Story Index for Articles, Interviews, News and Reviews
VIRTUAL SYNTH NEWS: UVI has announced “Cinematic Shades” for their Falcon virtual instrument/sampler software. A joint collaboration from sound designers Richard Gale and Carlo de Gregorio, Cinematic Shades dives deep into the “dark and experimental side of music and sound culminating from of over 15 years of sound design experience.”
MUSIC GEAR: Spitfire Audio has announced a new virtual orchestra sound sample library that brings to life the classic and iconic vibe of composer Bernard Herrmann, known for “Psycho,” “Vertigo,” and many other classic films. This is Spitfire’s first dry scoring stage ensemble library and the company worked closely with the Herrmann estate to examine his most famous scores and understand what makes his work so special.
MUSIC TECH: Softube recently announced the new 4ms SMR for Modular plugin, which “can process audio like a classic filter bank, ring like a marimba when plucked/struck, vocode, re-mix tracks, harmonize, output spectral data, quantize other oscillators to scales and much more. It’s deep, versatile and infinitely expands what is possible to achieve with Modular.”
INDUSTRY NEWS: Today ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and YouTube have signed a multi-year agreement, effective immediately, for U.S. public performance rights and data collaboration. According to the annoncement, “The mutual goal of this agreement is to work together to ensure that ASCAP members get paid more fairly and accurately for the use of their music on YouTube.”
VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT NEWS: Sonoma Wire Works recently announced release of an update to their DrumCore 4, the critically acclaimed AAX/VST3/AU plug-in with tempo-stretchable audio and MIDI drum loops of performances by celebrity drummers, plus multi-velocity samples of their drum kits in many styles. DrumCore’s 4.2 update adds UI zooming, which helps DC4 fit better on laptops and smaller screens.
Native Instruments has unveiled THRILL, a new virtual sound design softare instrument that enables the introduction of “terrifying live scores to movies, games, sound installations, or theater productions.” THRILL was cooked up in the lab in collaboration with sound master Uli Baronowsky of Galaxy Instruments.
MUSIC TECH NEWS: IK Multimedia has announced a new “super synth” to the virtual instrument world, for both newcomers and those of us who look back with nostalgia on classic synths we’ve owned and let go, or wish we’d owned. IK’s new SYNTRONIK for Mac/PC includes 17 instruments with over 2,000 preset sounds “covering a wide selection from 38 of the most iconic to ultra-rare and painstakingly multi-sampled vintage synthesizers.”
MUSIC TECH: XILS Lab today announced the upcoming release of their new virtual synthesizer instrument, the PolyM, inspired by the rare and beautiful sounding Moog Polymoog, perhaps most famously used in the song “Cars” by Gary Numan, but also used by many other musicians of the time. The XILS PolyM offers two divided-down oscillators providing 71 voices; each one with two envelope generators, one filter, one VCA and Pulse Width Modulation.
Wide Blue Sound, a creator of cutting-edge instruments for KONTAKT, has announced a partnership with Native Instruments that allows its ORBIT and ECLIPSE virtual synths to be used with NI’s Native Kontrol Standard (NKS) hardware — namely, KOMPLETE KONTROL S- Series keyboards and MASCHINE workstations.
Just when you thought UVI couldn’t come up with more digital sampled instrument tricks, they rolled up their sleeves to come up with a new instrument collection based on some truly unique digital synthesizers from Ensoniq, Kawai and Roland. Digital Synsations Vol. 2, a 3-instrument suite picking up where the first library left off, delivering over 500 new patches.
NEWS: Wave Alchemy has announced an update to their virtual drum instrument, inspired by classic analog and digital drum machines. Revolution 1.1 now offers seamless integration with Ableton Live and Push 2 via new Revolution Module Instrument.
MUSIC GEAR NEWS: Impact Soundworks has announced Peak Rider 2, a “super-powerful and flexible FX plugin that lets you shape and control dynamics in a totally new way.” Use it to tame wild vocals or drum tracks, create all new rhythmic parts, remove mic bleed, breathe life into flat saturated tracks, and much, much more.
