is released on September 15 with an MSRP of $399.99.)

Sample Logic release epic Gamelan library was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

ZAOR Studio Furniture now distributing Humanscale products

Humanscale humaneness helps ZAOR Studio Furniture find flawless ergonomic excellence

Premium studio furniture designer and manufacturer ZAOR Studio Furniture is proud to announce that it is acting as an ambassador and distributor to the sales channels in the MI and pro audio industries for New York-headquartered global ergonomics leader Humanscale — hitherto renowned for designing intuitive products to improve the comfort and health of office workers worldwide, with function driving form — as of August 31…

Who better to introduce this perfect partnership, then, than ZAOR Studio Furniture CEO Klaus Gehlhaar: “Our company is dedicated to providing an intelligent and aesthetically pleasing work environment for creative professionals. Speaking personally, part of that solution surely is the position in which you are seated and also the position of your ever-present computer monitor screens. So we searched for a long time to find a suitable partner to be able to offer a 360-degree solution for the recording space, video editing suite, or writing room. That Humanscale’s offerings are so special has as much to do with their intuitive design approach as their quality and ergonomics. From monitor arms to chairs and cable management, they offer smart solutions that perfectly complement our own budget-conscious custom design approach. Our main market — MI and audio industries — are a complete unknown to them, so we agreed that ZAOR should lever its position as a market leader in studio furniture design to act as an ambassador and distributor to the sales channels in those industries.”

Humanscale has a lot of premium products to its notable name, though, so where to start? “During the last two years we acquired a thorough knowledge of the brand, its products, and solutions, so we decided to preselect a few products that are supremely suited to our market,” maintains Klaus Gehlhaar. “The M2 and M8 monitor arms are an obvious choice for starters, since the screen has to be balanced between perfect positioning for viewing the DAW and other content, as well as room acoustics and nearfield speaker positioning, which represent around 80 percent of the critical listening environment. The flexibility that the M2 and M8 affords the user — screen up close when editing, further back and acoustically out of the way when mixing or mastering — is crucial to achieving the best of both worlds: visual and acoustic.”

Well, why stop there when critical comfort and health issues should — and can — be addressed? According to Klaus Gehlhaar, “Over the years, our own experience as studio engineers and producers has taught us about the health risks of improper seating with too many hours often being spent sat in less than ideal positions. In the absence of suitable sit/stand solutions — safely lifting a 200-plus kilogram Solid State Logic mixing console up and down is no easy task! — we consider an excellent chair to represent a very smart longterm investment in your health. Having read endless discussions about the next five-figure outboard effects unit to die for, I often wonder if those who are willing to spend so much on making their mixes more musically enticing ever spare a thought about their sitting position? Probably not, and yet the fact of the matter is that the resulting fatigue and stress will probably take away more from their mixing ability than any miracle device could ever add to it!”

Is there a Humanscale solution? “So we are talking to our customers and offering two very affordable and accomplished chairs — the Diffrient World, representing Humanscale’s first foray into all-mesh task seating, and the award-winning Freedom Task chair, which is, in all honesty, the best chair I have ever had the privilege to be seated in. What differentiates Humanscale chairs from those of other manufacturers is their proprietary, self-adjusting mechanism. Auto-reclining is guided by bodyweight alone and does not need any levers or settings — seems awkward at first, but when our customers give it some thought then they always agree that those few square inches that support their body during long studio sessions are a lifesaver.”

Likewise, Klaus Gehlhaar appropriately and succinctly sums up ZAOR Studio Furniture’s praiseworthy pursuit of ergonomic excellence when concluding, “We are glad to have found a top-level partner that shares our vision in Humanscale — one that shares our vision of a better, more humane, and healthy workspace.”

Humanscale’s M2 monitor arm, Diffrient World and Freedom Task chairs are available to order online directly from the ZAOR Studio Furniture Shop respectively for €244.00 EUR, €766.00 EUR, and €1,348.00 EUR (including 24% tax, plus shipping costs) here: http://poe-music.com/products/zaor-studio-furniture/

ZAOR Studio Furniture now distributing Humanscale products was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

Ableton release BeatSeaker

Ableton free bands from computer time with the BeatSeaker Max for Live device by Andrew Robertson

Bands who use Live in their setup often use a click track to make sure they’re in time. The drummer follows the computer and their groove locks to the grid. Ableton is pleased to present BeatSeeker: a Max for Live device designed to reverse these roles. Now Live doesn’t have to set the tempo; it can follow it.

The introduction of BeatSeeker lets drummers take control and helps bands maintain their natural groove when performing with Live. BeatSeeker works by detecting the BPM of any rhythmic audio signal and matching Live to its tempo. Then you can launch clips and BeatSeeker adapts Live’s tempo to respond to the signal and keep on the beat. Drummers can switch between playing to a click or having Live react to shifts in tempo by using one simple control, which can MIDI-map to a footswitch or other controller.

BeatSeeker is designed for use with live drums, but can also be used by DJs to sync Live with turntables, or with any other rhythmic or percussive signal used in performance or production. The device has been developed by Andrew Robertson, based on research at at the Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London.

BeatSeeker is available now from the Ableton website for USD 29 / EUR 24.

Click here to learn more about BeatSeaker.

Ableton release BeatSeaker was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

FabFilter release Pro-C 2

FabFilter’s well loved compressor gets a facelift.

