SANTA CRUZ, CA, USA: based around legendary producer, engineer, and artist Alan Parsons’ award-winning Art & Science Of Sound Recording DVD series namesake (narrated by American actor, writer, director, and musician Billy Bob Thornton) that teaches about recording and production, project/company Art & Science Of Sound Recording (ASSR) is proud to announce ASSR-Online — a new recording course, taken exclusively online, allowing anyone to learn from their internationally-acclaimed instructor at any time from any device, offering 26 video-based lesson modules that draw upon what was already the most complete examination of the subject ever undertaken, now open for enrollment with new and updated content, plus industry certification awarded upon course completion — as of November 12…
ASSR’s attractively-priced ($395.00 USD) ASSR-Online course comprises almost 11 hours of online video training spanning 26 lesson modules that cover the fundamentals of music production, each made up of a main video lesson module; a specific (printable) ‘keywords’ glossary; additional supporting audio, video, or image files; and a specific assignment related to the lesson. Learners enrolled onto ASSR-Online are provided with a professionally-recorded 62-track raw multitrack (5.12GB .WAV) session file of a complex rock song with a ton of vocal harmonies — namely, the Alan Parsons-penned-and-produced ‘All Our Yesterdays’ (featuring session bassist Nathan East, Foo Fighters keyboardist Rami Jaffee, The Alan Parsons Live Project vocalist P. J. Olsson, session guitarist Tim Pierce, and drummer Simon Phillips — to remix and interact with at 24-bit / 88.2 kHz recording resolution from the comfort of their own DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
And as if that is not enough to be working with, ASSR-Online students are also provided with three additional raw multitrack session files for use during the course, including a multi-mic’d grand piano recording by ASSR’s Julian Colbeck (with which they can access different microphone positions and mixes), a choir recording (with which they can create their own mix of an MS — Mid/Side — mic’ing arrangement, shown in the Recording A Choir lesson module), and the full multitrack of a track from a recent Colombian concert by The Alan Parsons Live Project (performing with a symphony orchestra). On the face of it, that the aforesaid ‘All Our Yesterdays’ raw multitrack session file itself is otherwise available to buy from ASSR’s online shop for $99.00 USD puts the ASSR-Online course into its rightful pricing perspective.
Put it this way: while $395.00 USD is not necessarily an impulse purchase — particularly in today’s turbulent times, what is being bought into with ASSR-Online is an authenticated training program from the extraordinarily gifted musical mind of GRAMMY® Award-winning producer and engineer extraordinaire Alan Parsons. Professionally starting out as an assistant engineer at Abbey Road Studios in London, where he worked with The Beatles (on 1969’s Abbey Road and 1970’s Let It Be) and engineered Pink Floyd’s fame-propelling The Dark Side Of The Moon album in 1973, he has since enjoyed a multi-decade-spanning, multi-platinum career as a producer and as an artist with The Alan Parsons Project.
But back to the comparative comfort of ASSR-Online learning, each lesson module also offers a forum engine for communication between fellow students, and each lesson module concludes with a 10-point quiz specific to the lesson — complete the quiz to move on to the next lesson.
Duly completed, students are awarded an ASSR-Online certification in The Fundamentals Of Recording & Music Production.
Prospective purchasers could consider enrolling on the ASSR-Online course for a number of reasons:
Whatever way anyone approaches ASSR-Online, they can rest assured that they will be learning from an internationally-acclaimed producer, engineer, artist, and instructor — in their own time and at their own pace. “A minimum of 26 days — you can’t go quicker than one module a day, but, more sensibly, do one module a week; it’s not a race.” So say the course creators. Wise words, indeed. Duly designed from the ground up to be taken online, ASSR-Online course-certified graduates will carry with them for life the knowledge that they have gained.
Enrol on the ASSR-Online course for $395.00 USD via the dedicated webpage — where there is a wealth of in-depth information — here: https://www.artandscienceofsound.com/assr-online (Alternatively, a four-month payment plan is also available at $98.75 USD per month.)
Please note that anyone who has previously purchased any version of Alan Parsons’ award-winning Art & Science Of Sound Recording series — on DVD or as downloadable videos or video-on-demand — will receive a discount of the product purchase price up to $149.00 USD (the cost of the DVD boxed set) that can be applied to the ASSR-Online course cost. (Owners of any such product should simply contact ASSR at info@artandscienceofsound.com before enrolling online, stating what they have, where and when they made their purchase, and ASSR will send an appropriate discount coupon.)
