functionality

...now browsing by tag

Which has more functionality for home studio recording, Cubase LE 4 or Tracktion 2.?

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Question by rkingssw: Which has more functionality for home studio recording, Cubase LE 4 or Tracktion 2.?
I’ve come from analog mixing into Adobe Audition 1.5. Now I’m going through a USB Audio Interface and need a good multitracker. I have both Cubase LE 4 and Tracktion 2. I want to know which will give me a similar feel to Audition 1.5, and which has the best features that are still user friendly.

Best answer:

Answer by ovationlj
I’m a fan of Tracktion 2 really.

I have Cubase LE4 and Pro Tools LE and Tracktion.

Since Tracktion 2 is the full edition you get all the bells and whistles it offers. Tracktion 2 is the most user-friendly, easiest software I’ve found yet.

Cubase however will be most similar to Audition, but you’ll learn Tracktion in a heart beat

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Tell others about us:

Posted in beat-making | Comments Off

Sensomusic releases Usine 5.70 (incl. Save As VST functionality)

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Sensomusic has released version 5.70 of Usine, which contains many major improvements. A new product called Usine Stage has been created. See Products comparison. Usine Stage is a reduced version of… [Read More]
AudioProFeeds-1

Tell others about us:

Posted in Articles | Comments Off

2CAudio updates Breeze Reverb to v1.1 (100 New Presets, New Features, Enhanced Functionality)

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

2CAudio has updated Breeze, the true-stereo, algorithmic reverb plug-in, to version 1.1, which brings 100 new factory presets, new features and enhanced functionality. New in v1.1: Breeze now has o… [Read More]
AudioProFeeds-1

Tell others about us:

Posted in Articles | Comments Off

Teenage Engineering Reveals OP-1 Details: $799, Beta, Features

Saturday, September 25th, 2010

Few synths in memory have created the amount of pre-launch buzz that the Teenage Engineering OP-1 has. Looking like a futuristic, luxury spiritual successory to the Casio VL in its compact brick form factor, the OP-1 combines computer-like synthesis features with a unique approach to virtual tape sampling and step sequencing, all viewed on its high-resolution OLED screen. We’ve been covering it for some time, and got some hands-on at NAMM in January. It’s even the surprise star of a Swedish House Mafia music video, above.

I’ll hopefully be at Teenage’s workshop in the next couple of days as I get to Stockholm, but today, they’ve at last revealed launch information to their mailing list. In case you aren’t on that list, here’s the information.

First off, the project is nearly done – no, this isn’t vaporware – and the functionality of the modules is now (mostly) public. All those details:

Project status
When it comes to functionality, 90% percent is completed and working.
Some parts of the system is still being fine tuned and optimized. Overall we are extremely happy with what we have.
The OP-1 will be shipped with 6 synthesizer engines and 2 sampler types. Pulse was shown at the NAMM show, the other synthesizer engines are DrWave, FM, Phase, String, Digital, Cluster. Further it will include 8 effects, 3 LFO types and 3 original sequencers. The Mixer section has a dedicated EQ and Drive as well as Master Balance and an additional Master Effect slot. The Sequencers can be matched to the tape speed with a feature called Beat Match.
The Tape also have additional ONE-KEY features added that will be revealed at launch.

The first people to be able to buy the OP-1 will be part of a limited “beta” list; that list is now closed. You’ll be a “beta” tester in the sense that you’ll be one of the first to be able to buy the machines. The “beta” aspect of it means you’ll see firmware updates prior to the final launch, and get a chance to provide feedback along the way. (That beta list will also get a mention in the manual.)

So, what’s the timeline? Unfortunately, that depends on sourcing the parts. With the global economic slowdown, I’ve heard a lot of complaints about part sourcing. It’s never much fun, but it seems even more painful than usual. Here’s what the Teenagers say in their newsletter:

Hardware
We just received the golden sample for the keyboard module / plastic parts from the factory. And we are very satisfied with the look and feel of it.
The complexity level of the OP-1′s electronics makes component sourcing a bit tricky. As soon as we get the missing chips we will go into production with the first beta batch. Shortly after, the first full production run will be started. So keep your fingers crossed that all this works out.