FabFilter is proud to announce availability of FabFilter Pro-C 2, a major update to the FabFilter Pro-C compressor plug-in. Five brand-new compression styles make FabFilter Pro-C 2 even easier to set up and more effective in common scenarios such as vocal processing, mastering or EDM pumping. It’s like getting five new compressors! Together with an abundance of new features, such as lookahead, range, hold, side-chain EQ, oversampling, and a fully redesigned user interface, FabFilter Pro-C 2 surpasses its predecessor in every way while respecting the original’s transparency and elegance.

Compress with style

FabFilter Pro-C 2 introduces five new, carefully designed compressor algorithms, each with a unique character and feel. Using the Vocal style, getting a lead vocal upfront in your mix is as easy as choosing the right threshold. The Mastering style is designed to be as transparent as possible, while still being able to catch those fast transients. To add a pleasant ‘glue’ to drums or mix buses, the Bus style will work wonders! Finally, the Punch style delivers traditional, analog-like compression behavior, which sounds good on anything, while the Pumping algorithm offers deep and over-the-top pumping — great for drum processing or EDM.

All you need

A rich set of new features offers more control over the compressor’s sound and character. The knee is now freely adjustable from 0 dB up to 72 dB, and the range setting lets you easily limit the maximum amount of gain change. The smooth lookahead (up to 20 ms) and hold settings help you to catch any peak while minimizing distortion. The optional high-quality oversampling (up to 4x) further ensures the most transparent results possible by reducing aliasing. Last but not least, advanced side-chain EQ’ing and M/S processing is easier than ever thanks to FabFilter Pro-C 2’s dedicated side-chain section.

Redesigned interface

The well laid-out, fully-redesigned Retina interface offers insightful metering with real-time displays that will greatly improve workflow. The large animated level/knee display visualizes exactly when, why and how compression is applied to incoming audio. Accurate level meters show the exact peak and loudness values, while the circular side-chain input meter turns finding the perfect threshold setting into a trivial task. In short, FabFilter Pro-C 2 wraps superb sound quality and an extensive feature set in a polished, time- saving user interface.

FabFilter Pro-C 2 Compact view

Key features:

Eight different compression styles, five of which are new in version 2: Vocal, Mastering, Bus, Punch and Pumping

Remarkable Retina interface, with (optional) animated level knee displays and accurate peak/loudness metering

Side-chain EQ section, with customizable HP and LP filters, plus an additional freely adjustable filter

Program-dependent attack and release curves

Smooth Lookahead (up to 20 ms), which can be enabled/disabled to ensure zero-latency processing

Intelligent Auto Gain

Hold (up to 500 ms)

Custom Knee, variable from hard knee to a 72 dB soft knee (to enable saturation-like effects)

Auto Release

Up to 4x Oversampling

Variable stereo linking and mid/side processing, with mid-only, side-only, M > S and S > M processing

Audition Triggering option, which enables users to hear on which parts of the audio FabFilter Pro-C 2 is triggering and how much compression is being applied

Multiple interface sizes (Small, Medium, and Large), plus Full Screen mode, offering a large level display and side-chain EQ controller

Range setting, which limits the maximum applied gain change

Mix setting, which scales the gain change from 0% to 200%

Accurate, large level and gain meters, with peak and loudness level visualization (which complies with the Momentary mode of the EBU R128 / ITU-R 1770 standards)

Retina support on OS X and High DPI support on Windows

External side-chain triggering

GPU-powered graphics acceleration

Optional MIDI triggering

Supports common Pro Tools hardware control surfaces

FabFilter Pro-C 2 is now available for EUR 149, USD 179 or GBP 114, supporting both Windows and Mac OS X in VST and VST 3, Audio Units, AAX, RTAS and AudioSuite plug-in formats. Bundles with FabFilter Pro-C 2 and other FabFilter plug-ins are also available at: www.fabfilter.com/shop

Existing FabFilter customers can purchase or upgrade to FabFilter Pro-C 2 with very attractive discounts by logging in to their online user account at: www.fabfilter.com/myaccount

System requirements on Windows are either Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP and a VST 2/3 host, or Pro Tools, or Mac OS X 10.5 or higher with Intel processor, and an Audio Units host, VST 2/3 host, or Pro Tools. Both 32-bit and 64-bit hosts are supported.

FabFilter release Pro-C 2 was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

Apple update Logic Pro X to version 10.2

Apple have added the Alchemy soft synth to Logic Pro X and Mainstage. This is a biggy. The current price to buy Logic is around the same as it previously cost to buy Alchemy by itself.

But if you’ve never heard of Alchemy before today, you may not know what all the fuss is about.

Before being purchased by Apple, Alchemy was developed by a company called Camel Audio and was their flagship product and it was insane.

At it’s heart was an Additive synthesis engine that would let you paint your own sounds or break down pre-existing audio and really mangle it around. It also did Granular synthesis, VA and had great morphing options.