Watch an excerpt from ASSR-Online’s opening A Brief History of Recording lesson module here:
About ASSR (www.artandscienceofsound.com)
Art & Science Of Sound Recording (ASSR) is a project/company comprising KEYFAX Digital Video Productions producer Julian Colbeck working with internationally-acclaimed producer, engineer, and artist Alan Parsons. It is based around the latter’s namesake Art & Science Of Sound Recording DVD series that teaches about recording and production. Colbeck’s career took off as a musician and author in 1985 when publishing the first of what would become a classic series of buyer’s guides to synths and electronic keyboards called Keyfax, before going on to work as a keyboardist with prog rock icons Yes/ABWH and (former) Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett. Parsons professionally started out as an assistant engineer at Abbey Road Studios in London, where he worked with The Beatles (on 1969’s Abbey Road and 1970’s Let It Be) and engineered Pink Floyd’s fame-propelling The Dark Side Of The Moon album in 1973; he has since enjoyed a multi-decade-spanning, multi-platinum career as a producer and as an artist with The Alan Parsons Project. ASSR-Online is their latest joint venture, an online course allowing anyone to learn from their internationally-acclaimed instructor, interacting via 26 video-based lesson modules at any time from any device drawing upon what was already the most complete examination of the subject ever undertaken, now with new and updated content, plus industry certification awarded upon course completion.
© 2020 Keyfax NewMedia
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC: small, independent development teams federation United Plugins is proud to announce availability of FireCharger — a universal processing plug-in from founding partner FireSonic with an intelligent algorithm for spectral charging and instantly bettering the sound, including emulations of analogue tape and advanced exciters — as of November 10…
FireSonic feels compelled to create smart, easy-to-use tools that can be put to good use on any track to make it sound better, because — let’s face it — most music productions benefit from a little enhancement here and there. Fortunately for anyone compelled to add it to their modern-day music production toolkit, FireCharger follows this tradition perfectly as a universal processing plug-in with an intelligent algorithm for spectral charging and instantly bettering the sound, including emulations of analogue tape and advanced exciters. Exciting-sounding stuff, surely?
So how does it work? Well, simply speaking, FireCharger analyses audio material to get it as close as possible to what its active audio engineering creators consider to be ideal, resulting in a better-balanced richer sound. So let’s take a guided tour around its easy-to-use functionality via its equally-easy-on-the-eye user interface that easily adapts to different screens — same size on any screen, in fact, whether low DPI (Dots Per Inch) ‘golden oldies’ or more modern high DPI/Retina 5K displays (with a horizontal resolution of around 5,000 pixels).
Put it this way: with an arrow always available in the bottom-right corner of the plug-in window itself, it is easy to change its size, making it smaller to save valuable screen space or larger to make it easier to use. Using FireCharger is simplicity itself. Indeed, in most cases, only the DRY/WET knob dominating that photorealistic user interface is needed — increase its value to get more enhancement, and vice versa, of course, but bear in mind that this knob also controls how much of the following (individually-controllable) enhancement algorithms are applied.
Ultimately, users can control each enhancement algorithm separately — DRY/WET defining overall level of enhancement, starting with CHARGE, which is the main control for FireCharger’s sophisticated spectral dynamics processing: smooth and improve the signal with one knob and its intelligent analyzing and processing algorithm.
ANODIZE adjusts the amount of energy that the treated track(s) will temporarily gain using the CHARGE when required. But be careful not to burn the track(s) being treated!
Meanwhile, MAGNETIZE controls the advanced vintage tube tape machine saturation simulation, making it perfectly possible to add additional warmth and a live feel to the sound being treated.
The TONE control is a special sophisticated dynamic height exciter, helping higher frequencies become more pronounced and making the treated track(s) become brighter sounding as a result.
FireCharger features helpful INPUT and OUTPUT peak meters and gain controls. Though they are self-explanatory, it is worth noting that the INPUT level should stay, say, within the -10dB to -30dB range for optimal results. (It is also worth noting that FireCharger itself is an optimal plug-in since it uses 64-bit audio processing and can handle any sample rate — up to 192kHz, or even higher.)
Top toolbar-based functionality featured above those onscreen knobs and faders include A, B, and COPY buttons — clicking A and B switches between two recallable settings, so very useful for double-checking before committing to the best-sounding result, while COPY, unsurprisingly, copies the selected setting to the other slot, so A to B or B to A, in other words. Fortunately FireCharger itself, of course, comes complete with a set of preloaded presets, perfectly suited to most applications; access them using the toolbar’s ‘left’ and ‘right’ arrow buttons, or by clicking the preset field directly, though it is perfectly possible for FireCharger users to save and manage their own presets.
Propelling our guided sprint over the functionality finish line is FireCharger’s BYPASS button; better still, the intelligent way FireSonic plug-ins manage bypassing ensures that there are no audible click or harmful noises when automating the parameter while also compensating for latency by ensuring that the bypass states are perfectly in sync with each other.
On the face of it, then, there are not a lot of competing plug-in effect processors out there that so successfully combine such functionality with such simplicity of use. Use FireCharger as a mastering plug-in — positioned at the end of the host DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) output chain — as well as to improve single tracks. Whatever way anyone chooses to use it, rest assured that it will add body and brightness to acoustic guitars and vocals, improve drums and bass guitar tracks, and charge electric guitar performances. Put it on everything!
