Results for anniversaries

KVR Audio has announced it is celebrating its 10^th anniversary with a Year-Long Giveaway.

In February 2010 KVR Audio is celebrating 10 years as the number one news and information resource for audio plug-ins! To mark this special occasion we are having a huge giveaway contest for the whole year (until the end of Jan 2011)! Every month we’ll give away a prize from a major software developer, gear manufacturer or educational institution.

All you have to do is fill out our quick survey once and you will be entered into the prize draw with the chance to win one of the prizes every month! Simple.

We’ve teamed up several leading software, hardware and sample library developers to bring you a fantastic selection of prizes – with a value of more than $8000! A big thank you to these companies for being so generous (with more still to come)!

Year-Long Giveaway prizes

• Ableton is offering one lucky winner a boxed version of Live 8, the fantastic composition, songwriting, recording, production, remixing and live performance app. A value of $550.
• Arturia is providing a plethora of prizes, including two copies of Hip Hop Producer and one each of their emulations of classic hardware synths: minimoog V, ARP 2600 V, CS-80V, Moog Modular V and Prophet V – a total prize fund value of $1,503 / €1,403!
• Big Fish Audio is offering a copy of MOJO: Horn Section, Vir2 Instruments’ flexible and innovative approach to pop, funk, jazz, and big band horns in a virtual instrument.
• FXpansion will give one lucky winner DCAM: Synth Squad, the plug-in suite that delivers the satisfaction of playing real analogue instruments in software! Advanced modelling technology carefully reconstructs the soul of dusty vintage circuits within your computer for the unmatched vibe of hardware at a fraction of the cost. A $249 value.
• Native Instruments has given us a copy of its flagship Komplete 6 plug-in collection. Komplete 6 incorporates the latest Absynth 5, Kontakt 4 and Guitar Rig 4 Pro versions, which add significant creative capabilities over their predecessors, complemented by Battery 3, FM8, Massive and Reaktor 5. A $499 value.
• Ohm Force is providing twelve (!) copies of its ALL-Live bundle (one each month). This fantastic plug-in bundle includes Quad Frohmage Filter Bank, Ohmicide:Melohman Distortion and Symptohm:Melohman Synth.
• Resonant Vibes is offering several rv_samplepacks, Resonant Vibes’ line of quality-driven sample packs. Typically ranging from 100 MB to 600 MB+, each pack is created by a handpicked producer. A $209 value.
• Toontrack Music is providing Superior Drummer 2.0, the professional virtual instrument for producing drums in a digital recording environment, together with its three SDX expansion packs: Lost New York Studios SDX, The Metal Foundry SDX and Custom and Vintage SDX. Over $800 in value.
• u-he is offering the u-he Complete Bundle, which includes, as its name suggests, all u-he plug-ins released to date (ACE, Filterscape, MFM2, Uhbik, Zebra + soundbanks), worth well over $700!
• Universal Audio is offering a “User’s Choice”: UAD-2 SOLO Powered Plug-Ins Card or a UAD-2 SOLO/Laptop Powered Plug-Ins Card. This single-processor PCIe card provides access to the World’s most authentic analog hardware emulations and audio processing plug-ins — including licensed emulations from Neve, Roland, BOSS, Empirical Labs, EMT, Fairchild, Harrison, Helios, Little Labs, Pultec, SPL, Teletronix and more.

More information: KVR Audio

The 2010 NAMM Show saw the fifth anniversary of British microphone brand Sontronics, who marked the event with the release of five new products as well as plenty of positive news.

Despite the difficult economic climate, it sounds like it´s been a great year for Sontronics and the company continues to grow with the release of five new products: SATURN multi-pattern condenser, STC-10 pencil condenser, STC-20 large-diaphragm condenser, STC-2X omni/cardioid condenser and the STC-PAD/PHASE inline switch. Like all of Sontronics microphones, they have been designed from the ground up in the UK, by Sontronics founder, designer and MD Trevor Coley.

“SATURN is the big news,” begins Coley, “and it certainly turned plenty of heads at the NAMM Show. It is of course inspired by the classic vocal mics of the 1940s and 50s, and while it was originally designed for vocals, it actually gives brilliant results on anything you put it in front of! With five switchable polar patterns plus dual pad and filters, it´s our most flexible mic to date. It´s been beta-tested over the last year by various artists, producers and educators including Flood and Alan Moulder, and everyone says it´s an incredible all-rounder.”

The other new mics are inspired by two of Sontronics best-sellers: “While our STC-1 pencil condenser and STC-2 large-diaphragm condenser continue to be as popular as ever we realised we needed to create something for the most affordable end of the market. Our new STC-10 and STC-20 both give users what they need; a price they can afford combined with the first-class sound reproduction and top quality build associated with all Sontronics products.”

“At the same time, I also wanted to push the boundaries of STC-2 so we´ve created STC-2X featuring cardioid AND omnidirectional polar patterns plus a two-stage pad and two-stage filter, all at an incredible price point.”

