Results for arp

Wave Alchemy has announced the release of Drum Tools 01 – Minimal Techno & Tech House, a collection of electronic drum samples.

Drum Tools 01 offers over 1950 exquisitely produced electronic drum samples. All sounds in the collection have been built from the ground up using a jaw-dropping array of analogue circuitry and exclusive high-end outboard gear. Great care has been taken to capture the tone / vibe and warmth of the equipment used and all sample editing and file naming has been done by hand for maximum precision.

The drum samples in Drum Tools 01 have been created by the creative layering and processing of drum machines, exotic synthesizers / modulars, field recordings and the recording of live drum and percussive instruments.

Drum Tools 01 is an essential purchase for anyone looking for high quality, 100% original drum samples. Although designed with Minimal techno & Tech House music in mind, Drum Tools 01 would also make an essential toolkit for producers of House, Trance, Electro or even down-tempo / hip-hop styles.

Drum Tools 01 – Minimal Techno & Tech House features

• 1950 24-bit 100% royalty free electronic drum hits!
• A professionally dithered 16-bit version of the full library for hardware sampler enthusiasts
• 472 premium kick drum samples arranged by tone (deep, punchy, solid, processed, 808 & fx)
• 251 snare drum samples arranged by type (classic, layered, punchy, processed & noise)
• 594 exotic percussion samples created with a wealth of highly sought-after studio gear and divided into such folders as ‘blips & pops’ ‘toms & tones’ ‘world’ ‘analogue synth’ ‘driven digital’ & ‘miscellaneous’
• 125 luxurious claps and snaps
• 141 hi hat & creative noise samples
• 75 glitch shots devised from exclusive analogue circuitry
• 62 minimal stabs and chord hits
• 88 sound effects samples
• 26 uniquely layered crash cymbal sounds
• 58 drum creation tools including snaps & sub enhancers
• Ableton Live 8 pack (requires latest version of live)
• 13 drum kits including sampler patches for Battery, Kontakt, Reason NNXT, Halion, EXS24 and SFZ
• 42 bonus tb-303 licks + much more

Drum Tools 01 – Minimal Techno & Tech House is available to purchase for £39.95 GBP. A generous selection of free sounds from Drum Tools 01 is available to download from the product page (free registration required).

More information: Wave Alchemy / Drum Tools 01 – Minimal Techno & Tech House

Arturia has announced it will be shipping the Origin Keyboard in March, 2010.

Origin Keyboard is Arturia’s new version of Origin for the keyboard player. It keeps the outstanding modular system of Origin Desktop, putting it on a panel that closes on a high quality keyboard controller. The intuitive interface is kept in place, along with all of the modules from the most famous synthesizers (Moog Modular, ARP 2600, CS-80, Jupiter-8, Minimoog and Prophet VS) and organs (ToneWheel, Rotary). The integration of the ribbon control is a blast, the keyboard aftertouch possibilities open a world of expressivity, while the playing modes are tuned to the expectations of any demanding performer.

Origin Keyboard features

• More than 600 presets created by talented musicians and synthesizer specialists.
• Create your own patch or use existing audio structures:.
• Origin patch made by connecting independent modules from: Minimoog, ARP.
• 2600, CS-80, Jupiter-8, Moog Modular, Prophet VS Origin template synths: Minimoog, Jupiter-8, CS-80, ARP 2600*.
• Superb audio quality with TAE® engine.
• Up to 32 voices of polyphony for a typical patch.
• Connectivity: 2 audio ins, 10 audio outs. Digital: SPDIF out, USB 2.0.
• Selection of high quality effects: Phaser, Chorus, Delay, Tube Distortion, Parametric EQ, Rotary….
• 16/32 step sequencer.
• Software editor (Mac/PC).
• Innovative Macro, Advanced LFO, Advanced modulation modes, Advanced joystick modes….
• MIDI : In, Out, Thru and USB 2.
• High Level of Control:
  • Ultra sensitive 40cm ribbon controller
  • High quality semi-weighted 61 keys keyboard, with velocity response and channel aftertouch
  • New exclusive duophonic aftertouch
  • Modulation and pitch-bend wheels, 3-mode Joystick, 21 potentiometers, 33 rotary encoders, 81 switches
• Ergonomic design
  • Self adjustable front panel, from 0° to 135°, giving you total setup flexibility
  • 5.2″ TFT screen for clear visual feedback
  • Complete mobile solution, offering everything you need to perform in a single, easily transportable cabinet

The Origin Keyboard will be shipping in March, 2010, priced at $3490 USD / 2899 EUR.