FireSonic’s FireCharger is available to purchase for a time-limited introductory promo price of €19.00 EUR until December 6, 2020 — rising thereafter to €129.00 EUR — as an AAX-, AU-, VST-, and VST3-compatible audio plug-in directly from United Plugins here: /(A 15-day, fully-functional trial version for macOS and Windows can be downloaded for free from here:
Note that no iLok, dongle, or internet access is required for FireCharger activation. (All United Plugins software uses license files for activation and owners can freely use purchased software on all their computers as long as they are the user.)
Watch United Plugins’ informative introductory video for FireCharger here:
About United Plugins (www.unitedplugins.com)
As implied in the carefully chosen wording for an apt appellation that really represents how the Prague-registered Limited Company came about and what it collectively creates, United Plugins is a federation of small, independent development teams comprised of individuals involved in the music industry. Indeed, the founding triad of FireSonic, JMG Sound, and SounDevice Digital can count engineers, producers, and artists amongst their ‘united’ names. Needless to say, all were seeking the freedom to create the tools that they would like to use in their studios and on their projects. And all agreed that this could be better achieved when working together. Though United Plugins’ proliferating product portfolio may not always be for the musical masses, surely someone, somewhere will always find those tools to be a perfect fit for their own music productions… just like those inventive individuals behind United Plugins’ partner brands, the ranks of which have since swelled to include Muramasa Audio and MeldaProduction. Thanks to the latter letting United Plugins utilise its super-easy licensing system, which is why selected MeldaProduction products are also available from the United Plugins website, a thriving future for the federation is assured.
© 2020 United Plugins
LONDON, UK: Spitfire Audio is proud to announce the availability of FIREWOOD PIANO — a stunning-sounding upright piano bursting with character (due to unique resonances created by its cracked bridge), becoming the latest library in the sound-specializing British music technology company’s ongoing ORIGINALS series of instant library tools with the same outstanding recording quality as the ‘full-blown’ blue-chip libraries with which it has built its reputation, simplified and presented in its free, easy-to-use plug-in, produced this time from performances by Jeremiah Fraites of The Lumineers, an American folk-rock band based in Denver, Colorado, which is also where the latest library was expertly recorded (at Colorado Sound Studios) — as of October 29…
Christening the intriguingly — and, as it happens, aptly — named FIREWOOD PIANO is a noteworthy footnote in itself. So starting, briefly, back at the beginning, the piano that gave rise to that notable name is a very small upright spinet design — distinguished by shorter keys with rods that connect each key to the rest of the action (as opposed to console pianos with regular-style upright action where the key is much longer and connects directly to the action) — albeit one with a cracked bridge, bursting with character. Built back in 1955 by the Krakeuer Brothers (NYC), the instrument in question is not only favored by Jeremiah Fraites of American folk-rockers The Lumineers for its distinctive tone, but it also holds personal value for him since it has been in his family for years. Yet the future FIREWOOD PIANO name came from something that piano tuner Michael Jackson once said since the faithful Fraites’ spinet was so obviously old and battered: “All this is good for is firewood!”
Fortunately for the piano-playing world at large, Fraites’ favored piano was not chopped up for firewood, but lived on to be played another day and, ultimately, make musical firewood — FIREWOOD PIANO, the seventh release in Spitfire Audio’s ongoing ORIGINALS series of instant library tools. The delicate and emotional sound of FIREWOOD PIANO was captured at Colorado Sound Studios — providing top-quality recording services for local artists, national artists, and businesses for over 42 years as a full-service, professional facility for music production, mastering, composing, arranging, MIDI, video production, and access to the finest professional talent — with Jeremiah Fraites himself at the keys, before being transformed to become an easy-to-use plug-in perfectly suited to a wide range of contemporary production and film scoring settings, thanks in no small part to its five — Firewood, Firewood + Pad, Felt, Felt + Pad, and Warps — presets ranging from the ‘straight’ sound through to felted alternatives, plus pads and warped sounds made from the piano’s resonances.
Digging deeper, though not too deep — as is the nature of the sound-specializing British music technology company’s ongoing ORIGINALS series of instant library tools as essential cinematic ingredients, there are also three sound-altering signal paths available to choose from: Close, a nice-sounding upfront pair of close mics; Mid, created from recordings with the middle pedal down, which exposes the unique nature of the instrument in question’s broken bridge; and Pad. Plainly speaking REVERB, TIGHTNESS, HAMMERS, and PEDAL parameters provide further control and effects. All are self-explanatory and allow the vintage character and timeless sound of performer Jeremiah Fraites’ favored piano to shine forth for all to play as they see fit to have it sound — simplified and presented in Spitfire Audio’s free, easy-to-use plug-in as FIREWOOD PIANO.
Perfectly positioned as another next step up from Spitfire Audio’s free LABS libraries, or even a wonderful way of side-stepping across from BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DISCOVER — a universal starting point to explore and create with 35 instruments impeccably performed by the world-famous BBC Symphony Orchestra, brought to life inside another beautifully designed, easy-to-use plug-in, compatible with any major music creation software from Garageband to Pro Tools, and affordably priced to boot — and onwards and upwards into the far-reaching realms of those ‘full-blown’ blue-chip libraries with which Spitfire Audio has built its reputation, the even more affordably-priced FIREWOOD PIANO should certainly appeal to the sound-specializing British music technology company’s core audience and a potential new audience alike.
