Space Designer Manager for Logic

3R Audio has introduced the first version of Space Designer Manager - an add-on designed to extend the usability of Logic Pro's Space Designer impulse reverb plugin....

Space Designer Manager consists of 2 parts:

• On the left side, you find the Generator which batch generates setting files for Space Designer compatible impulse responses. You can process single impulse response files, folders or multiple selections as you wish by drag and drop or the open file dialog. The program will process all files in folders and folders in folders with the format aif, wav, sd2 and sdir.

• On the right side, you have the Relinker, which relinks setting files with the impulse responses they were originally pointing to by selecting a setting folder and the according impulse response folder. Relinker lets you choose the right file if there should be any files with the same name.

Space Designer Manager uses Keyfile protection. Its Preferences Drawer lets you set various options for the pst setting file generation. You can decide if you want to use volume and latency compensation or not, and also set the wet/dry levels. The Help Drawer gives you instant information with a single click without having to open a help menu or separate help file. Check the 3R Audio site for more details, and a demo version.

Space Designer Manager is available now for 29 Euros (about £25) until January 1, 2011.

Minimum system requirements: Apple Intel based Mac computer running MacOS 10.6, 1Gb RAM, Apple Logic.



"Space Designer Manager for Logic" > read the full post

SonicWORX Isolate

Interesting find this - sonicWORX have released their Isolate software, that can extract the vocals from a mix.....

There's a few vids of this in action on YouTube - here's one at Musik Messe from last year, which shows them separating Peter Gabriel (but making him sound oddly like he's vocoding a pan pipe)..

But this shows them using the software to remove vocals....

Interested? Head to their website and try out the demo...

"SonicWORX Isolate" > read the full post

LAConvolver Impulse Response plugin (free!)

While hunting round on the Gearslutz forums, I found a very cool impulse response AU plugin (thanks to "imagineaudio" for his post)....

LAConvolver from Learnvall Audio convolves your input signal with your impulse response:

VERY TECHNICAL BIT

An impulse, or "spike" is a short transient, that contains all frequencies (similar to a short burst of while noise). The Impulse Response is a recording of the behavior of the room/device when an impulse is played through it (in practice, a true impulse is impossible to create, so a starter pistol shot is used, or a tone sweep, which is then "deconvolved" to calculate the effect an impulse would have had).

The Impulse response and the plugin input signals are passed through FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) algorithms. The resultant spectra are multiplied with each other, and the product run through an IFFT (Inverse Fast Fourier Transform) algorithm, which makes the signal sound as if it had run through the same room/device the impulse response was recorded through.

What does that mean? Well, if you can get hold of impulse response recordings of, for example, a mic'ed up guitar cab, you can make your signal sound as if it also ran through the same setup - in fact, why not click here for some very cool guitar cab impulses! (GuitarHack IRs).

Have fun!

"LAConvolver Impulse Response plugin (free!)" > read the full post

Pay what you want, for Planet Earth

Camel Audio has released Planet Earth: a new sample library featuring sounds for electronica, ambient, and dance music producers. Until the end of August you can choose what you want to pay for it - as little as £1! By default, the amount paid is split equally between Friends of the Earth charity, and Camel Audio - but you can tweak the split any way you like.

You get 150 sounds + Alchemy Player VST/AU instrument offering a further 150 sounds.

For audio samples and details, visit Camel Audio.









"Pay what you want, for Planet Earth" > read the full post

Max Fuel, the First

Puremagnetik has released Max Fuel, the First, a bundle of ten highly refined Max For Live devices, created to work in Live for production & performance, bringing the deeper potential of Max For Live to the end-user without the need to learn Max. The devices fall into three categories: Software Instruments, Audio Effects, and Control Devices. Presets, devices racks, and clip examples are all included in the package.

Retails for $38 (£24).

To learn more, and watch the introductory video, go here.




"Max Fuel, the First" > read the full post

GrainCube: Free Granular Instrument (Reaktor, Lemur)

GrainCube is a free 4-part granular processing instrument with numerous randomizing functions and modulation capabilities. Built on sound designs and conception by sonic renegades Richard Devine and Josh Kay (DevineSound), development by Rick Scott (Rachmiel), with additional programming and GUI tweaks by Igor Shilov (Twisted Tools). An additional version is also available for the JazzMutant Lemur, re-imagined by Antonio Blanca (absoundscapes.com). A dream tool from a dream team!