Due to the Apple buyout, Alchemy 2 never shipped but that’s the version that’s included in Logic. Here’s it’s feature list:

Next generation synthesizer plug-in with multiple sound generators including: additive, spectral, formant, granular, sampler and virtual analog

Over 3,000 presets for all types of electronic music including dance, hip hop, rock and sound for picture

Integrated keyword preset browser for finding the right sounds quickly

Performance controls like the Transform Pad make it easy to explore and reshape sounds

Combine up to four synth modules to create complex multi-layered sounds

Virtual analog oscillators produce authentic recreations of classic synth sounds

Wide selection of modelled analog and special effect filters for producing sounds with vintage character and tonal complexity

Create animated, dynamic instruments using over 100 modulation sources that include flexible LFOs, AHDSR and MSEG envelopes, and step sequencers

Manipulate and combine samples in new ways using a collection of morphing and re-synthesis tools

Import EXS24 instruments or create your own using a robust set of sampler features

Apply independent arpeggiators to each of the four sound sources to transform simple chords into elaborate performances

Integrated effects rack with reverb, modulation, delay, compression and a range of distortion effects

There’s also a few additions to Logic itself:

New tabbed Transform Pad and X/Y Pad Smart Controls for Alchemy instruments

Share directly to Apple Music Connect

Adds support for Force Touch trackpad

Create custom track icons with your own image files

1,000 new Apple Loops from a variety of popular instruments and genres including EDM, Hip Hop, Indie, Disco, Funk and Blues

Expanded MIDI clock options improve sync compatibility with external MIDI devices

Multiple additional enhancement and stability improvements

If you don’t like Logic but still l want Alchemy (and the many, many other great plug-ins that come with it), then you can buy Mainstage for the staggeringly cheap $29.99 from the App Store. You’ll need to do some tinkering to get it working with whatever DAW you prefer but it’s not that difficult.

Logic Pro X 10.2 is a free update for current users or it’s $199.99 new from the App Store.

For more information on Logic Pro X, head to apple.com/logic-pro

Apple update Logic Pro X to version 10.2 was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

Native Instruments introduces VELVET LOUNGE MASCHINE Expansion

New Maschine expansion delivers R&B sounds to your workstation.

Native Instruments have introduced VELVET LOUNGE – a new MASCHINE Expansion aimed at producers combining classic soul’s deep musicality with the forward-thinking production of contemporary urban styles. VELVET LOUNGE runs in the latest MASCHINE 2.3 software on MASCHINE STUDIO, MASCHINE, or MASCHINE MIKRO and is available exclusively at the NI Online Shop.  A compact version for iMASCHINE is also available via the iMASCHINE in-app store.

VELVET LOUNGE delivers the sultry melodies, liquid atmospheres, and future-focused rhythms of the new wave of contemporary R&B. The expansion represents the bridge between classic soul music and 21st century production techniques. The first MASCHINE Expansion for future soul and related styles, VELVET LOUNGE is for any producer searching for new sounds to stay ahead of the musical curve.

Velvet Lounge

VELVET LOUNGE contains a foundation of Melodic kits featuring carefully selected sampled Rhodes, vocals, organs, polyphonic pads, guitar chords and licks. Exclusive new MASSIVE presets fill out the low end, while REAKTOR PRISM adds touches of bells in the high frequencies. SFX kits feature processed field recordings, sample guitar harmonics, and off-center sampled harps. And trap-style programming and 808 beats add a futuristic polish to an expansion dedicated to the new sound of soul.

A compact version of VELVET LOUNGE is also available as an iMASCHINE Expansion, for creating beats on the go. Tracks can be exported to MASCHINE STUDIO, MASCHINE, and MASCHINE MIKRO for completion.

VELVET LOUNGE is available now at the NI Online Shop for $49 / 49 € / £44 / ¥ 5,680 / AU$ 79 and runs in the MASCHINE 2 software.

The iMASCHINE expansion is available at the iMASCHINE in-app store for $0.99 / 0,89 € / £0.69 / ¥ 100 / AU$ 0.99.

Additional information on VELVET LOUNGE is available at: www.native-instruments.com/velvetlounge

Native Instruments introduces VELVET LOUNGE MASCHINE Expansion was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

iZotope Sets Future Product Focus

iZotope shares their plans for the future ..

iZotope, Inc., a leading audio technology company, today announced its strategic decision to divide the current iZotope product line into two distinct families of products, one focused on Music Production and the other on Audio Post Production.

“Since 2001, iZotope has developed products to inspire musicians, producers, and audio engineers of all kinds,” explains Mark Ethier, co-founder and CEO. “In recent years, more and more audio post production professionals have joined our community, with unique needs from the world of TV, film, and other media. To keep inspiring all of our customers, we know we need to address each world individually.”

“If a company takes a ‘one size fits all’ approach to a product, the result is a tool that doesn’t fit anyone particularly well,” adds Alex Westner, Director of Product Strategy. “Our goal is to unlock creativity by providing the right tools at the right time. We want to make sure everyone’s experience with an iZotope product is fluid and clear, without distractions like extra features or irrelevant settings. By designing our products to better align with the task at hand, we can help keep everyone in their creative zone, whether they’re mastering a record or mixing for a film.”

Brooklyn-based electronic group, Mister Barrington, relies on iZotope’s music production tools to inspire their creative process. Pictured are Zach Danziger (left) and Owen Biddle

The Product Roadmap: Music and Post Production

Moving forward, the Music Production family is led by one of iZotope’s flagship products, Ozone for mastering, and is complemented by products for mixing, vocals, and creative effects, like Alloy, Nectar, and Trash.

The Audio Post Production family spotlights iZotope’s other flagship product, RX, the Emmy Award-winning audio repair and enhancement suite. Rounding out the family of Post tools are RX Final Mix for balancing mixes and submixes, and RX Loudness Control for ensuring loudness compliance with international loudness standards.