They’ve also announced pricing.
Estimated street price: $799 / Euro 799 (includes EC-VAT)

Go ahead, complain about it. Right now, the OP-1 is about the only thing I’d consider spending $800 on, so I’m not complaining. Sales will be initially direct-only.

Stay tuned for more on the OP-1.

Continue reading here:
Teenage Engineering Reveals OP-1 Details: $799, Beta, Features

Tell others about us:

Posted in Audio Production | Comments Off

Axon review: AudioDamage goes neuronal

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

In a marketplace in which most softsynth designers are seemingly focused on developing “emulations” of classic vintage pieces, AudioDamage’s newest synth offers something different: originality. Axon is really “out there.” The instrument involves a 7-voice FM percussion synthesizer controlled by a “Neuron” sequencer. This newly developed sequencing engine is what Audio Damage describes as “a seven-node hexagonal counter” – essentially a series of independently controllable arpeggio-nodes governed by a selectable central node.
Axon ships as an Intel-binary AU/VST for OS 10.5.1 and higher, as well as both 32- and 64-bit VST Instrument for the Windows platform. The instrument features MIDI output for control of external devices (VST only, no AU), greatly expanding the possible uses for Axon.

How does it work?

On first-run, Axon’s presets generate unusual IDM-style poly-rhythmic synthetic percussive patterns. The instrument features an internal transport (Start and Stop) that can function with the host or independently. Each of the neural nodes controls a separate FM voice which is itself editable with filter, pitch, FM, and Timbre controls. These controls dramatically reshape the sound, allowing the user to morph from short, bunt percussive strikes, to longer pitched sounds. The interface also allows users to tune an individual voice to a specific pitch on the fly, which makes setting the various voices to different notes within the musical scale a snap. Each voice also features FM and ring modulation send and receive sliders for even more sonic manipulation.
In addition to the independent synthesizer controls, there are also integrated mixer, combo feedback/filter, and delay sections. The delay section is particularly useful for adding more depth and dimension to the rhythmic palette of sound. Back on the sequencer side, Axon’s neural network has added sound controls. There is a “wire” view that allows users to configured the connection between nodes. In this relatively abstract view, nodes can be assigned to “transmit” or “listen” to another, wall the while communicating with tempo-synchronous “pulses.” Audio Damage themselves admit that Axon is a bit of an oddball and the wiring arrangement of the neural sequencer definitely takes practice to make full use of.
A feature that’s curiously absent, is any sort of arrangement tool for creating distinct song sections derived from the same settings in Axon. The only way to switch from one pattern to the next (short of manually altering it) is to save each “section” as a separate plug-in preset (inside the host application) and switch between them. This method works, but some type of clip based pattern switching would be a welcome addition to the UI.

How does it sound?

Axon’s FM engine is quite nice. The sound is clear, concise, and versatile. In addition to short percussive sounds, the engine is capable of emitting melodic sounds. The quality of FM synthesis featured in Axon is reminiscent of the very best hardware FM synthesizers of the late 80s. Given the high-fidelity sound quality, the most fun under the hood of Axon is in using a few nodes to create a poly-rhythmic percussion backing against wildly melodic, pitched synth sounds. Factory preset “Soupy Sales” is a good example of melody-percussion combination in action.
Here a short demo of Axon driving another instance of Axon by MIDI out.

Performance

In terms of stability, Axon plays nicely with Reaper on a 32-Bit Windows 7 test machine. Following Axon with a variety of other VSTi synthesizers posed no problems. Even considering the wealth of features afforded by Axon, the interface is surprisingly simplistic. Simply selecting a particular Neuron allows the user to freely edit all of the features of the corresponding voice right away.
Using the single-screen interface it is easy to arrive at any sound you can imagine.

Sending Midi Out

Another interesting feature is Axon’s ability to route MIDI output to another instrument, which really opens up the sonic possibilities. It is important to note that under AU does not pass MIDI from one plug to the next, so this feature has no effect using the AU version of the plug. For Windows and Mac VST users, though, simply dropping a synth into the signal chain after Axon will allow the Neuron sequencer to “trigger” notes from the secondary instrument. This functionality adds instant “fun” to the already intriguing Axon. Here’s a short demo of Axon driving an external VSTi via MIDI out.