The tool is free, a gift to people in the Reaktor and Lemur communities: Reaktor 5.x is required, Lemur isn't necessary (but fun).

Seeing work like this is inspirational. I love the sounds, alien and twisted. At its heart, it is a sample map of 400mb of sample material, the sonic raw material for the work. An all-stops-pulled array of randomization and modulation then warps and melts and smelts that into audio ore.

For a sense of the tool in action, read on for the video and download link......



If you're a Reaktor user, grab it here (see "Library").

Lemur template @ Jazz Mutant


"GrainCube: Free Granular Instrument (Reaktor, Lemur)" > read the full post

Free plug in time again

This time it's from Elysia - it's the niveau filter, which is taken straight from the filter section of the Mpressor plugin (which I've had a play with recently, and it kicks serious butt!).....

Bit of a strange one to get to grips with, but essentially it's a hi-lo frequency balance control. Comes in AU, VST and RTAS formats, for both Mac and PC. Head to their website to register for your free download!

"Free plug in time again" > read the full post

EZmix - Mixing, the easy way

Toontrack (in partnership with Overloud) have recently released EZmix, which appreas to be a kind of channel strip, but one that places emphasis on ease of use rather than tweakability. Read on......

The idea is that you insert an instance of EZmix into a channel in your DAW and then select a preset in the plugin, depending on what type of channel you are processing (e.g. drums, bass, vocals, etc). The plugin has 3 sliders which control different parameters, depending on the preset you are using, so e.g. a vocal preset might have adjustable delay time, delay mix, and compression threshold.

While this approach may not be to everyone's taste, there are undoubtedly times when a rough and ready mix is required but you haven't got time to get lost in the minutia of detailed plugin editing, and for those occasions, EZmix presents itself as being ideal.

Available to buy now from the Toontrack website, EZmix comes in VST, Audio Unit, and RTAS, for both Windows and Mac OS X, at a price of £45 including VAT.


"EZmix - Mixing, the easy way" > read the full post

Toontrack announces BeatStation

After a couple of weeks of teasing, Toontrack Music has now announced the birth of BeatStation........

Following the feature requests of current Toontrack users, BeatStation provides an open interface to create your own personalised sound-set, harnessing the power of percussion samples as well as melodic instruments all in one instrument.

BeatStation is a stand-alone and/or VST, AU, RTAS compatible virtual instrument, for Mac and Windows. It plays percussion pads, lead instruments and melodic bass. It's got a skinnable open playing surface, it can record samples and supports external samples, MIDI Grooves and REX files. The BeatStation expansion format (BTX) contains high end sampled drum, percussion, bass and lead instruments with MIDI and REX files.

It will be on the market in June 2010. Until then, Toontrack will continue to provide videos and tutorials showing the product's potential. Keep up with it here. (The introductory video on there at the moment is a bit crap but I'm guessing more informative and detailed ones will be put up in due course).



"Toontrack announces BeatStation" > read the full post

JazzMutant's "Mu" - for Ableton Live

JazzMutant has released an Ableton Live control application - "Mu" - for the Lemur multi-touch control surface. Mu brings a fantastical interface to Live, letting you trigger clips and scenes with glowing Chiclet keys, and mix with luminescent sliders.

Read on, and watch the video...

Mu runs as a Max for Live plugin - so you'll need Ableton Live 8 and Max for Live to be able to use it.

There is no official word on pricing or availability for Mu on the JazzMutant home page yet.

On a similar note - this also gets me excited about the potential of the Apple iPad; it can't be long before similar applications are developed for the iPad, bringing reasonably inexpensive multi-touch control to your sequencer, soft and hardware synths.

Excited about the potential of multi-touch controllers for music? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

"JazzMutant's "Mu" - for Ableton Live" > read the full post

Free melhoman performer edition

Ohmforce are giving away their Melhoman performer edition for free! Very nice of them too.

