We mentioned the mpressor software version's upcoming release in one of our recent articles, and we're glad to see it's just been released (AU, VST, RTAS, while the TDM version will be released in december).
There's a 14 days fully functional demo available (iLok is needed).
The plug-in, developed by Brainworx (also makers of the SPL software, and of course of their own highly respected plug-ins), seems to capture very well the original hardware's features.

The elysia mpressor is known for its "creative" approach to compression (the Auto Fast, the Auto Log, the negative values which can bring new life to the sound envelope, the GR Limit knob, the EQ section, etc.), that makes it a very flexible studio tool, and probably one of the few new "gonna-be-classic" outboard of our times (unfortunately its price tag reflects all this, we're talking of a 5000$ item).
I don't usually like to mention artists or producers' quotes, but here's a funny one by Michael Brauer, which I think says a lot about the mpressor "...I may not be a rocket scientist but I'm not a moron either, yet it took me three attempts at being explained how the unit worked before the light bulb went on. It's not because of its complexity but because I've never thought about compression this way. The result of how a drum room can be manipulated to create new rhythms, or a piano can shimmer, or how much faster it is than anything else including plugins, is on another level and cannot not be duplicated with any of my other compressors...".

Prices:

25% introduction discount until November 30th

293,28 220,00 Euro excl. VAT
(for customers outside the European Union and EU customers outside Germany with VAT number)
349,00 261,80 Euro incl. VAT
(for German customers and EU end customers without VAT number)

We're gonna explore the mpressor in the next weeks, stay tuned...

Definitely a warm autumn for compressors, isn't it?

Djay, the Mac-only DJing software created by the German company Algoriddim, gets better with version 3 (or better 3.01).
Since its original release Djay has filled a hole in the market. There were already full-featured and complex apps like Traktor (and over the years more entered the arena: Serato, etc.) and so the German guys at Algoriddim took a different approach. They basically tried to make DJing software as easy and fun as possible, and, well, they succeeded...


Djay is fully integrated with iTunes (so better keep things well organized there), has an easy-on-the-eyes and clearly laid-out interface, and it has basically no learning curve. I mean, if you know how a turntable/cd deck and a mixer work, you should be able to start mixing as soon as you start the program.
Very intuitive Cue points, Looping, Skipping, Sampler, Live Mix Recording, Microphone tools are just one or two clicks away.
I like the fact djay is a stable and quite light-on-the-cpu app. It benefits from latest Macs' technologies but it's definitely usable on PPC machines as well.
Other winning points: most of the features can be controlled via keyboard shortcuts and touchpad gestures (two and three fingers supported, and this has been improved in v.3), so you can get the most of it even without external controllers.

Well, external controllers add more fun to the performance, so I'd recommend getting one anyway. Djay offers native support for Vestax VCI-100, VCM-100, Numark Total Control, Omni Control, Stealth Control, and M-Audio X-Session Pro.
The great news is that the latest djay version adds (at last!) an important feature, MIDI Learn. Now "you can plug in your favorite MIDI controller and easily map all features in the software". I'd suggest joining the company's forum, to know more about these features.

With its latest version, and now that the basics are more or less covered, djay is also trying to offer more sophisticated on-the-fly tempo and beat detection tools. For those into scratching, Auto-Cut allows the user to scratch music in sync with the song’s beat and rhythm. To be fair, I'm not into it so I'm not the best judge in this case.

Among the new features of v.3 (from the press release):
- Automatic Tempo & Beat Detection: Easily matches two songs for a perfect transition;
- Auto-Gain: Automatically adjusts the volume of two songs to the same level;
- Beat-matched Looping and Audio FX: Spices up your mix with new stunning, high-quality effects;
- Auto-Cut Scratching: Lets you scratch like a pro in sync with the song’s beat and rhythm

If you'd like to get more experimental, yes, Audio-unit effects are supported, but in a limited visual form. You get just a generic interface with the plug-in's list of parameters. Anyway, djay's mixer has an embedded fx section (pitch shifting, reverb, echo), so also in this case it should be more than enough for most users.

Other limitations? Well, I think djay's strongest selling point could be, for some users, its weakest ones: you're forced to use iTunes, there's no graphical waveform representation of the track, its interface design could be a bit too hardware-like. But you know, you can't please everyone...
Last but not least: to the Algoriddim team, you have a great app there, but I'd avoid claims like "the world's sexiest DJ software" on your website. I think it's far from the product's winning concept/approach/profile.

That said, at $49.95 or EUR 39.95 (+ VAT) and with a 15 days demo (each session should last 30 min. if I'm not wrong) djay is definitely something to try. I like the fact it's a simple and at the same time quite powerful solution, and I think both casual and pro users could find it rewarding.
I mean, unless you're Ritchie Hawtin and/or you need to run four decks at the same time and do crazy stuff, if I were you I'd download the djay demo before getting into more complicated stuff.