As such, playing with FIREWOOD PIANO should certainly fire up the creative compositional minds of anyone interested in contemporary production and film scoring. Fraites’ favored piano was good for a whole lot more than firewood, after all, as The Lumineers’ piano-playing principal composer knows only too well!
Witness the delicate and emotional sound of FIREWOOD PIANO while watching its trailer video here:
About Spitfire Audio (www.spitfireaudio.com)
Spitfire Audio is a British music technology company that specializes in sounds — sample libraries, virtual instruments, and other useful software devices. It collaborates with the best composers, artists, and engineers in the world to build musical tools that sound great and are exciting to use.
© 2020 Spitfire Audio Holdings Limited
Chromaphone 3 is a two-voice eight-physically-modeled-acoustic-resonator synthesizer with advanced editing capabilities that produce a delightful mixture of real-life presence and distinctive timbres that can’t be found anywhere else. Chromaphone 3 ships with 1000+ presets taking full advantage of its state-of-the-art acoustic object synthesis.
Here are some of Chromaphone 3’s new features
– Home view—the Home view presents a distraction-free and laid-back browsing and tweaking experience.
– Two-Voice Multitimbral—Two independent timbres—stacked or split—create performance-friendly, texture-full, and spacious sounds.
– Macros—Four performance macros per layer that respond to user-defined MIDI controls. Each and every sound features modulation, timbre, envelope, and effect morphing assignments that can be played in real-time for enhanced expressivity and sonic dimension.
– Browser—The brand-new browser offers an efficient way to home in on the right sounds thanks to the Packs, Sounds, Categories, and Creators views.
– Factory Library—Chromaphone 3’s factory library contains 421 never heard before sounds as well as refined versions of the 670+ Chromaphone 2 presets.
“Adding depth and dimension was the name of the game for this next iteration of our favorite synthesizer,” says Eric Thibeault, product designer at Applied Acoustics Systems. “Chromaphone 3 is now bi timbral. Combining two independent Chromaphone synthesis engines opens up a whole new world in terms of content. We’ve also added per-layer macros that allow sound designers to make sound variations an integral part of the design process. Our team of top sound designers has put together a brand new factory library that exploits these new possibilities. Additionally, each and every sound was fine-tuned to provide a consistent gain-stage, unity-gain effects, better dynamics, and compelling MIDI-controlled sound transformation assignments. We’re positive that you will now enjoy Chromaphone’s distinctive sonic signature even more.
AAS Chromaphone 3 acoustic object synthesizer VST AU AAX
The Chromaphone 3 plug-ins run on both Windows and macOS in 64-bit host sequencers that support the VST2, VST3, Audio Units, AAX Native, and NKS formats.
Chromaphone 3 is available now at a suggested retail price of US$199. The upgrade for Chromaphone 1 and 2 registered users is priced at $79.
Special Introductory Pricing
Until November 20, 2020, everything Chromaphone 3 is offered at special introductory pricing—as follows:
– Chromaphone 3 plug-in US$99 (50% off)
– Chromaphone 3 +PACKS synth and sound packs bundle US$189 (50% off)
– Chromaphone 3 Upgrade for Chromaphone 1 and 2 users US$39 (50% off)
– All Chromaphone 3 sound packs US$19 (50% off)
Chromaphone 3 +PACKS bundles the Chromaphone 3 plug-in and 14 additional sound packs.
About Applied Acoustics Systems
Applied Acoustics Systems (AAS) was founded in 1998 and is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. As a privately-held company, it specializes in software-based synthesis tools for professional musicians and sound designers. Since releasing Tassman, the first virtual instrument based on physical modeling, AAS has come to be recognized as the industry leader in this exciting new field of synthesis.
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC: music production and audio processing advanced tools maker MeldaProduction is proud to announce the availability of Drum Empire 2020 — the latest in its lengthening line of free extension packs for its MDrummer virtual instrument plug-in, the most advanced drum machine and virtual drummer on the market, this time turning its attention to sampling a huge array of high-end drums and cymbals in Svárov Studio, a highly-specialized recording facility designed for working with drums, conveniently located a few kilometers outside of the Czech Republic’s capital city of Prague, both before and during COVID-19-related restrictions — as of October 17…
Simply speaking, MeldaProduction’s MDrummer virtual instrument plug-in is the ultimate drum machine and virtual drummer, duly making arranging drum tracks and real-time drum performances a quick and simple affair, one where the possibilities are (almost) endless. Entire ranges of percussion instruments — from drums to scratches — can conceivably be capably covered by MDrummer’s sound engine. Effectively, any number of drum kits, drums in each drum kit, layers and effects inserts for each drum are available, alongside sampling and synthesis capabilities, together with some special generators, so whether users are interested in acoustic drums, electronic drums, percussion, effects, or any combination thereof, MDrummer can do it! Fancifully featuring an advanced rhythm engine that users can control simply by pressing MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) notes — using Drum pad mode — or using the integrated song sequencer, MDrummer comes complete with a huge array of rhythms, boosted by a lengthening line of free extension packs, and also allows users to quickly create their own using the Rhythm generator.