Conclusion

Overall, Axon is a great buy at $59 (USD). The instrument is simple enough to “get” right out of the box. Still, to truly realize the potential of Axon, reading the manual is a must. The feature-set is much to abstract (and curiously inspiring) to really grasp within the context of a single setting. The sound of Axon is top-notch in comparison to other FM synthesizers (even some hardware ones). Axon steps out of the old molds of synthesizers of the past, and brings bold new concepts to the fold. Makers of IDM, industrial, and electronica will find Axon a welcome addition to their software arsenal. AudioDamage is known for unconventionality, and Axon adds to that heritage justly. The company has definitely earned points for originality and boldness with Axon.

Price
$59 (USD)

…Axon steps out of the old molds of synthesizers of the past, and brings bold new concepts to the fold…

Product Page

PROS

Innovative, original design and sound
Top-quality FM sound engine
Easy, single-screen interface

LOVE IT OR HATE IT

Axon is a breath of fresh air in comparison to other more “predictable” synths. If you are a user who can handle a little “mad science,” Axon offers both fun and inspiration. Otherwise…maybe it’s better to stick to the tools you’re used to…

CONS

MIDI out only works under VST (not really the fault of Audio Damage, though)
No pattern arrangement features
Definitely best enjoyed after a thorough reading of the manual

by Daniel T. Spear
Daniel T. Spear is a musician, writer, and engineer from Georgia. His website can be found here.

Go here to see the original:
Axon review: AudioDamage goes neuronal

Tell others about us:

Posted in Audio Production | Comments Off

Renoise 2.6 Could Set New Bar for Control, Customization, Openness

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Renoise, the tracker-style music production host, has gotten a massive injection of customizability, scriptability, and hackability. If all you want to do is plug in some controller hardware and have more tangible control of music making, that scriptability can be nicely hidden away. But if you are ready to hack on your music app, this is some enormous news.

For that reason, Renoise 2.6 is being called even by its makers the “Renoise Geek Edition.” But if this hackability catches on, it could mean a music tool that’s more fun to use for everyone – not just scripting geeks.

The video at top sums up why the open API is potentially a big deal for everyone. Right now, you can use a pre-built script for two-way integration of hardware like Novation’s Launchpad. As other folks get into the tools used here, though, that could (if hackers get so inspired) lead to lots of other hardware support and musical ideas.

The other big news, at the opposite end of the spectrum, is that longer samples now “autoseek.” That’s best seen in the video below, although I can put it this way – this means if your music isn’t all microsamples, you can now more easily produce and perform in Renoise.

Here’s my personal take on the 2.6 changes. Keep in mind, I’m just wrapping my head around this stuff, too, so take this with a grain of salt. But I can at least express why I’m excited about digging into this release, having followed these developments for some time:

Script everything – using a truly open API. Firefox has extensions. Renoise has Lua scripts. You can customize the user interface, manipulate musical elements in your song, control MIDI, audio, and OpenSoundControl, or actually dive in and create features Renoise doesn’t have yet. Those ready to code can use the elegant scripting language Lua, which means that – while you’ll definitely need some basic coding chops – the results are surprisingly simple and readable.

http://code.google.com/p/xrnx/

You don’t need a separate add-on product, and the API is fully documented, free, with a whole bundle of scripts and snippets under an open source MIT license. Renoise itself remains proprietary, but that means the scripts themselves are free to remix, and coders are free to distribute their work to all Renoise users.

That approach contrasts with the solution devised by Cycling ’74 and Ableton for Ableton Live. Live is not directly scriptable; the so-called “Live API” used by hackers was a set of private APIs. Max for Live provides some, but not all of this functionality, and it’s a paid add-on, so you can’t distribute your work to all Live users. On the other hand, the Lua scripting engine is just a scripting engine – it’s not the synth, sequencer, effect, and multimedia-processing platform that Max is. For some, that may actually make the simpler, more direct Lua interface more appealing; they’re just not directly comparable.

Two-way control of everything.

Using these scripting features, it’s possible to get much richer, two-way communication between control hardware and Renoise software.

That means one of two things:

You don’t care about code. No problem — grab control templates from a community of people who do care enough to hack things together. If you’ve got a Behringer BCF/BCR, Novation ReMOTE, Nocturn SL, or Launchpad, or Livid Ohm 64, you can get started right away. For everything else, watch for the community to fill in the gaps. (monome?)