Well, I've asked myself "Do you really want to write about this?", and after a couple of minutes of internal fights, my evil side of the brain won, so here it is...

Freestyle was introduced a few months ago, but maybe it's still new for many of you.

Feel free to send me your feedbacks once you get one ;-)

"Freestyle is the world's first wireless music driven vibrator. When its 2.4GHz wireless transmitter is connected to your iPod / iPhone (or any mp3 player for that matter), the vibe will pulsate to your favorite tunes giving you ultimate freedom of movement and motion.
Hook your iPod and the wireless transmitter up to your home speaker system and Freestyle becomes the perfect accessory for partner play. Now you can both listen and feel the grooves of your favorite music…bringing a whole new meaning to "our song"."

Read more on the product's page here.

P.s.: I think tagging this article with "hardware, news, utilities, culture" should be appropriate, ah?

It seems to be the right time to "get Ohmified", and no, we're not talking of the t-shirts...

Usually Ohm Force newsletters are quite funky and surreal, it's their style, you know.
Yesterday's newsletter is actually very different, and it's an interesting read even for those who have never heard (?) of this French software company.
Ok, the price drops will make many users happy, and it seems a reasonable move for a small company to stay healthy in an always more competitive market. Also, I kind of agree on the rhetorical questions they pose.

But the funniest thing is that this announcement comes just a few days later the Lexicon's one about the upcoming release of their native plug-in (with a shiny 1,899$ price tag).
I'd love to see the Ohm Force guys and the Harman (owner of Lexicon, among other things) marketing managers at the same table. And then we could call someone like Terry Gilliam to capture the event!

Ok, let's go back to the topic. Here's an excerpt from Ohm Force newsletter:
"...Last year’s financial collapse has been like a worldwide earthquake and, in addition of all its global consequences, here at the Ohm Force headquarter it made us think a lot about how we’ve been managing our own activity as plug-in makers. And which directions we’d want to take from now. ...
Even when talking about great effects, we do believe that audio plugins are not supposed to be something expensive, exclusive for those with big budgets. We don’t want to let Ohm Force’s effects become some more "plugins for rich people", what started to happen specially from our American customers’ point of view due Euro’s recent big rise. A few marketing directors could say that there are still enough music producers with comfortable budgets in the world to keep the plugin industry going on but, at least for us, it wouldn’t be fun anymore. So why shouldn’t we go beyond the attractive pricing? Shouldn’t good software for make good music actually be affordable, still being a part of the huge revolution made by the computer based music production? Not only it’s time to ask ourselves these questions but also to take the initiative to answer them, instead of just waiting other people to do it.
So as an audio software company Ohm Force is doing its part and announcing: we’re globally reducing our advertised prices. And it’s not a promo: it’s for real and forever. We still do want to make money and be rewarded for our hard work: it’s still business, but let’s keep it reasonable...".

Single plug-ins prices start now from 39 euro (single license, meaning only one platform supported: you can buy VST or AU or RTAS) or 49 euro (multi license, you get all supported platforms).
For those who want to have all, or almost all Ohm Force's catalogue, the bundles are even more attractive: there's three of them (All Live, All FX, All All) priced at 199/249/299 euro.

Students with a valid ID card get 50% on everything (and yeah, it keeps you away from those nasty sites, and lets you spend more time with your girlfriend/boyfriend!).
Last but not least, and this is unique to Ohm Force (at least, for what I know), it's possible to split the payments in three times with no extra charges.

So, now you really have no excuses, go and download a demo of some of their plugs and see if they inspire you making better music. There's a good chance you'll end up buying something from them!

My only complaint: I've never been a great fan of Ohm Force's visual interfaces, and the same can be said for the website. Dear Ohmies, it could be a bit easier/clearer, especially now that your prices are perfect also for "impulse buying"...

Usually I don't like video-clips to be the main content of an article, but these two are too funny and really made my day! I'm sure you'll enjoy them...

Thanks to Macc from SC Mastering for creating this and Chris Randall for linking one of them on his Twitter!