Getting Drum Empire 2020 out there into the wider world sees MeldaProduction broadening MDrummer’s massive percussive scope still further. Available as another extension pack for free, Drum Empire 2020 offers over 60 GB of compressed content to owners of MDrummer as a huge array of sampled high-end drums and cymbals played mostly with sticks, but also brushes and mallets, while hands also got a workout when things got broken!
But there was only one recording location geared up for this no-holds-barred percussive approach as far as MeldaProduction was collectively concerned. Svárov Studio is a highly-specialized recording facility designed for working with drums, conveniently located a few kilometers outside of the Czech Republic’s capital city of Prague — possibly the best studio for recording drums in Central Europe, thanks to its beautifully-controlled, high-ceilinged hall, not to mention many desirable drum kits always available from the likes of Gretsch, Ludwig, and Pearl, readily recordable to the highest standard using a superlative selection of microphones and preamps/DIs that are more than up to the task at hand. Helpfully, it turned out that it is owned by total drum junkies who eat, sleep, and drink drums!
Turbulent times meant MeldaProduction started sampling for what would become Drum Empire 2020 at Svárov Studio two days before COVID-19-related restrictions kicked into play, yet the production played on with wearing of face masks failing to dampen the percussive passion from everyone involved in recording professional drummers in professional studio conditions — including the drummers themselves!
Superlative sampling to the high standards for which MeldaProduction is well known necessitates exploiting equipment of the highest order when it comes to such content creation. Clearly, Svárov Studio — where the best preamps money can buy live together in perfect harmony with an abundance of analog equalizers and compressors combining to bring a little musical mojo to the party, even when recording dry with some of the best-sounding microphones around (including the Neumann U87 large-diaphragm condenser classic and AKG D112 professional dynamic bass drum microphone) — lived up to expectations as MeldaProduction started working with cymbals. But best ones only, of course — and lots of them! Zildjian, Sabians, Meinl… so many, in fact, that it was difficult to capture all of them at once when photographing the sessions for posterity. Put it this way: when counting them, there were no fewer than 42 crashes, 17 rides, 11 Chinese cymbals, 10 splashes, and eight hi-hats! Stacking some of them on top of each other turned out to not only look cool — after all, not many drummers can afford to stack multiple K Zildajians — but sounded cool, too. So sampling 18 such combinations was where MeldaProduction ended up, ultimately available for all to hear and play using Drum Empire 2020.
That said, as implied by the name chosen by MeldaProduction to front its latest free extension pack for MDrummer, the real magic comes courtesy of Svárov Studio’s desirable drum kits themselves with individual-sounding iconic examples ending up being sampled for Drum Empire 2020. To namecheck but a few: the classic Ludwig Vistalite was used by the one and only — but not only by — John Bonham (R.I.P.) during his trailblazing tenure with Led Zeppelin; the Yamaha Recording Custom is another classic that has remained regularly in use throughout the decades — designed as appropriately named by Steve Gadd, it is also responsible for Phil Collins’ classic drum sound, albeit without the bottom heads; a vintage Ludwig rock kit with 26-inch kick drum, plus 20-, 18-, and 15-inch toms, is so big that only big guys can comfortably play it; and the limited-edition Pearl Masters 50th Anniversary simply cried out to be sampled, as did a vintage Pearl MLX and classic Gretsch galore!
Get this, though: all told, MeldaProduction sampled 13 different kick drums — ranging from a small one that is only 18 inches in diameter right up to the aforesaid 26-inch monster! Meanwhile, 18 of the most iconic snares, including the mighty Ludwig Black Beauty and its Supraphonic sibling, were also sampled. Subsequent experimentation revealed just how cool a snare can sound with another head on it — or, for example, with a tambourine.
This literal march to (the beat of) a different drum certainly served MeldaProduction well when developing Drum Empire 2020. If, indeed, broadening MDrummer’s massive percussive scope still further was its mission, then mission accomplished! And owners of MDrummer are its beneficiary… and all for free!
MDrummer itself is available to purchase at an attractive 50% discounted price of €125.00 EUR (inc. VAT) until the end of October 2020 — returning thereafter to its regular price of €249.00 EUR (inc. VAT) — via its dedicated webpage, which also includes more in-depth information, here: https://www.meldaproduction.com/MDrummer (A fully-functional, 15-day trial of MDrummer is also available.)
Watch MeldaProduction’s informative introductory video for Drum Empire 2020 here:
About MeldaProduction (www.meldaproduction.com)
MeldaProduction was founded in 2009 by Vojtech Meluzin and is based in Prague, Czech Republic. Inspired by ancient analogue gear right through to the latest digital developments, MeldaProduction makes advanced tools for music production and audio processing with 100-plus products — including more than 30 available for free — to its notable name. Needless to say, applying innovative thinking to create sounds that matter with inspiring user interfaces that are as easy-to-use as they are versatile with never-ending improvements neatly sums up the company’s gifted game plan. It is also a premier partner brand of fellow Prague-registered Limited Company United Plugins (www.unitedplugins.com), a federation of small, independent development teams comprised of individuals involved in the music industry.