You’re a coder. Dive in and make things work the way you want. What’s ground-breaking about what Renoise have done is that everything is built atop an open, extensible API for the software itself – rather than kludging together various protocols and tools, which has been the traditional industry solution (if you’re lucky, and there’s any customization at all). Renoise’s Duplex uses an object-oriented system for describing hardware and software and communicating events bi-directionally between them. It’s all built in the API, so it’s all customizable. There’s even an onscreen tool so you can mock-up interactions with hardware you don’t yet own (or haven’t yet built).

Everyone can share their work at a centralized site:

http://tools.renoise.com

OSC Support

Renoise joins MOTU Digital Performer, the open source DAW Ardour, and a host of visual apps that support full, native OSC. That means support for networked, transparent control from anywhere to anything. You can even send Lua scripts as OSC commands, so this new API is really controllable from anything.

Better Linux Support

Linux now adds DSSI plug-in support, bringing a full complement of Linux plug-in compatibility, as well as 64-bit Linux support.

More Support, Tweaks

Mac, Linux performance enhancements (especially on 64-bit Linux), and better support for hardware-based plugins (which I’m assuming means latency compensation) round out this update.

Needless to say, this is all something we’ll be covering more. Stay tuned here.

Thanks to Johann Baron Lanteigne and everyone who sent this in.

From the source:
http://www.renoise.com/about/what-s-new-2-6/

Visit link:
Renoise 2.6 Could Set New Bar for Control, Customization, Openness

Tell others about us:

Posted in Audio Production | Comments Off

For Singers, Effects and Looping All in One Box

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Singers often get left out, at least when compared to the toys heaped on guitarists and keyboardists. But vocalists looking to add effects and loop their vocalizations can now do so in one box, all attachable to a mic stand.

TC-Helicon has an intriguing-looking gadget they’ve unveiled for vocalists, just in time for the summer NAMM trade show in Nashville, Tennessee. Called the VoiceLive Touch, it’s an all-in-one processing and looping box. TC are no stranger to vocal effects, with the recent, compact (and akwardly-named) VoiceTone Create XT and the hefty, stompbox-style VoiceLive. What’s different here is that the resulting gadget is small enough to hook onto a mic stand, without sacrificing built-in audio I/O, and that you get looping and effects with a touch-ready performance interface. (If you still like triggering on the floor better than operating things with your hands on the mic stand, you can couple it with a foot switch.)

Looping includes 30 seconds of sample time, 25 separate loops, and integrated onboard effects. To make it easier to use in performance, there are convenience features like touchable preset recall, favorites, and an easy “talk” bypass switch. Effects include tempo-synced delays, harmonization, reverb, and the usual EQ / compression / de-ess, so you can go a bit wild or stick to the basics.

The touch-membrane control layout screams the 1980s to me (as a child of the 80s myself), but the functionality looks really strong.

I/O is generous, too, with guitar in and thru, USB for audio connections to the computer, an aux in for other devices (like an MP3 player), and MIDI input for controlling harmonies from a sequencer or keyboard (or something else). To me, the combination of TC-quality effects, looping, and all that I/O ought to pretty easily justify the US$695 list; the bigger question is whether the kinds of vocalists who want to do this kind of looping have already gotten used to a looper from another vendor (like Korg or Roland/BOSS) that they prefer, and whether the looping features can compare.

If there are any especially creative vocalists out there in the CDM readership (or if you know anyone we should know), please do get in touch; I’d love to talk to you about live vocals and effects with this and other tools.

In the meantime, if you want a little hype to go with your info, TC have put together a video displayed after the jump that’s spot-on in the vein of those Apple – Jonathan Ives product unveilings. (The word “magical” doesn’t come up, however. Funny that vendors catch on now; I remember watching Apple’s vids in this style over a decade ago.)

Product details:
VoiceLive Touch [TC Helicon]

Go here to see the original:
For Singers, Effects and Looping All in One Box

Tell others about us:

Posted in Audio Production | Comments Off

Apple iPad

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Unless you’ve been deliberately avoiding it, you can’t have missed the hype surrounding the launch of Apple’s iPad. And on May 28^th, the UK finally got its collective hands on this long-awaited tablet computer.

