Results for Studer

Universal Audio has unveiled numerous future enhancements for its award-winning Apollo High-Resolution Interface — turning the popular unit into a scalable system capable of recording larger music projects on both Mac and Windows 7 machines.

Among the new Apollo interface features slated for delivery in the first half of 2013 is multi-unit cascading, which combines two Apollo interfaces into a single elegant system via FireWire or Thunderbolt. Multi-unit cascading provides simultaneous use of 16 analog inputs / outputs, including eight Apollo mic preamps, plus 12 digital inputs and outputs — perfect for tracking a full band.

New Apollo Software to Deliver Multi-Unit Cascading & Numerous Console Software Enhancements; Separate UAD / Apollo Software Updates Bring Softube Amp Room, New LA-2A Collection, and API 500 Series EQ Plug-Ins.

The boost in Apollo connectivity is navigated via a redesigned Console application, offering better visual feedback, a new Mix-Merge mode, and a Pro Tools mode which greatly simplifies integration with Pro Tools systems.

“A year after its introduction, Apollo has become the top-selling audio interface in its class,” says UA CEO and Founder, Bill Putnam Jr. “We’re committed to enhancing its creative possibilities, through ongoing software improvements and a growing roster of new plug-in titles from UA and Direct Developer partners like Softube.”

Apollo owners will soon be able to play and record in real time through some of the world’s finest guitar amp emulations, courtesy of the acclaimed Softube Amp Room plug-ins — including Vintage Amp Room, Metal Amp Room, and Bass Amp Room. Softube Amp Room plug-ins will be available as part of an upcoming UAD/Apollo software update, along with the brand new LA-2A Classic Leveler Collection and API 500 Series EQ Collection plug-ins.

Apollo is a high-resolution 18 x 24 FireWire/Thunderbolt-ready audio interface that delivers the sound, feel, and flow of analog recording. Using Apollo, music producers and performers can track audio through a range of classic UAD analog emulation plug-ins — from Neve, Studer, Manley, Lexicon and more — in real time, and with a sleek, elegant workflow on both Mac and Windows 7 systems.

More information: Universal Audio / Apollo

Wave Alchemy has introduced Drum Tools 01 Deluxe, an updated version of the Minimal Techno & Tech House drum sample library.

Drum Tools 01 Deluxe massively expands the sonic capabilities and tonal character of the original collection… Now featuring over 3800 additional tape variations recorded at three saturation levels to a Studer A80 MK1 analogue tape machine via a vintage Neve 1073 pre-amp!

Drum Tools 01 Deluxe offers over 5800 exquisitely produced minimal drum samples. All drum 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.

Drum Tools 01 Deluxe features

• 1950 24-bit 100% royalty free electronic drum hits.
• 3854 additional tape saturated drum hits recorded to 1/4” tape via a Studer A80 Mk1 tape machine.
• A professionally dithered 16-bit version of the full library for hardware sampler enthusiasts.
• 472 premium kick drum samples arranged by tone (deep minimal, 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.

The sample library is available to purchase for £54.95 GBP.

More information: Wave Alchemy / Drum Tools 01 Deluxe

Universal Audio has announced a complete re-imagination of the popular UAD Powered Plug-Ins platform.

Highlighted by the new flagship UAD-2 OCTO DSP Accelerator card, featuring eight SHARC processors, the UAD-2 Series offers new Custom and Ultimate software bundles and more affordable pricing for all UAD-2 SOLO, DUO, and QUAD DSP Accelerator models.

Universal Audio UAD-2 OCTO Ultimate bundle.

