Native Instruments has announced it is offering a chance to win a trip for two people to witness the debut performance of Mostly Robot on June 14th at Sónar Barcelona.
Mostly Robot is a band conceived by Native Instruments, featuring five exceptional musicians who each represent a different area of the company’s musical expertise. The artists – Jamie Lidell, Tim Exile, Jeremy Ellis, Mr Jimmy and DJ Shiftee – will perform in a truly ‘live’ format, with each musician playing independently of the other, synced only by the human element. The music will be accompanied by an inventive visual concept from Berlin’s design collective Pfadfinderei.
The lottery is open to everyone, and the winners will enjoy a four day break in Barcelona – featuring flights, accommodation, two full festival passes and a tapas meal with the band.
Channel Robot has released Tech Vocals, a sample library is the Grid Machine Slice series for Kontakt.
Here are Volumes 2 and 3 of the best selling Minimal Tech Vox – a fantastic collection of snipped, glitched, processed and tweaked minimal vocal samples, produced specifically for the dance music producer.
Whether you are making Tech, Electro, Deep or Mainroom Dance Music – these samples recorded by pro session singers have been mangled, chopped and edited to provide you with the building blocks for some awesome grooves.
Featuring a killer selection of one word single shot samples, glitched vox sounds, vox stabs, Fx Processed Loops, vocal hooks and re-sequenced parts which together form a formidable collection of samples for any producer looking to introduce the human element to loops and sections of their productions, and now you can further process cut, mix, slice and glitch to produce completely unique content in Grid Machine Slice.
The sound library is available to purchase from Loopmasters for £29.95 GBP.
Sonic Mechanics has released Destructive Dubstep, a collection of 10 construction kits for dubstep music production.
The loops take their inspiration from artists including Skrillex, Nero, Doctor P and Funtcase and are made to give an authentic Dubstep experience to your audience.
Each kit has been separated to include each individual element, allowing the user to construct bespoke Dubstep tracks with ease.
The Sonic Mechanics team aims to make the producer’s life as easy as possible and each loop has been through a quality control procedure to make sure that only the most hefty and lethal sounds are included in the final cut.
Destructive Dubstep features
225 Loops and single Sounds (24bit quality).
10 Construction Kits including: Intro Crash, FX, Synth Loops, Main Bass, Claps, Crash, Drums, FX, Hats, Kick and Snare Loops.
10 Drum Kits + 10 Kontakt 4 soft sampler patches.
Samples include tempo and key information.
The sample pack is available to purchase for £14.95 GBP.
Modartt has announced Pianoteq 4 Stage, a virtual piano instrument formerly known as Pianoteq PLAY.
Modartt’s Pianoteq 4 Stage for budget-minded musicians who prefer to focus entirely on playing rather than sound adaptation or studio recording.
Pianoteq Stage is based on the award winning physical model, offered in Pianoteq 4 Standard and PRO, praised by many musicians for its close intimacy and responsiveness. Pianoteq Stage includes the same instruments, sounds and playability. All this for an unbeatable price.
The simpler interface in Pianoteq Stage is adapted for musicians who want the convenience of a selection of beautiful instruments for an immediate playing session. It is not for tweaking settings and parameters.
With Pianoteq Stage you are focusing entirely on your playing.
Pianoteq Stage is available to purchase for 99 EUR.
Native Instruments has teamed up with DJ and music producer Steve Lawler and the sound designers of Loopmasters to bring us Dark Pressure, an expansion sound library for the Maschine platform.
Huge sub-heavy kicks, chunky toms, sharp hi-hats, crisp percussion, warm bass tones and crystallized lead synth sounds – all processed with analog gear and MASCHINE’s internal FX – provide the building blocks for muscular techno, tech-house, and minimal tracks worthy of the world’s most respected clubs.
DARK PRESSURE focuses on percussive one-shot samples and a wealth of exclusive pre-programmed patterns – many created by Steve Lawler himself. Fine-tuned for powerful club sound systems, DARK PRESSURE puts an impressive array of four-on-the-floor rhythms at your fingertips – from full-on energy to hypnotic groove and triplet-driven swing.
The expansion includes five full Maschine projects, 40+ individual kits, some pre-sliced loops, 20+ instruments, and some fx chains.
British music producer and DJ Steve Lawler introduces Dark Pressure for Maschine.
The Maschine projects are basically full tracks with intros/outros/drops/etc. Not something I would consider using in my productions but they do a good job showcasing the type of tunes you can create with Dark Pressure. And perhaps you can learn some new composition/production skills from checking the way these projects are done.
Mildon Studios has released SLVR Spreader, a stereo expander effect plug-in for Windows.
SLVR Spreader is a state-of-the-art stereo widener suitable for mixing and mastering. It combines different stereo imaging technologies, letting you apply ample amounts of widening without weakening the overall sound.
Use it on individual tracks like vocals and on group tracks like drums, all the way to the final master.
SLVR Spreader features
Three powerful modes:
Wide mode uses a mid-side algorithm for widening the signal. This is suitable for stereo recordings, group tracks, and mastering.
Delay mode spreads the signal’s frequencies across the stereo image and applies minute amounts of delay to emphasize the stereo effect. This can be used to fatten ambient sounds like vocals and pads.
Shuffle mode interleaves the signal’s frequencies and spreads them across the stereo image. While the stereo effect is less pronounced in this mode, it can help the signal cut-through a busy mix without introducing artifacts or phase issues.
3 Channel Meters: separate meters for Left, Center, and Right channels, allowing you to apply just the right amount of widening to the signal. For best results, increase the Spread fader until the Center peak is at the same level as or just above the Left and Right peaks.
SLVR Spreader for Windows (VST) is available to purchase for the introductory price of $14 USD until 31 May, 2012 (regular $29 USD).
Thanks for your support!