MUSIC TECH: Native Instruments today announced release of “ELASTIC THUMP,” for MASCHINE, which they describe as “a modern, melodic take on future funk that brews the smoothness of R&B with the feel-good vibes of dance music and the bounce of futuristic, beathead culture.”
NEW MUSIC: I feel as if we live in a society these days where most people are looking out for themselves with some out to make an easy buck. As a former professional singer music will always be a part of me, a passion. Many say music is the only universal language.
GEAR NEWS: Vir2 Instruments has announced their new high-end sampled instrument line, the VITAL SERIES, and the first release “Vital Series Mallets.” Mallets’ powerful GUI offers eight instruments on one patch to be edited, played, blended, and recorded together. No sub menus or separate patches. Mallets has all the controls you need at your fingertips.
AAS’ creative percussion synthesizer plug-in, Chromaphone 2 now supports Native Instrument’s NKS extended plug-in format. NKS brings intuitive and seamless interaction between Chromaphone 2 and KOMPLETE KONTROL S-Series keyboards and MASCHINE hardware. Chromaphone 2’s key parameters have been mapped in order to provide optimal tactile control of its physical modeling engine.
MUSIC TECH: Eplex7 DSP has announced their new Particle Collider SX7 VSTi Virtual Synthesizer for Windows OS. According to the company, “Particle Collider SX7 is special FX and Experimental synthesizer for creating modern sci-fi FX sounds, atmospheric pads, robotic sounds, psytrance and psychedelic FXs, sweeps.”
MUSIC TECH: LANDR Audio and Native Instruments today announces a partnership to offer instant mastering for the Stems format. As of January 30th, 2017, Stems mastering will be available directly on LANDR.com. Files created in Native Instruments’ free Stem Creator application can be dragged and dropped onto LANDR.com for instant sound optimization.
MUSIC GEAR: UVI has announced “Ether Fields,” a new expansion pack for Falcon which “delivers a stunning selection of expertly designed patches” by one of the world’s preeminent sound designers, Simon Stockhausen. The collection includes bells, pads, soundscapes, granular and hybrid sounds, wavetables, sequenced sounds and more; perfect for those looking to expand their library of ready-to-play patches and ideal for those looking for inspirational starting points for their own sound design.
“Sensual Sax” from Embertone can now be had on your iOS device for playing solo, or with others. A new sampled saxophone virtual instrument. While some of us semi-dinosaur MIDI music dudes and dudettes might eschew the lowly iPhone and iPad for music creation when we have our various mega-rig Mac Pro studios to play with, the fact is that the largest growth base for new musicians is now on mobile devices. So, with this in mind, if that sounds like you, then a really cool new product from Embertone might make you breathless.
New for 2017, Best Service has rolled out ETHNO WORLD 6 Complete, a library that has continuously grown and been improved over a period of 16 years. In this sixth edition, 80 new instruments and voices with a volume of 13 gigabytes have been added to the library. ETHNO WORLD 6 Complete now consists of 320 instruments and voices being summarized in approx. 800 patches.
New for 2017, Spirfire Audio have announced their latest “symphonic masterpiece,” with “Symphony Orchestra.” The company describes this new collection as “A definitive mega-anthology of tools to create blockbuster symphonic works for TV, film, games and radio in a single and encyclopaedic core-level professional product.”
XILS-Lab this past week announced their latest virtual synth instrument, the PolyKB III which they describe as “The Synthesizer as it should have been, when invented 40 years ago.” The PolyKB III captures the sound and spirit of the legendary RSF PolyKobol 2 polyphonic synthesizer, including its most revolutionary feature : Morphing analog Oscillators.
For fans of expressive performance-focused MIDI instruments, the unique ContinuuCon event Returns to Asheville North Carolina for 2017 to showcasing the latest in Multi-dimensional electronic instruments, workshops, and live performances. The ideal event for those wanting to learn more about both the groundbreaking Haken Continuum instrument, as well as other next-gen music gear in a warm, informal setting. ContinuuCon 2017 will take place June 8-10 – UNCA – Asheville, N.C.