• New OCTO DSP Accelerators — Heavyweight Processing Power
  The new top-of-the-line UAD-2 OCTO DSP Accelerator ($1,499US) features eight SHARC processors on a single PCIe card and easily installs into a PCIe-equipped Mac or PC workstation or compatible expansion chassis — giving music producers and engineers twice the processing power of its UAD-2 QUAD DSP Accelerator counterpart. For UAD power users running large audio sessions with high UAD plug-in instances and/or high sample rates, the UAD-2 OCTO DSP Accelerator is the uncompromising professional solution.
• New UAD-2 “Custom” Bundles — Pick Any 3 UAD Plug-Ins
  For just $400US more than a UAD-2 DUO, QUAD, or OCTO “Core” DSP Accelerator model, UAD users can now step up to UAD-2 Custom bundles, selecting any three individual UAD plug-ins within 45 days of their new UAD-2 hardware registration. With a world-renowned UAD plug-in library that includes Ampex®, Manley®, Lexicon®, Studer®, EMT®, Empirical Labs®, Neve®, SSL®, Roland®, and more, UAD-2 Custom bundles deliver a potential software value of more than $1,000US (depending on UAD plug-ins selected), at significant savings to new UAD-2 users.
• New UAD-2 “Ultimate” Bundles — The Definitive Collection
  Combining the most powerful UAD-2 DSP Accelerator hardware with the most complete UAD plug-in bundle available, the new UAD-2 OCTO Ultimate (PCIe card format) and UAD-2 Satellite QUAD Ultimate (FireWire format) packages offer an extensive library of more than 55 UA-developed plug-ins, up to and including UAD Software v6.3*. These UAD-2 Ultimate packages represent the definitive collection of more than 10 years of UAD plug-in development.
• More Affordable UAD-2 SOLO, DUO, and QUAD Core Models
  Alongside the new UAD-2 hardware and software introductions, UA is debuting new, more affordable pricing for the “Core” models of UAD-2 SOLO, DUO, and QUAD PCIe hardware and UAD-2 DUO and QUAD Satellite FireWire hardware. All UAD-2 Core models include the popular “Analog Classics” plug-in bundle, featuring the LA-2A Classic Audio Leveler, 1176LN/1176SE Classic Limiting Amplifiers, Pultec EQP-1A, and RealVerb Pro plug-ins. Additional UAD plug-ins can be purchased from UA’s Online Store.

“We’re excited by the additional power and flexibility that this new UAD-2 lineup provides,” says CEO and Founder, Bill Putnam, Jr. “Not only has the processing power doubled with the UAD-2 OCTO model, but it’s now easier for users to customize their UAD-2 packages right out of the box. And with our new aggressive pricing for SOLO, DUO, and QUAD Core models, UAD-2 is now even more accessible to producers who want to add authentic analog tone in their recordings.

Estimated US Street Prices for UAD-2 Desktop (PCI-Express) and Satellite (FireWire) DSP Accelerators:

• UAD-2 OCTO (PCIe): $1,499 (Core) / $1,899 (Custom) / $5,499 (Ultimate).
• UAD-2 QUAD (PCIe): $999 (Core) / $1,399 (Custom).
• UAD-2 DUO (PCIe): $699 (Core) / $1,099 (Custom).
• UAD-2 SOLO (PCIe): $299 (Core).
• UAD-2 QUAD Satellite (FireWire): $999 (Core) / $1,399 (Custom) / $4,999 (Ultimate).
• UAD-2 DUO Satellite (FireWire): $699 (Core) / $1,099 (Custom).

More information: Universal Audio / UAD Powered Plug-Ins

Cinesamples has announced the release of version 2 of Piano in Blue, a sample library for Native Instruments Kontakt, featuring a historic 1949 Steinway D piano.

Piano in Blue is an exceptional instrument with great history, and we are thrilled to announce some updates that make this piano sound even better, along with some options that allow you greater control.

The Steinway D Concert Grand featured in Piano in Blue was used in recordings at Columbia Records 30th Street Studios in the 50′s and 60′s, notably including Glenn Gould’s “Goldberg Variations” and “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis.

Changes in Piano in Blue 2

• Latency – Added a Sample Start knob, which will allow you to cut into the sample by 20ms. This feature will remove the hammer and finger noise of the instrument.
• Tape Sample Replacement – All the samples were re-recorded through a physical Studer tape machine, and all samples have been replaced in the tape setting
• De-noising – Extensive de-noising of all Version 1 Direct samples. Additionally, noise from F4 Velocity 101-110 has been removed.
• Velocity 90-110 – issues with this velocity being too quiet have been fixed.
• Added CC11 (Expression) control.