Fueled by customer outreach and a robust feedback loop, iZotope’s product roadmap and engineering teams are rallied around these two disciplines. Major releases are planned for both product lines in the Fall of 2015, with more announcements coming soon.

Ongoing Initiatives: Research and Education

Alongside development of studio software, iZotope continues to keep busy in its innovation labs, incubating bleeding edge audio technology for future release. Most recently, iZotope released a new iPhone app, Spire, designed to bring a better mobile recording experience to performing musicians, even those who may not yet be familiar with audio editing software.

iZotope also remains committed to providing world-class audio education. On the heels of a successful Mastering Month in July, which featured a multi-faceted online Mastering Series and an exclusive, onsite Mastering Academy, plans for even more learning materials and experiences are in active development.

For More Information

Learn about iZotope’s Audio Post solutions: www.izotope.com/postproduction

Learn about iZotope’s Music Production solutions: www.izotope.com/musicproduction

Keep in tune with what’s new at iZotope: www.izotope.com/en/community

iZotope Sets Future Product Focus was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

Friday free stuff: Steve Duda Elite Session

Steve Duda is a well known name in the music industry.

You may know him as one half of BSOD with Deadmau5, from the many records he’s worked on and mixed (including Nine Inch Nails) or from his plugin company – Xfer Records. I featured his free plugins a few weeks ago in Friday free stuff.

I recently came across a session he did for Pyramind music school in San Francisco which has been shared in it’s entirety.

The session is three hours long but worth a watch if you can find the time. Steve starts off by talking about his career and then takes questions from attendees. Although he doesn’t consider most of work to be based around mixing, that’s the subject that a lot of the questions focus on and there’s some fantastic tips to be found.

Pyramind don’t seem to allow embedding of their videos but you can check them out here:

Part One Part Two Part Three

More free stuff next Friday ..

Friday free stuff: Steve Duda Elite Session was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

Mix Engineer Michael James Hits #1 with Dangerous Gear

Michael James lands a number one hit for Kalimba using Dangerous Gear ..

Mix engineer Michael James has a double number one hit for his mix of the song “Estrellas Rotas” from recording artist Kalimba’s latest record, Cena Para Desayunar (Sony Music). The record has ruled both Monitor Latino’s ‘Plays” and ‘Audience Reach’ charts for seven consecutive weeks so far. “This is a very special record for Kalimba, so I’m blessed to have been part of it,” says James. He mixed the hit record using a large collection of Dangerous Music gear. James’ mix career spans a host of musical artists including New Radicals, Hole, Far, L7, Robben Ford, Edwin McCain, Maia Sharp, A.J. Croce, Chicago, Jawbreaker, and Mario Guerrero, to name just a few.

James first bought the Monitor ST/SR stereo and surround controller when it came out in 2006, and then he eventually designed his whole studio around Dangerous Music gear, adding three, 16-channel, Dangerous 2-Bus analog summing units, two BAX EQ‘s, the recently released Dangerous Compressor, as well as the Dangerous Liaison re-callable analog patching system.

James says, “I was talking with (engineer/producer) Fab Dupont about monitor controllers and he recommended Dangerous Music gear and put me in touch with the company. I had a monitor controller already that I really liked and it sounded fantastic – I thought it couldn’t be beat – but it didn’t have the flexibility that I wanted, and I also needed surround-monitoring control. The Monitor ST was an audible upgrade to my other monitor controller, it sounds great! There are no surprises when my mixes go to mastering. It’s just so nice to be able to make mix decisions really quickly without second guessing anything!”

Mixing the hit song ‘Estrellas Rotas’ for Kalimba, James utilized his complete Dangerous Music system to get the golden sound that’s put the track at the top of the charts. He uses the three Dangerous 2-Bus analog summing amps in a “very interesting way,” as he says. “I use my three 2-Bus units as 48-channels in, by 6 out. It breaks down to three 16 x 2 mix sections.” He then sums those 6 channels into another device for adding color if he wants it.

James describes the purpose of the setup, “Whether I am doing strings today, detuned heavy rock guitars tomorrow, or a singer-songwriter the next day, I have to make sure that I keep everything in the sweet spot, and that I’m not adding color where I don’t want it. The thing that’s great about the Dangerous 2-Bus for me is that the ‘mastering aesthetic’ of the Dangerous gear allows me to keep the coloration that I have in its pristine state, rather than adding to it.”

For the Kalimba mixes, his multiple Dangerous 2-Bus setup was perfect he says, “I always divide my mixes into three submixes. The first 2-Bus (‘Bus A’) got all Kalimba’s vocals. For parts that I want straight up the middle, I use the Mono button on that 2-Bus channel; for other parts that are panned out towards the sides, I set and/or automate the panning inside Pro Tools. The output of the 2-Bus ‘A’ is routed to a buss compressor and a particular EQ suited to the vocals. The signal flow is such that individual instruments or voices access their particular compressor, EQ, de-esser, etc. via Pro Tools hardware inserts, and then that entire group or submix typically has some subtle processing on it at the stereo output of the 2-Bus. Since the 2-Bus has so much headroom, it’s really easy for me to decide that I want the entire vocal submix to be brighter or warmer, or more or less compressed.”