At AES 2009 Waves was showing a new plug-in, called Vocal Rider. In their words: "Waves makes vocal processing easier than it's ever been with their upcoming Vocal Rider plug-in (AU, VST, RTAS). The name says it all - Vocal Rider is designed to match your vocal tracks to the rest of the mix and then keep the relative volume throughout the song. All you do is instantiate it on your vocal track, bus a summed instrumental mix to the side-chain, and hit play. The plug-in fader then takes over, keeping the relative volume of the vocals and the rest of the mix constant. And, unlike compression, Vocal Rider doesn't crush the dynamic range or color the vocal track at all.
Waves Vocal Rider Automatic Level-Riding Plug-in Features:
- Intelligent adjustment of the vocal track based on the dynamics of the music.
- Saves time doing the kind of automation you would have to do manually.
- Writes automatic volume riding to the track as automation for fine tuning”

The interesting thing is that Vocal Rider seems to be, uhm.... too similar to a PT plug-in released a few months ago by Quiet Art Ltd., a small developer from New Zealand.
That plug-in is called Wave Rider (things are getting funnier, ah?).

Here's Wave Rider's short description: "a virtual fader controller plugin for PT. It's a unique RTAS plugin that detects audio signal level on the inserted channel, and controls the fader movements". You can read (and hear) more on the official website, linked above.



Ok fine, they had the same idea, you'll say. Well, it can happen.
But here's another fact, confirmed by Wave Raider's developer: a license of Wave Rider was acquired by someone from the Waves team (after tying one of the earlier versions of the plug-in).

Wave Raider's dev told us that "even the keywords they use to describe it (saves time, no color, you can alter the automation later etc) seem to be taken off Wave Rider's site and forum's posts.
There's a couple of differences on how the plug-ins operate. The Waves one has an option to let you feed an external source to its side chain, and few other fine adjustments (reminding of some of the suggestions for Wave Rider on the DUC and Gearslutz forums) .
Also the Waves plug-in seems to write its automation within itself as a separate lane."

I won't enter into the legal aspects of the whole thing, also because Vocal Rider has not been released yet. It seems Wave Rider's dev (like most small/one person companies, unfortunately) did not apply for a patent for his software, but I don't know if (generally speaking) this is enough to make someone else jump on a product and re-release it just adding a few touches here and there.

We're trying to reach Waves for an official comment. We'll update the article as soon as possible.

In the meantime, we'd love to hear your comments about this story...

It had to happen: Lexicon has just announced its PCM Native Reverb Plug-in Bundle, porting some of its reverb algorithms to native platforms (AU/VST/RTAS, iLok required). Not so much info on Lexicon website at the moment (there are a few videos anyway, quite generic actually) and a few typos here and there, but we're glad to see also older PPC Macs are supported (this means also the plugs are not so cpu-hungry). Well, someone should just tell them that there are no Audio Units plugs for Windows...



We know, the question is: where do these seven algos come from exactly? In the videos there's just one reference to an "old algorithm" (for the Concert Hall), and a reference to the PCM96 for the Vintage Plate algorithm, but not more than that.
Let's wait for an official word from Lexicon...

Updated news: straight from the horse's mouth (read: the developer, Michael Carnes): "I wrote these plugins in addition to all the professional reverbs going back to the PCM90. As you might suspect, that earliest work is primarily a port of work invented by David Griesinger. Since then, I've added more and more content of my own. The most modern of our reverbs still contain the old DNA, but they've been considerably refined over the years. The source of these new plugins in the PCM96, although I added one new version of the plate that isn't on any hardware at all yet."

No demo and no price available at the moment. The Lexicon PCM Native Bundle demo is now available, see here.

Updated news: It will be available in November 2009 with a suggested retail price of $1,899. Ok, that probably means less on the street, but unless that's a mistake, I think they should re-think their sales approach on this product. These are prices that could have made sense (for some people) in the TDM market years ago. In 2009 they seem hardly justifiable, even if we're talking of the reverbs' Ferrari (no hardware/manufacturing/etc. costs).
Also, if the plugs are as good as they're supposed to be (and reading the developer's words above, I have no doubts they will sound great), Lexicon could make way more money lowering the price of the bundle (and/or splitting it in several products). Dear Lexicon, come on, let's make it a win-win situation!

In our Sonic Joy Awards 2008 one of the awards went to Soniccouture for their huge and gorgeous Balinese Gamelan Professional Edition sample library. That 24 GB library will keep on being a reference product for many years, and it's definitely a must for all those seriously into Gamelan and Balinese culture.
On the other side, given its size and the price, it could be a bit "too much" for some users.

Well, for those who'd like to start exploring the world of Gamelan, Sonicouture's partnership with Native Instruments could be good news.
The new Native Instruments release, called simply Balinese Gamelan (Discovery Series) is actually a sort of essential selection of the instruments that make up a Gamelan ensemble.
It's a 2GB, Kontakt 3 Player library and it does not require a full version of Kontakt (like Soniccouture own libraries do), or any other sampler, to run.
You just need to download the free Kontakt Player from the Native Instruments' site.