The Piano in Blue library is available to purchase for $99 USD. Full version of Kontakt 4.2+ required.

More information: Cinesamples / Piano in Blue

Loopmasters has introduced Complete Drums, a bundle of five sample libraries by Wave Alchemy.

Complete Drums includes 8421 pristinely produced 24-bit electronic drum samples. A great chance for first time customers to sample our award winning drum sounds, Complete Drums bundles together and includes ALL of the Following Wave Alchemy Products.

Complete Drums features

• Drum Tools 01 – Over 1950 unique electronic drum samples which have been crafted from the ground upwards by the creative layering and processing of drum machines, exotic synthesizers & field recordings.
• Syncussion Drums – 1885 beautifully crafted drum samples from the ultr-rare and extremely raw sounding Pearl Syncussion SY-1 analogue drum synthesizer! Also includes 800 drum hits recorded to 1/4″ tape via a Studer A80 Tape Machine.
• Drum Machine Collection – 3200 expertly crafted drum sounds from the most sought after drum machines in existence! Sound sources include the Roland TR-808, TR-909 and TR-606, Jomox AirBase99, Xbase 999 and Mbase 11, Vermona DRM MK11, MFB Schlagzwerg and Drumfire DF-2000.
• Tech House & Minimal (No Loops) – 401 drum sounds taken from our popular Tech House & Minimal library. Expect punchy drums and creatively glitched percussion sounds.
• Deep Tech & Progressive (Drums Only) – 662 drum sounds taken from our Deep Tech & Progressive library. Expect to find deep kicks, snappy snares and a huge folder of synthetic / tribal percussive sounds.

The sample library bundle is currently available at 20% off, priced £79.96 GBP (regular £99.95 GBP).

More information: Loopmasters / Wave Alchemy Complete Drums

No Dough’s fourth release in the NDS sample pack series is titled Underground House.

Simply put, this is the heart and soul of the underground house scene in a massive collection of over 7000 professionally crafted WAV sounds, designed to give you that authentic House music vibe you hear from your favorite artists but in a format that is useful for any style of music that requires a punchy analogue sound.

The sample pack features:

• 4,700+ drum and percussion hits.
• 59 multi-sampled instruments.
• 161 bass and synth loops.

The drum and percussion hits include various classic sounds of drum machines and sampled sources, with three variations; Original recordings, driven, vinyl and Revox (Studer tape machine) versions. No Dough used some various outboard gear to get an authentic vibe. Everything is nicely categorized in folders by the type of drum hit. No drum kits are included though.

To record the multi-sampled instruments, No Dough used gear by Oberheim, Roland, some old EMU samplers and FM synthesizers. The sampler patches are split up in various sections. There’s bass, strings & pads, leads & synths and organs and misc. A good amount of sounds.

The bass and synth loops sound very authentic as well. Actually, playing them individually they almost sound kind of low quality, lo-fi. But in a good way.

Loops are ready to be chopped, smashed, distorted and resequenced, each loop features a Recycle version and we have also included a selection of Midi files so you can get at the notes themselves to twist, mash and create.

I’d say that is a good thing, because these loops are meant for chopping. You are not going to get much of a good result by simply tossing the loops together as there are some tuning issues and files have no mention of which key they’re in. This set of loops just isn’t a construction kit type set so unless you stick with using just a single loop and create additional melodies around that, you are supposed to do some of the work yourself. The sound is there though.

Check out the demo track to get an idea of what NDS-4 Underground House is about.

So what do I think?

Even though No Dough prides itself in recording in high quality 96kHz/24bit, it’s still vintage synths, gritty sampler sounds, tape machines, and analog processing chains we’re talking about. NDS-4 is not about pristine quality, it is about the vibe of classic underground house music.

No Dough’s key description for the Underground House pack is “tone, warmth and musicality”. I hear that, and I would sum those up and call it authentic. Individually the samples and loops sound somewhat raw to me, lo-fi, perhaps slightly dated. And that’s how it is supposed to be, because once you start putting things together you quickly end up with something that sounds like the real deal. Go check it out.

More information: NDS-4 Underground House