On the Estrellas Rotas mix, he assigned the acoustic and electric guitars and keyboard tracks to the second 2-Bus (‘Bus B’), as he normally does, he always puts tracks that he calls “the sides” through that 16-channel summing mixer. “Mid-rangy harmonic instruments like guitars, strings, horns, keyboards, pads, counter melodies to the vocals-basically anything that has lots of harmonic content, and gets panned to the sides, is on the second 2-Bus,” he says. “In the same manner that I have processing on the vocal submix, I’ll have processing on the output of ‘the sides’ submix-but I’ll have different attack and release times, and colorations including the Dangerous BAX EQ. The BAX EQ and the 2-Bus really work together for me.” Using the BAX EQ James has some pretty specific setting he uses on his ‘sides’ submix, “I’ll typically filter out some of the low frequencies, and maybe boost with the BAX’s shelf settings. Then I always filter out the highest 70k, or the next setting down at 28k, the top filter is always in, it’s never disengaged.”

For the drums and the bass tracks on the Kalimba track, James reserved the third 16-channel, 2-Bus. “I have a BAX EQ on the stereo output of that submix as well, and a compressor. I treat the BAX EQ on the drums and bass differently than the ‘side’ instruments. The sound of a tighter bass is coming back-I think people like to hear the bass on their phone or television; the BAX EQ is great for that. Frequently I find that half a dB or 1 dB at the lowest shelf adds a little bit of warmth without making the bass tubby. Then up at the top-end on the BAX, you can go all the way down to the ‘crack’ of the snare drum or keep it way high at the top end and get more sparkle out of the cymbals-or anything in between. Often it depends on how nasty the drums were recorded or how well they were recorded.”

Explaining why his 48-channel, 3-submix Dangerous mixing system helps him get better results faster for his clients, James says, “I think the multi-buss, submixing technique works great for me because it gives me a lot of flexibility. The beauty of this is that I can have a mix that sounds perfect to me, but my client may say, ‘I love it, it’s really warm like a Peter Gabriel record, but I imagined a brighter sound like Martina McBride.’ Then I can say ‘No problem!’ because I have control over individual submixes-I can crank up as much as 5 dB of guitar bite without touching the vocal-which is ‘perfect.’ This is essential for me as a mix engineer, because if I just had one EQ on the mix buss, I’d have to start compromising quite a bit.” James says that the producer on Kalimba’s record, Stefano Vieni, has made him one of his “go to guys” and loves his mixing-they have worked together on other projects that went #1. So when artist Kalimba and producer Vieni stopped by the studio they told James, “make my voice sound great,” and “make the song sound like a hit.” James obviously came through with the Estrellas Rotas track.

Digging deeper into the gear, James states, “The BAX EQ and the Dangerous 2-Bus are essential because they don’t change the character of my mix, all they do is sum the tracks without distortion, let me preserve all the coloration that I worked so meticulously to create-and they are so incredibly dependable! They don’t break.”

He also uses the Dangerous Compressor on the drum submix or the mix buss. “Because the Dangerous Compressor is on the Dangerous Liaison patching/switcher, I can use it on the drum or mix buss,” he adds, “and it’s super quick and easy to determine where it will sound best at the push of a button. It’s so versatile that I can get it to feel like an SSL buss compressor or it can be ‘grabby’ or I can get it to stay out of the way and just control the level.”

“The Dangerous Compressor sounds great on a lot of things,” states James. “I mostly use it as part of my final mix buss. I have the Liaisonworking in two different ways. The first buss on the Liaison is typically used for lead vocals and bass guitars, where it makes sense to instantly compare the sound of an 1176LN into an LA-3A with the sound of an LA-3A into 1176…or the sound of an 1176 inserted in series with an LA-3A in parallel routing. Those are three significantly different sounds that can now be compared instantly instead of futzing with the patch bay while trying to remember how each signal path sounded. Liaison’s other buss is dedicated to the final ‘mix buss’-where I have the Dangerous Compressor-I also have a pair of ToneLux TXC compressors acting as a limiter, and a Manley Variable MU,” he adds completing the details of his hybrid setup.

“I have the Liaison set up so I can switch the order of the TXC compressors-which I have set at a 20-to-1 ratio-and the Variable MU, which I have set to a 1.5-to-1 ratio. Sometimes I use all three of them, sometimes only one. The very final piece that covers my ass, and makes sure a record can go to mastering without unwanted distortion, is the Dangerous Compressor,” concludes James.

For more information on producer and mix engineer Michael James please visit his website: http://michaeljamesproducer.com and his blog: https://michaeljamesproducer.wordpress.com  James is also an accomplished guitarist and instrumentalist and has a new solo album, titled Marchesano.

Mix Engineer Michael James Hits #1 with Dangerous Gear was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

Arturia "celebrating The Keys Behind The Music"

Discover a classic synth behind a classic album and get a 50% discount on Arturia products ..