More information: Arturia / Origin Keyboard

Arturia has released version 2.0 of ARP 2600 V, a virtual synthesizer for Windows and Mac.

The ARP 2600 is one of the finest analog synthesizers ever made. Celebrated by the most respected musicians over the last thirty years, it is capable of creating amazing sounds, heard in numerous popular tunes from Herbie Hancock to Stevie Wonder. With its sound palette varying from heavy drum n’ bass stabs to angular arpeggiated electro bass lines, whatever your chosen genre, the 2600 is a truly versatile sound creation tool, which still finds a good place in today’s music.

Changes in ARP 2600 V v2.0

• New Syncrosoft copy protection.
• A revolutionary preset navigation system called SoundMap.
• Lower CPU utilization on Mac OSX.
• Better Audio Unit compatibility (Digital Performer most notably).
• Ability to use NRPN midi messages for automation.
• Better handling of control surfaces while changing preset.
• Fresh batch of presets made by a selection of top sound designers.
• MIDI RPN “pitch bend range” message is now recognized.
• Presets adapted to respond to modulation wheel.
• and numerous bug fixes.

ARP 2600 V is available to purchase for $249 USD / 229 EUR.

More information: Arturia / ARP 2600 V

Wave Alchemy has released Odyssey FX, the second in a series of on-going free sample packs to be released exclusively through wavealchemy.co.uk.

Odyssey FX provides 70 100% royalty free sound effects samples, glitch hits and weird retro noises from the highly sought-after ARP Odyssey analogue synthesizer. All sound effects have been beautifully recorded through an API 512c pre-amp in crystal clear 24-bit resolution.

Whether you produce dance music, acoustic music or design sound for multimedia, game and film, Odyssey FX delivers a great source of weird and wonderful sound effects and is a great addition to any producer’s tool kit.

Odyssey FX features

• 70 24-bit 100% royalty free sound effects samples.
• Swishes, sweeps and falls.
• Weird hits and stuttered glitch.
• Retro noises, bleeps and atmospherics inspired by the early Radiophonic Workshop.

Odyssey FX is available as a free download for registered users (registration is free).

More information: Wave Alchemy / Odyssey FX

FXpansion has recently released DCAM: Synth Squad, a bundle of plug-ins that is supposed to be the missing link between analogue and digital synthesis.

The FXpansion team spent the last few years working on some virtual synths with a new technology called DCAM, or Discrete Component Analogue Modelling.

Say what?

DCAM: Synth Squad has been built by accurately analysing and modelling real-world components and circuits found in vintage analogue synths. As a result, don’t expect a standard ‘clean VA’ sound from these synths – you would never get perfect waveshapes on a real VCO-based analogue synthesizer. What you can expect is a set of meticulously crafted synthesizer instruments that sound truly alive in a way that is very rare in the digital world.

So instead of trying to model the way analog synths sound, FXpansion took a good look at the actual individual components of various synths to create a realistic model of the circuit itself. The Roland SH-101, Oberheim Xpander, Alesis Andromeda, ARP Omni, Korg MS-20, various Moogs and Analog Systems modulars are some of synths of which the circuits were carefully studied for the development of the DCAM synths.

Installation

DCAM: Synth Squad is available for PC and Mac as VST and AudioUnit plug-ins. I installed them on a dual core (Intel) machine running Windows XP.

The installation procedure is a straightforward next, next, finish type thing. At the end of the installation you can optionally check for updates, which would be a smart thing to do if your machine has an internet connection.

The next step is to authorize the plug-ins, which you can do from the license manager, on the web, or via another computer if your workstation doesn’t have an internet connection.

Both the installation and authorization processes are well documented in the manual so you can’t really go wrong.

Meet the Synth Squad

The futuristic looking figures on the DCAM product page represent the three synthesizers in this bundle: Strobe, Amber and Cypher. The fourth plug-in is Fusor, a performance environment that can host any combination of the 3 DCAM synths.

While each of the synths is quite different from the other, they all share some common components. The preset system, the TransMod modulation system, and the on-screen keyboard with performance controllers are visible on the interfaces of Strobe, Amber and Cyper.

Let’s take a closer look at the instruments.

Note: There is a lot to write about these plug-ins. I will try to highlight some of the more interesting features of DCAM: Synth Squad without writing a book.

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Some interesting things I found recently:

# Toy Piano Rescue Project

Ranjit Bhatnager bought a toy piano on eBay, but it got damaged in transport.

For Awesome August I'm trying to make something of this ebay toy piano that got smashed by UPS. The music is Philip Glass's "Modern Love Waltz," inspired by toy pianist Margaret Leng Tan. (I used it previously)

More info: Ranjit Bhatnager / Awesome August

… read more