We’ve got hold a 16GB Wi-Fi model to put through its paces. We know its media and gaming skills, but what does it offer us musicians and producers?

In detail

The first thing you notice about the iPad is its outstanding build quality. The case feels tough while remaining light and easily portable. We wouldn’t want to throw it straight into a bag without a case to protect the glass screen, but it certainly feels very solid.

We found the LED-backlit screen to be exceptionally clear and the multi-touch easily tracks ten separate finger gestures at once (in fact, the iPad actually responds to eleven simultaneous gestures). The accelerometer ensures that the screen remains upright, but the orientation can also be locked using a sliding switch.

Firing up some music apps, the iPad’s sound quality is impressive, with plenty of power for a unit of this size and bass response that’s easily on a par with a MacBook. The one flaw is that Apple has made the strange decision to position the iPad’s two speakers adjacent to each other by the dock connector, meaning that the sound output is effectively mixed to mono. This is most likely a space-saving measure, but true stereo speakers would have been much better.

As such, you’ll need to plug in a pair of headphones or speakers to get the best results and, thankfully, the 3.5mm audio output has a low noise floor and clean digital-to-analogue conversion.

“No multi-touch controller comes close to the iPad in terms of value for money, versatility and power.”

The wide variety of music apps already available for the iPad make it useable straight out of the box. As a multi-touch controller running TouchOSC the iPad is fantastic, offering most of the functionality of a dedicated device like JazzMutant’s Lemur or Dexter for just a fraction of the cost.

TouchOSC alone could be the killer app necessary to win over electronic musicians. At less than a third of the price of the Dexter, no multi-touch controller comes close to the iPad in terms of value for money, versatility and power.

As far as it being a ‘Lemur-killer’, if you’ll excuse the hyperbole, it’s yet to be seen how the iPad survives in the beer-soaked, reckless arena of live performance, so no conclusions can be drawn as yet.

Apps like TouchOSC rely on Wi-Fi connections and having heard reports from the US of cripplingly unreliable reception we feared the worst, but over the course of a couple of weeks testing in a number of locations, we didn’t experience any problems.

Whether it’s as a result of the wireless card or (as we suspect) the iPad’s version of Safari, web browsing is also lightning fast, with pages loading quicker than they do on our MacBook Pro.

And even with Wi-Fi on, battery life was even better than the claimed 10 hours. After leaving videos playing for 10 hours, we were amazed to see that the iPad still displayed 12% battery life remaining.

(2 pages; go to page: 2)

Go here to see the original:
Apple iPad

Tell others about us:

Posted in Audio Production | Comments Off

Studio Units Software Studio Units Plug-in Collection

Monday, June 7th, 2010

They say that first impressions count, and the graphical interface of the Studio Units Plug-in Collection lets it down on that front. We’re not sure about the slate texture, for example, and the primary colour scheme reminds us of plug-in design circa 1998 rather than 2010.

But the functionality behind the GUI is very much 21st century, and can be approached from two directions. Firstly, there’s a library of 11 VST effects plug-ins that can be inserted into your own projects just like any other. These range from compression and equalisation through to filtering and vocoding – we’ll have more details shortly. They sound good, and the manual goes into plenty of detail on how to get the most out of them. They’re not going to rival dedicated high-end plug-ins, but that’s OK – they won’t be the reason you buy Studio Units.

The real power lies in the prosaically named ‘SU synth’ and ‘SU effect’ VST plug-ins. These are portals to an underworld of sound design, audio manipulation and synth creation. They allow you to build sound processing patches in the Studio Units modular environment, and alongside the standard stereo versions, there are alternatives that can handle 4, 8, 16 and 32 channels, if your host is up to the task. Each offers an empty window of opportunity, where a patch can be created from scratch using a range of bundled modules.

In detail

A clunky point-and-click interface opens a module and preset browser. Studio Units takes the same modular paradigm used by industry stalwarts like Reaktor and Max/MSP. Each of its integrated modules has MIDI, audio and parameter nodes, coloured red, blue and green, and these can be dragged to the inputs and outputs of other modules to connect them. The GUI displays these connections very effectively with nicely anti-aliased cables, and even when the patch gets complicated, you can usually find your way around the routing without too much difficulty.