Music software and hardware developer Arturia is proudly celebrating the release of a significant number of renowned recordings by announcing daily discount deals on its authentic-sounding software emulations of the trailblazing keyboards that helped those recordings make musical history, starting on August 18…

Each day (re)discover a groundbreaking album and the trailblazing keyboard that defined its sound and enjoy a 50% discount deal on Arturia’s selected software instrument. What better way to start celebrating the keys behind the melodies today, then, than the 25th anniversary of ‘Enjoy The Silence’ by British synthpop pioneers Depeche Mode. Blessed with a memorable melody that represents the crowning glory of the chart-topping Violator album that elevated the Basildon band to world domination status by becoming the world’s first stadium synth stars, the ‘bubbling’ sequence that forms the hit-making, beat-driven backbone of ‘Enjoy The Silence’ made much musical use of the trailblazing Seventies-vintage ARP 2600 semi-modular monophonic synthesizer — surely one of the finest analogue synthesizers ever produced — and accompanying ARP Sequencer. Arturia authentically captures the sounds and sequences of both innovative instruments with its award-winning ARP 2600 V software, available as of today for an attractive promotional price of €49.00 EUR/$49.00 USD! Time to (re)discover the trailblazing sounds of a renowned record with an Analog Classic from Arturia. And there’s more to come…

Arturia Arp 2600 V

One new deal will be disclosed everyday during the promotion as Arturia continues celebrating the release of other renowned recordings with unmissable (time-limited) promotional pricing on its authentic-sounding software. So be sure to check in online (http://www.arturia.com/celebrating) for a discounted daily dose of musical history! Enjoy the sounds of ‘Enjoy The Silence’… and much more besides.

Don’t miss out on this celebratory promo pricing party by subscribing to Arturia’s Newsletter here: http://www.arturia.com

Arturia “celebrating The Keys Behind The Music” was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

Keyboard Warrior: Max for Live scale simplifier

I am very pleased to announce producertech.me’s first product: Keyboard Warrior for Ableton Max for Live.

Keyboard Warrior is a Max for Live device designed to simplify playability whether using MIDI or QWERTY input.

Keyboard Warrior

I often found myself in situations where I was without a MIDI device and so was stuck with playing notes using my laptop’s keyboard. Ableton maps the middle row of the keyboard as so: the A key plays C, S plays D, D plays E etc. Keyboard Warrior will then play back your notes in the chosen scale.

In essence, it is similar to Ableton Live’s Scale device but with some important distinctions:

To simplify playability for most scales, only C major need be played into Keyboard Warrior (only the white notes, starting at C). Even if you’re a keyboard beginner, this will help you create parts in no time.

All of the preset scales are built into the device. I find switching presets using Ableton Live’s browser to be uninspiring. Hopefully Keyboard Warrior will help you discover new melodies and chords that you may not otherwise have thought of.

The Root, Scale and Octave Shift controls can all be automated. Again, this is to help you discover new combinations of notes.

Finally, if you wish to create your own scales, simply click on the User button and draw them into the grid. Your scales will be saved with the device when you save a preset.

Keyboard Warrior is available to purchase for just $5 from the link below.

Happy playing!

$5.00 – Buy Now Checkout Added to cart

Keyboard Warrior: Max for Live scale simplifier was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

TKFX Traktor effects controller for touch devices

I hadn’t looked at Traktor for a while before this review, however, I’ve always felt that it’s the pack leader when it comes to DJ software and the new Stems format reinforces that opinion.

That being said, it’s effects is weak. Don’t get me wrong, the effects themselves sound fantastic but the way they’re presented really isn’t very good. There are two modes to Traktor’s effects section. Single and Multi effects. In their wisdom, Native Instruments have opted to put the effects under drop down menus and give either mode four controls. This means that to get the most out of the effects requires a lot of clicking or some creative mapping, ideally, for you to have more than two hands. So compromises have to be made.

TKFX 2.0

TKFX from Imaginando is an iOS app which aims to get around these issues by giving users control over the effects using XY pads. I found this to be a much more user friendly, even than what’s available on NI’s own controllers.

Any of the effects parameters are freely assignable to either axis and both effect Modes are supported. There is also a Z axis for controlling the effects over time. When you touch the XY pad, the Z axis will start an ASR envelope moving. While you hold your finger to the device, the Attack and Sustain portions of the envelope with the Release section activating once you lift. The Z axis is mainly meant to control the FX Amount mix and that is certainly where I found it to be most useful. Additionally, a dedicated slider situated to the right of the XY pad also controls the FX Amount meaning that you do not have to compromise an Axis that could otherwise be used for a more creative parameter.

A really useful feature is TKFX’s Banks. If you find that you have a favourite effect that works well with certain parameters assigned to the XY and Z axis, these are saved automatically within TKFX. There are sixteen save positions available.

TKFX 2.0

Although TKFX is available for both iPhone and iPad, for maximum flexibility, you will want to check out the iPad version. Here, all four of Traktor’s effects slots are available to be controlled simultaneously.

The nice thing about TKFX is it slots into your existing setup. Even if you’re using any of the Native Instrument controllers, TKFX will give you a more convenient way to access the software’s effects section.

I found setup on my Mac to be simple and there is a complete set of instructions to get you up and running to be found on the TKFX website.

TKFX is a great controller with a specific purpose and does a good job of making Traktor’s Effects section considerably more user friendly than it is out of the box.

It is available with a 7 day free trial for both Android and iOS devices from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store after which the app costs €4.99 to unlock. For more details, head over to tkfxapp.com. Go get it!

TKFX Traktor effects controller for touch devices was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

E-RM releases multiclock multi-format sync box

Keep your studio timing tight with E-RM’s multiclock ..