© 2020 MeldaProduction
PulseSetter-Sounds sets the tone to stun with cool KONTAKT-hosted huge hybrid guitar factory for film scoring
“I have high expectations from guitar libraries as I am a guitar player myself, and found DYSTOPIAN GUITARS to be very practical and usable right out of the box, writing music the minute I tried it — a great and inspirational library.”
– GRAMMY® Award-nominated composer and performer David Arkenstone (World of Warcraft), 2020
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA: cinematic sound designers PulseSetter-Sounds is proud to announce the availability of DYSTOPIAN GUITARS — a new kind of library totaling 21.32 GB of highly-creative content designed to cover all modern hybrid guitar grounds for film scoring as a huge KONTAKT-hosted virtual instrument incorporating a wide range of sounds, from clean and dreamy atmospheres to hellish industrial tones, three years in the making — as of October 19…
Ultimately unique in today’s swelling soundscape production toolset, DYSTOPIAN GUITARS includes several different types of KONTAKT instruments fashioned from the perspective of working film composers, ensuring everything is very useable right out of the box with no fillers and a very intuitive GUI (Graphical User Interface). It includes several so-called Natural Solo instruments and Unnatural Solo instruments — fully playable multisample patches; customizable Ensembles, capable of performing multisamples, pulses, and sequences all at the same time; a playable Pulse Designer, with several guitar-based pulses and arpeggios; a collection of acoustic and processed Shimmers; several pads and ambiances; a collection of guitar Tools and FX; as well as PulseSetter-Sounds’ most powerful sequencer to date.
Digging deeper, Ensembles are complex instruments that let DYSTOPIAN GUITARS users perform several simultaneous layers of music in a very organic way when combining loops, multisample guitars, pads, sequences, and other elements — especially effective for film composers wanting to perform and quickly compose complete scenes, while working well also as a starting point when writing sketches or building a unique palette. Possibilities are (almost) endless!
Elsewhere, DYSTOPIAN GUITARS showcases several multisample guitars and other string instruments, plus their alter egos — effectively hybrid Frankensteins that work well when writing modern film music. Moreover, PulseSetter-Sounds tried to tweak even the natural versions by sampling them in unusual ways, as is its way — sampling an acoustic guitar by mostly playing open strings, for instance, or slapping an electric bass with different kinds of sticks.
Shimmers are various combinations of fast arpeggios and tremolos that will add movement, air, and expression to any kind of score — from an intimate piano song to a king-sized sweeping orchestral scene. Several acoustic versions are included alongside processed versions to match any style, so users are also able to mix and match their own combos.
Creativity abounds further still since PulseSetter-Sounds saw fit to helpfully provide DYSTOPIAN GUITARS with several kinds of pulses and loops that will match many different styles. Supplementing hundreds of pulses are their ‘playable’ versions, whereby users can play chords or combine loops in different keys — a very organic way of using loops. Last but far from least, the provided Pulse Designer duly lets users combine most loops for one-pass performances.
Performance-wise, DYSTOPIAN GUITARS also comes complete with more than a hundred customizable pads that its users can also mix and match in pairs, plus a powerful Gate and FX sequencer that lets users customize them to make them unique to their needs.
Needless to say, PulseSetter-Sounds also added a number of different instruments to DYSTOPIAN GUITARS that did not sit easily in any other category, such as infinite raisers and downers, guitar impacts and scrapes, chords, a feedback machine, and more besides.
Besides being able to sequence all available effects in the FX GUI, discerning DYSTOPIAN GUITARS users can take advantage of PulseSetter-Sounds’ powerful Quad sequencer that will let them work with four independent lines, combining note sequences and arpeggiators in a very intuitive and musical way.
While taking advantage of newer KONTAKT guitar effects, PulseSetter-Sounds succeeded in building very organic instruments, combining those new effects with its own ‘baked’ versions using its in-house guitar and synth rigs — Muted Metal Guitar Combo is a prime example of this in action, allowing anyone to play very convincing heavy grooves without the need for external effects or external guitar software. Since the PulseSetter-Sounds team had so much fun with this, they decided to include a whole set of metal sequences in DYSTOPIAN GUITARS.
With 21.32 GB of highly-creative content designed to cover all modern hybrid guitar grounds for film scoring as a huge KONTAKT-hosted virtual instrument incorporating a wide range of sounds, from clean and dreamy atmospheres to hellish industrial tones, it is going to take time to fully explore DYSTOPIAN GUITARS as a new kind of library in which PulseSetter-Sounds invested so much time — three years in the making, no less. Little wonder, then, that the company collectively hopes that each and every user of DYSTOPIAN GUITARS will find a permanent place for many of its inspiring instruments in their template for unique use in project after project, for many years to come!