Studio Units does all this in real time, which aids immediacy and tempts you into making fine adjustments you might otherwise leave alone.

Understanding how to combine the building blocks is difficult, however. You won’t find oscillators, LFOs and envelopes, and you won’t find the inputs and outputs labelled as you would with Reaktor or SynthEdit. Instead, you’ll find modules more familiar to programmers and synth enthusiasts; and – the biggest hurdle of all – there’s a seriously steep learning curve.

“Studio Units takes the same modular paradigm used by industry stalwarts like Reaktor and Max/MSP.”

The trouble is that generating sound isn’t purely drag and drop – it also involves some programming. Many of the modules feature a small ‘blackboard’ area that’s used to hold mathematical expressions describing their function, and each module’s capabilities are far from intuitive. The scariest example of this is the ‘transform’ module, an immensely complex beast that’s mostly used to generate sound. It features over 40 separate mathematical functions, the list of which reads like a primer in applied mathematics.

(2 pages; go to page: 2)

Read this article:
Studio Units Software Studio Units Plug-in Collection

Tell others about us:

Posted in Audio Production | Comments Off

Akai APC20

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Akai’s APC40, released last year, was the first ‘official’ Ableton Live controller, which gave it the right to carry the Ableton logo, and to offer a level of out-of-the box control that other MIDI gadgets could only dream of.

The APC40 was well-designed, well-built, and easy to use – though there was a feeling that it was somewhat chunksome for live gigs. Novation (not coincidentally, Ableton’s UK distributors) retaliated with the Launchpad, a cheaper, smaller, USB-bus powered unit which gave the bare bones of Live Session View control, with the benefit of compatibility with other music apps through the Automap software.

Now, instead of coming out with something ‘new’, Akai has adapted the APC40, virtually cutting it in half and apparently shedding some of the functionality. Enter the APC20.

Overview

Retaining the metal base and ABS plastic upper casing of the APC40, the first things you notice about the APC20 are things that are missing – like all of the buttons and knobs on the right-hand side, and the two footswitch inputs. That said, the nine faders, 40 clip buttons, scene select buttons and track buttons for activation, solo/cue and record arm remain from the 40.

In an attempt to compensate for the lost physical controls, the APC20 has a Shift button, which gives dual functions to many of the other buttons and, critically, to the eight channel faders. But the thing that’ll get existing APC40 users going is the new Note Mode button.

Now the clip launch buttons can send notes directly to slots in Live Drum Racks (the Launchpad does this too). The Note Mode button also toggles the Track Selection buttons for transport functions, MIDI Overdub and grid navigation.

he box includes Ableton Live Akai Professional APC Edition so you can start to jam immediately and the 20 is physically as close to the 40 as possible. It’s the same height and depth, and logically uses the same parts and materials. The smaller size means this is a lot easier to find room for than the APC40 in a studio or a DJ booth.

“In an attempt to compensate for the lost physical controls, the APC20 has a Shift button, which gives dual functions to many of the other buttons and to the eight channel faders.”

Some folks will be disappointed that mains power is still required, considering that Novation has managed to get the Launchpad running over USB – we’re guessing that a move over to bus powering would require a major overhaul, and that effort would have been reflected in the price.

In use

Plug the APC20 into the mains, turn it on, hook up the USB cable, launch Live, select it as a control surface in Live’s MIDI Preferences and the familiar red Session View rectangle appears. For APC40 users – because they’re so alike, it’s easy to load a Live set that you built for the 40 and use it straight away – this might make you think that you can use the 40 in the studio and the 20 as your takeout version.

(2 pages; go to page: 2)

Learn To Make Hip Hop

...Learn to make hip hop music. become a true beatmaker today.

functionality

...now browsing by tag

Which has more functionality for home studio recording, Cubase LE 4 or Tracktion 2.?

Sensomusic releases Usine 5.70 (incl. Save As VST functionality)

2CAudio updates Breeze Reverb to v1.1 (100 New Presets, New Features, Enhanced Functionality)

Axon review: AudioDamage goes neuronal

Renoise 2.6 Could Set New Bar for Control, Customization, Openness

For Singers, Effects and Looping All in One Box

Apple iPad

In detail

Studio Units Software Studio Units Plug-in Collection

In detail

Akai APC20

Overview

In use