MUSIC GEAR NEWS: Best Service today announced a new series of symphonic performance sample instruments compatible with KOTAKT and ideal for scoring, multimedia and general music. The three new offerings include Chris Hein – SOLO VIOLA, Chris Hein – SOLO CELLO and Chris Hein – SOLO STRINGS COMPLETE. The latter includes Volin, Viola, Cello and ContraBass.
MUSIC TECH: Native Instruments today introduced RADIANT HORIZON – a new MASCHINE Expansion featuring percussive and effect-focused kits with sounds tailored to contemporary urban pop productions rooted in trap, moombahton, and bass music. The expansion focuses on diverse and easily interchangeable Caribbean-inspired rhythms as a backbone for bass-driven, forward-thinking pop.
NEWS: RØDE Microphones’ Sales & Marketing Director Damien Wilson has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Freedman Electronics Group, home to pro audio brands RØDE, Aphex, Event Electronics and SoundField.
NEW MUSIC: Dallas artist OG Bobby Billions (OGB) recently released what, according to him, “might be one of the greatest debuts from a new talent, and it’s only the beginning.” On Dec. 9, 2016 OGB will be releasing a more in-depth visual to the already buzzing “Bands” single.
MUSIC GEAR: Rob Papen Soundware has announced “Predator2,” the successor to Predator, “the natural-born, killer-sounding soft synth” that has inspired so many composers and artists. Predator2’s pliable GUI (Graphical User Interface) has once again been given the trademark Rob Papen treatment, designed so that (almost) all of the main controls are always visible onscreen, making it both inspirational and intuitive in use.
MUSIC GEAR: The folks at PSP have announced a new “stompbox” filter plugin, appropriately called PSP stompFilter. They describe it as “a creative tool designed to provide an exceptionally wide range of modulated filter and gain sounds.” Its effects include a simple LFO modulated low pass filter; auto-wah; low-, band-, or high-pass filter; and compressor.
MUSIC GEAR: Most modern musicians know that sometimes waiting for new gear can be tough when the magazines and videos demo a neato new software app, sample library or piece of hardware. This can lead to so-called “gas” (gear acquisition syndrome). Savvy folk know there are certain times of the year when deals are to be had. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and often around NAMM and other music shows, or right before a new version is released. (UPDATED)
MUSIC GEAR: Spitfire Audio has announced availability of SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS, a massic “encyclopaedic compendium of symphonic strings sampling,” with blockbuster content recorded at Lyndhurst Hall within London’s legendary Air Studios. The Kontakt-powered library comprises the same 60 star string players performing on the same instruments featured on numerous famous film scores.
NEWS: MUSIC Group, the parent of world-renowned brands MIDAS, KLARK TEKNIK, LAB GRUPPEN, LAKE, TANNOY, TURBOSOUND, TC ELECTRONIC, TC HELICON, BEHRINGER, BUGERA, DDA and EUROCOM, and one of the world’s leading manufacturers of professional audio products, has recently been ranked as one of the world’s largest and top manufacturers in the 2016 edition of Music Trade’s annual Global Music Industry 225 Report.
NEW MUSIC: The Second Spirit, an indie rock project, just released its debut EP, “Modern Life,” a five-song album, and its first single, “Rescue Car,” which, according to band leader Matthew Victory Warren “personifies the physicality of love through a retro vibe, rock and roll groove and cool, fuzzy guitar leads.”
MAKING MUSIC: UVI announced this week their newest creation, Synth Anthology 2, a classic collection of analog and digital synths in one virtual instrument. This new version and comprehensive update includes over 2,500 presets sampled from 77 hardware synths, new interface and premium UVI effects such as Sparkverb, Thorus and Phasor.
MAKING MUSIC: Native Instruments announced this week the Kontakt-powered sound library, “Symphony Essentials,” which they describe as five meticulously sampled orchestral instruments, featuring pristine recordings that cover all fundamental playing techniques, each in an elegant, intuitive interface.