DYSTOPIAN GUITARS can be purchased as a 21.32 GB (16 GB compressed) KONTAKT instrument for a time-limited introductory promo price of $169.00 USD until November 19, 2020 — rising thereafter to $199.00 USD — via its dedicated webpage, which also includes more in-depth information (including some superb-sounding audio demos), here: https://pulsesetter-sounds.com/product/dystopian-guitars/ (Note that DYSTOPIAN GUITARS requires the full version — 5.7 or higher — of KONTAKT, Native Instruments’ advanced flagship sampler for macOS 10.12 – 10.15 and Windows 7 / 8 / 10.)
See and hear DYSTOPIAN GUITARS in action in PulseSetter-Sounds’ must-see overview video here:
Watch PulseSetter-Sounds’ tantalizing trailer video for DYSTOPIAN GUITARS here:
PulseSetter-Sounds is a cinematic sound design company, creating sound sets, loops, and sample-based products for film and video game composers, owned by award-winning composers Freddy Sheinfeld and Guillermo Silberstein. As a group of media music producers and sound designers living in Los Angeles, the company clearly knows that a strong theme tune helps tell the story and evolve emotions in a film score. Since they are also huge sci-fi-fi — yes, you read that right! — fans, the company collectively created its own ‘PulseSetter theme’ based on a futuristic dystopian-cyberpunk character who lives in one of several megacities where people have huddled together after several world wars; mixing new and old tech, this anti-hero lives for music and sounds in a world more into overthrowing the megacity overlord. Obviously, this theme helps PulseSetter-Sounds propel its own sound story into hybrid and new sonic territories.
© 2020 PulseSetter, LLC
DUESSELDORF, GERMANY: DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) plugin and audio DSP (Digital Signal Processing) developer Fuse Audio Labs is proud to announce the availability of FLYWHEEL — a brand new plugin focused on injecting the analog qualities of
reel-to-reel tape recording systems into digital recording and mixing environments — as of October 21…
FLYWHEEL formulates an alternative approach to tape emulation; rather than focusing only on the specifics of one particular machine, this plugin combines all the typical analog imperfections such as saturation, hysteresis, high-frequency loss, and head bump in a single, clearly laid out tone-shaping interface. Its intention is to make digital tracks sound more organic, cohesive, and diversified — making material sound more interesting as a result. Indeed, it makes adding the typical warmth and presence of tape recordings to mixes and masters an easy and enjoyable process. No credit plan, no service tech, no tape salad — just pure analog awesomeness!
As such, a lot of thought has been put into reducing the parameter set, offering plenty of sonic flexibility while maintaining a straightforward user experience: simply dial in the RECORD GAIN, select TAPE SPEED and FORMULA, then tweak the results with the HYST (hysteresis) and HF EQ (high-frequency equalization) settings. So only a handful of controls are needed to grant access to a wide variety of interesting textures.
That said, the magnetic sound experience would not be complete without different tape formulas, adjustable wow and flutter (SPEED VARIANCE), as well as a tape transport STOP/START, all of which are included in FLYWHEEL’s feature set. Readily rounded off by optional oversampling (OS) for improving overall audio quality and GLOBAL LINK for
controlling all instances of the plugin from a single interface, this tape emulation offers everything needed for applying an authentic reel-to-reel polish to all styles of music.
“I got into the music production game when analog recording technology slowly but surely started to get superseded by digital,” says Fuse Audio Labs CEO Reimund
Dratwa. “Now, after more than two decades of evolution in digital perfection, superlinear converters, and so on, we seem to understand what exactly it is our ears love about analog, and FLYWHEEL is an homage to exactly that.”
Note that 14-day trial versions of all Fuse Audio Labs plugins without any restrictions are also available to download for free from here:
https://fuseaudiolabs.com/#/pages/plugins
Fuse Audio Labs was founded in 2017 by Reimund Dratwa. Prior to joining Black Rooster Audio in late 2016, he worked for Brainworx for many years, during which time he was responsible for creating analog modeling titles for brands such as ACME Audio, Black Box Analog Design, Elysia, Millennia, Vertigo, and several others available through Plugin Alliance and the UAD-2 platform.
The company was initially intended as an engineering entity to develop DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) plugins and audio DSP (Digital Signal Processing) applications for various partners, but soon served as a channel for its own exciting product ideas.
LAKE HIAWATHA, NJ, USA: having hitherto made available an earlier version for prerelease, professional audio signal processing equipment designer and manufacturer/plug-ins producer Empirical Labs Inc.
(ELI) is proud to announce the availability of BIG FrEQ 1.0 — the full release version of its first EQ plug-in, partially extrapolated from its much-loved Lil FreQ hardware EQ (that takes a somewhat unusual approach to the task at hand by combining most of the sound-sculpting tools an engineer needs into a compact single rack space box), but expanded upon in terms of available sections and features — as of October 14…
With no fewer than 12 powerful sections of processing to its appropriate appellation, BIG FrEQ should single-handedly handle all tonal and spectral-shaping needs for single tracks, as well as busses, including use as a versatile mastering tool. As always, ELI itself strives to bring new functionality and creative twists to plug-in EQs with its first such release, having labored long and hard over making it easy to learn and plain fun to use.
