Rhythmic Robot has announced the release of Grit Kit, an analogue drum synthesiser sound library for Native Instruments Kontakt.
At its most basic, Grit Kit allows the user to create entirely original drum sounds using sampled analogue waveforms, transients and noise, multimode resonant filters, attack and decay envelopes, and other typical drum synth controls.
The difference that Grit Kit brings to this process is that every wave within the instrument has been recorded through the circuitry of three different vintage hardware samplers: the 8-bit Ensoniq Mirage, the 12-bit Akai S950, and the 13-bit Ensoniq EPS. These waves have been recorded over and over again using different settings of the source samplers, and pushing the input circuitry of those samplers harder and harder, allowing the user to dial in exactly as much hardware character as they want for their sound.
Grit Kit features
A uniquely inspiring source for analogue drum sounds with a hardware-sampler edge.
Choose from Ensoniq Mirage, Akai S950, or Ensoniq EPS samples.
Mix and match between samplers for absolute precision in creating your custom kit pieces.
Adjust the amount of grit and character from your hardware sampler by simply turning a dial.
Massive, pumping beats with an entirely individual sound: craft your very own signature drum tone.
Grit Kit ships with a pack of 16 preset kits covering everything from tight studio kits to total sonic mayhem.
The Grit Kit library is available to purchase for £34.95 GBP.
Ableton has updated its Live music production software for Windows and Mac to version 8.3.1.
Ableton Live is about making music; for composition, songwriting, recording, production, remixing and live performance. Live’s nonlinear, intuitive flow, alongside powerful real-time editing and flexible performance options, make it a unique studio tool and a favorite with live performers.
Changes in Live 8.3.1
Improvements and feature changes:
Added support for Mac OS 10.8 “Mountain Lion”.
Improved performance when recording many MIDI CC data into MIDI clips.
The default takeover mode for control surfaces has been changed to “none” (this will only affect new installations).
Minor changes for usage data reporting.
Bug fixes:
Fixed a bug which could lead to degraded resolution of automation data when recording automation for VST plugins running in Novation’s Automap shell.
Fixed a bug which prevented samples from being opened in an external sample editor.
Fixed a crash which could occur when importing two identical audio files into Live.
Fixed a bug which could lead to two undo steps when freezing a track.
Fixed a bug which could cause the save dialogue to disappear in OS X Lion.
Under certain conditions, Live’s splash screen wouldn’t appear on OS X Lion.
Opening an alias file of a Live set wouldn’t work on OS X Lion.
Fixed login problems in the SoundCloud uploader on Windows.
Fixed a rare crash which could occur with automatic updates on certain Windows computers.
The update is available to download for registered Live 8 users.
Bill and Will Marshall have released Glitch Factory, an Ableton Live performance template for use with the Akai’s APC40 controller.
Glitch Factory: Peek into a complete performance setup, above the mappings for the APC.
A collaboration between Australian producers Mr Bill and Will Marshall, this is a stems-based template for the Akai APC40, designed to help producers get started performing their own material live on stage. We’ve built some awesome performance FX, as well as writing a custom script for the APC40 to streamline your live sets.
Included in the template are four tracks worth of stems, to help get you started.
A walkthrough of the APC40 Performance Template, including custom MIDI Remote Script.
The Glitch Factory pack is available to purchase for $20 USD.
The Producers Choice has released the Boom Bap Phonetics, a drum sample pack inspired by the sounds of J Dilla and Kev Brown.
Our sound designers painstakingly mimicked the EXACT drum sounds used by J Dilla, Kev Brown & Mad Lib.
The Boom Bap Phonetics drum kit is the ‘go to’ drum library for Boom Bap drum samples. The kit captures J Dilla’s signature styled drums by using the same filtering techniques, creative EQ & compression, and drum machines as the legendary producer.
Boom Bap Phonetics features
Over 170 drum samples, crafted using the following equipment: Akai MPC3000, SP-303 Sampler, P-505 Sampler, Technics Turntables w/ Dirty Vinyl Drums.
MPC READY – pgm files included so you can load into your unit fast and easily.
Each sound was recorded from vinyl record and split tested through different chains to get the perfect boom bap sound.
The sample pack is available to purchase for $29 USD.
Ableton has updated its Ableton Live and Suite music production software for Windows and Mac to version 8.3.
We’ve released Live 8.3, a free update introducing greater stability, automatic updating and direct SoundCloud upload from within Live.
Changes in Live/Suite v8.4
Improvements and feature changes:
A new “Upload to SoundCloud” option is available in the Export Audio/Video dialog. When enabled, Live will open an upload client after the file has been rendered to disk, so you can upload the rendered file directly to your SoundCloud account.
Added automatic software updating. When enabled, Live will automatically download and install software updates in the background. Users who update to Live 8.3 from an older Live version will see a dialog box when launching Live 8.3 for the first time, where Automatic Updates can be enabled or disabled. You can always change the settings in Live’s “Licenses/Maintenance” Preferences.
Changed the naming of the Live application. The application is now called “Ableton Live 8″ and does not include a specific revision number. The revision number can still be found in the About screen in the Help menu.
The Windows installer has been updated to a newer version.
The default installation path of the Live application has changed on Windows.
Added usage data collection. When enabled, Live will send data about your Live installation and usage to ableton.com. This data will be used to help Ableton’s developers identify bugs and improve the software. Usage data collection is optional and can be enabled/disabled in the “Licenses/Maintenance” Preferences.
Added control surface support for Akai MPK Mini.
Bugfixes:
Fixed a crash that could occur when modulating a parameter in the Corpus device with Max for Live.
Fixed crashes and audio dropouts that could occur when hot-swapping through AAS instruments.
Fixed a crash that could occur when undoing the deletion of the last warp marker in an audio clip.
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