It's a bit of a weird one, this, but very cool. Been playing around with it this morning, and it's worth a read through the manual just to see what it can do - it looks deceptively simple!

It comes in Mac and PC RTAS and VST, as well as AU, and even as a stand-alone, so just

head here to pick up your copy.

"Free melhoman performer edition" > read the full post

More No-Brainer Deals from audioMIDI.com

Couple of tempting deals from audioMIDI.com - they're offering the Nomad Factory Blue Tubes Analog Trackbox for $15 (around £9) - that's 90% off.

They're also offering an LE version of the XILS3 matrix synth for just $20 (£12).

The Analog Trackbox is a tube emulating gate, compressor and EQ. It offers two different tube emulations, and comes in both Mac and PC VST and RTAS formats, as well as Audio Unit, so it should be compatible, whatever your system. You can choose between Hard Disc and iLok authorization, and there's a 15 day demo here.

The XILS3 LE is modeled on a classic matrix synth - you can connect anything to anything else! It can be used as a synth, or as an effects processor.

I'm waiting for my serial numbers, so I'll write more once I've had a chance to play with both of them. In the mean time, head here to check out the offers yourselves.

"More No-Brainer Deals from audioMIDI.com" > read the full post

NI synths for €99 each!

But only if you're quick....

Edit: Too slow!

Native Instruments are offering Reaktor 5, Absynth 5, Massive and FM8 for €99 - but only for one more day!

"NI synths for €99 each!" > read the full post

Blue Cat Plugins in RTAS

We mentioned the Blue Cat free plugin bundle a little while back, but the good news is that it's now also available in RTAS formats! Great new for us Pro Tools users, who tend to feel a bit left out when it comes to free stuff...

Phasers, flangers EQs and a frequency analyzer come with the bundle. Just head to here to download in your favorite format...

"Blue Cat Plugins in RTAS" > read the full post

Korg nano Controller update

Those of you who've invested in a Korg nano should be interested in this. They've just released a free control surface plugin for you.....

With Garage Band and Logic, it was difficult to assign the nano to control plugin parameters. Well, now it isn't! Simple enough. Go get it here..

"Korg nano Controller update" > read the full post

Free TC Electronics M30 Reverb

But only if you act quickly!.....

TC Electronics are giving away the M30 reverb unit if you sign up to their newsletter before Wednesday the 18th of December 2009.

It's available for Mac (AU and VST) and PC (VST) formats, and will cost $79 after Wednesday.

So why are you still here? Go and sign up!

"Free TC Electronics M30 Reverb" > read the full post

A history of Autotune

Quite a cool vid, explaining the history of autotune, helped by Weird Al Yankovic.....

"A history of Autotune" > read the full post

Ultra Anal?

AudioMIDI have another of their "no-brainer" deals going on.

They're offering the Applied Acoustics Systems Ultra Analogue VA-1 synth for just $15 (that's $184 off the regular price!)

It comes in VST and RTAS for all you PC users, and AU, RTAS and VST for Mac.

I got my version yesterday, and it's a very cool, 2 oscillator, 32 voice polyphony physical modeling virtual analogue synth.

You'll find the deal here.

Just one thing - why don't manufacturers realize how their name will abbreviate in a sequencer window? I expect to get some strange looks if anyone sees me with this.....

"Ultra Anal?" > read the full post

Free Bitsmacker Plugin

Another free AU for you, this time from Meatscience...

Bitsmacker is, as you might have guessed, similar to Bit Crusher in Logic. It allows you to reduce the sample rate and bit resolution, for that eighties-sounding digital audio effect.

What's cool though, is the pre and post distortion parametric EQ, allowing you to shape the tone of the bitsmacking.

Head to the Meatscience page to check it out.

"Free Bitsmacker Plugin" > read the full post

Free plug in time once more....

Blue Cat Audio have updated their free plugin pack....

It gives you chorus, flange, frequency analyzer, gain controls, more chorus, more flange and EQ (and there's a meter too for the PC users amongst you). It comes in AU and VST for the Mac, and VST and DX for the PC. Head to Blue Cat Audio to download them and try them for yourself..

"Free plug in time once more...." > read the full post