But best of all, BIG FrEQ is immensely useful, obviously, offering the ability to create modern ‘flat-top’ EQ curves with an analog workflow and added controls for more tone-shaping possibilities than a typical EQ plug-in. Put it this way: each of the six parametric bands has an additional SLOPE control that allows for flattening out the EQ shape and grabbing more frequencies equally, while switching on the focus (F) function lets users fine-tune frequency adjustment — centering the selected frequency and reducing the range of the FREQ (frequency) knob — to hear exactly what frequencies are being affected with the simultaneously switchable solo (S) buttons available on each parametric band. Elsewhere, each parametric section’s GAIN knob can be expanded from ±15dB to ±30dB with the range (R) button, while parametric section settings can uniquely be copied and pasted from one to another for quickly moving and duplicating bands, facilitating faster operation. On top of that, the unique FINISHER section adds warmth to any track with organic saturation and provides for up to 8x oversampling (tested up to 768 kHz operation).
Other features are also well worth highlighting: Hi-Pass and Lo Pass filters with adjustable Q and selectable filter orders from 6dB to 96dB (per octave); Lo Shelf — smooth bass boost or cut, centered around 120 Hz — and complimentary Hi Shelf controls; WIDTH slider — controls bandwidth or, inversely, Q; and master PHASE switch — inverts the phase of the audio.
Additionally, a modern spectral display shows cumulative EQ shape as well as colored individual bands, while the built-in preset management system (with proprietary preset format for cross-DAW preset access), smooth automation of all parameters, available direct entry for all parameters (by double-clicking on any parameter to type in a value), un-linkable stereo version for dual-mono operation, and an ability to bypass any section (to monitor changes and free up processing) rounds out BIG FrEQ’s fattened features.
Following in the footsteps of Arouser™ — ELI’s first foray into the software arena as the only Distressor-derived compressor plug-in, produced by the creators of the award-winning hardware Distressor itself, BIG FrEQ is another fine example of how the professional audio signal processing equipment designer and manufacturer/plug-ins producer brings the quality of its hardware to its software products and continues to offer things that cannot be done in the hardware realm to in-the-box mixing. Making room in any plug-in collection for BIG FrEQ is to see and hear what it can do when single-handedly handling all tonal and spectral shaping needs for single tracks, as well as busses, including use as a versatile mastering tool.
BIG FrEQ is available for purchase as an AAX-, AU-, and VST3-supporting 64-bit effect plug-in for macOS (10.7 or higher) and AAX- and VST3-supporting 64-bit effect plug-in for Windows (7 or higher) for a time-limited introductory promo price of $129.00 USD for the first 30 days — rising thereafter to an MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) of $149.00 USD — directly from ELI’s online Shop here: https://store.empiricallabs.com/big-freq-p/bf1-rtl.htm A fully-functional, 15-day trial of BIG FrEQ is available to download from here:
An iLok 2 or iLok 3 USB dongle is required for activating both the demo and full versions of BIG FrEQ.
For more in-depth information, please visit ELI’s dedicated BIG FrEQ webpage here: About Empirical Labs Inc. (ELI) (www.empiricallabs.com) Empirical Labs Inc. (ELI) designs and manufactures professional audio signal processing equipment used in recording studios, live sound, broadcast studios, and other audio production facilities all over the world while working hard to live up to its stated simple philosophy: “We want to make products that work a little easier, a little better, and a lot longer — and make sure they’re fun to use.” After all, the word empirical — in its most positive interpretation — means fashioned from experience. ELI also produces plug-ins for DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) and software for DSPs (Digital Signal Processors). © 2020 Empirical Labs Inc. (ELI)
NEW YORK, October 8, 2020 – Heavyocity Media announces the release of Mosaic Tape, the fourth installment in The Mosaic Series line of virtual instruments. Mosaic Tape continues the mission of Mosaic, delivering a signature palette of sounds built entirely around what we find inspiring about the magic of aged analog tape. From altered strings and gritty keys to tuned percussion and vocal pads, Mosaic Tape showcases the cinematic possibility of applying creative tape processing to a variety of sources. And with over 100 expertly-crafted snapshots, Mosaic Tape is ready to inspire: re-envisioning the musical effect of tape as a modern composition and sound design tool.
“It’s no secret that modern scoring cues are often centered around signature sounds and hybrid elements,” said Dave Fraser, Co-Founder, Heavyocity. “And Mosaic Tape was built with that in mind — transforming traditional sources into moving, complex textures, dripping with grit, warmth, and personality.”
And for a limited time, Heavyocity is offering Mosaic Tape for $99 (reg. $119). In addition, owners of other Mosaic Series instruments will receive an additional 20% off. Offers end October 19, 2020.
For More information visit Heavyocity’s website here:
As a “powered-by-Kontakt” instrument Mosaic Tape offers all playback and sound-shaping functionality through the full version of Kontakt 6 or the free Kontakt 6 Player.