So, what's included in NI's Balinese Gamelan? You get three sets of instruments (called Core Instruments, Gangsa and Kettle Gongs) which feature the tuned instruments (Gongs, Jegog, Calung, Penyacah, Ugal, Pemade, Kantilan, Trompong, Reyong) used in Gamelan ensembles.
A nice feature is that you can use them in their original pitch (and that's the real sound of Gamelan), or in a more western-friendly tuning.
You get also some synth presets: loading these presets you can treat the Gamelan sounds as if they were a "normal" synth sound, that means you can tweak the cutoff, attack, release, etc. There's also a Jammer option, which, if enabled, creates rhythmic arpeggio patterns. The interesting thing is that you can tweak also some of Jammer parameters, like speed, timing, velocity, etc. and assign them to MIDI CCs. That means fun! Try to assign for example the speed parameter to a knob or a wheel on your controller...


So, what's missing here (compared to the mentioned Professional Edition by Soniccouture)? Well, since this library is 1/10 of the size of the Pro Edition they had to make some choices. The percussion instruments are not included, and the tuned instruments included in the package are of course a reduced version of the original one. Also, the sampling rate is 48khz instead of 96khz (well, that's not a big thing anyway, unless you're an audiophile...).

That said, Native Instrument Discovery Series Balinese Gamelan does all it promises. It's an excellent introduction to Gamelan's sounds, it is fairly priced (79$/69€) and it does not require Kontakt 3 or 4 (just the free player). And that's a good thing, I think there are many potential users who just skip Kontakt-only libraries because they haven't got the full Kontakt package to run them.
If you add the fact it can be a little tweakers' paradise with its optional synth parameters, well, this is clearly a must of any sound-design lover.
Just a warning: if you'll love this, I think you'll soon start lusting for Soniccouture's Pro Edition...

P.s.: a little note for those who did not download the free Kontakt Player yet. I found the whole thing a bit confusing, especially if you own previously Kontakt Player based libraries. After the install has completed its process, don't look for a Kontakt Player folder or app. You would not find it.
You'll find a folder called Kontakt 3, and inside the application is actually called Kontakt 3. Does it mean you have the full Kontakt? Yes and no, now Kontakt and Kontakt player are bundled together (and not two different apps like before), BUT you have access to the full Kontakt features ONLY IF you have the proper Kontakt license (so if you have a Komplete package or if you've bought Kontakt as a standalone product). Otherwise you can just use the Powered by Kontakt libraries, like the Discovery Series - Balinese Gamelan we've just reviewed. I hope this helps!

At AudioNewsRoom we're definitely more into reviews/interviews than simple products' announcements, but rules are made to be broken, isn't it? It seems autumn is going to bring new exciting plug-ins to our DAWs. And if you love compressors (like we do), well, just keep your credit card in a safe place, you'll need it soon....

- those rock'n'roll wiz at Softube have just announced the release of their Tubetech CL1B emulation for native platforms, AU, VST, RTAS (it was only available for Powercore until now). The original opto tube based hardware unit is one of the most used compressors of the last 20 years (especially on vocals and bass, but not only). The plug-in is already available (10 days demo also), and yes, it has a "Northern Europe price tag" (read on the expensive side, 449$ + vat), BUT.... until the end of October you can get it at a special 25% off introductory offer, and for european readers, the dollar vs euro exchange rate lately is quite attractive (again). That means you can get it for a bit more than 200 euro + vat), not bad, ah? Be quick then!


- Soundoys will introduce two new plugs at AES: Decapitator, an Analog Saturation Modeling plug-in (uhm, are you sure there's not a better name for it, guys?) and PanMan (much better name), a Rhythmic Auto-Panner plug-in.
We were hoping to see a native version of Soundblender, but we're sure Decapitator will bring much joy to saturation lovers. Frankly, we're not sure we were needing another auto-panner tool, but since this is from Soundtoys, well, there could be some magic behind it!
Just a thought on the naming thing: I know there's some irony behind these choices, but could some developer please create something with more "peaceful" names? The world we live in has enough of "aggressive" things, we don't need our music tools to constantly remind us of them...




- more nice surprises, the code masters at Brainworx (the ones behind SPL software stuff, among other things) seem to be on a roll: they have just released the v.2 of their acclaimed state-of-the-art digital mastering processor, bx_digital (see a video tutorial here). They're also working on the software version of the Elysia M-Pressor, one of the most creative (and expensive) modern hi-end compressors. The plug-in should be released by those gents at Elysia right after AES, stay tuned!
By the way the Elysia staff is the one choosen by Kush Audio to have your Empirical Labs Fatso modified with the UBK mod. Contact them for more info. You can't go wrong with them!



More details about these beauties in the next days/weeks...