Professional audio synchronisation specialist E-RM Erfindungsbüro is proud to announce availability of multiclock — an ultra-reliable multi-channel, multi-format sync box that builds a musical bridge between DAWs and external (MIDI, DIN Sync/sync24, and analogue modular) musical gear like no other by converting clock signals for tight integration into digital production workflow without troublesome timing issues, as well as providing helpful and creative realtime shift and shuffle controls to independently compensate for sloppy slave machine delays and also add groove to each creative channel — as of August 12…

multiclock’s ‘mission impossible’ is to therefore act as a one-stop shop for creatively synchronising all kinds of musical equipment to a master DAW with the greatest of ease and, obviously, precision. Put simply, it is built to overcome all of the well-documented problems associated with achieving tight synchronisation of sequencers, drum machines, arpeggiators, and other external equipment with each other and also within the workflow of a DAW. Doing this is easier said than done from a technical standpoint, so how has E-RM Erfindungsbüro apparently achieved the impossible with something so small and simple to use, then?

The key to multiclock’s reliability and innovation is its ability to acquire a variety of sync signals from an Audio Sync track, as opposed to relying on a MIDI Clock signal. Synchronising multiclock to a master DAW relies on a sample-accurate audio clock stream, which, in turn, guarantees gloriously-tight clock signals to within ±1 sample of jitter — jitter being defined as the undesired deviation of a periodic signal from the ideal timing. To put that fanciful figure into its rightful context, consider that jitter here is as low as ±20 μs (microseconds) and that one microsecond is to one second as one second is to 11.574 days! Do the math. multiclock makes such superlative synchronisation possible by providing an audio INPUT (1/4-inch jack socket) to process a special sync track generated from the company’s downloadable multiclock AU/VST plug-in (for Mac OS X/Windows) namesake. Alternatively, another way of simply synchronising multiclock to a DAW is to load the special sync sample downloadable from the dedicated E-RM Erfindungsbüro webpage (http://www.e-rm.de/support/ downloads.php). Whichever route discerning users choose to take, the result remains the same: seamless integration of all external devices with the host computer, courtesy of those celebrated clock signals. Simply said, this thing is tight to within a gnat’s whisker of perfection!

E-RM multiclock

Perfect DAW synchronisation notwithstanding, when acting as a standalone master clock generator for hardware-only setups multiclock means business by coming into its own as a seriously creative tool. Tempo ranges between 30-300 BPM, while time signature settings can be changed from 3/8 to 32/8, so slave machines always start in sync with the downbeat of the next bar. But there’s more… multiclock can cleverly shift all four of its output clock channels — conveniently labelled as channel 01, channel 02, channel 03, and channel 04 — back and forth in realtime against each other and also relative to the master clock. Connectivity comes courtesy of four corresponding DIN sockets, fully configurable to transmit MIDI Clock (MIDI), DIN Sync/sync24 (DIN) or analogue clock (Analog) on each channel. channel 01 even comes complete with an additional 1/4-inch TRS output jack to provide an analogue LFO (LFO) with various waveforms and a 0-5V range, while modular synth connectivity is easily accomplished via any channel using an E-RM modular whip to convert DIN sockets to two mini jacks for clock and signal runs. Up to ±300 ms of Shift Range ensures easy compensation of sloppy slave machine delay and audio buffer latencies can be compensated for by setting a constant Offset calibration for each channel, conveniently leaving more than enough headroom to get into the groove, whether working with or without a DAW (since it is always necessary to compensate for the starting time lag of external equipment). Elsewhere, those shift and shuffle knobs can be configured to emit MIDI Control Change commands, should a user happen to have any unused clock channels available on their multiclock.

More to multiclock than might first meet the eye, surely? Says E-RM Erfindungsbüro CEO Maximilian Rest, “multiclock is not only a perfect synchronisation solution for live and studio applications, but you can also use it as an instrument in itself. If you get your hands on this machine, you can start playing with the phase of your sounds, effectively changing the timbre of layered tones or setting the groove between individual drum tracks.”

Time to get into the groove, then! To start shifting clocks and shuffling beats with multiclock — also available with an additional class- compliant USB MIDI module add-on to enable other MIDI commands to be sent from a DAW to external slave devices while still syncing to the sample-accurate audio clock stream — is a musical game-changing experience like no other. Why wait to hit that perfect beat?

E-RM releases multiclock multi-format sync box was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

Ninja Jamm mobile app now available for Android

The Android version of the highly popular Ninja Jamm has a unique multiscreenlayout option ..

Ninja Tune, a leading independent record label, is proud to announce availability of Ninja Jamm, its free, easy-to-use, touch-controlled, four-channel sample-based music-making app designed by company co-founders and sample-based electronic dance music maestros Coldcut; available as of August 12, the app represents a revolutionary combination of music and software on the Google Play digital distribution platform serving as the official app store for the Android operating system…

Following its initial iOS launch, the critically-acclaimed app has been downloaded from Apple’s App Store by over 300,000 users worldwide, prompting its innovative creators to turn their attention to bringing Ninja Jamm to Android. Although boasting the largest installed user base of all operating systems as of 2015, it is often overlooked by audio developers… until now!

Like its iOS arch rival, Android uses touch inputs that correspond to real-world actions, such as swiping, tapping, and tilting to manipulate onscreen objects. Touching to mix and mash music clips in the clip matrix, triggering and scratching one-shot samples, tilting and shaking to apply radical effects, and recording, Ninja Jamm allows instant sharing on social media. Creatively combining aspects of DJ-ing, remixing, and production, it is an open invitation for anyone to dive in and start creating their own electronic music — something long held close to Coldcut’s collective heart.