MAKING MUSIC: IK Multimedia this week announced their new physically modeled electric bass instrument “MODO BASS.” Once you get past the “limitless sound, unmatched realism, total playability” hype, there is a lot to like for keyboard players who want to get their funk on!
MAKING MUSIC: KORG has announced a new line of add-on sample sound upgrades for the powerful KORG KRONOS 2 workstation keyboard, from Soundiron, who has been making awesome sample libraries for many years. Korg welcomes Soundiron to our growing family of sound developers, and is pleased to present their first two EXs libraries for Kronos.
MAKING MUSIC: MIDI solutions specialist Kenton is proud to be celebrating its 30th anniversary in October 2016; around 11,000 days since founder John K. Price began by building a cost-effective and well-specified Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) for his beloved 1979-vintage Oberheim OB-X.
MUSIC MAKERS: Always a singer/songwriter John Preston set out with a mission through music to raise suicide awareness among vets. What he didn’t see coming was the suicide of his brother, a vet and his hero.
THEATRE NEWS: Art-In-Relation announces a move from Long Beach, after two successful seasons, to Hollywood with two hauntingly gorgeous, but lesser known musical theater productions at The Complex Theatres, Hollywood. “The Wild Party,” a lesser known version of the musical based on the poem by Joseph Moncure, and written by Andrew Lippa, plays Sept. 9 – Oct. 2, 2016.
MUSIC NEWS: Mission Music, a nonprofit agency in New Jersey that provides underserved youth with access to musical instruments and lessons regardless of their ability to pay, is donating a half dozen acoustic guitars to The Village of Arts and Humanities in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, July 14, 2016.
MUSIC NEWS: Los Angeles-based filmmaker Michael C. Perry has announced that his film “Empty Box of Wine” has been selected for the 2016 San Francisco Frozen Film Festival. Perry is the lead singer in the band, Jour Majesty, who last year rose to #2 on the indie folk charts; his entry into the film festival accompanies the upcoming Jour Majesty album, “Empty Box of Wine.”
Chicago-based alt-rock band, The Blue Danes have released their debut album “Invisible and Untouchable” on label Loki Valhalla Productions. This haunting lyrical masterpiece includes the highly anticipated release of the popular single “Beautiful and Sad,” which has earned over 26,000 YouTube views.
MUSIC NEWS: The South Austin Moonlighters will be releasing “Ghost of a Small Town,” which features 13 brand new songs including their new single “You, Love and Me.” The album will be available on iTunes, on their website, on Amazon, CD Baby, at the shows and at Waterloo Records and discriminating independent record stores everywhere.
Singer/songwriter Paula Cole is funding her new album from the ground up on Kickstarter. Recently Cole launched her campaign to fund an 8th studio album, to be called “Ballads,” which she described on her funding page as so: “‘Ballads’ is a weaving of American roots music; my first album of cover songs. I can honestly say I’ve been wanting to make this album my whole career. There will be jazz ballads next to traditional songs and swing and blues – it’s all roots music.”
For fans of multi-dimensional MIDI controllers, and true performance instruments in favor of grid controllers, the first (annual?) Haken Continuum Conference has been announced for June 9-11, 2016 in Asheville, North Carolina. This new event has been dubbed “ContinuuCon” (pronounced con-tin-you-con).
MUSIC GEAR: Xils-Lab this week announced the pending release of version 1.0 (now in final BETA), of its latest creation, a new take on the venerable drum machine, combining virtual analog and multi-synthesis to set it apart from the horde of existing fare.
ASCAP, the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers, today announced the appointment of Paul Rourke as its Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), reporting to ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews. Rourke will be a key member of ASCAP’s 2016 executive management team and will be responsible for all of the organization’s financial matters […]
SoundExchange this week announced that Garth Brooks, the number one selling solo artist in U.S. history, has added another achievement to his recording career. After the country music artist amassed more than one billion performances on more than 2,500 digital radio services, SoundExchange President and CEO Michael Huppe presented Brooks with the company’s prestigious Digital Radio Award. He is the first country music artist to be honored with this award.