As well as the new microphones, Sontronics also released a new accessory, the ST-PAD/PHASE. “We know that some people using our ribbon mics have needed some kind of attenuation control when miking very loud sound sources, especially if they don´t have the feature on a desk or audio interface. So we´ve launched the ST-PAD/PHASE inline switch with two -10dB attenuation/pad switches (giving a sum of -20dB) plus a 180° phase invert control, useful for dual-miking snare drums.”

To celebrate the 5th anniversary, anyone in the UK or Ireland purchasing a new Sontronics microphone^* from an authorized dealer between 14^th January and the end of February will be able to claim a free STC-80 Dynamic Mic worth £79 RRP.

More information: Sontronics

^* Promotion includes the following microphones; STC-1, STC-1S, STC-2, STC-6, Orpheus, Helios, Omega, Sigma, Delta, Apollo, prices start at £110. It does not include the STC-80 and is subject to terms and conditions.

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Arduino Sine wave Generator using the DDS Method

From Lab3:

Here we describe how to generate sine waves with an Arduino board in a very accurate way . Almost no additional hardware is required. The frequency range reaches form zero to 16 KHz with a resolution of a millionth part of one Hertz ! Distortions can be kept less than one percent on frequencies up to 3 KHz. This technique is not only useful for music and sound generation another range of application is test equipment or measurement instrumentation. Also in telecommunication the DDS Method is useful for instance in frequency of phase modulation (FSK PSK).

# Schipmann Music out of business Via Matrixsynth

Dear customers!

We are finishing our business. These are the very last units of “ebbe und flut” ever!! We are thankful for all our satisfied customers. We will be there for you in support and service in that time after this sale.

Yours sincerely,
Carsten Schippmann (CEO)

Last ebbe und flut MKII units going for 999 EUR (normal price: 1498,21 EUR per unit) Tempting…

… read more

Ableton has announced it is celebrating its 10^th anniversary with a host of special offers, new products and giveaways.

10 years of Ableton is something to celebrate, so join the party. We’ve got something for everyone: free Live Packs, special discounts, free upgrades for Live Lite and LE users, and new products: Live Intro is out now and Max for Live arrives on November 23^rd.

Able10 – 10 Years of Ableton

• 10 Free Live Packs — 10 free, exclusive Live Packs from Ableton artists. Take a look inside these songs and sounds and see how these exceptional artists work their Live mojo.
• Save up to 20% on Ableton Live 8 and Suite 8 — This offer is for upgrades, too, so everyone—new users and old—can benefit. This discount offer lasts only as long as the Able10 party—from November 4th to January 15, 2010—so don’t wait too long.
• Live Intro introduced — the essentials of Ableton Live at a great price. Whether you’re a talented newcomer or a seasoned professional, Live Intro has got what you need for writing songs, making beats, recording, remixing, DJing and performing your music live on stage.
• Free upgrades for Live Lite and LE users — upgrade to Live Intro for free.
• Max for Live — Max for Live puts the power and potential of Max/MSP inside Live. Ableton has announced that beta testing has started and the release date is set for November 23, 2009.

Ableton has also announced that the Launchpad, the 64-button Ableton Live controller that’s customizable and fits in your laptop bag, is available now worldwide.

More information: Ableton

Time+Space has announced a special Anniversary Offer for 9 Tekniks products.

Nine years ago, before the days when budding entrepreneurs approached the Dragon’s Den, Damien Egan founded his own company with the help of a £500 business grant from the Prince’s Trust.

What was supposed to be a recording studio/label quickly turned into Tekniks – a company providing niche products for producers and composers. Following the success of their first release Underground Garage, Tekniks soon became one of the world’s leading providers of Urban based loops and samples with top selling titles such as Rizing DnB, The Ghetto Grooves Series and Breakmatic.

To celebrate it’s 9th Anniversary, Tekniks is offering 9 products for £9.99 each for 9 weeks from the 9th September 2009. This exclusive offer could save you up to £34.00 per title!

The 9 products included in this offer are: Ghetto Grooves 1, Housematic, Xtreme House 1 & 2, Blue Shock, DrummEAR, Breakmatic, Rizing DnB 2, and Ultimate Urban Breakz. These titles are also available in a special anniversary bundle for £59.99 GBP (saving over £200 GBP).

This offer ends 11 November, 2009.

More information: Time+Space

Arturia has announced the 10YEAR CONTEST, a creative contest on the theme: “How Arturia changed my life”.

Send a video, music or any other creative content that illustrates “How Arturia changed my life”

Submissions will be received starting the 3rd of August and will stop September 30th. The final judgement will be anounced October the 9th.

Top five awards are:

1. Origin synthesizer
2. The 10 Year Suite
3. Analog Factory Experience
4. One of Arturia Analog Classic softwarev
5. Arturia Tee-shirt and USB flash drive

More information: Arturia