How does Ninja Jamm tick, technically, then? The road to ‘Ninja jamming’ on Android was a long and winding one: following Coldcut co-founder Matt Black’s Ableton Live/Novation Launchpad-based prototype, sound designer/software programmer/musician (and former Abbey Road audio engineer) Christian Curtis created a concept proof in MaxMSP, a visual programming language that helps users create complex, interactive programs. Coder Ed Kelly then took up the programming baton using Pure Data (PD), a visual programming language developed for creating interactive computer music and multimedia works.

Who better, then, to provide the edited highlights than Matt Black himself: “The original choice of Pure Data/LibPD was inspired by Peter Kirn’s Create Digital Music article on how to use LibPD — which turns PD into an embeddable library, so it can be used as a cross-platform sound engine in mobile phone apps. Peter Brinkman was the main software engineer and inspiration behind LibPD. We used ofxPD, an add on for OpenFrameworks, a cross-platform open-source toolkit for creative coding, to create the GUI for Ninja Jamm — Dan Wilcox did a lot of work to create ofxPD and we worked with London-based tech/art collective seeper to design and program the look of the iOS app. As part of the Android conversion, Ant1 Rosseau subsequently developed a layer on top of OF called POF Pure Data OpenFrameworks, which we have spun out as an open-source git project to make it easier for others to create funky cross-platform interfaces for PD using the power of OpenFrameworks.” Ninja Jamm is possibly the most complex PD patch yet implemented in any mobile app!

iOS success notwithstanding, why wait for Android? “Android latency is an issue,” maintains Matt Black: “Most Ninja Jamm functions are not impacted too much by latency, but for the ‘stabs’ page one needs to develop an advanced ‘Ninja’ technique to anticipate the latency! All Android apps tested so far have this issue; only a few devices — mostly manufactured by Samsung — have decent low-latency hardware. It’s a huge issue, much discussed by a community of Android music-heads. This is one area where iOS is well ahead, and parallels the long-time superiority of Mac over PCs for the financially small but very influential business of music production. There’s not a lot that we can do about latency, but Ninja Jamm on Android is still a lot of fun regardless so we thought we’d dive in and give it to the Massive now, rather than wait for several years until the big boys resolve the issue.”

In the meantime, what Android users have here is a potently powerful, extremely easy-to-use music-making app like no other. In some respects the Ninja Jamm experience on Android actually improves upon its iOS forerunner. For example, the Android-only optional MultiScreenLayout functions allow access to all screens simultaneously.

Coldcut have their own module in the app, the Coldcutter, dating back to their claim to having first invented an algorithm now known as the ‘buffer shuffle’ whereby loops are virtually chopped into equally-sized slices so they can then be reordered, repeated, reversed, and omitted. This is a potent tool for exploring infinite beat variations. The latest Coldcutter lets the user shuffle, then holds the variation until told to reshuffle, resulting in each new sequence being recognised as a groove. Matt Black: “Humans love grooves, patterns, and rhythms… in both art and music I’d define this as a balance between repetition and variation.”

Get your groove on today, then, with Ninja Jamm on Android — all the more so with the simultaneous release of several Samplepacks from Brighton-based self-styled sample boutique Loopmasters, enabling users to quickly create studio-quality tracks from a wide selection of genre-specific content, including the House and Trap titles that come free with the app. Android-based musical creativity is quite literally on tap with Ninja Jamm!

Ninja Tune’s Ninja Jamm requires Android 2.3.3 or higher and can be directly downloaded for free with four packs of creative content from Coldcut, Loopmasters, and renowned rapper Roots Manuva from Google Play (Note Ninja Jamm users can opt for Share+ extra as an in-app purchase to access all of the Share options and Android-only MultiScreenLayout to open up even more fun functionality for less than half the price of a decent cup of coffee!)

Several genre-specific Samplepacks from Loopmasters and remix Tunepacks from notable Ninja Tune recording artists can also be purchased as in-app products, priced between £0.69 and £4.49 apiece.

For more in-depth information, please visit the dedicated Ninja Jamm product webpage.

Ninja Jamm mobile app now available for Android was originally published on producertech.me

[producertechme]

Image Line update FL Studio to version 12.1

Image Line have added workflow enhancements and new plugins to FL Studio 12 ..

FL Studio 12.1.2 is now available. We’ve been listening closely to customer feedback to improve workflow and help users make the transition from FL Studio 11 to 12. Why not download 12.1 and let us know what you think? Don’t forget FL Studio includes Lifetime Free Updates, so customers can install FL Studio 12 along-side any previous version.

What’s New?

4 high quality FPC drum kits

2 high quality Piano instruments (Close Grand and Stage Grand)

Added FL executables that are scaled by Windows (see the install folder)

Changed various defaults (we know best!)

Ctrl+S saves project even when mixer has focus

FLAC file import support

Fruity X-Y-Z Controller plugin

Launchpad Pro support

Mixer track assignments selectors in Channel Rack

Mixer full colorization of tracks (and other visual enhancements)

Notes over 120 (10th octave) perform special actions.

Now uses modern version of open and save windows

Option to delete steps instead of muting them

Plugins: Restored “More plugins” menu option and window

Plugin Scanner is now called “Plugin Manager” & includes new plugin info tab

Re-implemented sample history in channel settings window

Renamed “flat database” to “alphabetical”

Randomize news item in News Panel.

Update main window caption when project title is edited

Update reminder window

VFX Key Splitter plugin

Video Player 2

…and more (see the WhatsNew.rtf file in the install folder)

Image Line update FL Studio to version 12.1 was originally published on producertech.me